Evolution of an antibiotic resistance enzyme constrained by stability and activity trade-offs

Changing folding and binding stability in a viral coat protein: a comparison between substitutions accessible through mutation and those fixed by natural selection

Previous studies have shown that most random amino acid substitutions destabilize protein folding (i.e. increase the folding free energy). No analogous studies have been carried out for protein-protein binding. Here we use a structure-based model of the major coat protein in a simple virus, bacteriophage φX174, to estimate the free energy of folding of a single coat protein and binding of five coat proteins within a pentameric unit. We confirm and extend previous work in finding that most accessible substitutions destabilize both protein folding and protein-protein binding. We compare the pool of accessible substitutions with those observed among the φX174-like wild phage and in experimental evolution with φX174. We find that observed substitutions have smaller effects on stability than expected by chance. An analysis of adaptations at high temperatures suggests that selection favors either substitutions with no effect on stability or those that simultaneously stabilize protein folding and slightly destabilize protein binding. We speculate that these mutations might involve adjusting the rate of capsid assembly. At normal laboratory temperature there is little evidence of directional selection. Finally, we show that cumulative changes in stability are highly variable; sometimes they are well beyond the bounds of single substitution changes and sometimes they are not. The variation leads us to conclude that phenotype selection acts on more than just stability. Instances of larger cumulative stability change (never via a single substitution despite their availability) lead us to conclude that selection views stability at a local, not a global, level.

Epistasis constrains mutational pathways of hemoglobin adaptation in high-altitude pikas

A fundamental question in evolutionary genetics concerns the roles of mutational pleiotropy and epistasis in shaping trajectories of protein evolution. This question can be addressed most directly by using site-directed mutagenesis to explore the mutational landscape of protein function in experimentally defined regions of sequence space. Here, we evaluate how pleiotropic trade-offs and epistatic interactions influence the accessibility of alternative mutational pathways during the adaptive evolution of hemoglobin (Hb) function in high-altitude pikas (Mammalia: Lagomorpha). By combining ancestral protein resurrection with a combinatorial protein-engineering approach, we examined the functional effects of sequential mutational steps in all possible pathways that produced an increased Hb–O₂ affinity. These experiments revealed that the effects of mutations on Hb–O₂ affinity are highly dependent on the temporal order in which they occur: Each of three β-chain substitutions produced a significant increase in Hb–O₂ affinity on the ancestral genetic background, but two of these substitutions produced opposite effects when they occurred as later steps in the pathway. The experiments revealed pervasive epistasis for Hb–O₂ affinity, but affinity-altering mutations produced no significant pleiotropic trade-offs. These results provide insights into the properties of adaptive substitutions in naturally evolved proteins and suggest that the accessibility of alternative mutational pathways may be more strongly constrained by sign epistasis for positively selected biochemical phenotypes than by antagonistic pleiotropy.

Mutational studies on resurrected ancestral proteins reveal conservation of site-specific amino acid preferences throughout evolutionary history

Local protein interactions (“molecular context” effects) dictate amino acid replacements and can be described in terms of site-specific, energetic preferences for any different amino acid. It has been recently debated whether these preferences remain approximately constant during evolution or whether, due to coevolution of sites, they change strongly. Such research highlights an unresolved and fundamental issue with far-reaching implications for phylogenetic analysis and molecular evolution modeling. Here, we take advantage of the recent availability of phenotypically supported laboratory resurrections of Precambrian thioredoxins and β-lactamases to experimentally address the change of site-specific amino acid preferences over long geological timescales. Extensive mutational analyses support the notion that evolutionary adjustment to a new amino acid may occur, but to a large extent this is insufficient to erase the primitive preference for amino acid replacements. Generally, site-specific amino acid preferences appear to remain conserved throughout evolutionary history despite local sequence divergence. We show such preference conservation to be readily understandable in molecular terms and we provide crystallographic evidence for an intriguing structural-switch mechanism: Energetic preference for an ancestral amino acid in a modern protein can be linked to reorganization upon mutation to the ancestral local structure around the mutated site. Finally, we point out that site-specific preference conservation naturally leads to one plausible evolutionary explanation for the existence of intragenic global suppressor mutations.

Identification of TEM-135 β-lactamase in Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains carrying African and Toronto plasmids in Argentina

One hundred forty-three penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG) isolates obtained in Argentina from 2008 and 2012 were examined to detect blaTEM-135 genes and to investigate plasmid profiles and multiantigen sequence types. Forty-two PPNG isolates were found to carry TEM-135, and two contained a new TEM derivative characterized as TEM-220. The blaTEM-135 allele was carried by the Toronto/Rio and African plasmids. Molecular epidemiology revealed that two blaTEM-135 isolates were related to previously described isolates from Thailand and China, indicating a common evolutionary origin.

A "fuzzy"-logic language for encoding multiple physical traits in biomolecules

To carry out their activities, biological macromolecules balance different physical traits, such as stability, interaction affinity, and selectivity. How such often opposing traits are encoded in a macromolecular system is critical to our understanding of evolutionary processes and ability to design new molecules with desired functions. We present a framework for constraining design simulations to balance different physical characteristics. Each trait is represented by the equilibrium fractional occupancy of the desired state relative to its alternatives, ranging from none to full occupancy, and the different traits are combined using Boolean operators to effect a "fuzzy"-logic language for encoding any combination of traits. In another paper, we presented a new combinatorial backbone design algorithm AbDesign where the fuzzy-logic framework was used to optimize protein backbones and sequences for both stability and binding affinity in antibody-design simulation. We now extend this framework and find that fuzzy-logic design simulations reproduce sequence and structure design principles seen in nature to underlie exquisite specificity on the one hand and multispecificity on the other hand. The fuzzy-logic language is broadly applicable and could help define the space of tolerated and beneficial mutations in natural biomolecular systems and design artificial molecules that encode complex characteristics.

Deep mutational scanning: a new style of protein science

Mutagenesis provides insight into proteins, but only recently have assays that couple genotype to phenotype been used to assess the activities of as many as 1 million mutant versions of a protein in a single experiment. This approach-'deep mutational scanning'-yields large-scale data sets that can reveal intrinsic protein properties, protein behavior within cells and the consequences of human genetic variation. Deep mutational scanning is transforming the study of proteins, but many challenges must be tackled for it to fulfill its promise.

