Crystal Structure of beta -Amylase from Bacillus cereus var. mycoides at 2.2 Ae Resolution

The crystal structure of beta -amylase from Bacillus cereus var. mycoides was determined by the multiple isomorphous replacement method. The structure was refined to a final R-factor of 0.186 for 102,807 independent reflections with F/ sigma (F) >= 2.0 at 2.2 Ae resolution with root-mean-square deviations from ideality in bond lengths, and bond angles of 0.014 Ae and 3.00 degree , respectively. The asymmetric unit comprises four molecules exhibiting a dimer-of-dimers structure. The enzyme, however, acts as a monomer in solution. The beta -amylase molecule folds into three domains; the first one is the N-terminal catalytic domain with a ( beta / alpha ) sub(8) barrel, the second one is the excursion part from the first one, and the third one is the C-terminal domain with two almost anti-parallel beta -sheets. The active site cleft, including two putative catalytic residues (Glu172 and Glu367), is located on the carboxyl side of the central beta -sheet in the ( beta / alpha ) sub(8) barrel, as in most amylases. The active site structure of the enzyme resembles that of soybean alpha -amylase with slight differences. One calcium ion is bound per molecule far from the active site. The C-terminal domain has a fold similar to the raw starch binding domains of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase and glucoamylase.