1
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Koduru T, Hantman N, Peters EV, Jaworek MW, Wang J, Zhang S, McCallum SA, Gillilan RE, Fossat MJ, Roumestand C, Sagar A, Winter R, Bernadó P, Cherfils J, Royer CA. A molten globule ensemble primes Arf1-GDP for the nucleotide switch. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2413100121. [PMID: 39292747 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2413100121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2024] [Accepted: 07/31/2024] [Indexed: 09/20/2024] Open
Abstract
The adenosine di-phosphate (ADP) ribosylation factor (Arf) small guanosine tri-phosphate (GTP)ases function as molecular switches to activate signaling cascades that control membrane organization in eukaryotic cells. In Arf1, the GDP/GTP switch does not occur spontaneously but requires guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) and membranes. Exchange involves massive conformational changes, including disruption of the core β-sheet. The mechanisms by which this energetically costly switch occurs remain to be elucidated. To probe the switch mechanism, we coupled pressure perturbation with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier Transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), fluorescence, and computation. Pressure induced the formation of a classical molten globule (MG) ensemble. Pressure also favored the GDP to GTP transition, providing strong support for the notion that the MG ensemble plays a functional role in the nucleotide switch. We propose that the MG ensemble allows for switching without the requirement for complete unfolding and may be recognized by GEFs. An MG-based switching mechanism could constitute a pervasive feature in Arfs and Arf-like GTPases, and more generally, the evolutionarily related (Ras-like small GTPases) Rags and Gα GTPases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tejaswi Koduru
- Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180
| | - Noam Hantman
- Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Biophysics, School of Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180
| | - Edgar V Peters
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180
| | - Michel W Jaworek
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Biophysical Chemistry, Technical University of Dortmund University, Dortmund D-44227, Germany
| | - Jinqiu Wang
- Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Biophysics, School of Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180
| | - Siwen Zhang
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180
| | - Scott A McCallum
- Shirley Ann Jackson, PhD. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180
| | - Richard E Gillilan
- Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
| | - Martin J Fossat
- Department of Biological Physics, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetic, Freiburg D-79108, Germany
| | - Christian Roumestand
- Centre de Biochimie Structurale, CNRS, INSERM, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier 34090, France
| | - Amin Sagar
- Centre de Biochimie Structurale, CNRS, INSERM, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier 34090, France
| | - Roland Winter
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Biophysical Chemistry, Technical University of Dortmund University, Dortmund D-44227, Germany
| | - Pau Bernadó
- Centre de Biochimie Structurale, CNRS, INSERM, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier 34090, France
| | - Jacqueline Cherfils
- Université Paris-Saclay, Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette 91190, France
| | - Catherine A Royer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180
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2
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Banasik M, Napolitano V, Blat A, Abdulkarim K, Plewka J, Czaplewski C, Gieldon A, Kozak M, Wladyka B, Popowicz G, Dubin G. Structural dynamics of the TPR domain of the peroxisomal cargo receptor Pex5 in Trypanosoma. Int J Biol Macromol 2024:135510. [PMID: 39304044 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.135510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2024] [Revised: 09/06/2024] [Accepted: 09/07/2024] [Indexed: 09/22/2024]
Abstract
Peroxisomal protein import has been identified as a valid target in trypanosomiases, an important health threat in Central and South America. The importomer is built of multiple peroxins (Pex) and structural characterization of these proteins facilitates rational inhibitor development. We report crystal structures of the Trypanosoma brucei and T. cruzi tetratricopeptide repeat domain (TPR) of the cytoplasmic peroxisomal targeting signal 1 (PTS1) receptor Pex5. The structure of the TPR domain of TbPex5 represents an apo-form of the receptor which, together with the previously determined structure of the complex of TbPex5 TPR and PTS1 demonstrate significant receptor dynamics associated with signal peptide recognition. The structure of the complex of TPR domain of TcPex5 with PTS1 provided in this study details the molecular interactions that guide signal peptide recognition at the atomic level in the pathogenic species currently perceived as the most relevant among Trypanosoma. Small - angle X - ray scattering (SAXS) data obtained in solution supports the crystallographic findings on the compaction of the TPR domains of TbPex5 and TcPex5 upon interaction with the cargo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Banasik
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7a, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
| | - Valeria Napolitano
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7a, 30-387 Krakow, Poland; Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
| | - Artur Blat
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7a, 30-387 Krakow, Poland; Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Karim Abdulkarim
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7a, 30-387 Krakow, Poland; Department of Community Health, College of Health Technology, Cihan University-Erbil, 100 Street, 44001 Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq; Department of Biology, College of Science, Salahaddin University-Erbil, Kirkuk Road, 44002 Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
| | - Jacek Plewka
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7a, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
| | - Cezary Czaplewski
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdansk, Poland; School of Computational Sciences, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, 85 Hoegiro Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02455, Republic of Korea
| | - Artur Gieldon
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdansk, Poland
| | - Maciej Kozak
- Faculty of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-614 Poznan, Poland; National Synchrotron Radiation Centre SOLARIS, Jagiellonian University, 30-392 Kraków, Poland
| | - Benedykt Wladyka
- Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
| | | | - Grzegorz Dubin
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7a, 30-387 Krakow, Poland.
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3
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Streit JO, Bukvin IV, Chan SHS, Bashir S, Woodburn LF, Włodarski T, Figueiredo AM, Jurkeviciute G, Sidhu HK, Hornby CR, Waudby CA, Cabrita LD, Cassaignau AME, Christodoulou J. The ribosome lowers the entropic penalty of protein folding. Nature 2024; 633:232-239. [PMID: 39112704 PMCID: PMC11374706 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07784-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/04/2024] [Indexed: 08/17/2024]
Abstract
Most proteins fold during biosynthesis on the ribosome1, and co-translational folding energetics, pathways and outcomes of many proteins have been found to differ considerably from those in refolding studies2-10. The origin of this folding modulation by the ribosome has remained unknown. Here we have determined atomistic structures of the unfolded state of a model protein on and off the ribosome, which reveal that the ribosome structurally expands the unfolded nascent chain and increases its solvation, resulting in its entropic destabilization relative to the peptide chain in isolation. Quantitative 19F NMR experiments confirm that this destabilization reduces the entropic penalty of folding by up to 30 kcal mol-1 and promotes formation of partially folded intermediates on the ribosome, an observation that extends to other protein domains and is obligate for some proteins to acquire their active conformation. The thermodynamic effects also contribute to the ribosome protecting the nascent chain from mutation-induced unfolding, which suggests a crucial role of the ribosome in supporting protein evolution. By correlating nascent chain structure and dynamics to their folding energetics and post-translational outcomes, our findings establish the physical basis of the distinct thermodynamics of co-translational protein folding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian O Streit
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Ivana V Bukvin
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Sammy H S Chan
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Shahzad Bashir
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Lauren F Woodburn
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Tomasz Włodarski
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Angelo Miguel Figueiredo
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Gabija Jurkeviciute
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Haneesh K Sidhu
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Charity R Hornby
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Christopher A Waudby
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Lisa D Cabrita
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Anaïs M E Cassaignau
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK.
| | - John Christodoulou
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, UK.
- Department of Biological Sciences, Birkbeck College, London, UK.
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4
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Li T, Motta S, He Y. Deciphering the Mystery in p300 Taz2-p53 TAD2 Recognition. J Chem Theory Comput 2024. [PMID: 39141804 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.4c00541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/16/2024]
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) engage in various fundamental biological activities, and their behavior is of particular importance for a better understanding of the verbose but well-organized signal transduction in cells. IDPs exhibit uniquely paradoxical features with low affinity but simultaneously high specificity in recognizing their binding targets. The transcription factor p53 plays a crucial role in cancer suppression, carrying out some of its biological functions using its disordered regions, such as N-terminal transactivation domain 2 (TAD2). Exploration of the binding and unbinding processes between proteins is challenging, and the inherently disordered properties of these regions further complicate the issue. Computer simulations are a powerful tool to complement the experiments to fill gaps to explore the binding/unbinding processes between proteins. Here, we investigated the binding mechanism between p300 Taz2 and p53 TAD2 through extensive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the physics-based UNited RESidue (UNRES) force field with additional Go̅-like potentials. Distance restraints extracted from the NMR-resolved structures were imposed on intermolecular residue pairs to accelerate binding simulations, in which Taz2 was immobilized in a native-like conformation and disordered TAD2 was fully free. Starting from six structures with TAD2 placed at different positions around Taz2, we observed a metastable intermediate state in which the middle helical segment of TAD2 is anchored in the binding pocket, highlighting the significance of the TAD2 helix in directing protein recognition. Physics-based binding simulations show that successful binding is achieved after a series of stages, including (1) protein collisions to initiate the formation of encounter complexes, (2) partial attachment of TAD2, and finally (3) full attachment of TAD2 to the correct binding pocket of Taz2. Furthermore, machine-learning-based PathDetect-SOM was used to identify two binding pathways, the encounter complexes, and the intermediate states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tongtong Li
- Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
| | - Stefano Motta
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan 20126, Italy
| | - Yi He
- Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
- Translational Informatics Division, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
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5
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Shi S, Zhao L, Lu ZY. Coarse-Grained Modeling of Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation in Cells: Challenges and Opportunities. J Phys Chem Lett 2024; 15:7280-7287. [PMID: 38979955 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c01261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/10/2024]
Abstract
Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) within cells gives rise to membraneless organelles, which play pivotal roles in numerous cellular functions. A comprehensive understanding of the functional aspects of intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) condensates necessitates elucidating their inherent structures and establishing correlations with biological functions. Coarse-grained (CG) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations present a promising avenue for gaining insights into LLPS mechanisms of biomacromolecules. Essential to this endeavor is the development of tailored CG force fields for MD simulations, incorporating the full spectrum of biomolecules involved in the formation of condensates and accounting for real-time biochemical reactions coupled to the LLPS. Moreover, developing accurate theoretical frameworks and establishing links between condensate structure and its function are imperative for a thorough comprehension of LLPS of biological systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaokang Shi
- College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
| | - Li Zhao
- School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
| | - Zhong-Yuan Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
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Hu Z, Sun T, Chen W, Nordenskiöld L, Lu L. Refined Bonded Terms in Coarse-Grained Models for Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Improve Backbone Conformations. J Phys Chem B 2024; 128:6492-6508. [PMID: 38950000 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c02823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/03/2024]
