Investigation of the functional interplay between the primary site and the subsite of RNase T1: kinetic analysis of single and multiple mutants for modified substrates

Implication of an Asp residue in the ribonucleolytic activity of hirsutellin A reveals new electrostatic interactions at the active site of ribotoxins

Ribotoxins are fungal extracellular ribonucleases that specifically cleave ribosomes leading to cell-death via apoptosis. α-Sarcin is the ribotoxin studied in deepest detail, and therefore constitutes the referential protein for the whole family. It has been demonstrated that ribotoxin activity depends on a very precise structural microenvironment in which electrostatic interactions among residues in the active site are of the highest importance. Hirsutellin A (HtA) has been recently described as the smallest ribotoxin known to date, encompassing all the abilities of previously characterized members of this family into a shorter sequence. Comparison of HtA and α-sarcin three-dimensional structures suggested that residues presumably forming the catalytic triad of HtA would be His 42, Glu 66, and His 113. Within this same idea, the presence of an Asp residue (Asp 40) in a position equivalent to α-sarcin Tyr 48 is highlighted as a novelty in this field. In this work, substitution mutants H42Q, E66Q and H113Q, as well as double and triple mutants in all possible combinations, are studied regarding their ribonucleolytic activity and cytotoxicity. Implication of these three residues in the ribotoxin activity of HtA is confirmed, though none of them is strictly essential for ribosomal cleavage. Studies with mutants D40N and D40N/E66Q demonstrate an important role for Asp 40 in the activity of HtA and establish a new set of electrostatic interactions different from the one described for already known ribotoxins.

Chemical double-mutant cycles: dissecting non-covalent interactions

Thermodynamic double-mutant cycles and triple-mutant boxes are widely employed for the experimental quantification of non-covalent interactions and cooperative effects in proteins. This review describes the application of these powerful methodologies to the study of non-covalent interactions in synthetic systems.

Kinetic and product distribution analysis of human eosinophil cationic protein indicates a subsite arrangement that favors exonuclease-type activity

With the use of a high yield prokaryotic expression system, large amounts of human eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) have been obtained. This has allowed a thorough kinetic study of the ribonuclease activity of this protein. The catalytic efficiencies for oligouridylic acids of the type (Up)nU>p, mononucleotides U>p and C>p, and dinucleoside monophosphates CpA, UpA, and UpG have been interpreted by the specific subsites distribution in ECP. The distribution of products derived from digestion of high molecular mass substrates, such as poly(U) and poly(C), by ECP was compared with that of RNase A. The characteristic cleavage pattern of polynucleotides by ECP suggests that an exonuclease-like mechanism is predominantly favored in comparison to the endonuclease catalytic mechanism of RNase A. Comparative molecular modeling with bovine pancreatic RNase A-substrate analog crystal complexes revealed important differences in the subsite structure, whereas the secondary phosphate-binding site (p2) is lacking, the secondary base subsite (B2) is severely impaired, and there are new interactions at the po, Bo, and p-1 sites, located upstream of the P-O-5' cleavable phosphodiester bond, that are not found in RNase A. The differences in the multisubsites structure could explain the reduced catalytic efficiency of ECP and the shift from an endonuclease to an exonuclease-type mechanism.

Dissection of the structural and functional role of a conserved hydration site in RNase T1

The reoccurrence of water molecules in crystal structures of RNase T1 was investigated. Five waters were found to be invariant in RNase T1 as well as in six other related fungal RNases. The structural, dynamical, and functional characteristics of one of these conserved hydration sites (WAT1) were analyzed by protein engineering, X-ray crystallography, and (17)O and 2H nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (NMRD). The position of WAT1 and its surrounding hydrogen bond network are unaffected by deletions of two neighboring side chains. In the mutant Thr93Gln, the Gln93N epsilon2 nitrogen replaces WAT1 and participates in a similar hydrogen bond network involving Cys6, Asn9, Asp76, and Thr91. The ability of WAT1 to form four hydrogen bonds may explain why evolution has preserved a water molecule, rather than a side-chain atom, at the center of this intricate hydrogen bond network. Comparison of the (17)O NMRD profiles from wild-type and Thr93Gln RNase T1 yield a mean residence time of 7 ns at 27 degrees C and an orientational order parameter of 0.45. The effects of mutations around WAT1 on the kinetic parameters of RNase T1 are small but significant and probably relate to the dynamics of the active site.

