The first report of the BCCP structure was made by biochemists F. K. Athappilly and W. A. Hendrickson in 1995. It can be thought of as a long β-hairpin structure, with four pairs of antiparallel β-strands that wrap around a central hydrophobic core. The biotinylation motif Met-Lys-Met is located at the tip of the β-hairpin structure. Rotations around the CαCβ bond of this Lys residue contribute to the swinging-arm model. The connection to the rest of the enzyme at the N-terminus of BCCP core is located at the opposite end of the structure from the biotin moiety. Rotations around this region contribute to the swinging-domain model, and the N1′ atom of biotin is ~ 40 Å from this pivot point. This gives a range of ~ 80 Å for the swinging-domain model, and the BC–CT active site distances observed so far are between 40 and 80 Å. In addition, the linker before the BCCP core in the holoenzyme could also be flexible, which would give further reach for the biotin N1′ atom.
The structures of biotin-accepting domains from E. coli BCCP-87 and the 1.3S subunit of P. shermanii TC were determined by both X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance studies. (Athappilly and Hendrickson, 1995; Roberts et al., 1999; Reddy et al., 1998). These produced essentially the same structures that are structurally related to the lipoyl domains of 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase multienzyme complexes (Brocklehurst and Perham, 1993; Dardel et al., 1993), which similarly undergo an analogous post-translational modification. These domains form a flattened β-barrel structure comprising two four-stranded β-sheets with the N- and C-terminal residues close together at one end of the structure. At the other end of the molecule, the biotinyl- or lipoyl-accepting lysine resides on a highly exposed, tight hairpin loop between β4 and β5 strands. The structure of the domain is stabilized by a core of hydrophobic residues, which are important structural determinants. Conserved glycine residues occupy β-turns linking the β-strands.
The structure of the Biotin-accepting domain consists of BCCP-87 which contains a seven-amino-acid insertion common to certain prokaryotic acetyl-CoA carboxylases but not present in other biotindomains (Chapman-Smith and Cronan, 1999). This region of the peptide adopts a thumb structure between the β2 and β3 strands and, interestingly, forms direct contacts with the biotin moiety in both the crystal and solution structures (Athappilly and Hendrickson, 1995; Roberts et al., 1999). It has been proposed that this thumb may function as a mobile lid for either, or possibly both, the biotin carboxylase or carboxyl- transferase active sites in the biotin-dependent enzyme (Cronan, 2001). The function of this lid could aid to prevent solvation of the active sites, thereby aiding in the transfer of CO from carboxybiotin to acetyl CoA. Secondly, the thumb is required for dimerization of BCCP, necessary for the formation of the active acetyl CoA carboxylase complex (Cronan, 2001). In conclusion, the thumb functions to inhibit the aberrant lipoylation of the target lysine by lipoyl protein ligase (Reche and Perham, 1999). Removal of the thumb by mutagenesis rendered BCCP-87 a favorable substrate for lipoylation but abolished biotinylation (Reche and Perham, 1999). The thumb structure, however, is not a highly conserved feature amongst all biotin domains. Many biotin-dependent enzymes do not contain this insertion, including all five mammalian enzymes. However, it appears the interactions between biotin and protein might be a conserved feature and important for catalysis as similar contacts have been observed in the "thumbless" domains from P. shermanii transcarboxylase (Jank et al., 2002) and the biotinyl/lipoyl attachment protein of B. subtilis (Cui et al., 2006). The significance of this requires further investigation but it is possible that the mechanism employed by the biotin enzymes may involve noncovalent interactions between the protein and the prosthetic group.