Intrinsic disorder in yeast transcriptional regulatory network

Intrinsic Disorder in the Host Proteins Entrapped in Rabies Virus Particles

A proteomics analysis of purified rabies virus (RABV) revealed 47 entrapped host proteins within the viral particles. Out of these, 11 proteins were highly disordered. Our study was particularly focused on five of the RABV-entrapped mouse proteins with the highest levels of disorder: Neuromodulin, Chmp4b, DnaJB6, Vps37B, and Wasl. We extensively utilized bioinformatics tools, such as FuzDrop, D2P2, UniProt, RIDAO, STRING, AlphaFold, and ELM, for a comprehensive analysis of the intrinsic disorder propensity of these proteins. Our analysis suggested that these disordered host proteins might play a significant role in facilitating the rabies virus pathogenicity, immune system evasion, and the development of antiviral drug resistance. Our study highlighted the complex interaction of the virus with its host, with a focus on how the intrinsic disorder can play a crucial role in virus pathogenic processes, and suggested that these intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and disorder-related host interactions can also be a potential target for therapeutic strategies.

Hepatitis C Virus Infection and Intrinsic Disorder in the Signaling Pathways Induced by Toll-Like Receptors

In this study, we examined the interplay between protein intrinsic disorder, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and signaling pathways induced by Toll-like receptors (TLRs). To this end, 10 HCV proteins, 10 human TLRs, and 41 proteins from the TLR-induced downstream pathways were considered from the prevalence of intrinsic disorder. Mapping of the intrinsic disorder to the HCV-TLR interactome and to the TLR-based pathways of human innate immune response to the HCV infection demonstrates that substantial levels of intrinsic disorder are characteristic for proteins involved in the regulation and execution of these innate immunity pathways and in HCV-TLR interaction. Disordered regions, being commonly enriched in sites of various posttranslational modifications, may play important functional roles by promoting protein-protein interactions and support the binding of the analyzed proteins to other partners such as nucleic acids. It seems that this system represents an important illustration of the role of intrinsic disorder in virus-host warfare.

The Non-continuum Nature of Eukaryotic Transcriptional Regulation

Eukaryotic transcription factors are versatile mediators of specificity in gene regulation. This versatility is achieved through mutual specification by context-specific DNA binding on the one hand, and identity-specific protein-protein partnerships on the other. This interactivity, known as combinatorial control, enables a repertoire of complex transcriptional outputs that are qualitatively disjoint, or non-continuum, with respect to binding affinity. This feature contrasts starkly with prokaryotic gene regulators, whose activities in general vary quantitatively in step with binding affinity. Biophysical studies on prokaryotic model systems and more recent investigations on transcription factors highlight an important role for folded state dynamics and molecular hydration in protein/DNA recognition. Analysis of molecular models of combinatorial control and recent literature in low-affinity gene regulation suggest that transcription factors harbor unique conformational dynamics that are inaccessible or unused by prokaryotic DNA-binding proteins. Thus, understanding the intrinsic dynamics involved in DNA binding and co-regulator recruitment appears to be a key to understanding how transcription factors mediate non-continuum outcomes in eukaryotic gene expression, and how such capability might have evolved from ancient, structurally conserved counterparts.

Circulating extracellular vesicles and rheumatoid arthritis: a proteomic analysis

Circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound nanoparticles secreted by most cells for intracellular communication and transportation of biomolecules. EVs carry proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and receptors that are involved in human physiology and pathology. EV cargo is variable and highly related to the type and state of the cellular origin. Three subtypes of EVs have been identified: exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies. Exosomes are the smallest and the most well-studied class of EVs that regulate different biological processes and participate in several diseases, such as cancers and autoimmune diseases. Proteomic analysis of exosomes succeeded in profiling numerous types of proteins involved in disease development and prognosis. In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), exosomes revealed a potential function in joint inflammation. These EVs possess a unique function, as they can transfer specific autoantigens and mediators between distant cells. Current proteomic data demonstrated that exosomes could provide beneficial effects against autoimmunity and exert an immunosuppressive action, particularly in RA. Based on these observations, effective therapeutic strategies have been developed for arthritis and other inflammatory disorders.

Determine genetic variations in heat shock factor gene family (HSFs) and study their effect on the functional and structural characterization of protein in Tali goat

In this study, the effect of genetic variations of four heat shock transcription factor genes (HSF1, HSF2, HSF4, and HSF5) on the 3 D protein structure and function were studied. We defined the breed-specific genetic variations of pooled DNA of Tali goat that differed from the goat reference sequence (CHI2.0). Disordered regions of HSF proteins were predicted using PONDR. Post-translation changes were studied by several predicted online servers. Then, the structure of the order region of proteins was anticipated by using the Swiss model. Tali goat HSF genes contain a total number of 181, 679, 91, and 301 SNPs for HSF1, 2, 4, and 5, respectively. Also, 5 and 3 variants were identified as nsSNPs in the coding region of HSF4 and HSF5, respectively. (r.145A/S), (r.322P/Y), (r.379T/C) in HSF4 and (r.300Q/P), (r.573E/Q) in HSF5 obtained the tolerant and high confidence (SIFT score) for nsSNPs. More than half of these proteins are predicted to be disordered (56, 50, 52, and 50%, respectively for HSF1, 2, 4, and 5). Phosphorylation, acetylation, glycosylation, and Sumoylation sites of HSFs were compared between Tali goat and reference goat. Three residues S145, S263, and S322 of HSF4 in Tali goat were phosphorylation sites, and in HSF5, the reference goat has a phosphorylation site in S593.

Isolation and Characterization of Human Colon Adenocarcinoma Stem-Like Cells Based on the Endogenous Expression of the Stem Markers

BACKGROUND

Cancer stem cells' (CSCs) self-maintenance is regulated via the pluripotency pathways promoting the most aggressive tumor phenotype. This study aimed to use the activity of these pathways for the CSCs' subpopulation enrichment and separating cells characterized by the OCT4 and SOX2 expression.

METHODS

To select and analyze CSCs, we used the SORE6x lentiviral reporter plasmid for viral transduction of colon adenocarcinoma cells. Additionally, we assessed cell chemoresistance, clonogenic, invasive and migratory activity and the data of mRNA-seq and intrinsic disorder predisposition protein analysis (IDPPA).

RESULTS

We obtained the line of CSC-like cells selected on the basis of the expression of the OCT4 and SOX2 stem cell factors. The enriched CSC-like subpopulation had increased chemoresistance as well as clonogenic and migration activities. The bioinformatic analysis of mRNA seq data identified the up-regulation of pluripotency, development, drug resistance and phototransduction pathways, and the downregulation of pathways related to proliferation, cell cycle, aging, and differentiation. IDPPA indicated that CSC-like cells are predisposed to increased intrinsic protein disorder.

CONCLUSION

The use of the SORE6x reporter construct for CSCs enrichment allows us to obtain CSC-like population that can be used as a model to search for the new prognostic factors and potential therapeutic targets for colon cancer treatment.

