Identification and characterization of aspartate residues that play key roles in the allosteric regulation of a transcription factor: aspartate 274 is essential for inducer binding in lac repressor.

To explore the roles of three aspartate residues, Asp88, Asp130, and Asp274, found in the proposed inducer binding site of lac repressor [Sams, C. F., Vyas, N. K., Quiocho, F. A., & Matthews, K. S. (1984) Nature 310, 429-430], each site was substituted with alanine, glutamate, lysine, or asparagine by site-specific mutagenesis. The mutations at the Asp88 site resulted in a 5-13-fold decrease in inducer binding affinity, largely due to an increase in the inducer dissociation rate constants for these mutants. In addition, the mutant proteins Asp88-->Ala and Asp88-->Lys exhibited altered allosteric behavior for inducer binding. These data conflict with the original hypothesis placing Asp88 in the inducer binding site, but are in agreement with a recent model that places this amino acid close to the subunit interface involved in cooperativity associated with inducer binding [Nichols, J. C., Vyas, N. K., Quiocho, F. A., & Matthews, K. S. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 17602-17612; Chen, J., & Matthews, K. S. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 13843-13850]. Substitution at Asp130 did not alter the inducer binding affinity nor other binding activities. Thus, this amino acid is not crucial in the binding to beta-substituted monosaccharides or in protein function. In stark contrast, all mutant proteins with substitutions at the Asp274 site exhibited no detectable inducer binding. With the exception of Asp274-->Lys, the structures of these mutant proteins appear to be similar to wild-type. The data demonstrate that Asp274 plays a crucial role in inducer binding of this transcriptional regulator.