Protein hydration in aqueous solution

High-resolution proton nuclear magnetic resonance studies of protein hydration in aqueous solution show that there are two qualitatively different types of hydration sites. A well-defined, small number of water molecules in the interior of the protein are in identical locations in the crystal structure and in solution, and their residence times are in the range from about 10(-2) to 10(-8) second. Hydration of the protein surface in solution is by water molecules with residence times in the subnanosecond range, even when they are located in hydration sites that contain well-ordered water in the x-ray structures of protein single crystals.

Stereospecific nuclear magnetic resonance assignments of the methyl groups of valine and leucine in the DNA-binding domain of the 434 repressor by biosynthetically directed fractional 13C labeling

Stereospecific 1H and 13C NMR assignments were made for the two diastereotopic methyl groups of the 14 valyl and leucyl residues in the DNA-binding domain 1-69 of the 434 repressor. These results were obtained with a novel method, biosynthetically directed fractional 13C labeling, which should be quite widely applicable for peptides and proteins. The method is based on the use of a mixture of fully 13C-labeled and unlabeled glucose as the sole carbon source for the biosynthetic production of the protein studied, knowledge of the independently established stereoselectivity of the pathways for valine and leucine biosynthesis, and analysis of the distribution of 13C labels in the valyl and leucyl residues of the product by two-dimensional heteronuclear NMR correlation experiments. Experience gained with the present project and a previous application of the same principles with the cyclic polypeptide cyclosporin A provides a basis for the selection of the optimal NMR experiments to be used in conjunction with biosynthetic fractional 13C labeling of proteins and peptides.

The structure of the Antennapedia homeodomain determined by NMR spectroscopy in solution: comparison with prokaryotic repressors

The structure of the Antennapedia homeodomain from Drosophila melanogaster was determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in solution. It includes three well-defined helices (residues 10-21, 28-38, and 42-52) and a more flexible fourth helix (residues 53-59). Residues 30-50 form a helix-turn-helix motif virtually identical to those observed in various prokaryotic repressors. Further comparisons of the homeodomain with prokaryotic repressors showed that there are also significant differences in the molecular architectures. Overall, these studies support the view that the third helix of the homeodomain may function as the DNA recognition site. The elongation of the third helix by the fourth helix is a structured element that so far appears to be unique to the Antennapedia homeodomain.

Heteronuclear filters in two-dimensional [1H,1H]-NMR spectroscopy: combined use with isotope labelling for studies of macromolecular conformation and intermolecular interactions

The use of heteronuclear filters enables the editing of complex 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra into simplified subspectra containing a lesser number of resonance lines, which are then more easily amenable to detailed spectral analysis. This editing is based on the creation of heteronuclear two-spin or multiple-spin coherence and discrimination between protons that do or do not participate in these heteronuclear coherences. In principle, heteronuclear editing can be used in conjunction with one-dimensional or multidimensional 1H-NMR experiments for studies of a wide variety of low-molecular-weight compounds or macromolecular systems, and is implicitely applied in a wide range of heteronuclear NMR experiments with proton detection (e.g. Bax et al. 1983; Griffey & Redfield, 1987). In the present article we shall focus on the use of heteronuclear filters in two-dimensional (2D) [1H, 1H]-NMR experiments. The selection of the material covered was primarily motivated by its impact on the practice of protein structure determination in solution, and on NMR studies of intermolecular interactions with biological macromolecules. Section 2 surveys potential applications of heteronuclear filters in this area. The remainder of the article is devoted to an introduction of the theoretical principles used in heteronuclear filters, and to a detailed description of the experimental implementation of these measurements. In writing the review we tried to minimize redundancy with the recent article in Quarterly Review of Biophysics by Griffey & Redfield (1987) and to concentrate on experiments that were introduced during the period 1986–9.

Proton exchange rates from amino acid side chains--implications for image contrast

The proton exchange rates between water and the hydroxyl protons of threonine, serine, tyrosine, the amino protons of lysine, and the guanidinium protons of arginine were measured in the pH range 0.5 to 8.5 and for the temperatures 4 degrees C, 10 degrees C, 20 degrees C, 30 degrees C, and 36 degrees C. The intrinsic exchange rates of the hydroxyl and amino protons at pH 7.0 degrees C and 36 degrees C were found to be in the range 700 to about 10,000 s-1. In addition, the exchange catalysis by phosphate, carbonate, carboxyl-, and amino-groups was investigated. The presence of these exchange catalysts at physiological concentrations increased the proton exchange rates from hydroxyl and amino groups several fold. The proton exchange rates are sufficiently fast that the total magnetization transfer between biomolecules and free bulk water is not rate limited by the proton exchange rate, but by the intramolecular cross-relaxation rates between the exchangeable and nonexchangeable protons of the biomolecules. Since the cross-relaxation rates between surface hydration water molecules and biomolecules are usually vanishingly small because of too rapid exchange with the free bulk water, it is proposed that the contrast in MR images is a fingerprint of the number of the exchangeable protons from OH and NH groups of the tissue, as far as the contrast depends on the magnetization transfer between biomolecules and water.

