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Preparation and Characterization of an Ancient Aminopeptidase Obtained from Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction for L-Carnosine Synthesis. Molecules 2022; 27:molecules27196620. [PMID: 36235157 PMCID: PMC9570944 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27196620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2022] [Revised: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 10/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
As a biologically active peptide, L-carnosine has been widely used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and health care industries due to its various physiological properties. However, relatively little research is available regarding L-carnosine's enzymatic synthesis function. In this study, a potential enzyme sequence with the function of carnosine synthesizing was screened out using the ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) technique. Identified with L-carnosine synthesis activity, this enzyme was further confirmed using autoproteolytic phenomenon via Western blot and N-terminal sequencing. After purification, the enzymatic properties of LUCA-DmpA were characterized. The melting temperature (Tm) and denaturation enthalpy (ΔH) of LUCA-DmpA were 60.27 ± 1.24 °C and 1306.00 ± 26.73 kJ·mol-1, respectively. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy results showed that this ancestral enzyme was composed of α-helix (35.23 ± 0.06%), β-sheet (11.06 ± 0.06%), β-turn (23.67 ± 0.06%) and random coil (32.03 ± 0.06%). The enzyme was characterized with the optimal temperature and pH of 45 °C and 9.0, respectively. Notably, LUCA-DmpA was also characterized with remarkable pH tolerance based on the observation of more than 85% remaining enzymatic activity after incubation at different pH buffers (pH = 6-11) for 12 h. Additionally, rather than being improved or inhibited by metal ions, its enzymatic activity was found to be promoted by introducing organic solvent with a larger log P value. Based on these homology modeling results, the screened LUCA-DmpA is suggested to have further optimization potential, and thereafter to be offered as a promising candidate for real industrial applications.
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2
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Del Amparo R, Arenas M. Consequences of Substitution Model Selection on Protein Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction. Mol Biol Evol 2022; 39:6628884. [PMID: 35789388 PMCID: PMC9254009 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msac144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The selection of the best-fitting substitution model of molecular evolution is a traditional step for phylogenetic inferences, including ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR). However, a few recent studies suggested that applying this procedure does not affect the accuracy of phylogenetic tree reconstruction. Here, we revisited this debate topic by analyzing the influence of selection among substitution models of protein evolution, with focus on exchangeability matrices, on the accuracy of ASR using simulated and real data. We found that the selected best-fitting substitution model produces the most accurate ancestral sequences, especially if the data present large genetic diversity. Indeed, ancestral sequences reconstructed under substitution models with similar exchangeability matrices were similar, suggesting that if the selected best-fitting model cannot be used for the reconstruction, applying a model similar to the selected one is preferred. We conclude that selecting among substitution models of protein evolution is recommended for reconstructing accurate ancestral sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Del Amparo
- CINBIO, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.,Departamento de Bioquímica, Xenética e Immunoloxía, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain
| | - Miguel Arenas
- CINBIO, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.,Departamento de Bioquímica, Xenética e Immunoloxía, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.,Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS Galicia Sur), Vigo, Spain
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3
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Nocedal I, Laub MT. Ancestral reconstruction of duplicated signaling proteins reveals the evolution of signaling specificity. eLife 2022; 11:e77346. [PMID: 35686729 PMCID: PMC9208753 DOI: 10.7554/elife.77346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Gene duplication is crucial to generating novel signaling pathways during evolution. However, it remains unclear how the redundant proteins produced by gene duplication ultimately acquire new interaction specificities to establish insulated paralogous signaling pathways. Here, we used ancestral sequence reconstruction to resurrect and characterize a bacterial two-component signaling system that duplicated in α-proteobacteria. We determined the interaction specificities of the signaling proteins that existed before and immediately after this duplication event and then identified key mutations responsible for establishing specificity in the two systems. Just three mutations, in only two of the four interacting proteins, were sufficient to establish specificity of the extant systems. Some of these mutations weakened interactions between paralogous systems to limit crosstalk. However, others strengthened interactions within a system, indicating that the ancestral interaction, although functional, had the potential to be strengthened. Our work suggests that protein-protein interactions with such latent potential may be highly amenable to duplication and divergence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Nocedal
- Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeUnited States
| | - Michael T Laub
- Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeUnited States
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeUnited States
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4