Abstract
Coarse-grained models designed for intrinsically disordered proteins and regions (IDP/Rs) usually omit some bonded potentials (e.g., angular and dihedral potentials) as a conventional strategy to enhance backbone flexibility. However, a notable drawback of this approach is the generation of inaccurate backbone conformations. Here, we addressed this problem by introducing residue-specific angular, refined dihedral, and correction map (CMAP) potentials, derived based on the statistics from a customized coil database. These bonded potentials were integrated into the existing Mpipi model, resulting in a new model, denoted as the "Mpipi+" model. Results show that the Mpipi+ model can improve backbone conformations. More importantly, it can markedly improve the secondary structure propensity (SSP) based on the experimental chemical shift and, consequently, succeed in capturing transient secondary structures. Moreover, the Mpipi+ model preserves the liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) propensities of IDPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zixin Hu
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Tiedong Sun
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Wenwen Chen
- UHL no. 05-01, Tan Chin Tuan Wing, Office of the President, University Hall, National University of Singapore, 21 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119077, Singapore
| | - Lars Nordenskiöld
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Lanyuan Lu
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
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7
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Deorowicz S, Gudyś A. Efficient protein structure archiving using ProteStAr. Bioinformatics 2024; 40:btae428. [PMID: 38984796 PMCID: PMC11239224 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btae428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 06/11/2024] [Accepted: 07/08/2024] [Indexed: 07/11/2024] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION The introduction of Deep Minds' Alpha Fold 2 enabled the prediction of protein structures at an unprecedented scale. AlphaFold Protein Structure Database and ESM Metagenomic Atlas contain hundreds of millions of structures stored in CIF and/or PDB formats. When compressed with a general-purpose utility like gzip, this translates to tens of terabytes of data, which hinders the effective use of predicted structures in large-scale analyses. RESULTS Here, we present ProteStAr, a compressor dedicated to CIF/PDB, as well as supplementary PAE files. Its main contribution is a novel approach to predicting atom coordinates on the basis of the previously analyzed atoms. This allows efficient encoding of the coordinates, the largest component of the protein structure files. The compression is lossless by default, though the lossy mode with a controlled maximum error of coordinates reconstruction is also present. Compared to the competing packages, i.e. BinaryCIF, Foldcomp, PDC, our approach offers a superior compression ratio at established reconstruction accuracy. By the efficient use of threads at both compression and decompression stages, the algorithm takes advantage of the multicore architecture of current central processing units and operates with speeds of about 1 GB/s. The presence of Python and C++ API further increases the usability of the presented method. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION The source code of ProteStAr is available at https://github.com/refresh-bio/protestar.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Deorowicz
- Department of Algorithmics and Software, Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 16, Gliwice, PL-44100, Poland
| | - Adam Gudyś
- Department of Algorithmics and Software, Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 16, Gliwice, PL-44100, Poland
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8
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Gupta G, Verkhivker G. Exploring Binding Pockets in the Conformational States of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Trimers for the Screening of Allosteric Inhibitors Using Molecular Simulations and Ensemble-Based Ligand Docking. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:4955. [PMID: 38732174 PMCID: PMC11084335 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25094955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2024] [Revised: 04/24/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding mechanisms of allosteric regulation remains elusive for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, despite the increasing interest and effort in discovering allosteric inhibitors of the viral activity and interactions with the host receptor ACE2. The challenges of discovering allosteric modulators of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins are associated with the diversity of cryptic allosteric sites and complex molecular mechanisms that can be employed by allosteric ligands, including the alteration of the conformational equilibrium of spike protein and preferential stabilization of specific functional states. In the current study, we combine conformational dynamics analysis of distinct forms of the full-length spike protein trimers and machine-learning-based binding pocket detection with the ensemble-based ligand docking and binding free energy analysis to characterize the potential allosteric binding sites and determine structural and energetic determinants of allosteric inhibition for a series of experimentally validated allosteric molecules. The results demonstrate a good agreement between computational and experimental binding affinities, providing support to the predicted binding modes and suggesting key interactions formed by the allosteric ligands to elicit the experimentally observed inhibition. We establish structural and energetic determinants of allosteric binding for the experimentally known allosteric molecules, indicating a potential mechanism of allosteric modulation by targeting the hinges of the inter-protomer movements and blocking conformational changes between the closed and open spike trimer forms. The results of this study demonstrate that combining ensemble-based ligand docking with conformational states of spike protein and rigorous binding energy analysis enables robust characterization of the ligand binding modes, the identification of allosteric binding hotspots, and the prediction of binding affinities for validated allosteric modulators, which is consistent with the experimental data. This study suggested that the conformational adaptability of the protein allosteric sites and the diversity of ligand bound conformations are both in play to enable efficient targeting of allosteric binding sites and interfere with the conformational changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace Gupta
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA;
| | - Gennady Verkhivker
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA;
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
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9
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Rogoża NH, Krupa MA, Krupa P, Sieradzan AK. Integrating Explicit and Implicit Fullerene Models into UNRES Force Field for Protein Interaction Studies. Molecules 2024; 29:1919. [PMID: 38731411 PMCID: PMC11085604 DOI: 10.3390/molecules29091919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2024] [Revised: 04/16/2024] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Fullerenes, particularly C60, exhibit unique properties that make them promising candidates for various applications, including drug delivery and nanomedicine. However, their interactions with biomolecules, especially proteins, remain not fully understood. This study implements both explicit and implicit C60 models into the UNRES coarse-grained force field, enabling the investigation of fullerene-protein interactions without the need for restraints to stabilize protein structures. The UNRES force field offers computational efficiency, allowing for longer timescale simulations while maintaining accuracy. Five model proteins were studied: FK506 binding protein, HIV-1 protease, intestinal fatty acid binding protein, PCB-binding protein, and hen egg-white lysozyme. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed with and without C60 to assess protein stability and investigate the impact of fullerene interactions. Analysis of contact probabilities reveals distinct interaction patterns for each protein. FK506 binding protein (1FKF) shows specific binding sites, while intestinal fatty acid binding protein (1ICN) and uteroglobin (1UTR) exhibit more generalized interactions. The explicit C60 model shows good agreement with all-atom simulations in predicting protein flexibility, the position of C60 in the binding pocket, and the estimation of effective binding energies. The integration of explicit and implicit C60 models into the UNRES force field, coupled with recent advances in coarse-grained modeling and multiscale approaches, provides a powerful framework for investigating protein-nanoparticle interactions at biologically relevant scales without the need to use restraints stabilizing the protein, thus allowing for large conformational changes to occur. These computational tools, in synergy with experimental techniques, can aid in understanding the mechanisms and consequences of nanoparticle-biomolecule interactions, guiding the design of nanomaterials for biomedical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia H. Rogoża
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Bażyńskiego 8, 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland; (N.H.R.); (M.A.K.); (A.K.S.)
| | - Magdalena A. Krupa
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Bażyńskiego 8, 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland; (N.H.R.); (M.A.K.); (A.K.S.)
| | - Pawel Krupa
- Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotnikow 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Adam K. Sieradzan
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Bażyńskiego 8, 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland; (N.H.R.); (M.A.K.); (A.K.S.)
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10
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Pereira AF, Martínez L. Helical Content Correlations and Hydration Structures of the Folding Ensemble of the B Domain of Protein A. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:3350-3359. [PMID: 38566451 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
The B domain of protein A (BdpA), a small three-helix bundle, folds on a time scale of a few microseconds with heterogeneous native and unfolded states. It is widely used as a model for understanding protein folding mechanisms. In this work, we use structure-based models (SBMs) and atomistic simulations to comprehensively investigate how BdpA folding is associated with the formation of its secondary structure. The energy landscape visualization method (ELViM) was used to characterize the pathways that connect the folded and unfolded states of BdpA as well as the sets of structures displaying specific ellipticity patterns. We show that the native state conformational diversity is due mainly to the conformational variability of helix I. Helices I, II, and III occur in a weakly correlated manner, with Spearman's rank correlation coefficients of 0.1539 (I and II), 0.1259 (I and III), and 0.2561 (II and III). These results, therefore, suggest the highest cooperativity between helices II and III. Our results allow the clustering of partially folded structures of folding of the B domain of protein A on the basis of its secondary structure, paving the way to an understanding of environmental factors in the relative stability of the basins of the folding ensemble, which are illustrated by the structural dependency of the protein hydration structures, as computed with minimum-distance distribution functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ander Francisco Pereira
- Institute of Chemistry and Center for Computing in Engineering & Science, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), 13083-861 Campinas, SP, Brazil
| | - Leandro Martínez
- Institute of Chemistry and Center for Computing in Engineering & Science, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), 13083-861 Campinas, SP, Brazil
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11
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Zhang W, Xia CJ, Zhao XM, Zhang GQ, Li LB, Su YH, Fang QL. First-principles studies on the electronic and contact properties of monolayer Ga 2STe-metal contacts. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:11958-11967. [PMID: 38573215 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp06331c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
Monolayer (ML) Janus III-VI compounds have attracted the use of multiple competitive platforms for future-generation functional electronics, including non-volatile memories, field effect transistors, and sensors. In this work, the electronic and interfacial properties of ML Ga2STe-metal (Au, Ag, Cu, and Al) contacts are systematically investigated using first-principles calculations combined with the non-equilibrium Green's function method. The ML Ga2STe-Au/Ag/Al contacts exhibit weak electronic orbital hybridization at the interface, while the ML Ga2STe-Cu contact exhibits strong electronic orbital hybridization. The Te surface is more conducive to electron injection than the S surface in ML Ga2STe-metal contact. Quantum transport calculations revealed that when the Te side of the ML Ga2STe is in contact with Au, Ag and Cu electrodes, p-type Schottky contacts are formed. When in contact with the Al electrode, an n-type Schottky contact is formed with an electron SBH of 0.079 eV. When the S side of ML Ga2STe is in contact with Au and Al electrodes, p-type Schottky contacts are formed, and when it is in contact with Ag and Cu electrodes, n-type Schottky contacts are formed. Our study will guide the selection of appropriate metal electrodes for constructing ML Ga2STe devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanyunfei Zhang
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an 710048, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Cai-Juan Xia
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an 710048, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Xu-Mei Zhao
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an 710048, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Guo-Qing Zhang
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an 710048, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Lian-Bi Li
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an 710048, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Yao-Heng Su
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an 710048, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Qing-Long Fang
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an 710048, Shaanxi, China.
