A class C
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-lactamase from a clinical isolate of
Enterobacter cloacae strain GC1 with im
provedhydrolytic activity for oxyimino
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-lactam antibiotics has been analyzed by X-ray crystallogra
phy to 1.8Å resolution. Relative to the wild-ty
pe P99
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-lactamase, this natural mutant contains a highly uniquetandem re
peat Ala211-Val212-Arg213 [Nugaka et al. (1995)
J. Biol. Chem. 270, 5729-5735]. The 39.4kDa chromosomal
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-lactamase crystallizes from
poly(ethylene glycol) 8000 in
potassium
phos
phate ins
pace grou
p P2
12
12 with cell dimensions
a = 78.0 Å,
b = 69.5 Å, and
c = 63.1 Å. The crystal structurewas solved by the molecular re
placement method, and the model has been refined to an
R-factor of 0.20for all nonzero data from 8 to 1.8 Å. Deviations of model bonds and angles from ideal values are 0.008Å and 1.4
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
, res
pectively. Overlay of
![](/images/gifchars/al<font color=)
pha.gif" BORDER=0>-carbon atoms in the GC1 and P99
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-lactamases results in an rmsdeviation of 0.6 Å. Largest deviations occur in a loo
p containing Gln120 and in the
![](/images/gifchars/Omega.gif)
loo
p region (200-218) where the three residues 213-215 are disordered. Possibly as a result of this disorder, the width ofthe o
pening to the substrate binding cavity, as measured from the 318-324
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-strand to two loo
ps containingGln120 and Tyr150 on the other side, is 0.6-1.4 Å wider than in P99. It is suggested that conformationalflexibility in the ex
panded
![](/images/gifchars/Omega.gif)
loo
p, and its influence on adjacent
protein structure, may facilitate hydrolysisof oxyimino
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-lactams by making the acyl intermediate more o
pen to attack by water. Nevertheless,backbone atoms in core catalytic site residues Ser64, Lys67, Tyr150, Asn152, Lys318, and Ser321 deviateonly 0.4 Å (rmsd) from atoms in P99. A rotation of a
potential catalytic base, Tyr150, relative to P99 at
pH 8, is consistent with the requirement for a lower than normal
pKa for this residue.