Intrinsic disorder is an essential characteristic of components in the conserved circadian circuit

INTRODUCTION

The circadian circuit, a roughly 24 h molecular feedback loop, or clock, is conserved from bacteria to animals and allows for enhanced organismal survival by facilitating the anticipation of the day/night cycle. With circadian regulation reportedly impacting as high as 80% of protein coding genes in higher eukaryotes, the protein-based circadian clock broadly regulates physiology and behavior. Due to the extensive interconnection between the clock and other cellular systems, chronic disruption of these molecular rhythms leads to a decrease in organismal fitness as well as an increase of disease rates in humans. Importantly, recent research has demonstrated that proteins comprising the circadian clock network display a significant amount of intrinsic disorder.

MAIN BODY

In this work, we focus on the extent of intrinsic disorder in the circadian clock and its potential mechanistic role in circadian timing. We highlight the conservation of disorder by quantifying the extent of computationally-predicted protein disorder in the core clock of the key eukaryotic circadian model organisms Drosophila melanogaster, Neurospora crassa, and Mus musculus. We further examine previously published work, as well as feature novel experimental evidence, demonstrating that the core negative arm circadian period drivers FREQUENCY (Neurospora crassa) and PERIOD-2 (PER2) (Mus musculus), possess biochemical characteristics of intrinsically disordered proteins. Finally, we discuss the potential contributions of the inherent biophysical principals of intrinsically disordered proteins that may explain the vital mechanistic roles they play in the clock to drive their broad evolutionary conservation in circadian timekeeping.

CONCLUSION

The pervasive conservation of disorder amongst the clock in the crown eukaryotes suggests that disorder is essential for optimal circadian timing from fungi to animals, providing vital homeostatic cellular maintenance and coordinating organismal physiology across phylogenetic kingdoms. Video abstract.

Intrinsic disorder perspective of an interplay between the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and SARS-CoV-2

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 walks the planet causing the rapid spread of the CoV disease 2019 (COVID-19) that has especially deleterious consequences for the patients with underlying cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Entry of the SARS-CoV-2 into the host cell involves interaction of the virus (via the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of its spike glycoprotein) with the membrane-bound form of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) followed by the virus-ACE2 complex internalization by the cell. Since ACE2 is expressed in various tissues, such as brain, gut, heart, kidney, and lung, and since these organs represent obvious targets for the SARS-CoV-2 infection, therapeutic approaches were developed to either inhibit ACE2 or reduce its expression as a means of prevention of the virus entry into the corresponding host cells. The problem here is that in addition to be a receptor for the SARS-CoV-2 entry into the host cells, ACE2 acts as a key component of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) aimed at the generation of a cascade of vasoactive peptides coordinating several physiological processes. In RAAS, ACE2 degrades angiotensin II, which is a multifunctional CVD-promoting peptide hormone and converts it to a heptapeptide angiotensin-(1-7) acting as the angiotensin II antagonist. As protein multifunctionality is commonly associated with the presence of flexible or disordered regions, we analyze here the intrinsic disorder predisposition of major players related to the SARS-CoV-2 - RAAS axis. We show that all considered proteins contain intrinsically disordered regions that might have specific functions. Since intrinsic disorder might play a role in the functionality of query proteins and be related to the COVID-19 pathogenesis, this work represents an important disorder-based outlook of an interplay between the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and SARS-CoV-2. It also suggests that consideration of the intrinsic disorder phenomenon should be added to the modern arsenal of means for drug development.

Intrinsic Disorder in Human Proteins Encoded by Core Duplicon Gene Families

Segmental duplications (i.e., highly homologous DNA fragments greater than 1 kb in length that are present within a genome at more than one site) are typically found in genome regions that are prone to rearrangements. A noticeable fraction of the human genome (∼5%) includes segmental duplications (or duplicons) that are assumed to play a number of vital roles in human evolution, human-specific adaptation, and genomic instability. Despite their importance for crucial events such as synaptogenesis, neuronal migration, and neocortical expansion, these segmental duplications continue to be rather poorly characterized. Of particular interest are the core duplicon gene (CDG) families, which are replicates sharing common "core" DNA among the randomly attached pieces and which expand along single chromosomes and might harbor newly acquired protein domains. Another important feature of proteins encoded by CDG families is their multifunctionality. Although it seems that these proteins might possess many characteristic features of intrinsically disordered proteins, to the best of our knowledge, a systematic investigation of the intrinsic disorder predisposition of the proteins encoded by core duplicon gene families has not been conducted yet. To fill this gap and to determine the degree to which these proteins might be affected by intrinsic disorder, we analyzed a set of human proteins encoded by the members of 10 core duplicon gene families, such as NBPF, RGPD, GUSBP, PMS2P, SPATA31, TRIM51, GOLGA8, NPIP, TBC1D3, and LRRC37. Our analysis revealed that the vast majority of these proteins are highly disordered, with their disordered regions often being utilized as means for the protein-protein interactions and/or targeted for numerous posttranslational modifications of different nature.

Intrinsic Disorder in Tetratricopeptide Repeat Proteins

Among the realm of repeat containing proteins that commonly serve as “scaffolds” promoting protein-protein interactions, there is a family of proteins containing between 2 and 20 tetratricopeptide repeats (TPRs), which are functional motifs consisting of 34 amino acids. The most distinguishing feature of TPR domains is their ability to stack continuously one upon the other, with these stacked repeats being able to affect interaction with binding partners either sequentially or in combination. It is known that many repeat-containing proteins are characterized by high levels of intrinsic disorder, and that many protein tandem repeats can be intrinsically disordered. Furthermore, it seems that TPR-containing proteins share many characteristics with hybrid proteins containing ordered domains and intrinsically disordered protein regions. However, there has not been a systematic analysis of the intrinsic disorder status of TPR proteins. To fill this gap, we analyzed 166 human TPR proteins to determine the degree to which proteins containing TPR motifs are affected by intrinsic disorder. Our analysis revealed that these proteins are characterized by different levels of intrinsic disorder and contain functional disordered regions that are utilized for protein-protein interactions and often serve as targets of various posttranslational modifications.

Intrinsically disordered proteins of viruses: Involvement in the mechanism of cell regulation and pathogenesis

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) possess the property of inherent flexibility and can be distinguished from other proteins in terms of lack of any fixed structure. Such dynamic behavior of IDPs earned the name "Dancing Proteins." The exploration of these dancing proteins in viruses has just started and crucial details such as correlation of rapid evolution, high rate of mutation and accumulation of disordered contents in viral proteome at least understood partially. In order to gain a complete understanding of this correlation, there is a need to decipher the complexity of viral mediated cell hijacking and pathogenesis in the host organism. Further there is necessity to identify the specific patterns within viral and host IDPs such as aggregation; Molecular recognition features (MoRFs) and their association to virulence, host range and rate of evolution of viruses in order to tackle the viral-mediated diseases. The current book chapter summarizes the aforementioned details and suggests the novel opportunities for further research of IDPs senses in viruses.

