Preliminary crystallographic investigations of recombinant GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase fromE. coli

Abstract

The GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose epimerase/reductase (GM_ER) isolated from E. coli has been overexpressed as a GST-fusion protein and purified to homogeneity. The enzyme, an NADP+(H)-binding homodimer of 70 kDa, is responsible for the production of GDP-L-fucose. GM_ER shows significant structural homology to the human erythrocyte protein FX, which is involved in blood-group glycoconjugate biosynthesis, displaying 3,5 epimerase/reductase activity on GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose. GM_ER has been crystallized in a trigonal crystalline form, containing one molecule per asymmetric unit, suitable for high-resolution crystallographic investigations.