Novel Structural Components Contribute to the High Thermal Stability of Acyl Carrier Protein fromEnterococcus faecalis

This chapter gives an introduction to automated nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structure calculation with the program CYANA. Given a sufficiently complete list of assigned chemical shifts and one or several lists of cross-peak positions and columns from two-, three-, or four-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY) spectra, the assignment of the NOESY cross-peaks and the three-dimensional structure of the protein in solution can be calculated automatically with CYANA.

The complete genome sequence of Enterococcus faecalis V583, a vancomycin-resistant clinical isolate, revealed that more than a quarter of the genome consists of probable mobile or foreign DNA. One of the predicted mobile elements is a previously unknown vanB vancomycin-resistance conjugative transposon. Three plasmids were identified, including two pheromone-sensing conjugative plasmids, one encoding a previously undescribed pheromone inhibitor. The apparent propensity for the incorporation of mobile elements probably contributed to the rapid acquisition and dissemination of drug resistance in the enterococci.