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12
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Lan PD, Nissley DA, Sitarik I, Vu QV, Jiang Y, To P, Xia Y, Fried SD, Li MS, O'Brien EP. Synonymous Mutations Can Alter Protein Dimerization Through Localized Interface Misfolding Involving Self-entanglements. J Mol Biol 2024; 436:168487. [PMID: 38341172 PMCID: PMC11260358 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2024.168487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
Synonymous mutations in messenger RNAs (mRNAs) can reduce protein-protein binding substantially without changing the protein's amino acid sequence. Here, we use coarse-grain simulations of protein synthesis, post-translational dynamics, and dimerization to understand how synonymous mutations can influence the dimerization of two E. coli homodimers, oligoribonuclease and ribonuclease T. We synthesize each protein from its wildtype, fastest- and slowest-translating synonymous mRNAs in silico and calculate the ensemble-averaged interaction energy between the resulting dimers. We find synonymous mutations alter oligoribonuclease's dimer properties. Relative to wildtype, the dimer interaction energy becomes 4% and 10% stronger, respectively, when translated from its fastest- and slowest-translating mRNAs. Ribonuclease T dimerization, however, is insensitive to synonymous mutations. The structural and kinetic origin of these changes are misfolded states containing non-covalent lasso-entanglements, many of which structurally perturb the dimer interface, and whose probability of occurrence depends on translation speed. These entangled states are kinetic traps that persist for long time scales. Entanglements cause altered dimerization energies for oligoribonuclease, as there is a large association (odds ratio: 52) between the co-occurrence of non-native self-entanglements and weak-binding dimer conformations. Simulated at all-atom resolution, these entangled structures persist for long timescales, indicating the conclusions are independent of model resolution. Finally, we show that regions of the protein we predict to have changes in entanglement are also structurally perturbed during refolding, as detected by limited-proteolysis mass spectrometry. Thus, non-native changes in entanglement at dimer interfaces is a mechanism through which oligomer structure and stability can be altered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pham Dang Lan
- Institute for Computational Sciences and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam; Faculty of Physics and Engineering Physics, VNUHCM-University of Science, 227, Nguyen Van Cu Street, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
| | - Daniel Allen Nissley
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Ian Sitarik
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Quyen V Vu
- Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Yang Jiang
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Philip To
- Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Yingzi Xia
- Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Stephen D Fried
- Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Thomas C. Jenkins Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Mai Suan Li
- Institute for Computational Sciences and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam; Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Edward P O'Brien
- Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Bioinformatics and Genomics Graduate Program, The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
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13
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Leśniewski M, Pyrka M, Czaplewski C, Co NT, Jiang Y, Gong Z, Tang C, Liwo A. Assessment of Two Restraint Potentials for Coarse-Grained Chemical-Cross-Link-Assisted Modeling of Protein Structures. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:1377-1393. [PMID: 38345917 PMCID: PMC10900291 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2023] [Revised: 01/20/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
The influence of distance restraints from chemical cross-link mass spectroscopy (XL-MS) on the quality of protein structures modeled with the coarse-grained UNRES force field was assessed by using a protocol based on multiplexed replica exchange molecular dynamics, in which both simulated and experimental cross-link restraints were employed, for 23 small proteins. Six cross-links with upper distance boundaries from 4 Å to 12 Å (azido benzoic acid succinimide (ABAS), triazidotriazine (TATA), succinimidyldiazirine (SDA), disuccinimidyl adipate (DSA), disuccinimidyl glutarate (DSG), and disuccinimidyl suberate (BS3)) and two types of restraining potentials ((i) simple flat-bottom Lorentz-like potentials dependent on side chain distance (all cross-links) and (ii) distance- and orientation-dependent potentials determined based on molecular dynamics simulations of model systems (DSA, DSG, BS3, and SDA)) were considered. The Lorentz-like potentials with properly set parameters were found to produce a greater number of higher-quality models compared to unrestrained simulations than the MD-based potentials, because the latter can force too long distances between side chains. Therefore, the flat-bottom Lorentz-like potentials are recommended to represent cross-link restraints. It was also found that significant improvement of model quality upon the introduction of cross-link restraints is obtained when the sum of differences of indices of cross-linked residues exceeds 150.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mateusz Leśniewski
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Maciej Pyrka
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
- Department
of Physics and Biophysics, University of
Warmia and Mazury, ul. Oczapowskiego 4, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
| | - Cezary Czaplewski
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Nguyen Truong Co
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Yida Jiang
- College
of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering & Center for Quantitative
Biology & PKU-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences & Beijing
National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Zhou Gong
- Innovation
Academy of Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 30 W. Xiao Hong Shan, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Chun Tang
- College
of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering & Center for Quantitative
Biology & PKU-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences & Beijing
National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Adam Liwo
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
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14
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van Kempen M, Kim SS, Tumescheit C, Mirdita M, Lee J, Gilchrist CLM, Söding J, Steinegger M. Fast and accurate protein structure search with Foldseek. Nat Biotechnol 2024; 42:243-246. [PMID: 37156916 PMCID: PMC10869269 DOI: 10.1038/s41587-023-01773-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 330] [Impact Index Per Article: 330.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
As structure prediction methods are generating millions of publicly available protein structures, searching these databases is becoming a bottleneck. Foldseek aligns the structure of a query protein against a database by describing tertiary amino acid interactions within proteins as sequences over a structural alphabet. Foldseek decreases computation times by four to five orders of magnitude with 86%, 88% and 133% of the sensitivities of Dali, TM-align and CE, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel van Kempen
- Quantitative and Computational Biology Group, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Stephanie S Kim
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | | | - Milot Mirdita
- Quantitative and Computational Biology Group, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jeongjae Lee
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | | | - Johannes Söding
- Quantitative and Computational Biology Group, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany.
- Campus Institute Data Science (CIDAS), Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Martin Steinegger
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
- Artificial Intelligence Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
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15
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Tesei G, Trolle AI, Jonsson N, Betz J, Knudsen FE, Pesce F, Johansson KE, Lindorff-Larsen K. Conformational ensembles of the human intrinsically disordered proteome. Nature 2024; 626:897-904. [PMID: 38297118 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-07004-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins and regions (collectively, IDRs) are pervasive across proteomes in all kingdoms of life, help to shape biological functions and are involved in numerous diseases. IDRs populate a diverse set of transiently formed structures and defy conventional sequence-structure-function relationships1. Developments in protein science have made it possible to predict the three-dimensional structures of folded proteins at the proteome scale2. By contrast, there is a lack of knowledge about the conformational properties of IDRs, partly because the sequences of disordered proteins are poorly conserved and also because only a few of these proteins have been characterized experimentally. The inability to predict structural properties of IDRs across the proteome has limited our understanding of the functional roles of IDRs and how evolution shapes them. As a supplement to previous structural studies of individual IDRs3, we developed an efficient molecular model to generate conformational ensembles of IDRs and thereby to predict their conformational properties from sequences4,5. Here we use this model to simulate nearly all of the IDRs in the human proteome. Examining conformational ensembles of 28,058 IDRs, we show how chain compaction is correlated with cellular function and localization. We provide insights into how sequence features relate to chain compaction and, using a machine-learning model trained on our simulation data, show the conservation of conformational properties across orthologues. Our results recapitulate observations from previous studies of individual protein systems and exemplify how to link-at the proteome scale-conformational ensembles with cellular function and localization, amino acid sequence, evolutionary conservation and disease variants. Our freely available database of conformational properties will encourage further experimental investigation and enable the generation of hypotheses about the biological roles and evolution of IDRs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulio Tesei
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Anna Ida Trolle
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Nicolas Jonsson
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Johannes Betz
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Frederik E Knudsen
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Francesco Pesce
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kristoffer E Johansson
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kresten Lindorff-Larsen
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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16
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Ferrada E, Wiedmer T, Wang WA, Frommelt F, Steurer B, Klimek C, Lindinger S, Osthushenrich T, Garofoli A, Brocchetti S, Bradberry S, Huang J, MacNamara A, Scarabottolo L, Ecker GF, Malarstig A, Superti-Furga G. Experimental and Computational Analysis of Newly Identified Pathogenic Mutations in the Creatine Transporter SLC6A8. J Mol Biol 2024; 436:168383. [PMID: 38070861 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2023.168383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2023] [Revised: 11/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
Creatine is an essential metabolite for the storage and rapid supply of energy in muscle and nerve cells. In humans, impaired metabolism, transport, and distribution of creatine throughout tissues can cause varying forms of mental disability, also known as creatine deficiency syndrome (CDS). So far, 80 mutations in the creatine transporter (SLC6A8) have been associated to CDS. To better understand the effect of human genetic variants on the physiology of SLC6A8 and their possible impact on CDS, we studied 30 missense variants including 15 variants of unknown significance, two of which are reported here for the first time. We expressed these variants in HEK293 cells and explored their subcellular localization and transport activity. We also applied computational methods to predict variant effect and estimate site-specific changes in thermodynamic stability. To explore variants that might have a differential effect on the transporter's conformers along the transport cycle, we constructed homology models of the inward facing, and outward facing conformations. In addition, we used mass-spectrometry to study proteins that interact with wild type SLC6A8 and five selected variants in HEK293 cells. In silico models of the protein complexes revealed how two variants impact the interaction interface of SLC6A8 with other proteins and how pathogenic variants lead to an enrichment of ER protein partners. Overall, our integrated analysis disambiguates the pathogenicity of 15 variants of unknown significance revealing diverse mechanisms of pathogenicity, including two previously unreported variants obtained from patients suffering from the creatine deficiency syndrome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evandro Ferrada
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Tabea Wiedmer
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Wen-An Wang
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Fabian Frommelt
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Barbara Steurer
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christoph Klimek
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Sabrina Lindinger
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Andrea Garofoli
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | | | | | - Jiahui Huang
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | | | - Gerhard F Ecker
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Anders Malarstig
- Pfizer Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Giulio Superti-Furga
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria; Center for Physiology and Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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17
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Roszczenko-Jasińska P, Giełdoń A, Mazur D, Spodzieja M, Plichta M, Czaplewski C, Bal W, Jagusztyn-Krynicka EK, Bartosik D. Exploring the inhibitory potential of in silico-designed small peptides on Helicobacter pylori Hp0231 (DsbK), a periplasmic oxidoreductase involved in disulfide bond formation. Front Mol Biosci 2024; 10:1335704. [PMID: 38274095 PMCID: PMC10810133 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1335704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction: Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that colonizes the gastric epithelium, which affects millions of people worldwide. H. pylori infection can lead to various gastrointestinal diseases, including gastric adenocarcinoma and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. Conventional antibiotic therapies face challenges due to increasing antibiotic resistance and patient non-compliance, necessitating the exploration of alternative treatment approaches. In this study, we focused on Hp0231 (DsbK), an essential component of the H. pylori Dsb (disulfide bond) oxidative pathway, and investigated peptide-based inhibition as a potential therapeutic strategy. Methods: Three inhibitory peptides designed by computational modeling were evaluated for their effectiveness using a time-resolved fluorescence assay. We also examined the binding affinity between Hp0231 and the peptides using microscale thermophoresis. Results and discussion: Our findings demonstrate that in silico-designed synthetic peptides can effectively inhibit Hp0231-mediated peptide oxidation. Targeting Hp0231 oxidase activity could attenuate H. pylori virulence without compromising bacterial viability. Therefore, peptide-based inhibitors of Hp0231 could be candidates for the development of new targeted strategy, which does not influence the composition of the natural human microbiome, but deprive the bacterium of its pathogenic properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula Roszczenko-Jasińska
- Department of Bacterial Genetics, Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Artur Giełdoń
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Dominika Mazur
- Department of Bacterial Genetics, Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Maciej Plichta
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Wojciech Bal
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Dariusz Bartosik
- Department of Bacterial Genetics, Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
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18
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Biskupek I, Gieldon A. Two-Stage Recognition Mechanism of the SARS-CoV-2 Receptor-Binding Domain to Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme-2 (ACE2). Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:679. [PMID: 38203850 PMCID: PMC10779479 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25010679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 virus, commonly known as COVID-19, occurred in 2019. It is a highly contagious illness with effects ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. It is also one of the best-known pathogens since more than 200,000 scientific papers occurred in the last few years. With the publication of the SARS-CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2-CTD) spike (S) protein in a complex with human ACE2 (hACE2) (PDB (6LZG)), the molecular analysis of one of the most crucial steps on the infection pathway was possible. The aim of this manuscript is to simulate the most widely spread mutants of SARS-CoV-2, namely Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron, and the first recognized variant (natural wild type). With the wide search of the hypersurface of the potential energy performed using the UNRES force field, the intermediate state of the ACE2-RBD complex was found. R403, K/N/T417, L455, F486, Y489, F495, Y501, and Y505 played a crucial role in the protein recognition mechanism. The intermediate state cannot be very stable since it will prevent the infection cascade.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Artur Gieldon