Role of pleiotropy during adaptation of TEM-1 β-lactamase to two novel antibiotics

Pleiotropy is a key feature of the genotype–phenotype map, and its form and extent have many evolutionary implications, including for the dynamics of adaptation and the evolution of specialization. Similarly, pleiotropic effects of antibiotic resistance mutations may affect the evolution of antibiotic resistance in the simultaneous or fluctuating presence of different antibiotics. Here, we study the role of pleiotropy during the in vitro adaptation of the enzyme TEM-1 β-lactamase to two novel antibiotics, cefotaxime (CTX) and ceftazidime (CAZ). We subject replicate lines for four rounds of evolution to selection with CTX and CAZ alone, and in their combined and fluctuating presence. Evolved alleles show positive correlated responses when selecting with single antibiotics. Nevertheless, pleiotropic constraints are apparent from the effects of single mutations and from selected alleles showing smaller correlated than direct responses and smaller responses after simultaneous and fluctuating selection with both than with single antibiotics. We speculate that these constraints result from structural changes in the oxyanion pocket surrounding the active site, where accommodation of CTX and the larger CAZ is balanced against their positioning with respect to the active site. Our findings suggest limited benefits from the combined or fluctuating application of these related cephalosporins for containing antibiotic resistance.

The tandem repeats enabling reversible switching between the two phases of β-lactamase substrate spectrum

Expansion or shrinkage of existing tandem repeats (TRs) associated with various biological processes has been actively studied in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes, while their origin and biological implications remain mostly unknown. Here we describe various duplications (de novo TRs) that occurred in the coding region of a β-lactamase gene, where a conserved structure called the omega loop is encoded. These duplications that occurred under selection using ceftazidime conferred substrate spectrum extension to include the antibiotic. Under selective pressure with one of the original substrates (amoxicillin), a high level of reversion occurred in the mutant β-lactamase genes completing a cycle back to the original substrate spectrum. The de novo TRs coupled with reversion makes a genetic toggling mechanism enabling reversible switching between the two phases of the substrate spectrum of β-lactamases. This toggle exemplifies the effective adaptation of de novo TRs for enhanced bacterial survival. We found pairs of direct repeats that mediated the DNA duplication (TR formation). In addition, we found different duos of sequences that mediated the DNA duplication. These novel elements—that we named SCSs (same-strand complementary sequences)—were also found associated with β-lactamase TR mutations from clinical isolates. Both direct repeats and SCSs had a high correlation with TRs in diverse bacterial genomes throughout the major phylogenetic lineages, suggesting that they comprise a fundamental mechanism shaping the bacterial evolution.

β-lactamases can adapt to new antibiotics by mutations in their genes. The original and the extended substrate spectrums of β-lactamases define two phases of catalytic activity, and the conversion by point mutations is unidirectional from the initial to the new spectrum. We describe duplication mutations that enable reversible switching between the substrate spectrums, increasing the adaptability of the bacterium. We provide evidence supporting that two distinct groups of short sequences mediated the formation of DNA duplications in β-lactamases: direct repeats and novel elements that we named, SCSs (same-strand complementary sequences). Our study suggests that DNA duplication processes mediated by both direct repeats and SCSs are not just limited to the β-lactamase genes but comprise a fundamental mechanism in bacterial genome evolution.

Optimizing recombinant antibodies for intracellular function using hitchhiker-mediated survival selection

The 'hitchhiker' mechanism of the bacterial twin-arginine translocation pathway has previously been adapted as a genetic selection for detecting pairwise protein interactions in the cytoplasm of living Escherichia coli cells. Here, we extended this method, called FLI-TRAP, for rapid isolation of intracellular antibodies (intrabodies) in the single-chain Fv format that possess superior traits simply by demanding bacterial growth on high concentrations of antibiotic. Following just a single round of survival-based enrichment using FLI-TRAP, variants of an intrabody against the dimerization domain of the yeast Gcn4p transcription factor were isolated having significantly greater intracellular stability that translated to yield enhancements of >10-fold. Likewise, an intrabody specific for the non-amyloid component region of α-synuclein was isolated that has ~8-fold improved antigen-binding affinity. Collectively, our results illustrate the potential of the FLI-TRAP method for intracellular stabilization and affinity maturation of intrabodies, all without the need for purification or immobilization of the antigen.

Deletion mutations conferring substrate spectrum extension in the class A β-lactamase

We describe four new deletion mutations in a class A β-lactamase PenA in Burkholderia thailandensis, each conferring an extended substrate spectrum. Single-amino-acid deletions T171del, I173del, and P174del and a two-amino-acid deletion, R165_T167delinsP, occurred in the omega loop, increasing the flexibility of the binding cavity. This rare collection of mutations has significance, allowing exploration of the diverse evolutionary trajectories of β-lactamases and as potential future mutations conferring high-level ceftazidime resistance on isolates from clinical settings, compared with amino acid substitution mutations.

The robustness and innovability of protein folds

Assignment of protein folds to functions indicates that >60% of folds carry out one or two enzymatic functions, while few folds, for example, the TIM-barrel and Rossmann folds, exhibit hundreds. Are there structural features that make a fold amenable to functional innovation (innovability)? Do these features relate to robustness--the ability to readily accumulate sequence changes? We discuss several hypotheses regarding the relationship between the architecture of a protein and its evolutionary potential. We describe how, in a seemingly paradoxical manner, opposite properties, such as high stability and rigidity versus conformational plasticity and structural order versus disorder, promote robustness and/or innovability. We hypothesize that polarity--differentiation and low connectivity between a protein's scaffold and its active-site--is a key prerequisite for innovability.

