Shigella dysentriae and other Gram-negative human pathogens are able to use iron from heme bound to hemoglobin for growing. We solved at 2.6 A resolution the 3D structure of the TonB-dependent heme/hemoglobin outer membrane receptor ShuA from S. dysenteriae. ShuA binds to hemoglobin and transports heme across the outer membrane. The structure consists of a C-terminal domain that folds into a 22-stranded transmembrane beta-barrel, which is filled by the N-terminal plug domain. One distal histidine ligand of heme is located at the apex of the plug, exposed to the solvent. His86 is situated 9.86 A apart from His420, the second histidine involved in the heme binding. His420 is in the extracellular loop L7. The heme coordination by His86 and His420 involves conformational changes. The comparisons with the hemophore receptor HasR of Serratia marcescens bound to HasA-Heme suggest an extracellular induced fit mechanism for the heme binding. The loop L7 contains hydrophobic residues which could interact with the hydrophobic porphyring ring of heme. The energy required for the transport by ShuA is derived from the proton motive force after interactions between the periplasmic N-terminal TonB-box of ShuA and the inner membrane protein, TonB. In ShuA, the TonB-box is buried and cannot interact with TonB. The structural comparisons with HasR suggest its conformational change upon the heme binding for interacting with TonB. The signaling of the heme binding could involve a hydrogen bond network going from His86 to the TonB-box.
(c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.