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Almeida VM, Loria JP, Marana SR. A simple method to determine changes in the affinity between HisF and HisH in the Imidazole Glycerol Phosphate Synthase heterodimer. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0267536. [PMID: 35452497 PMCID: PMC9032424 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The bi-enzyme HisF-HisH heterodimer is part of the pathway that produces histidine and purines in bacteria and lower eukaryotes, but it is absent in mammals. This heterodimer has been largely studied probing the basis of the allosteric effects and the structural stability in proteins. It is also a potential target for antibacterial drugs. In this work, we developed a simple method to evaluate changes in the affinity between HisF and HisH in the heterodimer of the bacteria Thermotoga maritima. HisH contains a single tryptophan residue, which is exposed in the free protein, but buried in the heterodimer interface. Hence, the intrinsic fluorescence maximum of this residue changes to shorter wavelengths upon dimerization. Thus, we used the fluorescence intensity at this shorter wavelength to monitor heterodimer accumulation when HisH was combined with sub-stoichiometric HisF. Under conditions where the HisF-HisH heterodimer is in equilibrium with the free states of these enzymes, when [HisH] > [HisF], we deduced a linear function connecting [HisF-HisH] to [HisF], in which the slope depends on the heterodimer dissociation constant (Kd). Based on this equation, taking fluorescence intensities as proxies of the heterodimer and HisF concentrations, we experimentally determined the Kd at four different temperatures. These Kd values were compared to those evaluated using ITC. Both methods revealed an increase in the HisF and HisH binding affinity as the temperature increases. In spite of differences in their absolute values, the Kd determined using these methods presented an evident linear correlation. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the fluorescence method we determined the effect on the Kd caused by 12 single mutations in HisF. Coherently, this test singled out the only mutation in the binding interface. In brief, the method described here effectively probes qualitative effects on the Kd, can be carried out using common laboratory equipment and is scalable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vitor M. Almeida
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - J. Patrick Loria
- Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Sandro R. Marana
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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5
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Schriever K, Saenz-Mendez P, Rudraraju RS, Hendrikse NM, Hudson EP, Biundo A, Schnell R, Syrén PO. Engineering of Ancestors as a Tool to Elucidate Structure, Mechanism, and Specificity of Extant Terpene Cyclase. J Am Chem Soc 2021; 143:3794-3807. [PMID: 33496585 PMCID: PMC8023661 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c10214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Structural information is crucial for understanding catalytic mechanisms and to guide enzyme engineering efforts of biocatalysts, such as terpene cyclases. However, low sequence similarity can impede homology modeling, and inherent protein instability presents challenges for structural studies. We hypothesized that X-ray crystallography of engineered thermostable ancestral enzymes can enable access to reliable homology models of extant biocatalysts. We have applied this concept in concert with molecular modeling and enzymatic assays to understand the structure activity relationship of spiroviolene synthase, a class I terpene cyclase, aiming to engineer its specificity. Engineering a surface patch in the reconstructed ancestor afforded a template structure for generation of a high-confidence homology model of the extant enzyme. On the basis of structural considerations, we designed and crystallized ancestral variants with single residue exchanges that exhibited tailored substrate specificity and preserved thermostability. We show how the two single amino acid alterations identified in the ancestral scaffold can be transferred to the extant enzyme, conferring a specificity switch that impacts the extant enzyme's specificity for formation of the diterpene spiroviolene over formation of sesquiterpenes hedycaryol and farnesol by up to 25-fold. This study emphasizes the value of ancestral sequence reconstruction combined with enzyme engineering as a versatile tool in chemical biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Schriever
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Science
for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute
of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Department
of Fibre and Polymer Technology, KTH Royal
Institute of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Patricia Saenz-Mendez
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Science
for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute
of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Department
of Fibre and Polymer Technology, KTH Royal
Institute of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Natalie M. Hendrikse
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Science
for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute
of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Department
of Fibre and Polymer Technology, KTH Royal
Institute of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- Swedish
Orphan Biovitrum AB, 112
76 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Elton P. Hudson
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Science
for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute
of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Department
of Protein Science, KTH Royal Institute
of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Antonino Biundo
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Science
for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute
of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Department
of Fibre and Polymer Technology, KTH Royal
Institute of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Robert Schnell
