Dimer-tetramer assembly of nucleoside diphosphate kinase from moderately halophilic bacterium DSM3043; Both residues 134 and 136 are critical for the tetramer assembly

Tokunaga, Hiroko*; Izutsu, Kenichi*; Arai, Shigeki; Yonezawa, Yasushi; Kuroki, Ryota; Arakawa, Tsutomu*; Tokunaga, Masao*

Both wild-type nucleoside diphosphate kinase from moderately halophilc (CsNDK (GNE), GNE represents Gly134-Asn135-Glu136) and mutant CsNDK (ANE), both of which have a neutral amino acid at residue 134, were found to form a dimer. These constructs contain Glu136, which may also cause steric barrier and charge repulsion. A double mutant, CsNDK (ANT), having Thr at 136 resulted in stable tetrameric assembly, supporting the above notion. A mutant CsNDK (GNT) reverted, however, to a dimer again, indicating that the introduced Ala residue at 134th in the double mutant generated a hydrophobic cluster consisting of the Ala residues and thereby stabilized dimer-dimer association of CsNDK assembly, while Gly destabilized it due to the loss of this cluster. Based on these observations, it is evident that both residues 134 and 136 contribute to the subunit assembly of CsNDK.