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdansk, Poland;
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19
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Heo L, Feig M. One bead per residue can describe all-atom protein structures. Structure 2024; 32:97-111.e6. [PMID: 38000367 PMCID: PMC10872525 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2023.10.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Revised: 09/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023]
Abstract
Atomistic resolution is the standard for high-resolution biomolecular structures, but experimental structural data are often at lower resolution. Coarse-grained models are also used extensively in computational studies to reach biologically relevant spatial and temporal scales. This study explores the use of advanced machine learning networks for reconstructing atomistic models from reduced representations. The main finding is that a single bead per amino acid residue allows construction of accurate and stereochemically realistic all-atom structures with minimal loss of information. This suggests that lower resolution representations of proteins may be sufficient for many applications when combined with a machine learning framework that encodes knowledge from known structures. Practical applications include the rapid addition of atomistic detail to low-resolution structures from experiment or computational coarse-grained models. The application of rapid, deterministic all-atom reconstruction within multi-scale frameworks is further demonstrated with a rapid protocol for the generation of accurate models from cryo-EM densities close to experimental structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lim Heo
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Michael Feig
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
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20
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Krupa MA, Krupa P. Free-Docking and Template-Based Docking: Physics Versus Knowledge-Based Docking. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2780:27-41. [PMID: 38987462 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3985-6_3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
Docking methods can be used to predict the orientations of two or more molecules with respect of each other using a plethora of various algorithms, which can be based on the physics of interactions or can use information from databases and templates. The usability of these approaches depends on the type and size of the molecules, whose relative orientation will be estimated. The two most important limitations are (i) the computational cost of the prediction and (ii) the availability of the structural information for similar complexes. In general, if there is enough information about similar systems, knowledge-based and template-based methods can significantly reduce the computational cost while providing high accuracy of the prediction. However, if the information about the system topology and interactions between its partners is scarce, physics-based methods are more reliable or even the only choice. In this chapter, knowledge-, template-, and physics-based methods will be compared and briefly discussed providing examples of their usability with a special emphasis on physics-based protein-protein, protein-peptide, and protein-fullerene docking in the UNRES coarse-grained model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magdalena A Krupa
- Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Paweł Krupa
- Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
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21
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Terashi G, Wang X, Prasad D, Nakamura T, Kihara D. DeepMainmast: integrated protocol of protein structure modeling for cryo-EM with deep learning and structure prediction. Nat Methods 2024; 21:122-131. [PMID: 38066344 DOI: 10.1038/s41592-023-02099-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 10/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Three-dimensional structure modeling from maps is an indispensable step for studying proteins and their complexes with cryogenic electron microscopy. Although the resolution of determined cryogenic electron microscopy maps has generally improved, there are still many cases where tracing protein main chains is difficult, even in maps determined at a near-atomic resolution. Here we developed a protein structure modeling method, DeepMainmast, which employs deep learning to capture the local map features of amino acids and atoms to assist main-chain tracing. Moreover, we integrated AlphaFold2 with the de novo density tracing protocol to combine their complementary strengths and achieved even higher accuracy than each method alone. Additionally, the protocol is able to accurately assign the chain identity to the structure models of homo-multimers, which is not a trivial task for existing methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Genki Terashi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Xiao Wang
- Department of Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Devashish Prasad
- Department of Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Tsukasa Nakamura
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Daisuke Kihara
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
- Department of Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
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22
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Kim S. Backmapping with Mapping and Isomeric Information. J Phys Chem B 2023. [PMID: 38049145 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c05593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/06/2023]
Abstract
I present a powerful and flexible backmapping tool named Multiscale Simulation Tool (mstool) that converts a coarse-grained (CG) system into all-atom (AA) resolution and only requires AA to CG mapping and isomeric information (cis/trans/dihedral/chiral). The backmapping procedure includes two simple steps: (a) AA atoms are randomly placed near the corresponding CG beads according to the provided mapping scheme. (b) Energy minimization is performed with two modifications in the AA force field (FF). First, nonbonded interactions are replaced with cosine functions to ensure the numerical stability. Second, additional torsions are imposed to maintain the molecules' isomeric properties. To test the simplicity and robustness of the tool, I backmapped multiple membrane and protein CG structures into AA resolution, including a four-bead CG lipid model (resolution increased by a factor of 34) without using intermediate resolution. The tool is freely available at github.com/ksy141/mstool.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siyoung Kim
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 United States
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23
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Wesołowski PA, Sieradzan AK, Winnicki MJ, Morgan JWR, Wales DJ. Energy landscapes for proteins described by the UNRES coarse-grained potential. Biophys Chem 2023; 303:107107. [PMID: 37862761 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpc.2023.107107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Revised: 08/27/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 10/22/2023]
Abstract
The self-assembly of proteins is encoded in the underlying potential energy surface (PES), from which we can predict structure, dynamics, and thermodynamic properties. However, the corresponding analysis becomes increasingly challenging with larger protein sizes, due to the computational time required, which grows significantly with the number of atoms. Coarse-grained models offer an attractive approach to reduce the computational cost. In this Feature Article, we describe our implementation of the UNited RESidue (UNRES) coarse-grained potential in the Cambridge energy landscapes software. We have applied this framework to explore the energy landscapes of four proteins that exhibit native states involving different secondary structures. Here we have tested the ability of the UNRES potential to represent the global energy landscape of proteins containing up to 100 amino acid residues. The resulting potential energy landscapes exhibit good agreement with experiment, with low-lying minima close to the PDB geometries and to results obtained using the all-atom AMBER force field. The new program interfaces will allow us to investigate larger biomolecules in future work, using the UNRES potential in combination with all the methodology available in the computational energy landscapes framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patryk A Wesołowski
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK.
| | - Adam K Sieradzan
- Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk University, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Michał J Winnicki
- Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk University, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland; Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, 825 NE 13th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA; Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and the Medical University of Gdańsk, Abrahama 58, 80-307 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - John W R Morgan
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK; Downing College, University of Cambridge, Regent St., Cambridge CB2 1DQ, UK
| | - David J Wales
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK.
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Terashi G, Wang X, Prasad D, Nakamura T, Zhu H, Kihara D. Integrated Protocol of Protein Structure Modeling for Cryo-EM with Deep Learning and Structure Prediction. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.19.563151. [PMID: 37904978 PMCID: PMC10614963 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.19.563151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
Structure modeling from maps is an indispensable step for studying proteins and their complexes with cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Although the resolution of determined cryo-EM maps has generally improved, there are still many cases where tracing protein main-chains is difficult, even in maps determined at a near atomic resolution. Here, we have developed a protein structure modeling method, called DeepMainmast, which employs deep learning to capture the local map features of amino acids and atoms to assist main-chain tracing. Moreover, since Alphafold2 demonstrates high accuracy in protein structure prediction, we have integrated complementary strengths of de novo density tracing using deep learning with Alphafold2's structure modeling to achieve even higher accuracy than each method alone. Additionally, the protocol is able to accurately assign chain identity to the structure models of homo-multimers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Genki Terashi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
| | - Xiao Wang
- Department of Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
| | - Devashish Prasad
- Department of Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
| | - Tsukasa Nakamura
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
| | - Han Zhu
- Department of Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
| | - Daisuke Kihara
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
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25
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Park J, Joung I, Joo K, Lee J. Application of conformational space annealing to the protein structure modeling using cryo-EM maps. J Comput Chem 2023; 44:2332-2346. [PMID: 37585026 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.27200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/16/2023] [Indexed: 08/17/2023]
Abstract
Conformational space annealing (CSA), a global optimization method, has been applied to various protein structure modeling tasks. In this paper, we applied CSA to the cryo-EM structure modeling task by combining the python subroutine of CSA (PyCSA) and the fast relax (FastRelax) protocol of PyRosetta. Refinement of initial structures generated from two methods, rigid fitting of predicted structures to the Cryo-EM map and de novo protein modeling by tracing the Cryo-EM map, was performed by CSA. In the refinement of the rigid-fitted structures, the final models showed that CSA can generate reliable atomic structures of proteins, even when large movements of protein domains were required. In the de novo modeling case, although the overall structural qualities of the final models were rather dependent on the initial models, the final models generated by CSA showed improved MolProbity scores and cross-correlation coefficients to the maps. These results suggest that CSA can accomplish flexible fitting and refinement together by sampling diverse conformations effectively and thus can be utilized for cryo-EM structure modeling.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Keehyoung Joo
- Center for Advanced Computations, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jooyoung Lee
- School of Computational Sciences, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul, South Korea
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26
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Jones MS, Shmilovich K, Ferguson AL. DiAMoNDBack: Diffusion-Denoising Autoregressive Model for Non-Deterministic Backmapping of Cα Protein Traces. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:7908-7923. [PMID: 37906711 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
Coarse-grained molecular models of proteins permit access to length and time scales unattainable by all-atom models and the simulation of processes that occur on long time scales, such as aggregation and folding. The reduced resolution realizes computational accelerations, but an atomistic representation can be vital for a complete understanding of mechanistic details. Backmapping is the process of restoring all-atom resolution to coarse-grained molecular models. In this work, we report DiAMoNDBack (Diffusion-denoising Autoregressive Model for Non-Deterministic Backmapping) as an autoregressive denoising diffusion probability model to restore all-atom details to coarse-grained protein representations retaining only Cα coordinates. The autoregressive generation process proceeds from the protein N-terminus to C-terminus in a residue-by-residue fashion conditioned on the Cα trace and previously backmapped backbone and side-chain atoms within the local neighborhood. The local and autoregressive nature of our model makes it transferable between proteins. The stochastic nature of the denoising diffusion process means that the model generates a realistic ensemble of backbone and side-chain all-atom configurations consistent with the coarse-grained Cα trace. We train DiAMoNDBack over 65k+ structures from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and validate it in applications to a hold-out PDB test set, intrinsically disordered protein structures from the Protein Ensemble Database (PED), molecular dynamics simulations of fast-folding mini-proteins from DE Shaw Research, and coarse-grained simulation data. We achieve state-of-the-art reconstruction performance in terms of correct bond formation, avoidance of side-chain clashes, and the diversity of the generated side-chain configurational states. We make the DiAMoNDBack model publicly available as a free and open-source Python package.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael S Jones
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Kirill Shmilovich
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Andrew L Ferguson
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
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27
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Han S, Xia CJ, Li M, Zhao XM, Zhang GQ, Li LB, Su YH, Fang QL. Interfacial electronic states and self-formed asymmetric Schottky contacts in polar α-In 2Se 3/Au contacts. Sci Rep 2023; 13:19228. [PMID: 37932366 PMCID: PMC10628281 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-46514-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023] Open
Abstract
In recent years, the two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor α-In2Se3 has great potential for applications in the fields of electronics and optoelectronics due to its spontaneous iron electrolysis properties. Through ab initio electronic structure calculations and quantum transport simulations, the interface properties and transport properties of α-In2Se3/Au contacts with different polarization directions are studied, and a two-dimensional α-In2Se3 asymmetric metal contact design is proposed. When α-In2Se3 is polarized upward, it forms an n-type Schottky contact with Au. While when α-In2Se3 is polarized downward, it forms a p-type Schottky contact with Au. More importantly, significant rectification effect is found in the asymmetric Au/α-In2Se3/Au field-effect transistor. The carrier transports under positive and negative bias voltages are found to be dominated by thermionic excitation and tunneling, respectively. These findings provide guidance for the further design of 2D α-In2Se3-based transistors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sha Han
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Cai-Juan Xia
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China.