Intrinsic disorder controls two functionally distinct dimers of the master transcription factor PU.1

Transcription factors comprise a major reservoir of conformational disorder in the eukaryotic proteome. The hematopoietic master regulator PU.1 presents a well-defined model of the most common configuration of intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in transcription factors. We report that the structured DNA binding domain (DBD) of PU.1 regulates gene expression via antagonistic dimeric states that are reciprocally controlled by cognate DNA on the one hand and by its proximal anionic IDR on the other. The two conformers are mediated by distinct regions of the DBD without structured contributions from the tethered IDRs. Unlike DNA-bound complexes, the unbound dimer is markedly destabilized. Dimerization without DNA is promoted by progressive phosphomimetic substitutions of IDR residues that are phosphorylated in immune activation and stimulated by anionic crowding agents. These results suggest a previously unidentified, nonstructural role for charged IDRs in conformational control by mitigating electrostatic penalties that would mask the interactions of highly cationic DBDs.

About TFE: Old and New Findings

The fluorinated alcohol 2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol (TFE) has been implemented for many decades now in conformational studies of proteins and peptides. In peptides, which are often disordered in aqueous solutions, TFE acts as secondary structure stabilizer and primarily induces an α -helical conformation. The exact mechanism through which TFE plays its stabilizing roles is still debated and direct and indirect routes, relying either on straight interaction between TFE and molecules or indirect pathways based on perturbation of solvation sphere, have been proposed. Another still unanswered question is the capacity of TFE to favor in peptides a bioactive or a native-like conformation rather than simply stimulate the raise of secondary structure elements that reflect only the inherent propensity of a specific amino-acid sequence. In protein studies, TFE destroys unique protein tertiary structure and often leads to the formation of non-native secondary structure elements, but, interestingly, gives some hints about early folding intermediates. In this review, we will summarize proposed mechanisms of TFE actions. We will also describe several examples, in which TFE has been successfully used to reveal structural properties of different molecular systems, including antimicrobial and aggregation-prone peptides, as well as globular folded and intrinsically disordered proteins.

Med15: Glutamine-Rich Mediator Subunit with Potential for Plasticity

The Mediator complex is required for basal activity of the RNA polymerase (Pol) II transcriptional apparatus and for responsiveness to some activator proteins. Med15, situated in the Mediator tail, plays a role in transmitting regulatory information from distant DNA-bound transcription factors to the transcriptional apparatus poised at promoters. Yeast Med15 and its orthologs share an unusual, glutamine-rich amino acid composition. Here, we discuss this sequence feature and the tendency of polyglutamine tracts to vary in length among strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and we propose that different polyglutamine tract lengths may be adaptive within certain domestication habitats.

The solvent side of proteinaceous membrane-less organelles in light of aqueous two-phase systems

Water represents a common denominator for liquid-liquid phase transitions leading to the formation of the polymer-based aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) and a set of the proteinaceous membrane-less organelles (PMLOs). ATPSs have a broad range of biotechnological applications, whereas PMLOs play a number of crucial roles in cellular compartmentalization and often represent a cellular response to the stress. Since ATPSs and PMLOs contain high concentrations of polymers (such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), polypropylene glycol (PPG), Ucon, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), Dextran, or Ficoll) or biopolymers (peptides, proteins and nucleic acids), it is expected that the separated phases of these systems are characterized by the noticeable changes in the solvent properties of water. These changes in solvent properties can drive partitioning of various compounds (proteins, nucleic acids, organic low-molecular weight molecules, metal ions, etc.) between the phases of ATPSs or between the PMLOs and their surroundings. Although there is a sizable literature on the properties of the ATPS phases, much less is currently known about PMLOs. In this perspective article, we first represent liquid-liquid phase transitions in water, discuss different types of biphasic (or multiphasic) systems in water, and introduce various PMLOs and some of their properties. Then, some basic characteristics of polymer-based ATPSs are presented, with the major focus being on the current understanding of various properties of ATPS phases and solvent properties of water inside them. Finally, similarities and differences between the polymer-based ATPSs and biological PMLOs are discussed.

The evolutionary origins of cell type diversification and the role of intrinsically disordered proteins

The evolution of complex multicellular life forms occurred multiple times and was attended by cell type specialization. We review seven lines of evidence indicating that intrinsically disordered/ductile proteins (IDPs) played a significant role in the evolution of multicellularity and cell type specification: (i) most eukaryotic transcription factors (TFs) and multifunctional enzymes contain disproportionately long IDP sequences (≥30 residues in length), whereas highly conserved enzymes are normally IDP region poor; (ii) ~80% of the proteome involved in development are IDPs; (iii) the majority of proteins undergoing alternative splicing (AS) of pre-mRNA contain significant IDP regions; (iv) proteins encoded by DNA regions flanking crossing-over 'hot spots' are significantly enriched in IDP regions; (v) IDP regions are disproportionately subject to combinatorial post-translational modifications (PTMs) as well as AS; (vi) proteins involved in transcription and RNA processing are enriched in IDP regions; and (vii) a strong positive correlation exists between the number of different cell types and the IDP proteome fraction across a broad spectrum of uni- and multicellular algae, plants, and animals. We argue that the multifunctionalities conferred by IDPs and the disproportionate involvement of IDPs with AS and PTMs provided a IDP-AS-PTM 'motif' that significantly contributed to the evolution of multicellularity in all major eukaryotic lineages.

Copy Number Variation in SOX6 Contributes to Chicken Muscle Development

Copy number variations (CNVs), which cover many functional genes, are associated with complex diseases, phenotypic diversity and traits that are economically important to raising chickens. The sex-determining region Y-box 6 (Sox6) plays a key role in fast-twitch muscle fiber differentiation of zebrafish and mice, but it is still unknown whether SOX6 plays a role in chicken skeletal muscle development. We identified two copy number polymorphisms (CNPs) which were significantly related to different traits on the genome level in chickens by AccuCopy^® and CNVplex^® analyses. Notably, five white recessive rock (CN = 1, CN = 3) variant individuals and two Xinghua (CN = 3) variant individuals contain a CNP13 (chromosome5: 10,500,294-10,675,531) which overlaps with SOX6. There is a disordered region in SOX6 proteins 265-579 aa coded by a partial CNV overlapping region. A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction showed that the expression level of SOX6 mRNA was positively associated with CNV and highly expressed during the skeletal muscle cell differentiation in chickens. After the knockdown of the SOX6, the expression levels of IGFIR1, MYF6, SOX9, SHOX and CCND1 were significantly down-regulated. All of them directly linked to muscle development. These results suggest that the number of CNVs in the CNP13 is positively associated with the expression level of SOX6, which promotes the proliferation and differentiation of skeletal muscle cells by up-regulating the expression levels of the muscle-growth-related genes in chickens as in other animal species.

