Structural and Redox Properties of the Leaderless DsbE (CcmG) Protein: Both Active-Site Cysteines of the Reduced Form Are Involved in Its Function in the Escherichia coli Periplasm

Abstract

The thiol/disulfide oxidoreductases play important roles in ensuring the correct formation of disulfide bonds, of which the DsbE protein, also called CcmG, is the one implicated in electron transfer for cytochrome c maturation in the periplasm of Escherichia coli. The soluble, Nterminally truncated DsbE was overexpressed and purified to homogeneity. Here we report the structural and redox properties of the leaderless form (DsbEL ). During the redox reaction, the protein undergoes a structural transformation resulting in a more stable reduced form, but this form shows very low reactivity in thiol/ disulfide exchange of cysteine residues and low activity in accelerating the reduction of insulin. The standard redox potential (E' 0 ) for the active thiol/ disulfide was determined to be 0.186 V; only one of the two cysteines (Cys80) was suggested to be the active residue in the redox reaction. From the aspect of biochemical properties, DsbE can be regarded as a weak reductant in the Escherichia coli periplasm. This implies that the function of DsbE in cytochrome c maturation can be ascribed to its active site cysteines and the structure of the reduced form.