NMR structure determination of protein-ligand complexes by lanthanide labeling

The paramagnetism of lanthanide ions offers outstanding opportunities for fast determinations of the three-dimensional (3D) structures of protein-ligand complexes by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. It is shown how the combination of pseudocontact shifts (PCSs) induced by a site-specifically bound lanthanide ion and prior knowledge of the 3D structure of the lanthanide-labeled protein can be used to achieve (i) rapid assignments of NMR spectra, (ii) structure determinations of protein-protein complexes, and (iii) identification of the binding mode of low-molecular weight compounds in complexes with proteins. Strategies for site-specific incorporation of lanthanide ions into proteins are summarized.

NMR structure of the death domain of the p75 neurotrophin receptor

The intracellular domain of the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75ICD) lacks catalytic activity but contains a motif similar to death domains found in the cytoplasmic regions of members of the tumor necrosis factor receptor family and their downstream targets. Although some aspects of the signaling pathways downstream of p75 have been elucidated recently, mechanisms of receptor activation and proximal signaling events are unknown. Here we report the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structure of the 145 residue long p75ICD. The death domain of p75ICD consists of two perpendicular sets of three helices packed into a globular structure. The polypeptide segment connecting the transmembrane and death domains as well as the serine/threonine-rich C-terminal end are highly flexible in p75ICD. Unlike the death domains involved in signaling by the TNF receptor and Fas, p75ICD does not self-associate in solution. A surface area devoid of charged residues in the p75ICD death domain may indicate a potential site of interaction with downstream targets.

Hydration of proteins. A comparison of experimental residence times of water molecules solvating the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor with theoretical model calculations

A 1 ns trajectory from a molecular dynamics study of 1.4 ns total length was used for a detailed analysis of the residence times of water molecules located near 227 selected bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) atoms. The simulation was performed using the GROMOS force field, with apolar hydrogen atoms treated as united atoms, and the SPC/E water model. The system consisted of 568 BPTI atoms and 2371 water molecules. The theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental data available from nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The residence times of individual water molecules coming near a given BPTI atom, as obtained from the simulation, vary greatly and range between 10 and 500 ps. The effective residence time, calculated using a correlation function technique from the presence of all individual water molecules visiting the hydration shell of a given BPTI atom, never exceeds 200 ps. The average residence time near backbone and side-chain atoms is approximately 39 ps and 24 ps, respectively. The shortest residence times, on average, are found near charged atoms (19 ps), whereas near non-polar and polar side-chain atoms the residence times are 25 ps and 36 ps, respectively. There is no apparent correlation between the residence times of the hydration water molecules of solvent-accessible residues and their location in different regular or non-regular secondary structures.

Dynamics of protein and peptide hydration

Biological processes often involve the surfaces of proteins, where the structural and dynamic properties of the aqueous solvent are modified. Information about the dynamics of protein hydration can be obtained by measuring the magnetic relaxation dispersion (MRD) of the water (2)H and (17)O nuclei or by recording the nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) between water and protein protons. Here, we use the MRD method to study the hydration of the cyclic peptide oxytocin and the globular protein BPTI in deeply supercooled solutions. The results provide a detailed characterization of water dynamics in the hydration layer at the surface of these biomolecules. More than 95% of the water molecules in contact with the biomolecular surface are found to be no more than two-fold motionally retarded as compared to bulk water. In contrast to small nonpolar molecules, the retardation factor for BPTI showed little or no temperature dependence, suggesting that the exposed nonpolar residues do not induce clathrate-like hydrophobic hydration structures. New NOE data for oxytocin and published NOE data for BPTI were analyzed, and a mutually consistent interpretation of MRD and NOE results was achieved with the aid of a new theory of intermolecular dipolar relaxation that accounts explicitly for the dynamic perturbation at the biomolecular surface. The analysis indicates that water-protein NOEs are dominated by long-range dipolar couplings to bulk water, unless the monitored protein proton is near a partly or fully buried hydration site where the water molecule has a long residence time.

