Proline cis-trans isomerization in staphylococcal nuclease: multi-substrate free energy perturbation calculations

Replacement of the native cis prolines by alanine leads to simplification of the complex folding mechanism of a small globular protein

The folding mechanism of MNEI, a single-chain variant of naturally occurring double-chain monellin, is complex, with multiple parallel refolding channels. To determine whether its folding energy landscape could be simplified, the two native cis-prolines, Pro41 and Pro93, were mutated, singly and together, to Ala. The stability of P93A was the same as that of the wild-type protein, pWT; however, P41A and P41AP93A were destabilized by ∼0.9 kcal mol-1. The effects of the mutations on the very fast, fast, slow, and very slow phases of folding were studied. They showed that heterogeneity in the unfolded state arises due to cis to trans isomerization of the Gly92-Pro93 peptide bond. The Pro41 to Ala mutation abolished the very slow phase of folding, whereas surprisingly, the Pro93 to Ala mutation abolished the very fast phase of folding. Double-jump, interrupted folding experiments indicated that two sequential trans to cis proline isomerization steps, of the Gly92-Pro93 peptide bond followed by the Arg40-Pro41 peptide bond, lead to the formation of the native state. They also revealed the accumulation of a late native-like intermediate, N∗, which differs from the native state in the isomeric status of the Arg40-Pro41 bond, as well as in a few tertiary contacts as monitored by near-UV CD measurements. The Pro to Ala mutations not only eliminated the cis to trans Pro isomerization reaction in the unfolded state, but also the two trans to cis Pro isomerization reactions during folding. By doing so, and by differentially affecting the relative stabilities of folding intermediates, the mutations resulted in a simplification of the folding mechanism. The two Pro to Ala mutations together accelerate folding to such an extent that the native state forms more than 1000-fold faster than in the case of pWT.

Proline Isomerization: From the Chemistry and Biology to Therapeutic Opportunities

Proline isomerization, the process of interconversion between the cis- and trans-forms of proline, is an important and unique post-translational modification that can affect protein folding and conformations, and ultimately regulate protein functions and biological pathways. Although impactful, the importance and prevalence of proline isomerization as a regulation mechanism in biological systems have not been fully understood or recognized. Aiming to fill gaps and bring new awareness, we attempt to provide a wholistic review on proline isomerization that firstly covers what proline isomerization is and the basic chemistry behind it. In this section, we vividly show that the cause of the unique ability of proline to adopt both cis- and trans-conformations in significant abundance is rooted from the steric hindrance of these two forms being similar, which is different from that in linear residues. We then discuss how proline isomerization was discovered historically followed by an introduction to all three types of proline isomerases and how proline isomerization plays a role in various cellular responses, such as cell cycle regulation, DNA damage repair, T-cell activation, and ion channel gating. We then explore various human diseases that have been linked to the dysregulation of proline isomerization. Finally, we wrap up with the current stage of various inhibitors developed to target proline isomerases as a strategy for therapeutic development.

Molecular dynamics of the proline switch and its role in Crk signaling

The Crk adaptor proteins play a central role as a molecular timer for the formation of protein complexes including various growth and differentiation factors. The loss of regulation of Crk results in many kinds of cancers. A self-regulatory mechanism for Crk was recently proposed, which involves domain–domain rearrangement. It is initiated by a cis–trans isomerization of a specific proline residue (Pro238 in chicken Crk II) and can be accelerated by Cyclophilin A. To understand how the proline switch controls the autoinhibition at the molecular level, we performed large-scale molecular dynamics and metadynamics simulations in the context of short peptides and multidomain constructs of chicken Crk II. We found that the equilibrium and kinetic properties of the macrostates are regulated not only by the local environments of specified prolines but also by the global organization of multiple domains. We observe the two macrostates (cis closed/autoinhibited and trans open/uninhibited) consistent with NMR experiments and predict barriers. We also propose an intermediate state, the trans closed state, which interestingly was reported to be a prevalent state in human Crk II. The existence of this macrostate suggests that the rate of switching off the autoinhibition by Cyp A may be limited by the relaxation rate of this intermediate state.

Cis-trans isomerization of omega dihedrals in proteins

Peptide bonds in protein structures are mainly found in trans conformation with a torsion angle ω close to 180°. Only a very low proportion is observed in cis conformation with ω angle around 0°. Cis-trans isomerization leads to local conformation changes which play an important role in many biological processes. In this paper, we reviewed the recent discoveries and research achievements in this field. First, we presented some interesting cases of biological processes in which cis-trans isomerization is directly implicated. It is involved in protein folding and various aspect of protein function like dimerization interfaces, autoinhibition control, channel gating, membrane binding. Then we reviewed conservation studies of cis peptide bonds which emphasized evolution constraints in term of sequence and local conformation. Finally we made an overview of the numerous molecular dynamics studies and prediction methodologies already developed to take into account this structural feature in the research area of protein modeling. Many cis peptide bonds have not been recognized as such due to the limited resolution of the data and to the refinement protocol used. Cis-trans proline isomerization reactions represents a vast and promising research area that still needs to be further explored for a better understanding of isomerization mechanism and improvement of cis peptide bond predictions.

