YbeY Metallopeptidase (YBEY)

The highly conserved bacterial ybeY gene is a heat shock gene whose function is not fully understood. YbeY protein is involved in protein synthesis, as Escherichia coli mutants with ybeY deleted exhibit severe translational defects in vivo.

YbeY is a hypothetical protein that belongs to the UPF0054 family. The structure reveals that the protein binds a metal ion in a tetrahedral geometry. Three coordination sites are provided by histidine residues, while the fourth might be a water molecule that is not seen in the diffraction map because of its relatively low resolution. X-ray fluorescence analysis of the purified protein suggests that the metal is a nickel ion. The structure of ybeY and its sequence similarity to a number of predicted metal-dependent hydrolases provides a functional assignment for this protein family.