Single-strand-preferring RNases degrade double-stranded RNAs by destabilizing its secondary structure

To establish the mechanism of dsRNA degradation by mammalian single-stranded-preferring ribonucleases, and, in particular, the influence of their positively charged non-catalytic amino acid residues, we have studied the kinetic parameters of the depolimerization of single- and double-stranded polyribonucleotides such as poly(U), poly(U).poly(A), poly(C) and poly(C).poly(I) by the action of human seminal RNase, bovine seminal RNase and ox pancreas RNase A. While the activities of these RNases on poly(I).poly(C) were definitely lower than those on poly(C), the activities of human seminal and bovine seminal RNases on poly(U).poly(A) and poly(U) were of the same order of magnitude under physiological salt conditions. The ratio of the RNase A degrading activities towards poly(U) and poly(U).poly(A) at I = 0.16 M is ten times higher than the corresponding ratios determined with bovine seminal and human seminal ribonucleases. The high activities of these two RNases towards poly(U).poly(A) are discussed on the basis of their efficient estabilishing action on this double-helical nucleic acid due to their high affinity for poly(A). The destabilizing action of human seminal RNase and bovine seminal RNase on the poly (U).poly(A) duplex is higher than that measurable with bovine RNase A because of the higher number of positive charges present on those enzyme molecules. This may therefore explain why human seminal and bovine seminal ribonucleases are more efficient than RNase A in the depolymerization of poly(U).poly(A) at physiological ionic strength.

A decade of protein engineering on ribonuclease T1--atomic dissection of the enzyme-substrate interactions

During the last decade, protein engineering has been used to identify the residues that contribute to the ribonuclease-T1-catalyzed transesterification. His40, Glu58 and His92 accelerate the associative nucleophilic displacement at the phosphate atom by the entering 2'-oxygen downstream guanosines in a highly cooperative manner. Glu58, assisted by the protonated His40 imidazole, abstracts a proton from the 2'-oxygen, while His92 protonates the leaving group. Tyr38, Arg77 and Phe100 further stabilize the transition state of the reaction. A functionally independent subsite, including Asn36 and Asn98, contributes to chemical turnover by aligning the substrate relative to the catalytic side chains upon binding of the leaving group. An invariant structural motive, involving residues 42-46, renders ribonuclease T1 guanine specific through a series of intermolar hydrogen bonds. Tyr42 contributes significantly to guanine binding through a parallel face-to-face stacking interaction. Tyr45, often referred to as the lid of the guanine-binding site, does not contribute to the binding of the base.

Double-mutant cycles: a powerful tool for analyzing protein structure and function

A double-mutant cycle involves wild-type protein, two single mutants and the corresponding double mutant protein. If the change in free energy associated with a structural or functional property of the protein upon a double mutation differs from the sum of changes in free energy due to the single mutations, then the residues at the two positions are coupled. Such coupling reflects either direct or indirect interactions between these residues. Double-mutant cycle analysis can be used to measure the strength of intramolecular and intermolecular pairwise interactions in proteins or protein-ligand complexes with known structure. Double-mutant cycles can also be employed to characterize structures that are inaccessible to NMR and X-ray crystallography, such as those of transition states for protein folding, ligand binding and enzyme catalysis, or of membrane proteins. Multidimensional mutant cycle analysis can be used to measure higher-order cooperativity between intramolecular or intermolecular interactions. In the absence of coupling between residues, prediction of mutational effects is possible by assuming their additivity.

A two-binding-site kinetic model for the ribonuclease-T1-catalysed transesterification of dinucleoside phosphate substrates

Ribonucleases have been found to have subsites that confer large rate enhancements but do not contribute to substrate binding. In this study, we present a kinetic model that formally explains how subsite binding energy is converted into chemical activation energy. The proposed mechanism takes into account a primary specificity site and a subsite, both of which must be occupied for chemical turnover. An unstable reaction intermediate is formed upon binding of the polymeric substrate monomers at the corresponding subsites. The structure of this reaction intermediate resembles the transition state of the catalysed transphosphorylation reaction. Similar mechanisms may be used by other depolymerizing enzymes including nucleases, glycosidases, and proteases.