Perspective: Alchemical free energy calculations for drug discovery

Computational techniques see widespread use in pharmaceutical drug discovery, but typically prove unreliable in predicting trends in protein-ligand binding. Alchemical free energy calculations seek to change that by providing rigorous binding free energies from molecular simulations. Given adequate sampling and an accurate enough force field, these techniques yield accurate free energy estimates. Recent innovations in alchemical techniques have sparked a resurgence of interest in these calculations. Still, many obstacles stand in the way of their routine application in a drug discovery context, including the one we focus on here, sampling. Sampling of binding modes poses a particular challenge as binding modes are often separated by large energy barriers, leading to slow transitions. Binding modes are difficult to predict, and in some cases multiple binding modes may contribute to binding. In view of these hurdles, we present a framework for dealing carefully with uncertainty in binding mode or conformation in the context of free energy calculations. With careful sampling, free energy techniques show considerable promise for aiding drug discovery.

Computation of the binding affinities of catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitors: multisubstate relative free energy calculations

Alchemical free energy simulations are amongst the most accurate techniques for the computation of the free energy changes associated with noncovalent protein-ligand interactions. A procedure is presented to estimate the relative binding free energies of several ligands to the same protein target where multiple, low-energy configurational substates might coexist, as opposed to one unique structure. The contributions of all individual substates were estimated, explicitly, with the free energy perturbation method, and combined in a rigorous fashion to compute the overall relative binding free energies and dissociation constants. It is shown that, unless the most stable bound forms are known a priori, inaccurate results may be obtained if the contributions of multiple substates are ignored. The method was applied to study the complex formed between human catechol-O-methyltransferase and BIA 9-1067, a newly developed tight-binding inhibitor that is currently under clinical evaluation for the therapy of Parkinson's disease. Our results reveal an exceptionally high-binding affinity (K(d) in subpicomolar range) and provide insightful clues on the interactions and mechanism of inhibition. The inhibitor is, itself, a slowly reacting substrate of the target enzyme and is released from the complex in the form of O-methylated product. By comparing the experimental catalytic rate (k(cat)) and the estimated dissociation rate (k(off)) constants of the enzyme-inhibitor complex, one can conclude that the observed inhibition potency (K(i)) is primarily dependent on the catalytic rate constant of the inhibitor's O-methylation, rather than the rate constant of dissociation of the complex.

Mechanism of action of cyclophilin a explored by metadynamics simulations

Trans/cis prolyl isomerisation is involved in several biological processes, including the development of numerous diseases. In the HIV-1 capsid protein (CA), such a process takes place in the uncoating and recruitment of the virion and is catalyzed by cyclophilin A (CypA). Here, we use metadynamics simulations to investigate the isomerization of CA's model substrate HAGPIA in water and in its target protein CypA. Our results allow us to propose a novel mechanistic hypothesis, which is finally consistent with all of the available molecular biology data.

Peptidyl prolyl isomerases are ubiquitous enzymes whose actions are crucial in several biological processes, such as, for instance, in cellular signalling and in the onset of several diseases, e.g., HIV infection. Therefore, these isomerases are promising targets for the design of new drugs. For this purpose, we need to understand their molecular mechanism of action. One of the most characterized peptidyl prolyl isomerases is cyclophilin A. Previous studies characterized the roles of several protein regions in isomerase function. However, there are still experimentally identified important portions of the protein whose specific actions in the mechanism are still not known. Here, we address this problem by an extensive computational study of cyclophilin A and a substrate peptide that is part of the HIV-1 capside protein. We present a novel four-step mechanism of the whole enzymatic process, which is consistent with all of the available experimental data. Moreover, these steps can be used as targets for the development of drugs, e.g., for HIV-1 infection.

On the use of orientational restraints and symmetry corrections in alchemical free energy calculations

Alchemical free energy calculations are becoming a useful tool for calculating absolute binding free energies of small molecule ligands to proteins. Here, we find that the presence of multiple metastable ligand orientations can cause convergence problems when distance restraints alone are used. We demonstrate that the use of orientational restraints can greatly accelerate the convergence of these calculations. However, even with this acceleration, we find that sufficient sampling requires substantially longer simulations than are used in many published protocols. To further accelerate convergence, we introduce a new method of configuration space decomposition by orientation which reduces required simulation lengths by at least a factor of 5 in the cases examined. Our method is easily parallelizable, well suited for cases where a ligand cocrystal structure is not available, and can utilize initial orientations generated by docking packages.