- Engineering Research Center of Flexible Radiation Protection Technology, University of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China.
- Xi'an Key Laboratory of Nuclear Protection Textile Equipment Technology, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Min Li
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Xu-Mei Zhao
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Guo-Qing Zhang
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
- Engineering Research Center of Flexible Radiation Protection Technology, University of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
- Xi'an Key Laboratory of Nuclear Protection Textile Equipment Technology, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Lian-Bi Li
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
- Engineering Research Center of Flexible Radiation Protection Technology, University of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
- Xi'an Key Laboratory of Nuclear Protection Textile Equipment Technology, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Yao-Heng Su
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
- Engineering Research Center of Flexible Radiation Protection Technology, University of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
- Xi'an Key Laboratory of Nuclear Protection Textile Equipment Technology, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China
| | - Qing-Long Fang
- School of Science, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China.
- Engineering Research Center of Flexible Radiation Protection Technology, University of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China.
- Xi'an Key Laboratory of Nuclear Protection Textile Equipment Technology, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, Shaanxi, China.
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28
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Alshahrani M, Gupta G, Xiao S, Tao P, Verkhivker G. Comparative Analysis of Conformational Dynamics and Systematic Characterization of Cryptic Pockets in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2, BA.2.75 and XBB.1 Spike Complexes with the ACE2 Host Receptor: Confluence of Binding and Structural Plasticity in Mediating Networks of Conserved Allosteric Sites. Viruses 2023; 15:2073. [PMID: 37896850 PMCID: PMC10612107 DOI: 10.3390/v15102073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
In the current study, we explore coarse-grained simulations and atomistic molecular dynamics together with binding energetics scanning and cryptic pocket detection in a comparative examination of conformational landscapes and systematic characterization of allosteric binding sites in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2, BA.2.75 and XBB.1 spike full-length trimer complexes with the host receptor ACE2. Microsecond simulations, Markov state models and mutational scanning of binding energies of the SARS-CoV-2 BA.2 and BA.2.75 receptor binding domain complexes revealed the increased thermodynamic stabilization of the BA.2.75 variant and significant dynamic differences between these Omicron variants. Molecular simulations of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron spike full-length trimer complexes with the ACE2 receptor complemented atomistic studies and enabled an in-depth analysis of mutational and binding effects on conformational dynamic and functional adaptability of the Omicron variants. Despite considerable structural similarities, Omicron variants BA.2, BA.2.75 and XBB.1 can induce unique conformational dynamic signatures and specific distributions of the conformational states. Using conformational ensembles of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron spike trimer complexes with ACE2, we conducted a comprehensive cryptic pocket screening to examine the role of Omicron mutations and ACE2 binding on the distribution and functional mechanisms of the emerging allosteric binding sites. This analysis captured all experimentally known allosteric sites and discovered networks of inter-connected and functionally relevant allosteric sites that are governed by variant-sensitive conformational adaptability of the SARS-CoV-2 spike structures. The results detailed how ACE2 binding and Omicron mutations in the BA.2, BA.2.75 and XBB.1 spike complexes modulate the distribution of conserved and druggable allosteric pockets harboring functionally important regions. The results are significant for understanding the functional roles of druggable cryptic pockets that can be used for allostery-mediated therapeutic intervention targeting conformational states of the Omicron variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammed Alshahrani
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (M.A.); (G.G.)
| | - Grace Gupta
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (M.A.); (G.G.)
| | - Sian Xiao
- Department of Chemistry, Center for Research Computing, Center for Drug Discovery, Design, and Delivery (CD4), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA; (S.X.); (P.T.)
| | - Peng Tao
- Department of Chemistry, Center for Research Computing, Center for Drug Discovery, Design, and Delivery (CD4), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA; (S.X.); (P.T.)
| | - Gennady Verkhivker
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (M.A.); (G.G.)
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
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29
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Barrio-Hernandez I, Yeo J, Jänes J, Mirdita M, Gilchrist CLM, Wein T, Varadi M, Velankar S, Beltrao P, Steinegger M. Clustering predicted structures at the scale of the known protein universe. Nature 2023; 622:637-645. [PMID: 37704730 PMCID: PMC10584675 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06510-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 57.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023]
Abstract
Proteins are key to all cellular processes and their structure is important in understanding their function and evolution. Sequence-based predictions of protein structures have increased in accuracy1, and over 214 million predicted structures are available in the AlphaFold database2. However, studying protein structures at this scale requires highly efficient methods. Here, we developed a structural-alignment-based clustering algorithm-Foldseek cluster-that can cluster hundreds of millions of structures. Using this method, we have clustered all of the structures in the AlphaFold database, identifying 2.30 million non-singleton structural clusters, of which 31% lack annotations representing probable previously undescribed structures. Clusters without annotation tend to have few representatives covering only 4% of all proteins in the AlphaFold database. Evolutionary analysis suggests that most clusters are ancient in origin but 4% seem to be species specific, representing lower-quality predictions or examples of de novo gene birth. We also show how structural comparisons can be used to predict domain families and their relationships, identifying examples of remote structural similarity. On the basis of these analyses, we identify several examples of human immune-related proteins with putative remote homology in prokaryotic species, illustrating the value of this resource for studying protein function and evolution across the tree of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inigo Barrio-Hernandez
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - Jingi Yeo
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jürgen Jänes
- Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Milot Mirdita
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
| | | | - Tanita Wein
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Mihaly Varadi
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - Sameer Velankar
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK
| | - Pedro Beltrao
- Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Martin Steinegger
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
- Artificial Intelligence Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
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30
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Verkhivker G, Alshahrani M, Gupta G. Exploring Conformational Landscapes and Cryptic Binding Pockets in Distinct Functional States of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 Trimers: Mutation-Induced Modulation of Protein Dynamics and Network-Guided Prediction of Variant-Specific Allosteric Binding Sites. Viruses 2023; 15:2009. [PMID: 37896786 PMCID: PMC10610873 DOI: 10.3390/v15102009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Revised: 09/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
A significant body of experimental structures of SARS-CoV-2 spike trimers for the BA.1 and BA.2 variants revealed a considerable plasticity of the spike protein and the emergence of druggable binding pockets. Understanding the interplay of conformational dynamics changes induced by the Omicron variants and the identification of cryptic dynamic binding pockets in the S protein is of paramount importance as exploring broad-spectrum antiviral agents to combat the emerging variants is imperative. In the current study, we explore conformational landscapes and characterize the universe of binding pockets in multiple open and closed functional spike states of the BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron variants. By using a combination of atomistic simulations, a dynamics network analysis, and an allostery-guided network screening of binding pockets in the conformational ensembles of the BA.1 and BA.2 spike conformations, we identified all experimentally known allosteric sites and discovered significant variant-specific differences in the distribution of binding sites in the BA.1 and BA.2 trimers. This study provided a structural characterization of the predicted cryptic pockets and captured the experimentally known allosteric sites, revealing the critical role of conformational plasticity in modulating the distribution and cross-talk between functional binding sites. We found that mutational and dynamic changes in the BA.1 variant can induce the remodeling and stabilization of a known druggable pocket in the N-terminal domain, while this pocket is drastically altered and may no longer be available for ligand binding in the BA.2 variant. Our results predicted the experimentally known allosteric site in the receptor-binding domain that remains stable and ranks as the most favorable site in the conformational ensembles of the BA.2 variant but could become fragmented and less probable in BA.1 conformations. We also uncovered several cryptic pockets formed at the inter-domain and inter-protomer interface, including functional regions of the S2 subunit and stem helix region, which are consistent with the known role of pocket residues in modulating conformational transitions and antibody recognition. The results of this study are particularly significant for understanding the dynamic and network features of the universe of available binding pockets in spike proteins, as well as the effects of the Omicron-variant-specific modulation of preferential druggable pockets. The exploration of predicted druggable sites can present a new and previously underappreciated opportunity for therapeutic interventions for Omicron variants through the conformation-selective and variant-specific targeting of functional sites involved in allosteric changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gennady Verkhivker
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (M.A.); (G.G.)
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
| | - Mohammed Alshahrani
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (M.A.); (G.G.)
| | - Grace Gupta
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (M.A.); (G.G.)
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31
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Perry ZR, Pyle AM, Zhang C. Arena: Rapid and Accurate Reconstruction of Full Atomic RNA Structures From Coarse-grained Models. J Mol Biol 2023; 435:168210. [PMID: 37479079 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2023.168210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/23/2023]
Abstract
RNA tertiary structures from experiments or computational predictions often contain missing atoms, which prevent analyses requiring full atomic structures. Current programs for RNA reconstruction can be slow, inaccurate, and/or require specific atoms to be present in the input. We present Arena (Atomic Reconstruction of RNA), which reconstructs a full atomic RNA structure from residues that can have as few as one atom. Arena first fills in missing atoms and then iteratively refines their placement to reduce nonideal geometries. We benchmarked Arena on a dataset of 361 RNA structures, where Arena achieves high accuracy and speed compared to other structure reconstruction programs. For example, Arena was used to reconstruct full atomic structures from a single phosphorus atom per nucleotide to, on average, within 3.63 Å RMSD of the experimental structure, while virtually removing all clashes and running in <3 s, which is 353× and 46× faster than state-of-the-art programs PDBFixer and C2A, respectively. The Arena source code is available at https://github.com/pylelab/Arena and the webserver at https://zhanggroup.org/Arena/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zion R Perry
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. https://twitter.com/@zionrperry
| | - Anna Marie Pyle
- Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA; Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
| | - Chengxin Zhang
- Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA; Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
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32
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Alshahrani M, Gupta G, Xiao S, Tao P, Verkhivker G. Examining Functional Linkages Between Conformational Dynamics, Protein Stability and Evolution of Cryptic Binding Pockets in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Spike Complexes with the ACE2 Host Receptor: Recombinant Omicron Variants Mediate Variability of Conserved Allosteric Sites and Binding Epitopes. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.11.557205. [PMID: 37745525 PMCID: PMC10515794 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.11.557205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
In the current study, we explore coarse-grained simulations and atomistic molecular dynamics together with binding energetics scanning and cryptic pocket detection in a comparative examination of conformational landscapes and systematic characterization of allosteric binding sites in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2, BA.2.75 and XBB.1 spike full-length trimer complexes with the host receptor ACE2. Microsecond simulations, Markov state models and mutational scanning of binding energies of the SARS-CoV-2 BA.2 and BA.2.75 receptor binding domain complexes revealed the increased thermodynamic stabilization of the BA.2.75 variant and significant dynamic differences between these Omicron variants. Molecular simulations of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron spike full length trimer complexes with the ACE2 receptor complemented atomistic studies and enabled an in-depth analysis of mutational and binding effects on conformational dynamic and functional adaptability of the Omicron variants. Despite considerable structural similarities, Omicron variants BA.2, BA.2.75 and XBB.1 can induce unique conformational dynamic signatures and specific distributions of the conformational states. Using conformational ensembles of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron spike trimer complexes with ACE2, we conducted a comprehensive cryptic pocket screening to examine the role of Omicron mutations and ACE2 binding on the distribution and functional mechanisms of the emerging allosteric binding sites. This analysis captured all experimentally known allosteric sites and discovered networks of inter-connected and functionally relevant allosteric sites that are governed by variant-sensitive conformational adaptability of the SARS-CoV-2 spike structures. The results detailed how ACE2 binding and Omicron mutations in the BA.2, BA.2.75 and XBB.1 spike complexes modulate the distribution of conserved and druggable allosteric pockets harboring functionally important regions. The results of are significant for understanding functional roles of druggable cryptic pockets that can be used for allostery-mediated therapeutic intervention targeting conformational states of the Omicron variants.