Intrinsically Disordered Proteome of Human Membrane-Less Organelles

It is recognized now that various proteinaceous membrane-less organelles (PMLOs) are commonly found in cytoplasm, nucleus, and mitochondria of various eukaryotic cells (as well as in the chloroplasts of plant cells). Being different from the "traditional" membrane-encapsulated organelles, such as chloroplasts, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, mitochondria, nucleus, and vacuoles, PMLOs solve the cellular need to facilitate and regulate molecular interactions via reversible and controllable isolation of target molecules in specialized compartments. PMLOs possess liquid-like behavior and are believed to be formed as a result of biological liquid-liquid phase transitions (LLPTs, also known as liquid-liquid phase separation), where an intricate interplay between RNA and intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) or hybrid proteins containing ordered domains and intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDPRs) may play an important role. This review analyzes the prevalence of intrinsic disorder in proteins associated with various PMLOs found in human cells and considers some of the functional roles of IDPs/IDPRs in biogenesis of these organelles.

Identification and Initial Characterization of the Effectors of an Anther Smut Fungus and Potential Host Target Proteins

(1) Background: Plant pathogenic fungi often display high levels of host specificity and biotrophic fungi; in particular, they must manipulate their hosts to avoid detection and to complete their obligate pathogenic lifecycles. One important strategy of such fungi is the secretion of small proteins that serve as effectors in this process. Microbotryum violaceum is a species complex whose members infect members of the Caryophyllaceae; M. lychnidis-dioicae, a parasite on Silene latifolia, is one of the best studied interactions. We are interested in identifying and characterizing effectors of the fungus and possible corresponding host targets; (2) Methods: In silico analysis of the M. lychnidis-dioicae genome and transcriptomes allowed us to predict a pool of small secreted proteins (SSPs) with the hallmarks of effectors, including a lack of conserved protein family (PFAM) domains and also localized regions of disorder. Putative SSPs were tested for secretion using a yeast secretion trap method. We then used yeast two-hybrid analyses for candidate-secreted effectors to probe a cDNA library from a range of growth conditions of the fungus, including infected plants; (3) Results: Roughly 50 SSPs were identified by in silico analysis. Of these, 4 were studied further and shown to be secreted, as well as examined for potential host interactors. One of the putative effectors, MVLG_01732, was found to interact with Arabidopsis thaliana calcium-dependent lipid binding protein (AtCLB) and with cellulose synthase interactive protein 1 orthologues; and (4) Conclusions: The identification of a pool of putative effectors provides a resource for functional characterization of fungal proteins that mediate the delicate interaction between pathogen and host. The candidate targets of effectors, e.g., AtCLB, involved in pollen germination suggest tantalizing insights that could drive future studies.

Intrinsic disorder in proteins involved in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Five structurally and functionally different proteins, an enzyme superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), a TAR-DNA binding protein-43 (TDP-43), an RNA-binding protein FUS, a cofilin-binding protein C9orf72, and polypeptides generated as a result of its intronic hexanucleotide expansions, and to lesser degree actin-binding profilin-1 (PFN1), are considered to be the major drivers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. One of the features common to these proteins is the presence of significant levels of intrinsic disorder. The goal of this study is to consider these neurodegeneration-related proteins from the intrinsic disorder perspective. To this end, we employed a broad set of computational tools for intrinsic disorder analysis and conducted intensive literature search to gain information on the structural peculiarities of SOD1, TDP-43, FUS, C9orf72, and PFN1 and their intrinsic disorder predispositions, and the roles of intrinsic disorder in their normal and pathological functions.

Unfoldomics of prostate cancer: on the abundance and roles of intrinsically disordered proteins in prostate cancer

Prostatic diseases such as prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia are highly prevalent among men. The number of studies focused on the abundance and roles of intrinsically disordered proteins in prostate cancer is rather limited. The goal of this study is to analyze the prevalence and degree of disorder in proteins that were previously associated with the prostate cancer pathogenesis and to compare these proteins to the entire human proteome. The analysis of these datasets provides means for drawing conclusions on the roles of disordered proteins in this common male disease. We also hope that the results of our analysis can potentially lead to future experimental studies of these proteins to find novel pathways associated with this disease.

Protein intrinsic disorder-based liquid-liquid phase transitions in biological systems: Complex coacervates and membrane-less organelles

It is clear now that eukaryotic cells contain numerous membrane-less organelles, many of which are formed in response to changes in the cellular environment. Being typically liquid in nature, many of these organelles can be described as products of the reversible and highly controlled liquid-liquid phase transitions in biological systems. Many of these membrane-less organelles are complex coacervates containing (almost invariantly) intrinsically disordered proteins and often nucleic acids. It seems that the lack of stable structure in major proteinaceous constituents of these organelles is crucial for the formation of phase-separated droplets. This review considers several biologically relevant liquid-liquid phase transitions, introduces some general features attributed to intrinsically disordered proteins, represents several illustrative examples of intrinsic disorder-based phase separation, and provides some reasons for the abundance of intrinsically disordered proteins in organelles formed as a result of biological liquid-liquid phase transitions.

Protein disorder reduced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to survive heat shock

Recent experiments established that a culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast) survives sudden high temperatures by specifically duplicating the entire chromosome III and two chromosomal fragments (from IV and XII). Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are not significantly over-abundant in the duplication. In contrast, we suggest a simple algorithm to “ postdict” the experimental results: Find a small enough chromosome with minimal protein disorder and duplicate this region. This algorithm largely explains all observed duplications. In particular, all regions duplicated in the experiment reduced the overall content of protein disorder. The differential analysis of the functional makeup of the duplication remained inconclusive. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment suggested over-representation in processes related to reproduction and nutrient uptake. Analyzing the protein-protein interaction network (PPI) revealed that few network-central proteins were duplicated. The predictive hypothesis hinges upon the concept of reducing proteins with long regions of disorder in order to become less sensitive to heat shock attack.

Environmental Pressure May Change the Composition Protein Disorder in Prokaryotes

Many prokaryotic organisms have adapted to incredibly extreme habitats. The genomes of such extremophiles differ from their non-extremophile relatives. For example, some proteins in thermophiles sustain high temperatures by being more compact than homologs in non-extremophiles. Conversely, some proteins have increased volumes to compensate for freezing effects in psychrophiles that survive in the cold. Here, we revealed that some differences in organisms surviving in extreme habitats correlate with a simple single feature, namely the fraction of proteins predicted to have long disordered regions. We predicted disorder with different methods for 46 completely sequenced organisms from diverse habitats and found a correlation between protein disorder and the extremity of the environment. More specifically, the overall percentage of proteins with long disordered regions tended to be more similar between organisms of similar habitats than between organisms of similar taxonomy. For example, predictions tended to detect substantially more proteins with long disordered regions in prokaryotic halophiles (survive high salt) than in their taxonomic neighbors. Another peculiar environment is that of high radiation survived, e.g. by Deinococcus radiodurans. The relatively high fraction of disorder predicted in this extremophile might provide a shield against mutations. Although our analysis fails to establish causation, the observed correlation between such a simplistic, coarse-grained, microscopic molecular feature (disorder content) and a macroscopic variable (habitat) remains stunning.