- Department
of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, 17 165 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Per-Olof Syrén
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Science
for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute
of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, Department
of Fibre and Polymer Technology, KTH Royal
Institute of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- Wallenberg
Wood Science Center, Teknikringen 56−58, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
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6
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Schmitz S, Ertelt M, Merkl R, Meiler J. Rosetta design with co-evolutionary information retains protein function. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1008568. [PMID: 33465067 PMCID: PMC7815116 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2020] [Accepted: 11/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Computational protein design has the ambitious goal of crafting novel proteins that address challenges in biology and medicine. To overcome these challenges, the computational protein modeling suite Rosetta has been tailored to address various protein design tasks. Recently, statistical methods have been developed that identify correlated mutations between residues in a multiple sequence alignment of homologous proteins. These subtle inter-dependencies in the occupancy of residue positions throughout evolution are crucial for protein function, but we found that three current Rosetta design approaches fail to recover these co-evolutionary couplings. Thus, we developed the Rosetta method ResCue (residue-coupling enhanced) that leverages co-evolutionary information to favor sequences which recapitulate correlated mutations, as observed in nature. To assess the protocols via recapitulation designs, we compiled a benchmark of ten proteins each represented by two, structurally diverse states. We could demonstrate that ResCue designed sequences with an average sequence recovery rate of 70%, whereas three other protocols reached not more than 50%, on average. Our approach had higher recovery rates also for functionally important residues, which were studied in detail. This improvement has only a minor negative effect on the fitness of the designed sequences as assessed by Rosetta energy. In conclusion, our findings support the idea that informing protocols with co-evolutionary signals helps to design stable and native-like proteins that are compatible with the different conformational states required for a complex function. In homologous proteins, functionally or structurally important residues are strongly conserved. Thus, the consideration of conservation signals during protein design protocols can help to create sequences that are more native-like. However, the number of conserved residues is small in many proteins and not all important residues can be captured by conservation analysis. Residues are forming networks whose composition is dictated by protein structure function and thus is visible through the co-evolutionary analysis. Nowadays, advanced methods allow us to deduce these networks from multiple sequence alignments. Thus, we have implemented the novel Rosetta method termed ‘ResCue’ that informs the design protocol with co-evolutionary signals. Recapitulation designs based on ten difficult benchmarks made clear that this protocol creates sequences that are more native-like than three other, state-of-the-art design protocols.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Schmitz
- Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Moritz Ertelt
- Institute for Drug Discovery, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Rainer Merkl
- Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Jens Meiler
- Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Institute for Drug Discovery, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- * E-mail:
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7
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Furukawa R, Toma W, Yamazaki K, Akanuma S. Ancestral sequence reconstruction produces thermally stable enzymes with mesophilic enzyme-like catalytic properties. Sci Rep 2020; 10:15493. [PMID: 32968141 PMCID: PMC7511310 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-72418-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Enzymes have high catalytic efficiency and low environmental impact, and are therefore potentially useful tools for various industrial processes. Crucially, however, natural enzymes do not always have the properties required for specific processes. It may be necessary, therefore, to design, engineer, and evolve enzymes with properties that are not found in natural enzymes. In particular, the creation of enzymes that are thermally stable and catalytically active at low temperature is desirable for processes involving both high and low temperatures. In the current study, we designed two ancestral sequences of 3-isopropylmalate dehydrogenase by an ancestral sequence reconstruction technique based on a phylogenetic analysis of extant homologous amino acid sequences. Genes encoding the designed sequences were artificially synthesized and expressed in Escherichia coli. The reconstructed enzymes were found to be slightly more thermally stable than the extant thermophilic homologue from Thermus thermophilus. Moreover, they had considerably higher low-temperature catalytic activity as compared with the T. thermophilus enzyme. Detailed analyses of their temperature-dependent specific activities and kinetic properties showed that the reconstructed enzymes have catalytic properties similar to those of mesophilic homologues. Collectively, our study demonstrates that ancestral sequence reconstruction can produce a thermally stable enzyme with catalytic properties adapted to low-temperature reactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryutaro Furukawa
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Wakako Toma
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Koji Yamazaki
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Satoshi Akanuma
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan.
