Family Report for: AlphaBeta_hydrolase

alpha/beta Hydrolase fold proteins are an important, diverse, widespread group of enzymes not yet fully exploited by structural biologists. We describe the current state of knowledge of this family, and suggest a smaller definition of the required core and some possible future avenues of exploration.

The alpha/beta hydrolase fold is a typical example of a tertiary fold adopted by proteins that have no obvious sequence similarity, but nevertheless, in the course of evolution, diverged from a common ancestor. Recently solved structures demonstrate a considerably increased variability in fold architecture and substrate specificity, necessitating the redefinition of the minimal features that distinguish the family.

We have identified a new protein fold--the alpha/beta hydrolase fold--that is common to several hydrolytic enzymes of widely differing phylogenetic origin and catalytic function. The core of each enzyme is similar: an alpha/beta sheet, not barrel, of eight beta-sheets connected by alpha-helices. These enzymes have diverged from a common ancestor so as to preserve the arrangement of the catalytic residues, not the binding site. They all have a catalytic triad, the elements of which are borne on loops which are the best-conserved structural features in the fold. Only the histidine in the nucleophile-histidine-acid catalytic triad is completely conserved, with the nucleophile and acid loops accommodating more than one type of amino acid. The unique topological and sequence arrangement of the triad residues produces a catalytic triad which is, in a sense, a mirror-image of the serine protease catalytic triad. There are now four groups of enzymes which contain catalytic triads and which are related by convergent evolution towards a stable, useful active site: the eukaryotic serine proteases, the cysteine proteases, subtilisins and the alpha/beta hydrolase fold enzymes.

The alpha/beta-hydrolase fold is characterized by a beta-sheet core of five to eight strands connected by alpha-helices to form a alpha/beta/alpha sandwich. In most of the family members the beta-strands are parallels, but some show an inversion in the order of the first strands, resulting in antiparallel orientation. The members of the superfamily diverged from a common ancestor into a number of hydrolytic enzymes with a wide range of substrate specificities, together with other proteins with no recognized catalytic activity. In the enzymes the catalytic triad residues are presented on loops, of which one, the nucleophile elbow, is the most conserved feature of the fold. Of the other proteins, which all lack from one to all of the catalytic residues, some may simply be 'inactive' enzymes while others are known to be involved in surface recognition functions. The ESTHER database (http:\/\/bioweb.supagro.inra.fr/esther) gathers and annotates all the published information related to gene and protein sequences of this superfamily, as well as biochemical, pharmacological and structural data, and connects them so as to provide the bases for studying structure-function relationships within the family. The most recent developments of the database, which include a section on human diseases related to members of the family, are described.

alpha/beta Hydrolase fold proteins are an important, diverse, widespread group of enzymes not yet fully exploited by structural biologists. We describe the current state of knowledge of this family, and suggest a smaller definition of the required core and some possible future avenues of exploration.

The alpha/beta hydrolase fold is a typical example of a tertiary fold adopted by proteins that have no obvious sequence similarity, but nevertheless, in the course of evolution, diverged from a common ancestor. Recently solved structures demonstrate a considerably increased variability in fold architecture and substrate specificity, necessitating the redefinition of the minimal features that distinguish the family.

We have identified a new protein fold--the alpha/beta hydrolase fold--that is common to several hydrolytic enzymes of widely differing phylogenetic origin and catalytic function. The core of each enzyme is similar: an alpha/beta sheet, not barrel, of eight beta-sheets connected by alpha-helices. These enzymes have diverged from a common ancestor so as to preserve the arrangement of the catalytic residues, not the binding site. They all have a catalytic triad, the elements of which are borne on loops which are the best-conserved structural features in the fold. Only the histidine in the nucleophile-histidine-acid catalytic triad is completely conserved, with the nucleophile and acid loops accommodating more than one type of amino acid. The unique topological and sequence arrangement of the triad residues produces a catalytic triad which is, in a sense, a mirror-image of the serine protease catalytic triad. There are now four groups of enzymes which contain catalytic triads and which are related by convergent evolution towards a stable, useful active site: the eukaryotic serine proteases, the cysteine proteases, subtilisins and the alpha/beta hydrolase fold enzymes.