Alchemical free energy calculations and multiple conformational substates

Thermodynamic integration (TI) was combined with (adaptive) umbrella sampling to improve the convergence of alchemical free energy simulations in which multiple conformational substates are present. The approach, which we refer to as non-Boltzmann TI (NBTI), was tested by computing the free energy differences between three five-atomic model systems, as well as the free energy difference of solvation between leucine and asparagine. In both cases regular TI failed to give converged results, whereas the NBTI results were free from hysteresis and had standard deviations well below +/-0.7 kcal/mole. We also present theoretical considerations that make it possible to compute free energy differences between simple molecules, such as the five-atomic model systems, by numerical integration of the partition functions at the respective end points.

The crystal structure of the cis-proline to glycine variant (P114G) of ribonuclease A

Replacement of a cis-proline by glycine at position 114 in ribonuclease A leads to a large decrease in thermal stability and simplifies the refolding kinetics. A crystallographic approach was used to determine whether the decrease in thermal stability results from the presence of a cis glycine peptide bond, or from a localized structural rearrangement caused by the isomerization of the mutated cis 114 peptide bond. The structure was solved at 2.0 A resolution and refined to an R-factor of 19.5% and an R(free) of 21.9%. The overall conformation of the protein was similar to that of wild-type ribonuclease A; however, there was a large localized rearrangement of the mutated loop (residues 110-117-a 9.3 A shift of the Calpha atom of residue 114). The peptide bond before Gly114 is in the trans configuration. Interestingly, a large anomalous difference density was found near residue 114, and was attributed to a bound cesium ion present in the crystallization experiment. The trans isomeric configuration of the peptide bond in the folded state of this mutant is consistent with the refolding kinetics previously reported, and the associated protein conformational change provides an explanation for the decreased thermal stability.

Enzyme specificity under dynamic control II: Principal component analysis of alpha-lytic protease using global and local solvent boundary conditions

The contributions of conformational dynamics to substrate specificity have been examined by the application of principal component analysis to molecular dynamics trajectories of alpha-lytic protease. The wild-type alpha-lytic protease is highly specific for substrates with small hydrophobic side chains at the specificity pocket, while the Met190-->Ala binding pocket mutant has a much broader specificity, actively hydrolyzing substrates ranging from Ala to Phe. Based on a combination of multiconformation analysis of cryo-X-ray crystallographic data, solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and normal mode calculations, we had hypothesized that the large alteration in specificity of the mutant enzyme is mainly attributable to changes in the dynamic movement of the two walls of the specificity pocket. To test this hypothesis, we performed a principal component analysis using 1-nanosecond molecular dynamics simulations using either a global or local solvent boundary condition. The results of this analysis strongly support our hypothesis and verify the results previously obtained by in vacuo normal mode analysis. We found that the walls of the wild-type substrate binding pocket move in tandem with one another, causing the pocket size to remain fixed so that only small substrates are recognized. In contrast, the M190A mutant shows uncoupled movement of the binding pocket walls, allowing the pocket to sample both smaller and larger sizes, which appears to be the cause of the observed broad specificity. The results suggest that the protein dynamics of alpha-lytic protease may play a significant role in defining the patterns of substrate specificity. As shown here, concerted local movements within proteins can be efficiently analyzed through a combination of principal component analysis and molecular dynamics trajectories using a local solvent boundary condition to reduce computational time and matrix size.

Computational analysis of chain flexibility and fluctuations in Rhizomucor miehei lipase

We have performed molecular dynamics simulation of Rhizomucor miehei lipase (Rml) with explicit water molecules present. The simulation was carried out in periodic boundary conditions and conducted for 1. 2 ns in order to determine the concerted protein dynamics and to examine how well the essential motions are preserved along the trajectory. Protein motions are extracted by means of the essential dynamics analysis method for different lengths of the trajectory. Motions described by eigenvector 1 converge after approximately 200 ps and only small changes are observed with increasing simulation time. Protein dynamics along eigenvectors with larger indices, however, change with simulation time and generally, with increasing eigenvector index, longer simulation times are required for observing similar protein motions (along a particular eigenvector). Several regions in the protein show relatively large fluctuations and in particular motions in the active site lid and the segments Thr57-Asn63 and the active site hinge region Pro101-Gly104 are seen along several eigenvectors. These motions are generally associated with glycine residues, while no direct correlations are observed between these fluctuations and the positioning of prolines in the protein structure. The partial opening/closing of the lid is an example of induced fit mechanisms seen in other enzymes and could be a general mechanism for the activation of Rml.

