Involvement of the catalytically important Asp54 residue of Mycobacterium smegmatis DevR in protein-protein interactions between DevR and DevS.

The DevSR two-component system in Mycobacterium smegmatis consists of the DevS histidine kinase and the DevR response regulator. It is a regulatory system that is involved in the adaptation of mycobacteria to hypoxic and NO stresses. Using the yeast two-hybrid assay and pull-down assay, it was demonstrated that the phosphoaccepting Asp (Asp54) of DevR is important for protein-protein interactions between DevR and DevS. The negative charge of Asp54 of DevR was shown to play an important role in protein-protein interactions between DevR and DevS. When the Lys104 residue, which is involved in transmission of conformational changes induced by phosphorylation of the response regulator, was replaced with Ala, the mutant form of DevR was not phosphorylated by DevS and functionally inactive in vivo. However, the K104A mutation in DevR only slightly affected protein-protein interactions between DevR and DevS.