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8
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Gardner JM, Biler M, Risso VA, Sanchez-Ruiz JM, Kamerlin SCL. Manipulating Conformational Dynamics To Repurpose Ancient Proteins for Modern Catalytic Functions. ACS Catal 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.0c00722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jasmine M. Gardner
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Michal Biler
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Valeria A. Risso
- Departamento de Quı́mica Fisica, Facultad de Ciencias, Unidad de Excelencia de Quı́mica Aplicada a Biomedicina y Medioambiente (UEQ), Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Jose M. Sanchez-Ruiz
- Departamento de Quı́mica Fisica, Facultad de Ciencias, Unidad de Excelencia de Quı́mica Aplicada a Biomedicina y Medioambiente (UEQ), Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Shina C. L. Kamerlin
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
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9
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Analysis of allosteric communication in a multienzyme complex by ancestral sequence reconstruction. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 117:346-354. [PMID: 31871208 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1912132117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Tryptophan synthase (TS) is a heterotetrameric αββα complex. It is characterized by the channeling of the reaction intermediate indole and the mutual activation of the α-subunit TrpA and the β-subunit TrpB via a complex allosteric network. We have analyzed this allosteric network by means of ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR), which is an in silico method to resurrect extinct ancestors of modern proteins. Previously, the sequences of TrpA and TrpB from the last bacterial common ancestor (LBCA) have been computed by means of ASR and characterized. LBCA-TS is similar to modern TS by forming a αββα complex with indole channeling taking place. However, LBCA-TrpA allosterically decreases the activity of LBCA-TrpB, whereas, for example, the modern ncTrpA from Neptuniibacter caesariensis allosterically increases the activity of ncTrpB. To identify amino acid residues that are responsible for this inversion of the allosteric effect, all 6 evolutionary TrpA and TrpB intermediates that stepwise link LBCA-TS with ncTS were characterized. Remarkably, the switching from TrpB inhibition to TrpB activation by TrpA occurred between 2 successive TS intermediates. Sequence comparison of these 2 intermediates and iterative rounds of site-directed mutagenesis allowed us to identify 4 of 413 residues from TrpB that are crucial for its allosteric activation by TrpA. The effect of our mutational studies was rationalized by a community analysis based on molecular dynamics simulations. Our findings demonstrate that ancestral sequence reconstruction can efficiently identify residues contributing to allosteric signal propagation in multienzyme complexes.
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10
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Straub K, Linde M, Kropp C, Blanquart S, Babinger P, Merkl R. Sequence selection by FitSS4ASR alleviates ancestral sequence reconstruction as exemplified for geranylgeranylglyceryl phosphate synthase. Biol Chem 2019; 400:367-381. [PMID: 30763032 DOI: 10.1515/hsz-2018-0344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2018] [Accepted: 12/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
For evolutionary studies, but also for protein engineering, ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) has become an indispensable tool. The first step of every ASR protocol is the preparation of a representative sequence set containing at most a few hundred recent homologs whose composition determines decisively the outcome of a reconstruction. A common approach for sequence selection consists of several rounds of manual recompilation that is driven by embedded phylogenetic analyses of the varied sequence sets. For ASR of a geranylgeranylglyceryl phosphate synthase, we additionally utilized FitSS4ASR, which replaces this time-consuming protocol with an efficient and more rational approach. FitSS4ASR applies orthogonal filters to a set of homologs to eliminate outlier sequences and those bearing only a weak phylogenetic signal. To demonstrate the usefulness of FitSS4ASR, we determined experimentally the oligomerization state of eight predecessors, which is a delicate and taxon-specific property. Corresponding ancestors deduced in a manual approach and by means of FitSS4ASR had the same dimeric or hexameric conformation; this concordance testifies to the efficiency of FitSS4ASR for sequence selection. FitSS4ASR-based results of two other ASR experiments were added to the Supporting Information. Program and documentation are available at https://gitlab.bioinf.ur.de/hek61586/FitSS4ASR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristina Straub
- Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Mona Linde
- Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Cosimo Kropp
- Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Samuel Blanquart
- University of Rennes, Inria, CNRS, IRISA, F-35000 Rennes, France
| | - Patrick Babinger
- Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Rainer Merkl
- Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany
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11