Determination of the nuclear magnetic resonance solution structure of an Antennapedia homeodomain-DNA complex

The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) solution structure of a complex formed by the mutant Antennapedia homeodomain with Cys39 replaced by Ser, Antp(C39S), and a 14 base-pair DNA duplex containing the BS2 operator sequence was determined using uniform 13C and 15N-labeling of the protein. Two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy ([1H,1H]NOESY) with 15N(omega 2)-half-filter and 13C(omega 1, omega 2)-double-half-filter, and three-dimensional heteronuclear-correlated [1H,1H]NOESY yielded a total of 855 intramolecular NOE upper distance constraints in the homeodomain, 151 upper distance constraints within the DNA duplex, and 39 intermolecular protein-DNA upper distance constraints. These data were used as the input for the structure calculation with simulated annealing followed by molecular dynamics in a water bath and energy refinement. A group of 16 conformers was thus generated which represent the solution structure of the Antp(C39S) homeodomain-DNA complex. The new structure determination confirms the salient features reported previously from a preliminary investigation of the same complex, in particular the location of the recognition helix in the major groove with the turn of the helix-turn-helix motif outside the contact area with the DNA, and the N-terminal arm of the homeodomain contacting the minor groove of the DNA. In addition, distinct amino acid side-chain-DNA contacts could be identified, and evidence was found that the invariant residue Asn51 (and possibly also Gln50) is in a slow dynamic equilibrium between two or several different DNA contact sites. The molecular dynamics calculations in a water bath yielded structures with hydration water molecules in the protein-DNA interface, which coincides with direct NMR observations of hydration waters. In the Appendix the experimental data obtained with the Antp(C39S) homeodomain-DNA complex and the techniques used for the structure calculation are evaluated using a simulated input data set derived from the X-ray crystal structure of a DNA complex with a homologous homeodomain. This study indicates that a nearly complete set of NOE upper distance constraints for the Antp(C39S) homeodomain and the protein-DNA interface was presently obtained. It further shows that the structure calculation used here yields a precise reproduction of the crystal structure from the simulated input data, and also results in hydration of the protein-DNA interface in the recalculated complex.

NMR observation of individual molecules of hydration water bound to DNA duplexes: direct evidence for a spine of hydration water present in aqueous solution

The residence times of individual hydration water molecules in the major and minor grooves of DNA were measured by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in aqueous solutions of d-(CGCGAATTCGCG)2 and d-(AAAAATTTTT)2. The experimental observations were nuclear Overhauser effects (NOE) between water protons and the protons of the DNA. The positive sign of NOEs with the thymine methyl groups shows that the residence times of the hydration water molecules near these protons in the major groove of the DNA must be shorter than about 500 ps, which coincides with the behavior of surface hydration water in peptides and proteins. Negative NOEs were observed with the hydrogen atoms in position 2 of adenine in both duplexes studied. This indicates that a 'spine of hydration' in the minor groove, as observed by X-ray diffraction in DNA crystals, is present also in solution, with residence times significantly longer than 1 ns. Such residence times are reminiscent of 'interior' hydration water molecules in globular proteins, which are an integral part of the molecular architecture both in solution and in crystals.

Identification of protein surfaces by NMR measurements with a pramagnetic Gd(III) chelate

Gd-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid-bismethylamide, Gd(DTPA-BMA), is shown to be a reagent suitable for the identification of protein surfaces. Compared to the conventionally used spin-label TEMPOL, Gd(DTPA-BMA) is a stronger relaxation agent, requiring lesser concentrations to achieve the same paramagnetic relaxation enhancement of solvent-exposed protein protons. It is also less hydrophobic and therefore less prone to specific binding to proteins. Relaxation enhancements predicted by a second-sphere interaction model correlated with experimental data recorded with ubiquitin, while the correlation with corresponding data recorded with TEMPOL was poor.

Saposin fold revealed by the NMR structure of NK-lysin

NK-lysin is the first representative of a family of sequence related proteins--saposins, surfactant-associated protein B, pore forming amoeba proteins, and domains of acid sphingomyelinase, acyloxyacylhydrolase and plant aspartic proteinases--for which a structure has been determined.

The structure of the homeodomain and its functional implications

The three-dimensional structure of the homeodomain, as determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, reveals the presence of a helix-turn-helix motif, similar to the one found in prokaryotic gene regulatory proteins. Isolated homeodomains bind with high affinity to specific DNA sequences. Thus, the structure-function relationship is highly conserved in evolution.