Adaptation to fluctuating temperatures in an RNA virus is driven by the most stringent selective pressure

The frequency of change in the selective pressures is one of the main factors driving evolution. It is generally accepted that constant environments select specialist organisms whereas changing environments favour generalists. The particular outcome achieved in either case also depends on the relative strength of the selective pressures and on the fitness costs of mutations across environments. RNA viruses are characterized by their high genetic diversity, which provides fast adaptation to environmental changes and helps them evade most antiviral treatments. Therefore, the study of the adaptive possibilities of RNA viruses is highly relevant for both basic and applied research. In this study we have evolved an RNA virus, the bacteriophage Qβ, under three different temperatures that either were kept constant or alternated periodically. The populations obtained were analyzed at the phenotypic and the genotypic level to characterize the evolutionary process followed by the virus in each case and the amount of convergent genetic changes attained. Finally, we also investigated the influence of the pre-existent genetic diversity on adaptation to high temperature. The main conclusions that arise from our results are: i) under periodically changing temperature conditions, evolution of bacteriophage Qβ is driven by the most stringent selective pressure, ii) there is a high degree of evolutionary convergence between replicated populations and also among populations evolved at different temperatures, iii) there are mutations specific of a particular condition, and iv) adaptation to high temperatures in populations differing in their pre-existent genetic diversity takes place through the selection of a common set of mutations.

Epistatically interacting substitutions are enriched during adaptive protein evolution

Most experimental studies of epistasis in evolution have focused on adaptive changes—but adaptation accounts for only a portion of total evolutionary change. Are the patterns of epistasis during adaptation representative of evolution more broadly? We address this question by examining a pair of protein homologs, of which only one is subject to a well-defined pressure for adaptive change. Specifically, we compare the nucleoproteins from human and swine influenza. Human influenza is under continual selection to evade recognition by acquired immune memory, while swine influenza experiences less such selection due to the fact that pigs are less likely to be infected with influenza repeatedly in a lifetime. Mutations in some types of immune epitopes are therefore much more strongly adaptive to human than swine influenza—here we focus on epitopes targeted by human cytotoxic T lymphocytes. The nucleoproteins of human and swine influenza possess nearly identical numbers of such epitopes. However, mutations in these epitopes are fixed significantly more frequently in human than in swine influenza, presumably because these epitope mutations are adaptive only to human influenza. Experimentally, we find that epistatically constrained mutations are fixed only in the adaptively evolving human influenza lineage, where they occur at sites that are enriched in epitopes. Overall, our results demonstrate that epistatically interacting substitutions are enriched during adaptation, suggesting that the prevalence of epistasis is dependent on the underlying evolutionary forces at play.

Mutations can fix during evolution for two reasons: they can be beneficial and fix for adaptive reasons, or they can be neutral or deleterious and fix solely by chance. Most studies focus on adaptation, where the evolving population is increasing in fitness due to a new selection pressure. Such studies have found an important evolutionary role for epistasis, the phenomenon where the effect of one mutation depends on another mutation. But adaptation only accounts for a fraction of overall evolutionary change. Here we investigate whether epistasis is as common during non-adaptive as adaptive evolution. We do this by comparing the same protein from human and swine influenza. Human influenza is constantly adapting to escape from the immunity that people acquire from previous influenza infections. But swine influenza is under less pressure to escape from acquired immunity since pigs have shorter lifetimes and are less likely to be infected with influenza multiple times. We find that epistasis is less common during the evolution of the swine influenza protein than its human influenza counterpart. Overall, our results suggest that mutations that interact via epistasis are more likely to fix during adaptive evolution.

Protein thermodynamics can be predicted directly from biological growth rates

Life on Earth is capable of growing from temperatures well below freezing to above the boiling point of water, with some organisms preferring cooler and others hotter conditions. The growth rate of each organism ultimately depends on its intracellular chemical reactions. Here we show that a thermodynamic model based on a single, rate-limiting, enzyme-catalysed reaction accurately describes population growth rates in 230 diverse strains of unicellular and multicellular organisms. Collectively these represent all three domains of life, ranging from psychrophilic to hyperthermophilic, and including the highest temperature so far observed for growth (122°C). The results provide credible estimates of thermodynamic properties of proteins and obtain, purely from organism intrinsic growth rate data, relationships between parameters previously identified experimentally, thus bridging a gap between biochemistry and whole organism biology. We find that growth rates of both unicellular and multicellular life forms can be described by the same temperature dependence model. The model results provide strong support for a single highly-conserved reaction present in the last universal common ancestor (LUCA). This is remarkable in that it means that the growth rate dependence on temperature of unicellular and multicellular life forms that evolved over geological time spans can be explained by the same model.

Thermodynamic stability contributes to immunoglobulin specificity

Antigen-binding specificity of immunoglobulins is important for their function in immune defense. However, immune repertoires contain a considerable fraction of immunoglobulins with promiscuous binding behavior, the physicochemical basis of which is not well understood. Evolution of immunoglobulin specificity occurs through iterative processes of mutation and selection, referred to as affinity maturation. Recent studies reveal that some somatic mutations could compromise the thermodynamic stability of the variable regions of immunoglobulins. By integrating this observation with the wealth of data on the evolution of novel enzyme activities, we propose that antibody specificity is linked to the thermodynamic stability of the antigen-binding regions, which provides a quantitative distinction between highly specific and promiscuous antibodies.

Extensive conformational heterogeneity within protein cores

Basic principles of statistical mechanics require that proteins sample an ensemble of conformations at any nonzero temperature. However, it is still common to treat the crystallographic structure of a protein as the structure of its native state, largely because high-resolution structural characterization of protein flexibility remains a profound challenge. To assess the typical degree of conformational heterogeneity within folded proteins, we construct Markov state models describing the thermodynamics and kinetics of proteins ranging from 72 to 263 residues in length. Each of these models is built from hundreds of microseconds of atomically detailed molecular dynamics simulations. Examination of the side-chain degrees of freedom reveals that almost every residue visits at least two rotameric states over this time frame, with rotamer transition rates spanning a wide range of time scales (from nanoseconds to tens of microseconds). We also report substantial backbone dynamics on time scales longer than are typically addressed by experimental measures of protein flexibility, such as NMR order parameters. Finally, we demonstrate that these extensive rearrangements are consistent with NMR and crystallographic data, which supports the validity of our models. Altogether, these results depict the interior of proteins not as well-ordered solids, as is often imagined, but instead as dense fluids, which undergo substantial structural fluctuations despite their high packing fraction.