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Straub K, Merkl R. Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction as a Tool for the Elucidation of a Stepwise Evolutionary Adaptation. Methods Mol Biol 2019; 1851:171-182. [PMID: 30298397 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8736-8_9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) is a powerful tool to infer primordial sequences from contemporary, i.e., extant ones. An essential element of ASR is the computation of a phylogenetic tree whose leaves are the chosen extant sequences. Most often, the reconstructed sequence related to the root of this tree is of greatest interest: It represents the common ancestor (CA) of the sequences under study. If this sequence encodes a protein, one can "resurrect" the CA by means of gene synthesis technology and study biochemical properties of this extinct predecessor with the help of wet-lab experiments.However, ASR deduces also sequences for all internal nodes of the tree, and the well-considered analysis of these "intermediates" can help to elucidate evolutionary processes. Moreover, one can identify key mutations that alter proteins or protein complexes and are responsible for the differing properties of extant proteins. As an illustrative example, we describe the protocol for the rapid identification of hotspots determining the binding of the two subunits within the heteromeric complex imidazole glycerol phosphate synthase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristina Straub
- Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Rainer Merkl
- Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
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12
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Risso VA, Sanchez-Ruiz JM, Ozkan SB. Biotechnological and protein-engineering implications of ancestral protein resurrection. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2018; 51:106-115. [PMID: 29660672 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2018.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2018] [Revised: 02/18/2018] [Accepted: 02/20/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Approximations to the sequences of ancestral proteins can be derived from the sequences of their modern descendants. Proteins encoded by such reconstructed sequences can be prepared in the laboratory and subjected to experimental scrutiny. These 'resurrected' ancestral proteins often display remarkable properties, reflecting ancestral adaptations to intra-cellular and extra-cellular environments that differed from the environments hosting modern/extant proteins. Recent experimental and computational work has specifically discussed high stability, substrate and catalytic promiscuity, conformational flexibility/diversity and altered patterns of interaction with other sub-cellular components. In this review, we discuss these remarkable properties as well as recent attempts to explore their biotechnological and protein-engineering potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valeria A Risso
- Departamento de Quimica Fisica, Facultad de Ciencias, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Jose M Sanchez-Ruiz
- Departamento de Quimica Fisica, Facultad de Ciencias, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
| | - S Banu Ozkan
- Department of Physics and Center for Biological Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, United States.
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13
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Akanuma S. Characterization of Reconstructed Ancestral Proteins Suggests a Change in Temperature of the Ancient Biosphere. Life (Basel) 2017; 7:life7030033. [PMID: 28783077 PMCID: PMC5617958 DOI: 10.3390/life7030033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2017] [Revised: 08/02/2017] [Accepted: 08/03/2017] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding the evolution of ancestral life, and especially the ability of some organisms to flourish in the variable environments experienced in Earth’s early biosphere, requires knowledge of the characteristics and the environment of these ancestral organisms. Information about early life and environmental conditions has been obtained from fossil records and geological surveys. Recent advances in phylogenetic analysis, and an increasing number of protein sequences available in public databases, have made it possible to infer ancestral protein sequences possessed by ancient organisms. However, the in silico studies that assess the ancestral base content of ribosomal RNAs, the frequency of each amino acid in ancestral proteins, and estimate the environmental temperatures of ancient organisms, show conflicting results. The characterization of ancestral proteins reconstructed in vitro suggests that ancient organisms had very thermally stable proteins, and therefore were thermophilic or hyperthermophilic. Experimental data supports the idea that only thermophilic ancestors survived the catastrophic increase in temperature of the biosphere that was likely associated with meteorite impacts during the early history of Earth. In addition, by expanding the timescale and including more ancestral proteins for reconstruction, it appears as though the Earth’s surface temperature gradually decreased over time, from Archean to present.
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Affiliation(s)
- Satoshi Akanuma
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-1192, Japan.
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