Relating gas phase to solution conformations: Lessons from disordered proteins

In recent years both mass spectrometry (MS) and ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM‐MS) have been developed as techniques with which to study proteins that lack a fixed tertiary structure but may contain regions that form secondary structure elements transiently, namely intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). IM‐MS is a suitable method for the study of IDPs which provides an insight to conformations that are present in solution, potentially enabling the analysis of lowly populated structural forms. Here, we describe the IM‐MS data of two IDPs; α‐Synuclein (α‐Syn) which is implicated in Parkinson's disease, and Apolipoprotein C‐II (ApoC‐II) which is involved in cardiovascular diseases. We report an apparent discrepancy in the way that ApoC‐II behaves in the gas phase. While most IDPs, including α‐Syn, present in many charge states and a wide range of rotationally averaged collision cross sections (CCSs), ApoC‐II presents in just four charge states and a very narrow range of CCSs, independent of solution conditions. Here, we compare MS and IM‐MS data of both proteins, and rationalise the differences between the proteins in terms of different ionisation processes which they may adhere to.

Rethinking gene regulatory networks in light of alternative splicing, intrinsically disordered protein domains, and post-translational modifications

Models for genetic regulation and cell fate specification characteristically assume that gene regulatory networks (GRNs) are essentially deterministic and exhibit multiple stable states specifying alternative, but pre-figured cell fates. Mounting evidence shows, however, that most eukaryotic precursor RNAs undergo alternative splicing (AS) and that the majority of transcription factors contain intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) domains whose functionalities are context dependent as well as subject to post-translational modification (PTM). Consequently, many transcription factors do not have fixed cis-acting regulatory targets, and developmental determination by GRNs alone is untenable. Modeling these phenomena requires a multi-scale approach to explain how GRNs operationally interact with the intra- and intercellular environments. Evidence shows that AS, IDP, and PTM complicate gene expression and act synergistically to facilitate and promote time- and cell-specific protein modifications involved in cell signaling and cell fate specification and thereby disrupt a strict deterministic GRN-phenotype mapping. The combined effects of AS, IDP, and PTM give proteomes physiological plasticity, adaptive responsiveness, and developmental versatility without inefficiently expanding genome size. They also help us understand how protein functionalities can undergo major evolutionary changes by buffering mutational consequences.

Wrecked regulation of intrinsically disordered proteins in diseases: pathogenicity of deregulated regulators

Biologically active proteins without stable tertiary structure are common in all known proteomes. Functions of these intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are typically related to regulation, signaling, and control. Cellular levels of these important regulators are tightly regulated by a variety mechanisms ranging from firmly controlled expression to precisely targeted degradation. Functions of IDPs are controlled by binding to specific partners, alternative splicing, and posttranslational modifications among other means. In the norm, right amounts of precisely activated IDPs have to be present in right time at right places. Wrecked regulation brings havoc to the ordered world of disordered proteins, leading to protein misfolding, misidentification, and missignaling that give rise to numerous human diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and diabetes. Among factors inducing pathogenic transformations of IDPs are various cellular mechanisms, such as chromosomal translocations, damaged splicing, altered expression, frustrated posttranslational modifications, aberrant proteolytic degradation, and defective trafficking. This review presents some of the aspects of deregulated regulation of IDPs leading to human diseases.

Evolutionarily conserved and conformationally constrained short peptides might serve as DNA recognition elements in intrinsically disordered regions

Despite recent advances, it is yet not clear how intrinsically disordered regions in proteins recognize their targets without any defined structures. Short linear motifs had been proposed to mediate molecular recognition by disordered regions; however, the underlying structural prerequisite remains elusive. Moreover, the role of short linear motifs in DNA recognition has not been studied. We report a repertoire of short evolutionarily Conserved Recognition Elements (CoREs) in long intrinsically disordered regions, which have very distinct amino-acid propensities from those of known motifs, and exhibit a strong tendency to retain their three-dimensional conformations compared to adjacent regions. The majority of CoREs directly interact with the DNA in the available 3D structures, which is further supported by literature evidence, analyses of ΔΔG values of DNA-binding energies and threading-based prediction of DNA binding potential. CoREs were enriched in cancer-associated missense mutations, further strengthening their functional nature. Significant enrichment of glycines in CoREs and the preference of glycyl ϕ-Ψ values within the left-handed bridge range in the l-disallowed region of the Ramachandran plot suggest that Gly-to-nonGly mutations within CoREs might alter the backbone conformation and consequently the function, a hypothesis that we reconciled using available mutation data. We conclude that CoREs might serve as bait for DNA recognition by long disordered regions and that certain mutations in these peptides can disrupt their DNA binding potential and consequently the protein function. We further hypothesize that the preferred conformations of CoREs and of glycyl residues therein might play an important role in DNA binding. The highly ordered nature of CoREs hints at a therapeutic strategy to inhibit malicious molecular interactions using small molecules mimicking CoRE conformations.

DRM1 and DRM2 expression regulation: potential role of splice variants in response to stress and environmental factors in Arabidopsis

The DRM1/ARP gene family is increasingly exhibiting associations with stress conditions at the transcript level. Traditionally correlated with dormancy, increases in transcript levels in response to various treatments have also been reported in various species. As alternative transcript splicing is common in stress conditions, the splice variants of AtDRM1 and AtDRM2 were assessed further in this study. A previously undescribed splice variant of AtDRM1 (AtDRM1.6) is introduced in this work. In silico analyses of predicted protein sequence of all splice variants showed that all variants retain the predicted intrinsically disordered nature. Transcriptional studies of AtDRM1 and AtDRM2 in response to a wide range of abiotic, physical and hormonal treatments showed that AtDRM1.6 is differentially regulated at the transcriptional level compared with other splice variants. Promoter analyses demonstrated AtDRM1 light regulation via the upstream promoter sequence.

Mass spectrometry methods for intrinsically disordered proteins

In the last ten years mass spectrometry has emerged as a powerful biophysical technique capable of providing unique insights into the structure and dynamics of proteins. Part of this explosion in use involves investigations of the most recently 'discovered' subset of proteins: the so-called 'Intrinsically Disordered' or 'Natively Unstructured' proteins. A key advantage of the use of mass spectrometry to study intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) is its ability to test biophysical assertions made about why they differ from structured proteins. For example, from the charge state distribution presented by a protein following nano-electrospray (n-ESI) it is possible to infer the range of conformations present in solution and hence the extent of disorder; n-ESI is highly sensitive to the degree of folding at the moment of transfer from the liquid to the gas phase. The combination of mass spectrometry with ion mobility (IM-MS) provides rotationally averaged collision cross-sections of molecular ions which can be correlated with conformation; this too can be applied to IDPs. Another feature which can be monitored by IM-MS is the tendency of disordered proteins to form amyloid fibrils, the protein aggregates involved in the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. IM-MS provides a useful insight into events that occur during the early stages of aggregation including delineating the structure of the monomer, identifying oligomer distributions, and revealing mechanistic details of the aggregation process. Here we will review the use of MS and IM-MS to study IDPs using examples from our own and other laboratories.