A comprehensive, high-resolution map of a gene's fitness landscape

Mutations are central to evolution, providing the genetic variation upon which selection acts. A mutation’s effect on the suitability of a gene to perform a particular function (gene fitness) can be positive, negative, or neutral. Knowledge of the distribution of fitness effects (DFE) of mutations is fundamental for understanding evolutionary dynamics, molecular-level genetic variation, complex genetic disease, the accumulation of deleterious mutations, and the molecular clock. We present comprehensive DFEs for point and codon mutants of the Escherichia coli TEM-1 β-lactamase gene and missense mutations in the TEM-1 protein. These DFEs provide insight into the inherent benefits of the genetic code’s architecture, support for the hypothesis that mRNA stability dictates codon usage at the beginning of genes, an extensive framework for understanding protein mutational tolerance, and evidence that mutational effects on protein thermodynamic stability shape the DFE. Contrary to prevailing expectations, we find that deleterious effects of mutation primarily arise from a decrease in specific protein activity and not cellular protein levels.

Stability-activity tradeoffs constrain the adaptive evolution of RubisCO

A well-known case of evolutionary adaptation is that of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RubisCO), the enzyme responsible for fixation of CO2 during photosynthesis. Although the majority of plants use the ancestral C3 photosynthetic pathway, many flowering plants have evolved a derived pathway named C4 photosynthesis. The latter concentrates CO2, and C4 RubisCOs consequently have lower specificity for, and faster turnover of, CO2. The C4 forms result from convergent evolution in multiple clades, with substitutions at a small number of sites under positive selection. To understand the physical constraints on these evolutionary changes, we reconstructed in silico ancestral sequences and 3D structures of RubisCO from a large group of related C3 and C4 species. We were able to precisely track their past evolutionary trajectories, identify mutations on each branch of the phylogeny, and evaluate their stability effect. We show that RubisCO evolution has been constrained by stability-activity tradeoffs similar in character to those previously identified in laboratory-based experiments. The C4 properties require a subset of several ancestral destabilizing mutations, which from their location in the structure are inferred to mainly be involved in enhancing conformational flexibility of the open-closed transition in the catalytic cycle. These mutations are near, but not in, the active site or at intersubunit interfaces. The C3 to C4 transition is preceded by a sustained period in which stability of the enzyme is increased, creating the capacity to accept the functionally necessary destabilizing mutations, and is immediately followed by compensatory mutations that restore global stability.

Generating targeted libraries by the combinatorial incorporation of synthetic oligonucleotides during gene shuffling (ISOR)

Protein engineering by directed evolution relies on the use of libraries enriched with beneficial variants. Such libraries should explore large mutational diversities while avoiding high loads of deleterious mutations. Here we describe a simple protocol for incorporating synthetic oligonucleotides that encode designed, site-specific mutations by assembly PCR. This protocol enables a researcher to "hedge the bets," namely, to explore a large number of potentially beneficial mutations in a combinatorial manner such that individual library variants carry a limited number of mutations.

A new formulation of protein evolutionary models that account for structural constraints

Despite the importance of a thermodynamically stable structure with a conserved fold for protein function, almost all evolutionary models neglect site-site correlations that arise from physical interactions between neighboring amino acid sites. This is mainly due to the difficulty in formulating a computationally tractable model since rate matrices can no longer be used. Here, we introduce a general framework, based on factor graphs, for constructing probabilistic models of protein evolution with site interdependence. Conveniently, efficient approximate inference algorithms, such as Belief Propagation, can be used to calculate likelihoods for these models. We fit an amino acid substitution model of this type that accounts for both solvent accessibility and site-site correlations. Comparisons of the new model with rate matrix models and alternative structure-dependent models demonstrate that it better fits the sequence data. We also examine evolution within a family of homohexameric enzymes and find that site-site correlations between most contacting subunits contribute to a higher likelihood. In addition, we show that the new substitution model has a similar mathematical form to the one introduced in Rodrigue et al. (Rodrigue N, Lartillot N, Bryant D, Philippe H. 2005. Site interdependence attributed to tertiary structure in amino acid sequence evolution. Gene 347:207-217), although with different parameter interpretations and values. We also perform a statistical analysis of the effects of amino acids at neighboring sites on substitution probabilities and find a significant perturbation of most probabilities, further supporting the significant role of site-site interactions in protein evolution and motivating the development of new evolutionary models similar to the one described here. Finally, we discuss possible extensions and applications of the new substitution model.

Directed polymerase evolution

Polymerases evolved in nature to synthesize DNA and RNA, and they underlie the storage and flow of genetic information in all cells. The availability of these enzymes for use at the bench has driven a revolution in biotechnology and medicinal research; however, polymerases did not evolve to function efficiently under the conditions required for some applications and their high substrate fidelity precludes their use for most applications that involve modified substrates. To circumvent these limitations, researchers have turned to directed evolution to tailor the properties and/or substrate repertoire of polymerases for different applications, and several systems have been developed for this purpose. These systems draw on different methods of creating a pool of randomly mutated polymerases and are differentiated by the process used to isolate the most fit members. A variety of polymerases have been evolved, providing new or improved functionality, as well as interesting new insight into the factors governing activity.

Probing impact of active site residue mutations on stability and activity of Neisseria polysaccharea amylosucrase

The amylosucrase from Neisseria polysaccharea is a transglucosidase from the GH13 family of glycoside-hydrolases that naturally catalyzes the synthesis of α-glucans from the widely available donor sucrose. Interestingly, natural molecular evolution has modeled a dense hydrogen bond network at subsite -1 responsible for the specific recognition of sucrose and conversely, it has loosened interactions at the subsite +1 creating a highly promiscuous subsite +1. The residues forming these subsites are considered to be likely involved in the activity as well as the overall stability of the enzyme. To assess their role, a structure-based approach was followed to reshape the subsite -1. A strategy based on stability change predictions, using the FoldX algorithm, was considered to identify the best candidates for site-directed mutagenesis and guide the construction of a small targeted library. A miniaturized purification protocol was developed and both mutant stability and substrate promiscuity were explored. A range of 8 °C between extreme melting temperature values was observed and some variants were able to synthesize series of oligosaccharides with distributions differing from that of the parental enzyme. The crucial role of subsite -1 was thus highlighted and the biocatalysts generated can now be considered as starting points for further engineering purposes.