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33
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Maddhuri Venkata Subramaniya SR, Terashi G, Kihara D. Enhancing cryo-EM maps with 3D deep generative networks for assisting protein structure modeling. Bioinformatics 2023; 39:btad494. [PMID: 37549063 PMCID: PMC10444963 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btad494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Revised: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/04/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION The tertiary structures of an increasing number of biological macromolecules have been determined using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). However, there are still many cases where the resolution is not high enough to model the molecular structures with standard computational tools. If the resolution obtained is near the empirical borderline (3-4.5 Å), improvement in the map quality facilitates structure modeling. RESULTS We report EM-GAN, a novel approach that modifies an input cryo-EM map to assist protein structure modeling. The method uses a 3D generative adversarial network (GAN) that has been trained on high- and low-resolution density maps to learn the density patterns, and modifies the input map to enhance its suitability for modeling. The method was tested extensively on a dataset of 65 EM maps in the resolution range of 3-6 Å and showed substantial improvements in structure modeling using popular protein structure modeling tools. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION https://github.com/kiharalab/EM-GAN, Google Colab: https://tinyurl.com/3ccxpttx.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Genki Terashi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States
| | - Daisuke Kihara
- Department of Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States
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34
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Galvanetto N, Ivanović MT, Chowdhury A, Sottini A, Nüesch MF, Nettels D, Best RB, Schuler B. Extreme dynamics in a biomolecular condensate. Nature 2023:10.1038/s41586-023-06329-5. [PMID: 37468629 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06329-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 63.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023]
Abstract
Proteins and nucleic acids can phase-separate in the cell to form concentrated biomolecular condensates1-4. The functions of condensates span many length scales: they modulate interactions and chemical reactions at the molecular scale5, organize biochemical processes at the mesoscale6 and compartmentalize cells4. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of these processes will require detailed knowledge of the rich dynamics across these scales7. The mesoscopic dynamics of biomolecular condensates have been extensively characterized8, but their behaviour at the molecular scale has remained more elusive. Here, as an example of biomolecular phase separation, we study complex coacervates of two highly and oppositely charged disordered human proteins9. Their dense phase is 1,000 times more concentrated than the dilute phase, and the resulting percolated interaction network10 leads to a bulk viscosity 300 times greater than that of water. However, single-molecule spectroscopy optimized for measurements within individual droplets reveals that at the molecular scale, the disordered proteins remain exceedingly dynamic, with their chain configurations interconverting on submicrosecond timescales. Massive all-atom molecular dynamics simulations reproduce the experimental observations and explain this apparent discrepancy: the underlying interactions between individual charged side chains are short-lived and exchange on a pico- to nanosecond timescale. Our results indicate that, despite the high macroscopic viscosity of phase-separated systems, local biomolecular rearrangements required for efficient reactions at the molecular scale can remain rapid.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola Galvanetto
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Department of Physics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Miloš T Ivanović
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Aritra Chowdhury
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Sottini
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Mark F Nüesch
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Nettels
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Robert B Best
- Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
| | - Benjamin Schuler
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Department of Physics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
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35
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Han X, Hu Z, Surya W, Ma Q, Zhou F, Nordenskiöld L, Torres J, Lu L, Miao Y. The intrinsically disordered region of coronins fine-tunes oligomerization and actin polymerization. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112594. [PMID: 37269287 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Revised: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Coronins play critical roles in actin network formation. The diverse functions of coronins are regulated by the structured N-terminal β propeller and the C-terminal coiled coil (CC). However, less is known about a middle "unique region" (UR), which is an intrinsically disordered region (IDR). The UR/IDR is an evolutionarily conserved signature in the coronin family. By integrating biochemical and cell biology experiments, coarse-grained simulations, and protein engineering, we find that the IDR optimizes the biochemical activities of coronins in vivo and in vitro. The budding yeast coronin IDR plays essential roles in regulating Crn1 activity by fine-tuning CC oligomerization and maintaining Crn1 as a tetramer. The IDR-guided optimization of Crn1 oligomerization is critical for F-actin cross-linking and regulation of Arp2/3-mediated actin polymerization. The final oligomerization status and homogeneity of Crn1 are contributed by three examined factors: helix packing, the energy landscape of the CC, and the length and molecular grammar of the IDR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao Han
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Zixin Hu
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Wahyu Surya
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Qianqian Ma
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Feng Zhou
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Lars Nordenskiöld
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Jaume Torres
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Lanyuan Lu
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Yansong Miao
- School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; Institute for Digital Molecular Analytics and Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 636921, Singapore.
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36
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Zhang C. BeEM: fast and faithful conversion of mmCIF format structure files to PDB format. BMC Bioinformatics 2023; 24:260. [PMID: 37340457 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-023-05388-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/22/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although mmCIF is the current official format for deposition of protein and nucleic acid structures to the protein data bank (PDB) database, the legacy PDB format is still the primary supported format for many structural bioinformatics tools. Therefore, reliable software to convert mmCIF structure files to PDB files is needed. Unfortunately, existing conversion programs fail to correctly convert many mmCIF files, especially those with many atoms and/or long chain identifies. RESULTS This study proposed BeEM, which converts any mmCIF format structure files to PDB format. BeEM conversion faithfully retains all atomic and chain information, including chain IDs with more than 2 characters, which are not supported by any existing mmCIF to PDB converters. The conversion speed of BeEM is at least ten times faster than existing converters such as MAXIT and Phenix. Part of the reason for the speed improvement is the avoidance of conversion between numerical values and text strings. CONCLUSION BeEM is a fast and accurate tool for mmCIF-to-PDB format conversion, which is a common procedure in structural biology. The source code is available under the BSD licence at https://github.com/kad-ecoli/BeEM/ .
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Affiliation(s)
- Chengxin Zhang
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
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37
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Liwo A, Pyrka M, Czaplewski C, Peng X, Niemi AJ. Long-Time Dynamics of Selected Molecular-Motor Components Using a Physics-Based Coarse-Grained Approach. Biomolecules 2023; 13:941. [PMID: 37371521 PMCID: PMC10296118 DOI: 10.3390/biom13060941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Molecular motors are essential for the movement and transportation of macromolecules in living organisms. Among them, rotatory motors are particularly efficient. In this study, we investigated the long-term dynamics of the designed left-handed alpha/alpha toroid (PDB: 4YY2), the RBM2 flagellum protein ring from Salmonella (PDB: 6SD5), and the V-type Na+-ATPase rotor in Enterococcus hirae (PDB: 2BL2) using microcanonical and canonical molecular dynamics simulations with the coarse-grained UNRES force field, including a lipid-membrane model, on a millisecond laboratory time scale. Our results demonstrate that rotational motion can occur with zero total angular momentum in the microcanonical regime and that thermal motions can be converted into net rotation in the canonical regime, as previously observed in simulations of smaller cyclic molecules. For 6SD5 and 2BL2, net rotation (with a ratcheting pattern) occurring only about the pivot of the respective system was observed in canonical simulations. The extent and direction of the rotation depended on the initial conditions. This result suggests that rotatory molecular motors can convert thermal oscillations into net rotational motion. The energy from ATP hydrolysis is required probably to set the direction and extent of rotation. Our findings highlight the importance of molecular-motor structures in facilitating movement and transportation within living organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Liwo
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland; (M.P.); (C.C.)
| | - Maciej Pyrka
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland; (M.P.); (C.C.)
- Department of Physics and Biophysics, University of Warmia and Mazury, ul. Oczapowskiego 4, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
| | - Cezary Czaplewski
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities, Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland; (M.P.); (C.C.)
| | - Xubiao Peng
- Center for Quantum Technology Research, Key Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronic Quantum Architecture and Measurements (MOE), School of Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China;
| | - Antti J. Niemi
- Nordita, Stockholm University and Uppsala University, Roslagstullsbacken 23, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden;
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38
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Vu Q, Nissley DA, Jiang Y, O’Brien EP, Li MS. Is Posttranslational Folding More Efficient Than Refolding from a Denatured State: A Computational Study. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:4761-4774. [PMID: 37200608 PMCID: PMC10240488 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c01694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
The folding of proteins into their native conformation is a complex process that has been extensively studied over the past half-century. The ribosome, the molecular machine responsible for protein synthesis, is known to interact with nascent proteins, adding further complexity to the protein folding landscape. Consequently, it is unclear whether the folding pathways of proteins are conserved on and off the ribosome. The main question remains: to what extent does the ribosome help proteins fold? To address this question, we used coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to compare the mechanisms by which the proteins dihydrofolate reductase, type III chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, and d-alanine-d-alanine ligase B fold during and after vectorial synthesis on the ribosome to folding from the full-length unfolded state in bulk solution. Our results reveal that the influence of the ribosome on protein folding mechanisms varies depending on the size and complexity of the protein. Specifically, for a small protein with a simple fold, the ribosome facilitates efficient folding by helping the nascent protein avoid misfolded conformations. However, for larger and more complex proteins, the ribosome does not promote folding and may contribute to the formation of intermediate misfolded states cotranslationally. These misfolded states persist posttranslationally and do not convert to the native state during the 6 μs runtime of our coarse-grain simulations. Overall, our study highlights the complex interplay between the ribosome and protein folding and provides insight into the mechanisms of protein folding on and off the ribosome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quyen
V. Vu
- Institute
of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotnikow 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Daniel A. Nissley
- Department
of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3LB, U.K.