Isolation and sequence-specific DNA binding of the Antennapedia homeodomain

The homeodomain encoded by the Antennapedia (Antp) gene of Drosophila was overproduced in a T7 expression vector in Escherichia coli. The corresponding polypeptide of 68 amino acids was purified to homogeneity. The homeodomain was analysed by ultracentrifugation and assayed for DNA binding. The secondary structure of the isolated homeodomain was determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. DNA-binding studies indicate that the isolated homeodomain binds to DNA in vitro. It selectively binds to the same sites as a longer Antp polypeptide and a full-length fushi tarazu (ftz) protein. Therefore, the homeodomain represents the DNA-binding domain of the homeotic proteins.

Prospects for lanthanides in structural biology by NMR

The advent of different lanthanide-binding reagents has made site-specific labelling of proteins with paramagnetic lanthanides a viable proposition. This brings many powerful techniques originally established and demonstrated for paramagnetic metalloproteins into the mainstream of structural biology. The promise is that, by exploiting the long-range effects of paramagnetism, lanthanide labelling will allow the study of larger proteins and protein-ligand complexes with greater ease and accuracy than hitherto possible. In particular, lanthanide-induced pseudocontact shifts (PCS) provide powerful restraints and 3D structure determination using PCS as the only source of experimental restraints will probably be possible with data obtained from samples with different lanthanide-tagging sites. Cell-free protein synthesis is positioned to play an important role in this strategy, as an inexpensive source of selectively labelled protein samples and for easy site-specific incorporation of unnatural lanthanide-binding amino acids.

The death-domain fold of the ASC PYRIN domain, presenting a basis for PYRIN/PYRIN recognition

The PYRIN domain is a conserved sequence motif identified in more than 20 human proteins with putative functions in apoptotic and inflammatory signalling pathways. The three-dimensional structure of the PYRIN domain from human ASC was determined by NMR spectroscopy. The structure determination reveals close structural similarity to death domains, death effector domains, and caspase activation and recruitment domains, although the structural alignment with these other members of the death-domain superfamily differs from previously predicted amino acid sequence alignments. Two highly positively and negatively charged surfaces in the PYRIN domain of ASC result in a strong electrostatic dipole moment that is predicted to be present also in related PYRIN domains. These results suggest that electrostatic interactions play an important role for the binding between PYRIN domains. Consequently, the previously reported binding between the PYRIN domains of ASC and ASC2/POP1 or between the zebrafish PYRIN domains of zAsc and Caspy is proposed to involve interactions between helices 2 and 3 of one PYRIN domain with helices 1 and 4 of the other PYRIN domain, in analogy to previously reported homophilic interactions between caspase activation and recruitment domains.

Disulfide bond isomerization in BPTI and BPTI(G36S): an NMR study of correlated mobility in proteins

Two conformational isomers were observed in the 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of the basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) and of a mutant protein with Gly 36 replaced by Ser, BPTI(G36S). The less abundant isomer differs from the major conformation by different chirality of the Cys 14-Cys 38 disulfide bond. In BPTI, the population of the minor conformer increases from about 1.5% at 4 degrees C to 8% at 68 degrees C. In BPTI(G36S), the population of the minor conformation is about 15% of the total protein, so that a detailed structural study was technically feasible; a trend toward increasing population of the minor conformer at higher temperatures was observed also for this mutant protein. The activation parameters for the exchange between the two conformations were measured in the temperature range 4-68 degrees C, using uniformly 15N-enriched protein samples. Below room temperature the exchange rate of the disulfide flip follows an Arrhenius-type temperature dependence, with negative activation entropy in both proteins. At higher temperatures the exchange rates are governed by a different set of activation parameters, which are similar to those for the ring flips of Tyr 35 about the C beta-C gamma bond. Although the equilibrium enthalpy and entropy were found to be largely temperature independent, the activation entropy changes sign and is positive at higher temperatures. These results suggest that, above room temperature, the disulfide flips are coupled to the same protein structure fluctuations as the ring flips of Tyr 35.

Paramagnetic labelling of proteins and oligonucleotides for NMR

Paramagnetic effects offer a rich source of long-range structural restraints. Here we review current methods for site-specific tagging of proteins and oligonucleotides with paramagnetic molecules. The paramagnetic tags include nitroxide radicals and metal chelators. Particular emphasis is placed on tags suitable for site-specific and rigid attachment of lanthanide ions to macromolecules.