Accessible mutational trajectories for the evolution of pyrimethamine resistance in the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax

Antifolate antimalarials, such as pyrimethamine, have experienced a dramatic reduction in therapeutic efficacy as resistance has evolved in multiple malaria species. We present evidence from one such species, Plasmodium vivax, which has experienced sustained selection for pyrimethamine resistance at the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) locus since the 1970s. Using a transgenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae model expressing the P. vivax DHFR enzyme, we assayed growth rate and resistance of all 16 combinations of four DHFR amino acid substitutions. These substitutions were selected based on their known association with drug resistance, both in natural isolates and in laboratory settings, in the related malaria species P. falciparum. We observed a strong correlation between the resistance phenotypes for these 16 P. vivax alleles and previously observed resistance data for P. falciparum, which was surprising since nucleotide diversity levels and common polymorphic variants of DHFR differ between the two species. Similar results were observed when we expressed the P. vivax alleles in a transgenic bacterial system. This suggests common constraints on enzyme evolution in the orthologous DHFR proteins. The interplay of negative trade-offs between the evolution of novel resistance and compromised endogenous function varies at different drug dosages, and so too do the major trajectories for DHFR evolution. In simulations, it is only at very high drug dosages that the most resistant quadruple mutant DHFR allele is favored by selection. This is in agreement with common polymorphic DHFR data in P. vivax, from which this quadruple mutant is missing. We propose that clinical dosages of pyrimethamine may have historically been too low to select for the most resistant allele, or that the fitness cost of the most resistant allele was untenable without a compensatory mutation elsewhere in the genome.

Path-based approach to random walks on networks characterizes how proteins evolve new functions

We develop a path-based approach to continuous-time random walks on networks with arbitrarily weighted edges. We describe an efficient numerical algorithm for calculating statistical properties of the stochastic path ensemble. After demonstrating our approach on two reaction rate problems, we present a biophysical model that describes how proteins evolve new functions while maintaining thermodynamic stability. We use our methodology to characterize dynamics of evolutionary adaptation, reproducing several key features observed in directed evolution experiments. We find that proteins generally fall into two qualitatively different regimes of adaptation depending on their binding and folding energetics.

Structures of the class D Carbapenemases OXA-23 and OXA-146: mechanistic basis of activity against carbapenems, extended-spectrum cephalosporins, and aztreonam

Class D β-lactamases that hydrolyze carbapenems such as imipenem and doripenem are a recognized danger to the efficacy of these "last-resort" β-lactam antibiotics. Like all known class D carbapenemases, OXA-23 cannot hydrolyze the expanded-spectrum cephalosporin ceftazidime. OXA-146 is an OXA-23 subfamily clinical variant that differs from the parent enzyme by a single alanine (A220) inserted in the loop connecting β-strands β5 and β6. We discovered that this insertion enables OXA-146 to bind and hydrolyze ceftazidime with an efficiency comparable to those of other extended-spectrum class D β-lactamases. OXA-146 also binds and hydrolyzes aztreonam, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, and ampicillin with higher efficiency than OXA-23 and preserves activity against doripenem. In this study, we report the X-ray crystal structures of both the OXA-23 and OXA-146 enzymes at 1.6-Å and 1.2-Å resolution. A comparison of the two structures shows that the extra alanine moves a methionine (M221) out of its normal position, where it forms a bridge over the top of the active site. This single amino acid insertion also lengthens the β5-β6 loop, moving the entire backbone of this region further away from the active site. A model of ceftazidime bound in the active site reveals that these two structural alterations are both likely to relieve steric clashes between the bulky R1 side chain of ceftazidime and OXA-23. With activity against all four classes of β-lactam antibiotics, OXA-146 represents an alarming new threat to the treatment of infections caused by Acinetobacter spp.

Capturing the mutational landscape of the beta-lactamase TEM-1

Adaptation proceeds through the selection of mutations. The distribution of mutant fitness effect and the forces shaping this distribution are therefore keys to predict the evolutionary fate of organisms and their constituents such as enzymes. Here, by producing and sequencing a comprehensive collection of 10,000 mutants, we explore the mutational landscape of one enzyme involved in the spread of antibiotic resistance, the beta-lactamase TEM-1. We measured mutation impact on the enzyme activity through the estimation of amoxicillin minimum inhibitory concentration on a subset of 990 mutants carrying a unique missense mutation, representing 64% of possible amino acid changes in that protein reachable by point mutation. We established that mutation type, solvent accessibility of residues, and the predicted effect of mutations on protein stability primarily determined alone or in combination changes in minimum inhibitory concentration of mutants. Moreover, we were able to capture the drastic modification of the mutational landscape induced by a single stabilizing point mutation (M182T) by a simple model of protein stability. This work thereby provides an integrated framework to study mutation effects and a tool to understand/define better the epistatic interactions.

In vivo selection of a complex mutant TEM (CMT) from an inhibitor-resistant TEM (IRT) during ceftazidime therapy

OBJECTIVES

A relapse from Escherichia coli bloodstream infection was observed in a patient with acute leukaemia treated with ceftazidime for 7 days for febrile neutropenia. Whereas the original E. coli isolate was resistant to β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations (EC1), the relapse E. coli isolate showed a similar phenotype but with resistance extended to ceftazidime (EC2). We investigated the molecular mechanisms of β-lactam resistance and sought if EC2 could have been selected in vivo from EC1.

METHODS

EC1 and EC2 isolates were compared for antibiotic MICs, plasmid content, genotyping, β-lactamase genes and their environment. Both isolates were conjugated with E. coli JW4111ΔampC and MICs determined for transconjugants. In addition, ceftazidime-resistant mutants were selected in vitro from EC1.

RESULTS

EC1 and EC2 showed identical patterns for genotyping and resistance plasmids. PCR sequencing of blaTEM in EC1 showed the mutations M69L and N276D corresponding to TEM-35, also called inhibitor-resistant TEM (IRT)-4. In EC2, the TEM allele showed an additional mutation, R164S, known to confer resistance to ceftazidime. The combination of these three mutations was previously reported in TEM-158, described as the complex mutant TEM (CMT)-9, associated with resistance to β-lactamase inhibitors and third-generation cephalosporins. In vitro selection of ceftazidime-resistant mutants from EC1 yielded six different CMT alleles, including TEM-158 containing the R164S mutation.