On the intrinsic disorder status of the major players in programmed cell death pathways

Earlier computational and bioinformatics analysis of several large protein datasets across 28 species showed that proteins involved in regulation and execution of programmed cell death (PCD) possess substantial amounts of intrinsic disorder. Based on the comprehensive analysis of these datasets by a wide array of modern bioinformatics tools it was concluded that disordered regions of PCD-related proteins are involved in a multitude of biological functions and interactions with various partners, possess numerous posttranslational modification sites, and have specific evolutionary patterns (Peng et al. 2013). This study extends our previous work by providing information on the intrinsic disorder status of some of the major players of the three major PCD pathways: apoptosis, autophagy, and necroptosis. We also present a detailed description of the disorder status and interactomes of selected proteins that are involved in the p53-mediated apoptotic signaling pathways.

A creature with a hundred waggly tails: intrinsically disordered proteins in the ribosome

Intrinsic disorder (i.e., lack of a unique 3-D structure) is a common phenomenon, and many biologically active proteins are disordered as a whole, or contain long disordered regions. These intrinsically disordered proteins/regions constitute a significant part of all proteomes, and their functional repertoire is complementary to functions of ordered proteins. In fact, intrinsic disorder represents an important driving force for many specific functions. An illustrative example of such disorder-centric functional class is RNA-binding proteins. In this study, we present the results of comprehensive bioinformatics analyses of the abundance and roles of intrinsic disorder in 3,411 ribosomal proteins from 32 species. We show that many ribosomal proteins are intrinsically disordered or hybrid proteins that contain ordered and disordered domains. Predicted globular domains of many ribosomal proteins contain noticeable regions of intrinsic disorder. We also show that disorder in ribosomal proteins has different characteristics compared to other proteins that interact with RNA and DNA including overall abundance, evolutionary conservation, and involvement in protein-protein interactions. Furthermore, intrinsic disorder is not only abundant in the ribosomal proteins, but we demonstrate that it is absolutely necessary for their various functions.

A creature with a hundred waggly tails: intrinsically disordered proteins in the ribosome

Intrinsic disorder (i.e., lack of a unique 3-D structure) is a common phenomenon, and many biologically active proteins are disordered as a whole, or contain long disordered regions. These intrinsically disordered proteins/regions constitute a significant part of all proteomes, and their functional repertoire is complementary to functions of ordered proteins. In fact, intrinsic disorder represents an important driving force for many specific functions. An illustrative example of such disorder-centric functional class is RNA-binding proteins. In this study, we present the results of comprehensive bioinformatics analyses of the abundance and roles of intrinsic disorder in 3,411 ribosomal proteins from 32 species. We show that many ribosomal proteins are intrinsically disordered or hybrid proteins that contain ordered and disordered domains. Predicted globular domains of many ribosomal proteins contain noticeable regions of intrinsic disorder. We also show that disorder in ribosomal proteins has different characteristics compared to other proteins that interact with RNA and DNA including overall abundance, evolutionary conservation, and involvement in protein–protein interactions. Furthermore, intrinsic disorder is not only abundant in the ribosomal proteins, but we demonstrate that it is absolutely necessary for their various functions.

A decade and a half of protein intrinsic disorder: biology still waits for physics

The abundant existence of proteins and regions that possess specific functions without being uniquely folded into unique 3D structures has become accepted by a significant number of protein scientists. Sequences of these intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and IDP regions (IDPRs) are characterized by a number of specific features, such as low overall hydrophobicity and high net charge which makes these proteins predictable. IDPs/IDPRs possess large hydrodynamic volumes, low contents of ordered secondary structure, and are characterized by high structural heterogeneity. They are very flexible, but some may undergo disorder to order transitions in the presence of natural ligands. The degree of these structural rearrangements varies over a very wide range. IDPs/IDPRs are tightly controlled under the normal conditions and have numerous specific functions that complement functions of ordered proteins and domains. When lacking proper control, they have multiple roles in pathogenesis of various human diseases. Gaining structural and functional information about these proteins is a challenge, since they do not typically "freeze" while their "pictures are taken." However, despite or perhaps because of the experimental challenges, these fuzzy objects with fuzzy structures and fuzzy functions are among the most interesting targets for modern protein research. This review briefly summarizes some of the recent advances in this exciting field and considers some of the basic lessons learned from the analysis of physics, chemistry, and biology of IDPs.

Electrostatic mis-interactions cause overexpression toxicity of proteins in E. coli

A majority of E. coli proteins when overexpressed inhibit its growth, but the reasons behind overexpression toxicity of proteins remain unknown. Understanding the mechanism of overexpression toxicity is important from evolutionary, biotechnological and possibly clinical perspectives. Here we study sequence and functional features of cytosolic proteins of E. coli associated with overexpression toxicity to understand its mechanism. We find that number of positively charged residues is significantly higher in proteins showing overexpression toxicity. Very long proteins also show high overexpression toxicity. Among the functional classes, transcription factors and regulatory proteins are enriched in toxic proteins, while catalytic proteins are depleted. Overexpression toxicity could be predicted with reasonable accuracy using these few properties. The importance of charged residues in overexpression toxicity indicates that nonspecific electrostatic interactions resulting from protein overexpression cause toxicity of these proteins and suggests ways to improve the expression level of native and foreign proteins in E. coli for basic research and biotechnology. These results might also be applicable to other bacterial species.

The alphabet of intrinsic disorder: I. Act like a Pro: On the abundance and roles of proline residues in intrinsically disordered proteins

A significant fraction of every proteome is occupied by biologically active proteins that do not form unique three-dimensional structures. These intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and IDP regions (IDPRs) have essential biological functions and are characterized by extensive structural plasticity. Such structural and functional behavior is encoded in the amino acid sequences of IDPs/IDPRs, which are enriched in disorder-promoting residues and depleted in order-promoting residues. In fact, amino acid residues can be arranged according to their disorder-promoting tendency to form an alphabet of intrinsic disorder that defines the structural complexity and diversity of IDPs/IDPRs. This review is the first in a series of publications dedicated to the roles that different amino acid residues play in defining the phenomenon of protein intrinsic disorder. We start with proline because data suggests that of the 20 common amino acid residues, this one is the most disorder-promoting.