| | - Yang Jiang
- Department
of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
| | - Edward P. O’Brien
- Department
of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
- Bioinformatics
and Genomics Graduate Program, The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
- Institute
for Computational and Data Sciences, Pennsylvania
State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
| | - Mai Suan Li
- Institute
of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotnikow 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
- Institute
for Computational Sciences and Technology, Quang Trung Software City, Tan
Chanh Hiep Ward, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam
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39
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Verkhivker G, Alshahrani M, Gupta G. Balancing Functional Tradeoffs between Protein Stability and ACE2 Binding in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2, BA.2.75 and XBB Lineages: Dynamics-Based Network Models Reveal Epistatic Effects Modulating Compensatory Dynamic and Energetic Changes. Viruses 2023; 15:1143. [PMID: 37243229 PMCID: PMC10221141 DOI: 10.3390/v15051143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Evolutionary and functional studies suggested that the emergence of the Omicron variants can be determined by multiple fitness trade-offs including the immune escape, binding affinity for ACE2, conformational plasticity, protein stability and allosteric modulation. In this study, we systematically characterize conformational dynamics, structural stability and binding affinities of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Omicron complexes with the host receptor ACE2 for BA.2, BA.2.75, XBB.1 and XBB.1.5 variants. We combined multiscale molecular simulations and dynamic analysis of allosteric interactions together with the ensemble-based mutational scanning of the protein residues and network modeling of epistatic interactions. This multifaceted computational study characterized molecular mechanisms and identified energetic hotspots that can mediate the predicted increased stability and the enhanced binding affinity of the BA.2.75 and XBB.1.5 complexes. The results suggested a mechanism driven by the stability hotspots and a spatially localized group of the Omicron binding affinity centers, while allowing for functionally beneficial neutral Omicron mutations in other binding interface positions. A network-based community model for the analysis of epistatic contributions in the Omicron complexes is proposed revealing the key role of the binding hotspots R498 and Y501 in mediating community-based epistatic couplings with other Omicron sites and allowing for compensatory dynamics and binding energetic changes. The results also showed that mutations in the convergent evolutionary hotspot F486 can modulate not only local interactions but also rewire the global network of local communities in this region allowing the F486P mutation to restore both the stability and binding affinity of the XBB.1.5 variant which may explain the growth advantages over the XBB.1 variant. The results of this study are consistent with a broad range of functional studies rationalizing functional roles of the Omicron mutation sites that form a coordinated network of hotspots enabling a balance of multiple fitness tradeoffs and shaping up a complex functional landscape of virus transmissibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gennady Verkhivker
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (M.A.); (G.G.)
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
| | - Mohammed Alshahrani
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (M.A.); (G.G.)
| | - Grace Gupta
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (M.A.); (G.G.)
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40
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Bojarski KK, Samsonov SA. In silico insights into procathepsin S maturation mediated by glycosaminoglycans. J Mol Graph Model 2023; 120:108406. [PMID: 36707295 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmgm.2023.108406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2022] [Revised: 11/24/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Procathepsins, inactive precursors of cathepsins are present in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and in lysosomes. Their active forms are involved in a number of biologically relevant processes, including bone resorption, intracellular proteolysis and regulation of programmed cell death. These processes might be mediated by glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), long unbranched periodic negatively charged polysaccharides. GAGs are also present in ECM and play important role in anticoagulation, angiogenesis and tissue regeneration. GAGs not only mediate the enzymatic activity of cathepsins but can also regulate the process of procathepsin maturation, as it was shown for procathepsin B and S. In this study, we propose the molecular mechanism underlying the biological role of GAGs in procathepsin S maturation and compare our findings with computational data obtained for procathepsin B. We rigorously analyse procathepsin S-GAG complexes in terms of their dynamics, free energy and potential allosteric regulation. We conclude that the GAG binding region might have an effect on the dynamics of procathepsin S structure and so affect its maturation by two different mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krzysztof K Bojarski
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Gdansk University of Technology, Narutowicza 11/12, Gdansk, 80-233, Poland.
| | - Sergey A Samsonov
- Department of Theoretical Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 63, Gdansk, 80-308, Poland
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41
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Kim H, Mirdita M, Steinegger M. Foldcomp: a library and format for compressing and indexing large protein structure sets. Bioinformatics 2023; 39:btad153. [PMID: 36961332 PMCID: PMC10085514 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btad153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2022] [Revised: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/19/2023] [Indexed: 03/25/2023] Open
Abstract
SUMMARY Highly accurate protein structure predictors have generated hundreds of millions of protein structures; these pose a challenge in terms of storage and processing. Here, we present Foldcomp, a novel lossy structure compression algorithm, and indexing system to address this challenge. By using a combination of internal and Cartesian coordinates and a bi-directional NeRF-based strategy, Foldcomp improves the compression ratio by a factor of three compared to the next best method. Its reconstruction error of 0.08 Å is comparable to the best lossy compressor. It is five times faster than the next fastest compressor and competes with the fastest decompressors. With its multi-threading implementation and a Python interface that allows for easy database downloads and efficient querying of protein structures by accession, Foldcomp is a powerful tool for managing and analysing large collections of protein structures. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION Foldcomp is a free open-source software (GPLv3) and available for Linux, macOS, and Windows at https://foldcomp.foldseek.com. Foldcomp provides the AlphaFold Swiss-Prot (2.9GB), TrEMBL (1.1TB), and ESMatlas HQ (114GB) database ready-for-download.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyunbin Kim
- Interdisciplinary Program in Bioinformatics, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, South Korea
| | - Milot Mirdita
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, South Korea
| | - Martin Steinegger
- Interdisciplinary Program in Bioinformatics, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, South Korea
- School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, South Korea
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, South Korea
- Artificial Intelligence Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, South Korea
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42
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Verkhivker G, Alshahrani M, Gupta G. Coarse-Grained Molecular Simulations and Ensemble-Based Mutational Profiling of Protein Stability in the Different Functional Forms of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Trimers: Balancing Stability and Adaptability in BA.1, BA.2 and BA.2.75 Variants. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24076642. [PMID: 37047615 PMCID: PMC10094791 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24076642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 03/29/2023] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Evolutionary and functional studies have suggested that the emergence of Omicron variants can be determined by multiple fitness tradeoffs including immune escape, binding affinity, conformational plasticity, protein stability, and allosteric modulation. In this study, we embarked on a systematic comparative analysis of the conformational dynamics, electrostatics, protein stability, and allostery in the different functional states of spike trimers for BA.1, BA.2, and BA.2.75 variants. Using efficient and accurate coarse-grained simulations and atomistic reconstruction of the ensembles, we examined the conformational dynamics of the spike trimers that agree with the recent functional studies, suggesting that BA.2.75 trimers are the most stable among these variants. A systematic mutational scanning of the inter-protomer interfaces in the spike trimers revealed a group of conserved structural stability hotspots that play a key role in the modulation of functional dynamics and are also involved in the inter-protomer couplings through local contacts and interaction networks with the Omicron mutational sites. The results of mutational scanning provided evidence that BA.2.75 trimers are more stable than BA.2 and comparable in stability to the BA.1 variant. Using dynamic network modeling of the S Omicron BA.1, BA.2, and BA.2.75 trimers, we showed that the key network mediators of allosteric interactions are associated with the major stability hotspots that are interconnected along potential communication pathways. The network analysis of the BA.1, BA.2, and BA.2.75 trimers suggested that the increased thermodynamic stability of the BA.2.75 variant may be linked with the organization and modularity of the residue interaction network that allows for allosteric communications between structural stability hotspots and Omicron mutational sites. This study provided a plausible rationale for a mechanism in which Omicron mutations may evolve by targeting vulnerable sites of conformational adaptability to elicit immune escape while maintaining their control on balancing protein stability and functional fitness through robust allosteric communications with the stability hotspots.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gennady Verkhivker
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
| | - Mohammed Alshahrani
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA
| | - Grace Gupta
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA
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43
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Zheng W. Predicting allosteric sites using fast conformational sampling as guided by coarse-grained normal modes. J Chem Phys 2023; 158:124127. [PMID: 37003737 PMCID: PMC10066797 DOI: 10.1063/5.0141630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
To computationally identify cryptic binding sites for allosteric modulators, we have developed a fast and simple conformational sampling scheme guided by coarse-grained normal modes solved from the elastic network models followed by atomistic backbone and sidechain reconstruction. Despite the complexity of conformational changes associated with ligand binding, we previously showed that simply sampling along each of the lowest 30 modes can adequately restructure cryptic sites so they are detectable by pocket finding programs like Concavity. Here, we applied this method to study four classical examples of allosteric regulation (GluR2 receptor, GroEL chaperonin, GPCR, and myosin). Our method along with alternative methods has been utilized to locate known allosteric sites and predict new promising allosteric sites. Compared with other sampling methods based on extensive molecular dynamics simulation, our method is both faster (1-2 h for an average-size protein of ∼400 residues) and more flexible (it can be easily integrated with any structure-based pocket finding methods), so it is suitable for high-throughput screening of large datasets of protein structures at the genome scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjun Zheng
- Department of Physics, University at Buffalo, 239 Fronczak Hall, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
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44
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Li T, Hendrix E, He Y. Simple and Effective Conformational Sampling Strategy for Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Using the UNRES Web Server. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:2177-2186. [PMID: 36827446 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c08945] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/26/2023]
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) contain more charged amino acids than folded proteins, resulting in a lack of hydrophobic core(s) and a tendency to adopt rapidly interconverting structures rather than well-defined structures. The structural heterogeneity of IDPs, encoded by the amino acid sequence, is closely related to their unique roles in biological pathways, which require them to interact with different binding partners. Recently, Robustelli and co-workers have demonstrated that a balanced all-atom force field can be used to sample heterogeneous structures of disordered proteins ( Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2018, 115, E4758-E4766). However, such a solution requires extensive computational resources, such as Anton supercomputers. Here, we propose a simple and effective solution to sample the conformational space of IDPs using a publicly available web server, namely, the UNited-RESidue (UNRES) web server. Our proposed solution requires no investment in computational resources and no prior knowledge of UNRES. UNRES Replica Exchange Molecular Dynamics (REMD) simulations were carried out on a set of eight disordered proteins at temperatures spanning from 270 to 430 K. Utilizing the latest UNRES force field designed for structured proteins, with proper selections of temperatures, we were able to produce comparable results to all-atom force fields as reported in work done by Robustelli and co-workers. In addition, NMR observables and the radius of gyration calculated from UNRES ensembles were directly compared with the experimental data to further evaluate the accuracy of the UNRES model at all temperatures. Our results suggest that carrying out the UNRES simulations at optimal temperatures using the UNRES web server can be a good alternative to sample heterogeneous structures of IDPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tongtong Li
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
| | - Emily Hendrix
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
| | - Yi He
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States.,Translational Informatics Division, Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, United States
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45
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Graul M, Karska N, Wąchalska M, Krupa P, Ślusarz MJ, Lubocki M, Bieńkowska-Szewczyk K, Rodziewicz-Motowidło S, Sieradzan AK, Lipińska AD. The N-terminal Proline Hinge Motif Controls the Structure of Bovine Herpesvirus 1-encoded Inhibitor of the Transporter Associated with Antigen Processing Required for its Immunomodulatory Function. J Mol Biol 2023; 435:167964. [PMID: 36646375 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2023.167964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Revised: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Due to unique features, proline residues may control protein structure and function. Here, we investigated the role of 52PPQ54 residues, indicated by the recently established experimental 3D structure of bovine herpesvirus 1-encoded UL49.5 protein as forming a characteristic proline hinge motif in its N-terminal domain. UL49.5 acts as a potent inhibitor of the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP), which alters the antiviral immune response. Mechanisms employed by UL49.5 to affect TAP remain undetermined on a molecular level. We found that mutations in the 52PPQ54 region had a vast impact on its immunomodulatory function, increasing cell surface MHC class I expression, TAP levels, and peptide transport efficiency. This inhibitory effect was specific for UL49.5 activity towards TAP but not towards the viral glycoprotein M. To get an insight into the impact of proline hinge modifications on structure and dynamics, we performed all-atom and coarse-grained molecular dynamics studies on the native protein and PPQ mutants. The results demonstrated that the proline hinge sequence with its highly rigid conformation served as an anchor into the membrane. This anchor was responsible for the structural and dynamical behavior of the whole protein, constraining the mobility of the C-terminus, increasing the mobility of the transmembrane region, and controlling the accessibility of the C-terminal residues to the cytoplasmic environment. Those features appear crucial for TAP binding and inhibition. Our findings significantly advance the structural understanding of the UL49.5 protein and its functional regions and support the importance of proline motifs for the protein structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Małgorzata Graul
- Laboratory of Virus Molecular Biology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-307 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Natalia Karska
- Laboratory of Virus Molecular Biology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-307 Gdańsk, Poland; Department of Biomedical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Magda Wąchalska
- Laboratory of Virus Molecular Biology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-307 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Paweł Krupa
- Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Magdalena J Ślusarz
- Department of Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Marcin Lubocki
- Laboratory of Virus Molecular Biology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-307 Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Krystyna Bieńkowska-Szewczyk
- Laboratory of Virus Molecular Biology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-307 Gdańsk, Poland
| | | | - Adam K Sieradzan
- Department of Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland.