On the non-respect of the thermodynamic cycle by DsbA variants

The mechanism of the disulfide-bond forming enzyme DsbA depends on the very low pKa of a cysteine residue in its active-site and on the relative instability of the oxidized enzyme compared to the reduced one. A thermodynamic cycle has been used to correlate its redox properties to the difference in the free energies of folding (deltadeltaGred/ox) of the oxidized and reduced forms. However, the relation was proved unsatisfied for a number of DsbA variants. In this study, we investigate the thermodynamic and redox properties of a highly destabilized variant DsbA(P151A) (substitution of cis-Pro151 by an alanine) by the means of intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence and by high-sensitivity differential scanning calorimetry (HS-DSC). When the value of deltadeltaGred/ox obtained fluorimetrically for DsbA(P151A) does not correlate with the value expected from its redox potential, the value of deltadeltaGred/ox provided by HS-DSC are in perfect agreement with the predicted thermodynamic cycle for both wild-type and variant. HS-DSC data indicate that oxidized wild-type enzyme and the reduced forms of both wild-type and variant unfold according to a two-state mechanism. Oxidized DsbA(P151A) shows a deviation from two-state behavior that implies the loss of interdomain cooperativity in DsbA caused by Pro151 substitution. The presence of chaotrope in fluorimetric measurements could facilitate domain uncoupling so that the fluorescence probe (Trp76) does not reflect the whole unfolding process of DsbA(P151A) anymore. Thus, theoretical thermodynamic cycle is respected when an appropriate method is applied to DsbA unfolding under conditions in which protein domains still conserve their cooperativity.

Protein-protein recognition: an experimental and computational study of the R89K mutation in Raf and its effect on Ras binding

Binding of the protein Raf to the active form of Ras promotes activation of the MAP kinase signaling pathway, triggering cell growth and differentiation. Raf/Arg89 in the center of the binding interface plays an important role determining Ras-Raf binding affinity. We have investigated experimentally and computationally the Raf-R89K mutation, which abolishes signaling in vivo. The binding to [gamma-35S]GTP-Ras of a fusion protein between the Raf-binding domain (RBD) of Raf and GST was reduced at least 175-fold by the mutation, corresponding to a standard binding free energy decrease of at least 3.0 kcal/mol. To compute this free energy and obtain insights into the microscopic interactions favoring binding, we performed alchemical simulations of the RBD, both complexed to Ras and free in solution, in which residue 89 is gradually mutated from Arg into Lys. The simulations give a standard binding free energy decrease of 2.9+/-1.9 kcal/mol, in agreement with experiment. The use of numerous runs with three different force fields allows insights into the sources of uncertainty in the free energy and its components. The binding decreases partly because of a 7 kcal/mol higher cost to desolvate Lys upon binding, compared to Arg, due to better solvent interactions with the more concentrated Lys charge in the unbound state. This effect is expected to be general, contributing to the lower propensity of Lys to participate in protein-protein interfaces. Large contributions to the free energy change also arise from electrostatic interactions with groups up to 8 A away, namely residues 37-41 in the conserved effector domain of Ras (including 4 kcal/mol from Ser39 which loses a bifurcated hydrogen bond to Arg89), the conserved Lys84 and Lys87 of Raf, and 2-3 specific water molecules. This analysis will provide insights into the large experimental database of Ras-Raf mutations.

The 1.5-A resolution crystal structure of bacterial luciferase in low salt conditions

Bacterial luciferase is a flavin monooxygenase that catalyzes the oxidation of a long-chain aldehyde and releases energy in the form of visible light. A new crystal form of luciferase cloned from Vibrio harveyi has been grown under low-salt concentrations, which diffract x-rays beyond 1.5-A resolution. The x-ray structure of bacterial luciferase has been refined to a conventional R-factor of 18.2% for all recorded synchrotron data between 30.0 and 1.50-A resolution. Bacterial luciferase is an alpha-beta heterodimer, and the individual subunits fold into a single domain (beta/alpha)8 barrel. The high resolution structure reveals a non-prolyl cis peptide bond that forms between Ala74 and Ala75 in the alpha subunit near the putative active site. This cis peptide bond may have functional significance for creating a cavity at the active site. Bacterial luciferase employs reduced flavin as a substrate rather than a cofactor. The structure presented was determined in the absence of substrates. A comparison of the structural similarities between luciferase and a nonfluorescent flavoprotein, which is expressed in the lux operon of one genus of bioluminescent bacteria, suggests that the two proteins originated from a common ancestor. However, the flavin binding sites of the nonfluorescent protein are likely not representative of the flavin binding site on luciferase. The structure presented here will furnish a detailed molecular model for all bacterial luciferases.