Exploring the binding diversity of intrinsically disordered proteins involved in one-to-many binding

Molecular recognition features (MoRFs) are intrinsically disordered protein regions that bind to partners via disorder-to-order transitions. In one-to-many binding, a single MoRF binds to two or more different partners individually. MoRF-based one-to-many protein-protein interaction (PPI) examples were collected from the Protein Data Bank, yielding 23 MoRFs bound to 2-9 partners, with all pairs of same-MoRF partners having less than 25% sequence identity. Of these, 8 MoRFs were bound to 2-9 partners having completely different folds, whereas 15 MoRFs were bound to 2-5 partners having the same folds but with low sequence identities. For both types of partner variation, backbone and side chain torsion angle rotations were used to bring about the conformational changes needed to enable close fits between a single MoRF and distinct partners. Alternative splicing events (ASEs) and posttranslational modifications (PTMs) were also found to contribute to distinct partner binding. Because ASEs and PTMs both commonly occur in disordered regions, and because both ASEs and PTMs are often tissue-specific, these data suggest that MoRFs, ASEs, and PTMs may collaborate to alter PPI networks in different cell types. These data enlarge the set of carefully studied MoRFs that use inherent flexibility and that also use ASE-based and/or PTM-based surface modifications to enable the same disordered segment to selectively associate with two or more partners. The small number of residues involved in MoRFs and in their modifications by ASEs or PTMs may simplify the evolvability of signaling network diversity.

A multidimensional matrix for systems biology research and its application to interaction networks

A multidimensional matrix containing 76 parameters from 21 transcriptomics, proteomics, interactomics, phenotypic and sequence-based data sets, in which each data set covered most of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae proteome, was compiled for systems biology research. The maximal information coefficient (MIC) was used to measure correlations between every pair of parameters. Out of 2850 possible comparisons, 340 pairs of variables (12%) showed statistically significant MIC scores. There were 321 relationships that were expected; these included relationships within physicochemical parameters of proteins, between abundance levels of genes/proteins and expression noise, and between different types of intracellular networks. We found 19 potentially novel relationships between different types of "-omics" data. The strongest of these involved genetic interaction networks, which were correlated with pleiotropy and cell-to-cell variability in protein expression. Protein disorder also showed a number of significant relationships with protein abundance, signaling and regulatory networks. Significant cross-talk was seen between the signaling and kinase interaction networks. Investigation of this revealed densely connected kinase clusters and significant signaling between them, along with signaling centers that act as integrators or broadcasters of intracellular information. These centers may allow for redundancy and a means of dampening noise in networks under a variety of genetic or environmental perturbations.

Protein intrinsic disorder as a flexible armor and a weapon of HIV-1

Many proteins and protein regions are disordered in their native, biologically active states. These proteins/regions are abundant in different organisms and carry out important biological functions that complement the functional repertoire of ordered proteins. Viruses, with their highly compact genomes, small proteomes, and high adaptability for fast change in their biological and physical environment utilize many of the advantages of intrinsic disorder. In fact, viral proteins are generally rich in intrinsic disorder, and intrinsically disordered regions are commonly used by viruses to invade the host organisms, to hijack various host systems, and to help viruses in accommodation to their hostile habitats and to manage their economic usage of genetic material. In this review, we focus on the structural peculiarities of HIV-1 proteins, on the abundance of intrinsic disorder in viral proteins, and on the role of intrinsic disorder in their functions.

Canonical modeling of the multi-scale regulation of the heat stress response in yeast

Heat is one of the most fundamental and ancient environmental stresses, and response mechanisms are found in prokaryotes and shared among most eukaryotes. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the heat stress response involves coordinated changes at all biological levels, from gene expression to protein and metabolite abundances, and to temporary adjustments in physiology. Due to its integrative multi-level-multi-scale nature, heat adaptation constitutes a complex dynamic process, which has forced most experimental and modeling analyses in the past to focus on just one or a few of its aspects. Here we review the basic components of the heat stress response in yeast and outline what has been done, and what needs to be done, to merge the available information into computational structures that permit comprehensive diagnostics, interrogation, and interpretation. We illustrate the process in particular with the coordination of two metabolic responses, namely the dramatic accumulation of the protective disaccharide trehalose and the substantial change in the profile of sphingolipids, which in turn affect gene expression. The proposed methods primarily use differential equations in the canonical modeling framework of Biochemical Systems Theory (BST), which permits the relatively easy construction of coarse, initial models even in systems that are incompletely characterized.

Expanding the proteome: disordered and alternatively folded proteins

Proteins provide much of the scaffolding for life, as well as undertaking a variety of essential catalytic reactions. These characteristic functions have led us to presuppose that proteins are in general functional only when well structured and correctly folded. As we begin to explore the repertoire of possible protein sequences inherent in the human and other genomes, two stark facts that belie this supposition become clear: firstly, the number of apparent open reading frames in the human genome is significantly smaller than appears to be necessary to code for all of the diverse proteins in higher organisms, and secondly that a significant proportion of the protein sequences that would be coded by the genome would not be expected to form stable three-dimensional (3D) structures. Clearly the genome must include coding for a multitude of alternative forms of proteins, some of which may be partly or fully disordered or incompletely structured in their functional states. At the same time as this likelihood was recognized, experimental studies also began to uncover examples of important protein molecules and domains that were incompletely structured or completely disordered in solution, yet remained perfectly functional. In the ensuing years, we have seen an explosion of experimental and genome-annotation studies that have mapped the extent of the intrinsic disorder phenomenon and explored the possible biological rationales for its widespread occurrence. Answers to the question 'why would a particular domain need to be unstructured?' are as varied as the systems where such domains are found. This review provides a survey of recent new directions in this field, and includes an evaluation of the role not only of intrinsically disordered proteins but also of partially structured and highly dynamic members of the disorder-order continuum.

Intrinsically disordered proteins from A to Z

The ideas that proteins might possess specific functions without being uniquely folded into rigid 3D-structures and that these floppy polypeptides might constitute a noticeable part of any given proteome would have been considered as a preposterous fiction 15 or even 10 years ago. The situation has changed recently, and the existence of functional yet intrinsically disordered proteins and regions has become accepted by a significant number of protein scientists. These fuzzy objects with fuzzy structures and fuzzy functions are among the most interesting and attractive targets for modern protein research. This review summarizes some of the major discoveries and breakthroughs in the field of intrinsic disorder by representing related concepts and definitions.

Reduction in structural disorder and functional complexity in the thermal adaptation of prokaryotes

Genomic correlates of evolutionary adaptation to very low or very high optimal growth temperature (OGT) values have been the subject of many studies. Whereas these provided a protein-structural rationale of the activity and stability of globular proteins/enzymes, the point has been neglected that adaptation to extreme temperatures could also have resulted from an increased use of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which are resistant to these conditions in vitro. Contrary to these expectations, we found a conspicuously low level of structural disorder in bacteria of very high (and very low) OGT values. This paucity of disorder does not reflect phylogenetic relatedness, i.e. it is a result of genuine adaptation to extreme conditions. Because intrinsic disorder correlates with important regulatory functions, we asked how these bacteria could exist without IDPs by studying transcription factors, known to harbor a lot of function-related intrinsic disorder. Hyperthermophiles have much less transcription factors, which have reduced disorder compared to their mesophilic counterparts. On the other hand, we found by systematic categorization of proteins with long disordered regions that there are certain functions, such as translation and ribosome biogenesis that depend on structural disorder even in hyperthermophiles. In all, our observations suggest that adaptation to extreme conditions is achieved by a significant functional simplification, apparent at both the level of the genome and individual genes/proteins.

