Pharmaceutical Discovery Division, Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois 60064, USA.
The Erm family of methyltransferases is responsible for the development of resistance to the macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin type B (MLS) antibiotics. These enzymes methylate an adenine of 23S ribosomal RNA that prevents the MLS antibiotics from binding to the ribosome and exhibiting their antibacterial activity. Here we describe the three-dimensional structure of an Erm family member, ErmAM, as determined by NMR spectroscopy. The catalytic domain of ErmAM is structurally similar to that found in other methyltransferases and consists of a seven-stranded beta-sheet flanked by alpha-helices and a small two-stranded beta-sheet. In contrast to the catalytic domain, the substrate binding domain is different from other methyltransferases and adopts a novel fold that consists of four alpha-helices.