Our 2HADH paper published in Biochemistry

Dr Jan Kutner, our postdoc and lab manager, is the main author of a highly collaborative project on the D-2-hydroxyacid dehydrogenase (2HADH) protein family. Together with Wladek Minor (University of Virginia) and Krzysztof Ginalski (University of Warsaw) labs we worked on detailing the substrate specificity of the previously delineated glyoxylate/hydroxypyruvate reductase (GHPR) subfamily. We identified two evolutionary subfamilies (GHRA and GHRB) and obtained nine crystal structures of two enzymes from Sinorhizobium meliloti representing each subfamily, in apo-forms and in complexes with cofactors and substrates or substrate analogs.

This work was enabled by a SKILLS internship awarded to Jan Kutner from the Foundation for Polish Science. In 2015, Jan spent 6 months in the Minor laboratory to work on the crystal structures of 2HADH proteins, and complemented them with functional studies upon his return to our laboratory. The Ginalski lab helped with bioinformatics analysis and Krzysztof Wozniak provided us with the initial financial support (MAESTRO grant from the National Science Centre). The fruitful collaboration with the Minor lab should continue as part of the TEAM-TECH Core Facility project.

The results were published in Biochemistry this month.

PDB accession numbers:

SmGhrA: 4weq, 4z0p, 5unn

SmGhrB: 5v7n, 5v7g, 5v6q, 5j23, 5uog, 5v72