CONCLUSIONS

This first known report of in vivo selection of CMT from IRT, reproduced in vitro, shows how the evolution of β-lactamase enzymes is easily driven by antibiotic pressure, even during a short antibiotic therapy.

GroEL/ES buffering and compensatory mutations promote protein evolution by stabilizing folding intermediates

Maintaining stability is a major constraint in protein evolution because most mutations are destabilizing. Buffering and/or compensatory mechanisms that counteract this progressive destabilization during functional adaptation are pivotal for protein evolution as well as protein engineering. However, the interplay of these two mechanisms during a full evolutionary trajectory has never been explored. Here, we unravel such dynamics during the laboratory evolution of a phosphotriesterase into an arylesterase. A controllable GroEL/ES chaperone co-expression system enabled us to vary the selection environment between buffering and compensatory, which smoothened the trajectory along the fitness landscape to achieve a >10(4) increase in arylesterase activity. Biophysical characterization revealed that, in contrast to prevalent models of protein stability and evolution, the variants' soluble cellular expression did not correlate with in vitro stability, and compensatory mutations were linked to a stabilization of folding intermediates. Thus, folding kinetics in the cell are a key feature of protein evolvability.

Fisher's geometric model of adaptation meets the functional synthesis: data on pairwise epistasis for fitness yields insights into the shape and size of phenotype space

The functional synthesis uses experimental methods from molecular biology, biochemistry and structural biology to decompose evolutionarily important mutations into their more proximal mechanistic determinants. However these methods are technically challenging and expensive. Noting strong formal parallels between R.A. Fisher's geometric model of adaptation and a recent model for the phenotypic basis of protein evolution, we sought to use the former to make inferences into the latter using data on pairwise fitness epistasis between mutations. We present an analytic framework for classifying pairs of mutations with respect to similarity of underlying mechanism on this basis, and also show that these data can yield an estimate of the number of mutationally labile phenotypes underlying fitness effects. We use computer simulations to explore the robustness of our approach to violations of analytic assumptions and analyze several recently published datasets. This work provides a theoretical complement to the functional synthesis as well as a novel test of Fisher's geometric model.

Patterns of Epistasis between beneficial mutations in an antibiotic resistance gene

Understanding epistasis is central to biology. For instance, epistatic interactions determine the topography of the fitness landscape and affect the dynamics and determinism of adaptation. However, few empirical data are available, and comparing results is complicated by confounding variation in the system and the type of mutations used. Here, we take a systematic approach by quantifying epistasis in two sets of four beneficial mutations in the antibiotic resistance enzyme TEM-1 β-lactamase. Mutations in these sets have either large or small effects on cefotaxime resistance when present as single mutations. By quantifying the epistasis and ruggedness in both landscapes, we find two general patterns. First, resistance is maximal for combinations of two mutations in both fitness landscapes and declines when more mutations are added due to abundant sign epistasis and a pattern of diminishing returns with genotype resistance. Second, large-effect mutations interact more strongly than small-effect mutations, suggesting that the effect size of mutations may be an organizing principle in understanding patterns of epistasis. By fitting the data to simple phenotype resistance models, we show that this pattern may be explained by the nonlinear dependence of resistance on enzyme stability and an unknown phenotype when mutations have antagonistically pleiotropic effects. The comparison to a previously published set of mutations in the same gene with a joint benefit further shows that the enzyme's fitness landscape is locally rugged but does contain adaptive pathways that lead to high resistance.

Stability-mediated epistasis constrains the evolution of an influenza protein

John Maynard Smith compared protein evolution to the game where one word is converted into another a single letter at a time, with the constraint that all intermediates are words: WORD→WORE→GORE→GONE→GENE. In this analogy, epistasis constrains evolution, with some mutations tolerated only after the occurrence of others. To test whether epistasis similarly constrains actual protein evolution, we created all intermediates along a 39-mutation evolutionary trajectory of influenza nucleoprotein, and also introduced each mutation individually into the parent. Several mutations were deleterious to the parent despite becoming fixed during evolution without negative impact. These mutations were destabilizing, and were preceded or accompanied by stabilizing mutations that alleviated their adverse effects. The constrained mutations occurred at sites enriched in T-cell epitopes, suggesting they promote viral immune escape. Our results paint a coherent portrait of epistasis during nucleoprotein evolution, with stabilizing mutations permitting otherwise inaccessible destabilizing mutations which are sometimes of adaptive value.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00631.001

During evolution, the effect of one mutation on a protein can depend on whether another mutation is also present. This phenomenon is similar to the game in which one word is converted to another word, one letter at a time, subject to the rule that all the intermediate steps are also valid words: for example, the word WORD can be converted to the word GENE as follows: WORD→WORE→GORE→GONE→GENE. In this example, the D must be changed to an E before the W is changed to a G, because GORD is not a valid word.

Similarly, during the evolution of a virus, a mutation that helps the virus evade the human immune system might only be tolerated if the virus has acquired another mutation beforehand. This type of mutational interaction would constrain the evolution of the virus, since its capacity to take advantage of the second mutation depends on the first mutation having already occurred.

Gong et al. examined whether such interactions have indeed constrained evolution of the influenza virus. Between 1968 and 2007, the nucleoprotein—which acts as a scaffold for the replication of genetic material—in the human H3N2 influenza virus underwent a series of 39 mutations. To test whether all of these mutations could have been tolerated by the 1968 virus, Gong et al. introduced each one individually into the 1968 nucleoprotein. They found that several mutations greatly reduced the fitness of the 1968 virus when introduced on their own, which strongly suggests that these ‘constrained mutations’ became part of the virus’s genetic makeup as a result of interactions with ‘enabling’ mutations.

The constrained mutations decreased the stability of the nucleoprotein at high temperatures, while the enabling mutations counteracted this effect. It may, therefore, be possible to identify enabling mutations based on their effects on thermal stability. Intriguingly, the constrained mutations helped the virus overcome one form of human immunity to influenza, suggesting that interactions between mutations might limit the rate at which viruses evolve to evade the immune system.

