PMID- 22069470 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20120316 LR - 20170220 IS - 1932-6203 (Electronic) IS - 1932-6203 (Linking) VI - 6 IP - 11 DP - 2011 TI - The molecular basis for the broad substrate specificity of human sulfotransferase 1A1. PG - e26794 LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0026794 [doi] AB - Cytosolic sulfotransferases (SULTs) are mammalian enzymes that detoxify a wide variety of chemicals through the addition of a sulfate group. Despite extensive research, the molecular basis for the broad specificity of SULTs is still not understood. Here, structural, protein engineering and kinetic approaches were employed to obtain deep understanding of the molecular basis for the broad specificity, catalytic activity and substrate inhibition of SULT1A1. We have determined five new structures of SULT1A1 in complex with different acceptors, and utilized a directed evolution approach to generate SULT1A1 mutants with enhanced thermostability and increased catalytic activity. We found that active site plasticity enables binding of different acceptors and identified dramatic structural changes in the SULT1A1 active site leading to the binding of a second acceptor molecule in a conserved yet non-productive manner. Our combined approach highlights the dominant role of SULT1A1 structural flexibility in controlling the specificity and activity of this enzyme. FAU - Berger, Ilana AU - Berger I AD - Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, Israel. FAU - Guttman, Chen AU - Guttman C FAU - Amar, Dotan AU - Amar D FAU - Zarivach, Raz AU - Zarivach R FAU - Aharoni, Amir AU - Aharoni A LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't DEP - 20111101 PL - United States TA - PLoS One JT - PloS one JID - 101285081 RN - 0 (Coumarins) RN - 0 (Nitriles) RN - 0 (Nitrophenols) RN - 19088-73-4 (3-cyano-7-hydroxycoumarin) RN - EC 2.8.2.1 (Arylsulfotransferase) RN - EC 2.8.2.1 (SULT1A1 protein, human) RN - Y92ZL45L4R (4-nitrophenol) SB - IM MH - Arylsulfotransferase/*chemistry/genetics/*metabolism MH - Binding Sites MH - Catalysis MH - Catalytic Domain MH - Coumarins/*metabolism MH - Crystallography, X-Ray MH - Humans MH - Kinetics MH - *Models, Molecular MH - Mutagenesis, Site-Directed MH - Mutation/genetics MH - Nitriles/*metabolism MH - Nitrophenols/*metabolism MH - Protein Binding MH - Protein Conformation MH - Static Electricity MH - Substrate Specificity PMC - PMC3206062 OID - NLM: PMC3206062 EDAT- 2011/11/10 06:00 MHDA- 2012/03/17 06:00 CRDT- 2011/11/10 06:00 PHST- 2011/08/08 00:00 [received] PHST- 2011/10/04 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2011/11/10 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2011/11/10 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2012/03/17 06:00 [medline] AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0026794 [doi] AID - PONE-D-11-15267 [pii] PST - ppublish SO - PLoS One. 2011;6(11):e26794. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026794. Epub 2011 Nov 1.