Crystal structure of native Anopheles gambiae Serpin-2, a negative regulator of melanization in mosquitoes

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Issue Date
2011-06Author
An, Chunju
Lovell, Scott
Kanost, Michael R.
Battaile, Kevin P.
Michel, Kristin
Publisher
Wiley
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Rights
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Proteins, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/prot.23002. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
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Serpins are the dominant group of protease inhibitors in metazoans that control a wide variety of biological processes including major innate immune reactions. One of these inhibitors, SRPN2, controls melanization in mosquitoes – a powerful, arthropod-specific innate immune response. SRPN2 depletion from the hemolymph of adult female mosquitoes significantly reduces longevity and therefore this serpin is a potential target for novel insecticides. We report here the crystal structure of SRPN2 in its native conformation from the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae to 1.75 Å resolution. SRPN2 adopts a similar fold as observed for other serpins with a core of three β-sheets surrounded by nine α-helices with an exposed reactive center loop (RCL) that extends from the protein body. Similar to other native serpin structures, several residues within the reactive center loop were disordered and could not be modeled. Intriguingly, the N-terminal hinge of the RCL in SRPN2 was found to be inserted into β-sheet A, suggesting a potential activation mechanism analogous to heparin-mediated activation of Antithrombin III.
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Citation
An, C., Lovell, S., Kanost, M. R., Battaile, K. P., & Michel, K. (2011). Crystal structure of native Anopheles gambiae Serpin-2, a negative regulator of melanization in mosquitoes. Proteins, 79(6), 1999–2003. http://doi.org/10.1002/prot.23002
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