Overall, these results show that interactions among mutations constrain the evolution of the influenza nucleoprotein in a fashion that can be largely understood in terms of protein stability. If the same is true for other proteins and viruses, this work could lead to a deeper understanding of the constraints that govern evolution at the molecular level.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00631.002

What makes a protein fold amenable to functional innovation? Fold polarity and stability trade-offs

Protein evolvability includes two elements--robustness (or neutrality, mutations having no effect) and innovability (mutations readily inducing new functions). How are these two conflicting demands bridged? Does the ability to bridge them relate to the observation that certain folds, such as TIM barrels, accommodate numerous functions, whereas other folds support only one? Here, we hypothesize that the key to innovability is polarity--an active site composed of flexible, loosely packed loops alongside a well-separated, highly ordered scaffold. We show that highly stabilized variants of TEM-1 β-lactamase exhibit selective rigidification of the enzyme's scaffold while the active-site loops maintained their conformational plasticity. Polarity therefore results in stabilizing, compensatory mutations not trading off, but instead promoting the acquisition of new activities. Indeed, computational analysis indicates that in folds that accommodate only one function throughout evolution, for example, dihydrofolate reductase, ≥ 60% of the active-site residues belong to the scaffold. In contrast, folds associated with multiple functions such as the TIM barrel show high scaffold-active-site polarity (~20% of the active site comprises scaffold residues) and >2-fold higher rates of sequence divergence at active-site positions. Our work suggests structural measures of fold polarity that appear to be correlated with innovability, thereby providing new insights regarding protein evolution, design, and engineering.

The impact of introducing a histidine into an apolar cavity site on docking and ligand recognition

Simplified model binding sites allow one to isolate entangled terms in molecular energy functions. Here, we investigate the effects on ligand recognition of the introduction of a histidine into a hydrophobic cavity in lysozyme. We docked 656040 molecules and tested 26 highly and nine poorly ranked. Twenty-one highly ranked molecules bound and five were false positives, while three poorly ranked molecules were false negatives. In the 16 X-ray complexes now known, the docking predictions overlaid well with the crystallographic results. Although ligand enrichment was high, the false negatives, the false positives, and the inability to rank order illuminated weaknesses in our scoring, particularly overweighed apolar and underweighted polar terms. Adjusting these led to new problems, reflecting the entangled nature of docking scoring functions. Changes in ligand affinity relative to other lysozyme cavities speak to the subtleties of molecular recognition even in these simple sites and to their relevance for testing different models of recognition.

TEM-187, a new extended-spectrum β-lactamase with weak activity in a Proteus mirabilis clinical strain

A Proteus mirabilis clinical strain (7001324) was isolated from urine sample of a patient hospitalized in a long-term-care facility. PCR and cloning experiments performed with this strain identified a novel TEM-type β-lactamase (TEM-187) differing by four amino acid substitutions (Leu21Phe, Arg164His, Ala184Val, and Thr265Met) from TEM-1. This characterization provides further evidence for the diversity of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) produced by P. mirabilis and for their potential spread to other Enterobacteriaceae due to a lack of sensitive detection methods used in daily practice.

Somatic hypermutation maintains antibody thermodynamic stability during affinity maturation

Somatic hypermutation and clonal selection lead to B cells expressing high-affinity antibodies. Here we show that somatic mutations not only play a critical role in antigen binding, they also affect the thermodynamic stability of the antibody molecule. Somatic mutations directly involved in antigen recognition by antibody 93F3, which binds a relatively small hapten, reduce the melting temperature compared with its germ-line precursor by up to 9 °C. The destabilizing effects of these mutations are compensated by additional somatic mutations located on surface loops distal to the antigen binding site. Similarly, somatic mutations enhance both the affinity and thermodynamic stability of antibody OKT3, which binds the large protein antigen CD3. Analysis of the crystal structures of 93F3 and OKT3 indicates that these somatic mutations modulate antibody stability primarily through the interface of the heavy and light chain variable domains. The historical view of antibody maturation has been that somatic hypermutation and subsequent clonal selection increase antigen-antibody specificity and binding energy. Our results suggest that this process also optimizes protein stability, and that many peripheral mutations that were considered to be neutral are required to offset deleterious effects of mutations that increase affinity. Thus, the immunological evolution of antibodies recapitulates on a much shorter timescale the natural evolution of enzymes in which function and thermodynamic stability are simultaneously enhanced through mutation and selection.

A population-based experimental model for protein evolution: effects of mutation rate and selection stringency on evolutionary outcomes

Protein evolution is a critical component of organismal evolution and a valuable method for the generation of useful molecules in the laboratory. Few studies, however, have experimentally characterized how fundamental parameters influence protein evolution outcomes over long evolutionary trajectories or multiple replicates. In this work, we applied phage-assisted continuous evolution (PACE) as an experimental platform to study evolving protein populations over hundreds of rounds of evolution. We varied evolutionary conditions as T7 RNA polymerase evolved to recognize the T3 promoter DNA sequence and characterized how specific combinations of both mutation rate and selection stringency reproducibly result in different evolutionary outcomes. We observed significant and dramatic increases in the activity of the evolved RNA polymerase variants on the desired target promoter after selection for 96 h, confirming positive selection occurred under all conditions. We used high-throughput sequencing to quantitatively define convergent genetic solutions, including mutational "signatures" and nonsignature mutations that map to specific regions of protein sequence. These findings illuminate key determinants of evolutionary outcomes, inform the design of future protein evolution experiments, and demonstrate the value of PACE as a method for studying protein evolution.