Understanding protein non-folding

This review describes the family of intrinsically disordered proteins, members of which fail to form rigid 3-D structures under physiological conditions, either along their entire lengths or only in localized regions. Instead, these intriguing proteins/regions exist as dynamic ensembles within which atom positions and backbone Ramachandran angles exhibit extreme temporal fluctuations without specific equilibrium values. Many of these intrinsically disordered proteins are known to carry out important biological functions which, in fact, depend on the absence of a specific 3-D structure. The existence of such proteins does not fit the prevailing structure-function paradigm, which states that a unique 3-D structure is a prerequisite to function. Thus, the protein structure-function paradigm has to be expanded to include intrinsically disordered proteins and alternative relationships among protein sequence, structure, and function. This shift in the paradigm represents a major breakthrough for biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, as it opens new levels of understanding with regard to the complex life of proteins. This review will try to answer the following questions: how were intrinsically disordered proteins discovered? Why don't these proteins fold? What is so special about intrinsic disorder? What are the functional advantages of disordered proteins/regions? What is the functional repertoire of these proteins? What are the relationships between intrinsically disordered proteins and human diseases?

A comprehensive resource of interacting protein regions for refining human transcription factor networks

Large-scale data sets of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are a valuable resource for mapping and analysis of the topological and dynamic features of interactome networks. The currently available large-scale PPI data sets only contain information on interaction partners. The data presented in this study also include the sequences involved in the interactions (i.e., the interacting regions, IRs) suggested to correspond to functional and structural domains. Here we present the first large-scale IR data set obtained using mRNA display for 50 human transcription factors (TFs), including 12 transcription-related proteins. The core data set (966 IRs; 943 PPIs) displays a verification rate of 70%. Analysis of the IR data set revealed the existence of IRs that interact with multiple partners. Furthermore, these IRs were preferentially associated with intrinsic disorder. This finding supports the hypothesis that intrinsically disordered regions play a major role in the dynamics and diversity of TF networks through their ability to structurally adapt to and bind with multiple partners. Accordingly, this domain-based interaction resource represents an important step in refining protein interactions and networks at the domain level and in associating network analysis with biological structure and function.

Bayesian statistical modelling of human protein interaction network incorporating protein disorder information

BACKGROUND

We present a statistical method of analysis of biological networks based on the exponential random graph model, namely p2-model, as opposed to previous descriptive approaches. The model is capable to capture generic and structural properties of a network as emergent from local interdependencies and uses a limited number of parameters. Here, we consider one global parameter capturing the density of edges in the network, and local parameters representing each node's contribution to the formation of edges in the network. The modelling suggests a novel definition of important nodes in the network, namely social, as revealed based on the local sociality parameters of the model. Moreover, the sociality parameters help to reveal organizational principles of the network. An inherent advantage of our approach is the possibility of hypotheses testing: a priori knowledge about biological properties of the nodes can be incorporated into the statistical model to investigate its influence on the structure of the network.

RESULTS

We applied the statistical modelling to the human protein interaction network obtained with Y2H experiments. Bayesian approach for the estimation of the parameters was employed. We deduced social proteins, essential for the formation of the network, while incorporating into the model information on protein disorder. Intrinsically disordered are proteins which lack a well-defined three-dimensional structure under physiological conditions. We predicted the fold group (ordered or disordered) of proteins in the network from their primary sequences. The network analysis indicated that protein disorder has a positive effect on the connectivity of proteins in the network, but do not fully explains the interactivity.

CONCLUSIONS

The approach opens a perspective to study effects of biological properties of individual entities on the structure of biological networks.

Structural and functional relationships of the steroid hormone receptors' N-terminal transactivation domain

Steroid hormone receptors are members of a family of ligand inducible transcription factors, and regulate the transcriptional activation of target genes by recruiting coregulatory proteins to the pre-initiation machinery. The binding of these coregulatory proteins to the steroid hormone receptors is often mediated through their two activation functional domains, AF1, which resides in the N-terminal domain, and the ligand-dependent AF2, which is localized in the C-terminal ligand-binding domain. Compared to other important functional domains of the steroid hormone receptors, our understanding of the mechanisms of action of the AF1 are incomplete, in part, due to the fact that, in solution, AF1 is intrinsically disordered (ID). However, recent studies have shown that AF1 must adopt a functionally active and folded conformation for its optimal activity under physiological conditions. In this review, we summarize and discuss current knowledge regarding the molecular mechanisms of AF1-mediated gene activation, focusing on AF1 conformation and coactivator binding. We further propose models for the binding/folding of the AF1 domains of the steroid hormone receptors and their protein:protein interactions. The population of ID AF1 can be visualized as a collection of many different conformations, some of which may be assuming the proper functional folding for other critical target binding partners that result in the ultimate assembly of AF1:coactivator complexes and subsequent gene regulation. Knowledge of the mechanisms involved therein will significantly help in understanding how signals from a steroid to a specific target gene are conveyed.

Intrinsic disorder explains diverse nuclear roles of chromatin remodeling proteins

Chromatin remodelers, a group of proteins involved in nucleosome re-positioning and modification, have extensive range of interacting partners. They form multimeric complexes and interact with modified histones, transcription, splicing, and replication factors, DNA, RNA, and the factors related to the maintenance of chromosome structure. Such diverse range of interactions is hard to explain with the presumed highly structured form of the protein. In the current analysis, the conformations of chromatin remodelers were explored using protein disorder prediction algorithms. The study revealed that a significant proportion (p < 2.2e-16) of these proteins harbor at least one long region of intrinsic disorder (>70 aa). These unstructured regions do not exhibit any preference to the N/C terminal or middle of the protein. They do not show any significant representation in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) structure repository. Limited examples from PDB indicate direct involvement of disordered regions in binding of chromatin remodeling proteins to naked or modified DNA, histones, and other chromatin-related factors. Furthermore, intrinsic disorder seen in these proteins correlates to the presence of low sequence complexity regions (p = 1.851e-10) particularly the tandem repeats of hydrophilic and charged amino acids. This probably hints at their evolutionary origin via repeat expansion. The disordered regions may enable these proteins to reversibly bind to various interacting partners and eventually contribute to functional diversity and specialization of chromatin remodeling complexes. These could also endow combinatorial action of multiple domains within a protein. We further discuss the prominent association of intrinsic disorder with other chromatin-related proteins and its functional relevance therein.