| | - Andrea D Lipińska
- Laboratory of Virus Molecular Biology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-307 Gdańsk, Poland.
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Nadaradjane AA, Diharce J, Rebehmed J, Cadet F, Gardebien F, Gelly JC, Etchebest C, de Brevern AG. Quality assessment of V HH models. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2023; 41:13287-13301. [PMID: 36752327 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2172613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2023]
Abstract
Heavy Chain Only Antibodies are specific to Camelid species. Despite the lack of the light chain variable domain, their heavy chain variable domain (VH) domain, named VHH or nanobody, has promising potential applications in research and therapeutic fields. The structural study of VHH is therefore of great interest. Unfortunately, considering the huge amount of sequences that might be produced, only about one thousand of VHH experimental structures are publicly available in the Protein Data Bank, implying that structural model prediction of VHH is a necessary alternative to obtaining 3D information besides its sequence. The present study aims to assess and compare the quality of predictions from different modelling methodologies. Established comparative & homology modelling approaches to recent Deep Learning-based modelling strategies were applied, i.e. Modeller using single or multiple structural templates, ModWeb, SwissModel (with two evaluation schema), RoseTTAfold, AlphaFold 2 and NanoNet. The prediction accuracy was evaluated using RMSD, TM-score, GDT-TS, GDT-HA and Protein Blocks distance metrics. Besides the global structure assessment, we performed specific analyses of Frameworks and CDRs structures. We observed that AlphaFold 2 and especially NanoNet performed better than the other evaluated softwares. Importantly, we performed molecular dynamics simulations of an experimental structure and a NanoNet predicted model of a VHH in order to compare the global structural flexibility and local conformations using Protein Blocks. Despite rather similar structures, substantial differences in dynamical properties were observed, which underlies the complexity of the task of model evaluation.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aravindan Arun Nadaradjane
- Université Paris Cité and Université de la Réunion and Université des Antilles, INSERM, BIGR, DSIMB, Paris, France
- Université Paris Cité and Université de la Réunion and Université des Antilles, INSERM, BIGR, DSIMB, Saint Denis Messag, France
| | - Julien Diharce
- Université Paris Cité and Université de la Réunion and Université des Antilles, INSERM, BIGR, DSIMB, Paris, France
| | - Joseph Rebehmed
- Department of Computer Science and Mathematics, Lebanese, American University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Frédéric Cadet
- Université Paris Cité and Université de la Réunion and Université des Antilles, INSERM, BIGR, DSIMB, Saint Denis Messag, France
- Artificial Intelligence Department, PEACCEL, Paris, France
| | - Fabrice Gardebien
- Université Paris Cité and Université de la Réunion and Université des Antilles, INSERM, BIGR, DSIMB, Saint Denis Messag, France
| | - Jean-Christophe Gelly
- Université Paris Cité and Université de la Réunion and Université des Antilles, INSERM, BIGR, DSIMB, Paris, France
| | - Catherine Etchebest
- Université Paris Cité and Université de la Réunion and Université des Antilles, INSERM, BIGR, DSIMB, Paris, France
| | - Alexandre G de Brevern
- Université Paris Cité and Université de la Réunion and Université des Antilles, INSERM, BIGR, DSIMB, Paris, France
- Université Paris Cité and Université de la Réunion and Université des Antilles, INSERM, BIGR, DSIMB, Saint Denis Messag, France
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47
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Pesce F, Newcombe EA, Seiffert P, Tranchant EE, Olsen JG, Grace CR, Kragelund BB, Lindorff-Larsen K. Assessment of models for calculating the hydrodynamic radius of intrinsically disordered proteins. Biophys J 2023; 122:310-321. [PMID: 36518077 PMCID: PMC9892621 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2022.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Revised: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Diffusion measurements by pulsed-field gradient NMR and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy can be used to probe the hydrodynamic radius of proteins, which contains information about the overall dimension of a protein in solution. The comparison of this value with structural models of intrinsically disordered proteins is nonetheless impaired by the uncertainty of the accuracy of the methods for computing the hydrodynamic radius from atomic coordinates. To tackle this issue, we here build conformational ensembles of 11 intrinsically disordered proteins that we ensure are in agreement with measurements of compaction by small-angle x-ray scattering. We then use these ensembles to identify the forward model that more closely fits the radii derived from pulsed-field gradient NMR diffusion experiments. Of the models we examined, we find that the Kirkwood-Riseman equation provides the best description of the hydrodynamic radius probed by pulsed-field gradient NMR experiments. While some minor discrepancies remain, our results enable better use of measurements of the hydrodynamic radius in integrative modeling and for force field benchmarking and parameterization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Pesce
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, The Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Estella A Newcombe
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, The Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Pernille Seiffert
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, The Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Emil E Tranchant
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, The Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Johan G Olsen
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, The Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Christy R Grace
- Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee
| | - Birthe B Kragelund
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, The Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Kresten Lindorff-Larsen
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory, The Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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48
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Biner DW, Grosch JS, Ortoleva PJ. B-cell epitope discovery: The first protein flexibility-based algorithm-Zika virus conserved epitope demonstration. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0262321. [PMID: 36920995 PMCID: PMC10016673 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Accepted: 12/22/2021] [Indexed: 03/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Antibody-antigen interaction-at antigenic local environments called B-cell epitopes-is a prominent mechanism for neutralization of infection. Effective mimicry, and display, of B-cell epitopes is key to vaccine design. Here, a physical approach is evaluated for the discovery of epitopes which evolve slowly over closely related pathogens (conserved epitopes). The approach is 1) protein flexibility-based and 2) demonstrated with clinically relevant enveloped viruses, simulated via molecular dynamics. The approach is validated against 1) seven structurally characterized enveloped virus epitopes which evolved the least (out of thirty-nine enveloped virus-antibody structures), 2) two structurally characterized non-enveloped virus epitopes which evolved slowly (out of eight non-enveloped virus-antibody structures), and 3) eight preexisting epitope and peptide discovery algorithms. Rationale for a new benchmarking scheme is presented. A data-driven epitope clustering algorithm is introduced. The prediction of five Zika virus epitopes (for future exploration on recombinant vaccine technologies) is demonstrated. For the first time, protein flexibility is shown to outperform solvent accessible surface area as an epitope discovery metric.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel W. Biner
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Jason S. Grosch
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Peter J. Ortoleva
- Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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49
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Verkhivker GM, Agajanian S, Oztas D, Gupta G. Computational analysis of protein stability and allosteric interaction networks in distinct conformational forms of the SARS-CoV-2 spike D614G mutant: reconciling functional mechanisms through allosteric model of spike regulation. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2022; 40:9724-9741. [PMID: 34060425 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2021.1933594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
In this study, we used an integrative computational approach to examine molecular mechanisms underlying functional effects of the D614G mutation by exploring atomistic modeling of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins as allosteric regulatory machines. We combined coarse-grained simulations, protein stability and dynamic fluctuation communication analysis with network-based community analysis to examine structures of the native and mutant SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins in different functional states. Through distance fluctuations communication analysis, we probed stability and allosteric communication propensities of protein residues in the native and mutant SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins, providing evidence that the D614G mutation can enhance long-range signaling of the allosteric spike engine. By combining functional dynamics analysis and ensemble-based alanine scanning of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins we found that the D614G mutation can improve stability of the spike protein in both closed and open forms, but shifting thermodynamic preferences towards the open mutant form. Our results revealed that the D614G mutation can promote the increased number of stable communities and allosteric hub centers in the open form by reorganizing and enhancing the stability of the S1-S2 inter-domain interactions and restricting mobility of the S1 regions. This study provides atomistic-based view of allosteric communications in the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins, suggesting that the D614G mutation can exert its primary effect through allosterically induced changes on stability and communications in the residue interaction networks.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gennady M Verkhivker
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA.,Depatment of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Steve Agajanian
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA
| | - Deniz Oztas
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA
| | - Grace Gupta
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA
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50
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Ślusarz R, Lubecka EA, Czaplewski C, Liwo A. Improvements and new functionalities of UNRES server for coarse-grained modeling of protein structure, dynamics, and interactions. Front Mol Biosci 2022; 9:1071428. [PMID: 36589235 PMCID: PMC9794589 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.1071428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper we report the improvements and extensions of the UNRES server (https://unres-server.chem.ug.edu.pl) for physics-based simulations with the coarse-grained UNRES model of polypeptide chains. The improvements include the replacement of the old code with the recently optimized one and adding the recent scale-consistent variant of the UNRES force field, which performs better in the modeling of proteins with the β and the α+β structures. The scope of applications of the package was extended to data-assisted simulations with restraints from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and chemical crosslink mass-spectroscopy (XL-MS) measurements. NMR restraints can be input in the NMR Exchange Format (NEF), which has become a standard. Ambiguous NMR restraints are handled without expert intervention owing to a specially designed penalty function. The server can be used to run smaller jobs directly or to prepare input data to run larger production jobs by using standalone installations of UNRES.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafał Ślusarz
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Emilia A. Lubecka
- Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunication and Informatics, Gdańsk University of Technology, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Cezary Czaplewski
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Adam Liwo
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland,*Correspondence: Adam Liwo,
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