Antibiotics as selectors and accelerators of diversity in the mechanisms of resistance: from the resistome to genetic plasticity in the β-lactamases world

Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance determinants, natural molecules closely related to bacterial physiology and consistent with an ancient origin, are not only present in antibiotic-producing bacteria. Throughput sequencing technologies have revealed an unexpected reservoir of antibiotic resistance in the environment. These data suggest that co-evolution between antibiotic and antibiotic resistance genes has occurred since the beginning of time. This evolutionary race has probably been slow because of highly regulated processes and low antibiotic concentrations. Therefore to understand this global problem, a new variable must be introduced, that the antibiotic resistance is a natural event, inherent to life. However, the industrial production of natural and synthetic antibiotics has dramatically accelerated this race, selecting some of the many resistance genes present in nature and contributing to their diversification. One of the best models available to understand the biological impact of selection and diversification are β-lactamases. They constitute the most widespread mechanism of resistance, at least among pathogenic bacteria, with more than 1000 enzymes identified in the literature. In the last years, there has been growing concern about the description, spread, and diversification of β-lactamases with carbapenemase activity and AmpC-type in plasmids. Phylogenies of these enzymes help the understanding of the evolutionary forces driving their selection. Moreover, understanding the adaptive potential of β-lactamases contribute to exploration the evolutionary antagonists trajectories through the design of more efficient synthetic molecules. In this review, we attempt to analyze the antibiotic resistance problem from intrinsic and environmental resistomes to the adaptive potential of resistance genes and the driving forces involved in their diversification, in order to provide a global perspective of the resistance problem.

Evolution of broad spectrum β-lactam resistance in an engineered metallo-β-lactamase

The extensive use and misuse of antibiotics during the last seven decades has led to the evolution and global spread of a variety of resistance mechanisms in bacteria. Of high medical importance are β-lactamases, a group of enzymes inactivating β-lactam antibiotics. Metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) are particularly problematic because of their ability to act on virtually all classes of β-lactam antibiotics. An engineered MBL (evMBL9) characterized by low level activity with several β-lactam antibiotics was constructed and employed as a parental MBL in an experiment to examine how an enzyme can evolve toward increased activity with a variety of β-lactam antibiotics. We designed and synthesized a mutant library in which the substrate activity profile was varied by randomizing six active site amino acid residues. The library was expressed in Salmonella typhimurium, clones with increased resistance against seven different β-lactam antibiotics (penicillin G, ampicillin, cephalothin, cefaclor, cefuroxime, cefoperazone, and cefotaxime) were isolated, and the MBL variants were characterized. For the majority of the mutants, bacterial resistance was significantly increased despite marked reductions in both mRNA and protein levels relative to those of parental evMBL9, indicating that the catalytic activities of these mutant MBLs were highly increased. Multivariate analysis showed that the majority of the mutant enzymes were generalists, conferring increased resistance against most of the examined β-lactams.

Residue mutations and their impact on protein structure and function: detecting beneficial and pathogenic changes

The present review focuses on the evolution of proteins and the impact of amino acid mutations on function from a structural perspective. Proteins evolve under the law of natural selection and undergo alternating periods of conservative evolution and of relatively rapid change. The likelihood of mutations being fixed in the genome depends on various factors, such as the fitness of the phenotype or the position of the residues in the three-dimensional structure. For example, co-evolution of residues located close together in three-dimensional space can occur to preserve global stability. Whereas point mutations can fine-tune the protein function, residue insertions and deletions (‘decorations’ at the structural level) can sometimes modify functional sites and protein interactions more dramatically. We discuss recent developments and tools to identify such episodic mutations, and examine their applications in medical research. Such tools have been tested on simulated data and applied to real data such as viruses or animal sequences. Traditionally, there has been little if any cross-talk between the fields of protein biophysics, protein structure–function and molecular evolution. However, the last several years have seen some exciting developments in combining these approaches to obtain an in-depth understanding of how proteins evolve. For example, a better understanding of how structural constraints affect protein evolution will greatly help us to optimize our models of sequence evolution. The present review explores this new synthesis of perspectives.

Neutron and X-ray crystal structures of a perdeuterated enzyme inhibitor complex reveal the catalytic proton network of the Toho-1 β-lactamase for the acylation reaction

The mechanism by which class A β-lactamases hydrolyze β-lactam antibiotics has been the subject of intensive investigation using many different experimental techniques. Here, we report on the novel use of both neutron and high resolution x-ray diffraction to help elucidate the identity of the catalytic base in the acylation part of the catalytic cycle, wherein the β-lactam ring is opened and an acyl-enzyme intermediate forms. To generate protein crystals optimized for neutron diffraction, we produced a perdeuterated form of the Toho-1 β-lactamase R274N/R276N mutant. Protein perdeuteration, which involves replacing all of the hydrogen atoms in a protein with deuterium, gives a much stronger signal in neutron diffraction and enables the positions of individual deuterium atoms to be located. We also synthesized a perdeuterated acylation transition state analog, benzothiophene-2-boronic acid, which was also isotopically enriched with (11)B, as (10)B is a known neutron absorber. Using the neutron diffraction data from the perdeuterated enzyme-inhibitor complex, we were able to determine the positions of deuterium atoms in the active site directly rather than by inference. The neutron diffraction results, along with supporting bond-length analysis from high resolution x-ray diffraction, strongly suggest that Glu-166 acts as the general base during the acylation reaction.

Experimental support for the foldability-function tradeoff hypothesis: segregation of the folding nucleus and functional regions in fibroblast growth factor-1

The acquisition of function is often associated with destabilizing mutations, giving rise to the stability-function tradeoff hypothesis. To test whether function is also accommodated at the expense of foldability, fibroblast growth factor-1 (FGF-1) was subjected to a comprehensive φ-value analysis at each of the 11 turn regions. FGF-1, a β-trefoil fold, represents an excellent model system with which to evaluate the influence of function on foldability: because of its threefold symmetric structure, analysis of FGF-1 allows for direct comparisons between symmetry-related regions of the protein that are associated with function to those that are not; thus, a structural basis for regions of foldability can potentially be identified. The resulting φ-value distribution of FGF-1 is highly polarized, with the majority of positions described as either folded-like or denatured-like in the folding transition state. Regions important for folding are shown to be asymmetrically distributed within the protein architecture; furthermore, regions associated with function (i.e., heparin-binding affinity and receptor-binding affinity) are localized to regions of the protein that fold after barrier crossing (late in the folding pathway). These results provide experimental support for the foldability-function tradeoff hypothesis in the evolution of FGF-1. Notably, the results identify the potential for folding redundancy in symmetric protein architecture with important implications for protein evolution and design.