1
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Svensson O, Bakker MJ, Skepö M. Deeper Insight of the Conformational Ensemble of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:6105-6114. [PMID: 39056166 PMCID: PMC11323008 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2024] [Revised: 07/17/2024] [Accepted: 07/17/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024]
Abstract
It is generally known that, unlike structured proteins, intrinsically disordered proteins, IDPs, exhibit various structures and conformers, the so-called conformational ensemble, CoE. This study aims to better understand the conformers that make up the IDP ensemble by decomposing the CoE into groups separated by their radius of gyration, Rg. A common approach to studying CoE for IDPs is to use low-resolution techniques, such as small-angle scattering, and combine those with computer simulations on different length scales. Herein, the well-studied antimicrobial saliva protein histatin 5 was utilized as a model peptide for an IDP; the average intensity curves were obtained from small-angle X-ray scattering; and compared with fully atomistic, explicit water, molecular dynamics simulations; then, the intensity curve was decomposed with respect to the different Rg values; and their secondary structure propensities were investigated. We foresee that this approach can provide important information on the CoE and the individual conformers within; in that case, it will serve as an additional tool for understanding the IDP structure-function relationship on a more detailed level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oskar Svensson
- Division
of Computational Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
- NanoLund, Lund University, Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden
| | - Michael J. Bakker
- Faculty
of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Charles University, Akademika Heyrovského 1203/8, 500 05 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
| | - Marie Skepö
- Division
of Computational Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
- NanoLund, Lund University, Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden
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2
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Marien J, Prévost C, Sacquin-Mora S. nP-Collabs: Investigating Counterion-Mediated Bridges in the Multiply Phosphorylated Tau-R2 Repeat. J Chem Inf Model 2024. [PMID: 39092904 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/04/2024]
Abstract
Tau is an intrinsically disordered (IDP) microtubule-associated protein (MAP) that plays a key part in microtubule assembly and organization. The function of tau can be regulated by multiple phosphorylation sites. These post-translational modifications are known to decrease the binding affinity of tau for microtubules, and abnormal tau phosphorylation patterns are involved in Alzheimer's disease. Using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, we compared the conformational landscapes explored by the tau R2 repeat domain (which comprises a strong tubulin binding site) in its native state and with multiple phosphorylations on the S285, S289, and S293 residues, with four different standard force field (FF)/water model combinations. We find that the different parameters used for the phosphate groups (which can be more or less flexible) in these FFs and the specific interactions between bulk cations and water lead to the formation of a specific type of counterion bridge, termed nP-collab (for nphosphate collaboration, with n being an integer), where counterions form stable structures binding with two or three phosphate groups simultaneously. The resulting effect of nP-collabs on the tau-R2 conformational space differs when using sodium or potassium cations and is likely to impact the peptide overall dynamics and how this MAP interacts with tubulins. We also investigated the effect of phosphoresidue spacing and ionic concentration by modeling polyalanine peptides containing two phosphoserines located one-six residues apart. Three new metrics specifically tailored for IDPs (proteic Menger curvature, local curvature, and local flexibility) were introduced, which allow us to fully characterize the impact of nP-collabs on the dynamics of disordered peptides at the residue level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jules Marien
- Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique, Université Paris-Cité, CNRS, 13 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Chantal Prévost
- Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique, Université Paris-Cité, CNRS, 13 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Sophie Sacquin-Mora
- Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique, Université Paris-Cité, CNRS, 13 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris, France
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3
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Kc S, Nguyen KH, Nicholson V, Walgren A, Trent T, Gollub E, Ramero S, Holehouse AS, Sukenik S, Boothby TC. Disordered proteins interact with the chemical environment to tune their protective function during drying. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.28.582506. [PMID: 38464187 PMCID: PMC10925285 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.28.582506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/12/2024]
Abstract
The conformational ensemble and function of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are sensitive to their solution environment. The inherent malleability of disordered proteins combined with the exposure of their residues accounts for this sensitivity. One context in which IDPs play important roles that is concomitant with massive changes to the intracellular environment is during desiccation (extreme drying). The ability of organisms to survive desiccation has long been linked to the accumulation of high levels of cosolutes such as trehalose or sucrose as well as the enrichment of IDPs, such as late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins or cytoplasmic abundant heat soluble (CAHS) proteins. Despite knowing that IDPs play important roles and are co-enriched alongside endogenous, species-specific cosolutes during desiccation, little is known mechanistically about how IDP-cosolute interactions influence desiccation tolerance. Here, we test the notion that the protective function of desiccation-related IDPs is enhanced through conformational changes induced by endogenous cosolutes. We find that desiccation-related IDPs derived from four different organisms spanning two LEA protein families and the CAHS protein family, synergize best with endogenous cosolutes during drying to promote desiccation protection. Yet the structural parameters of protective IDPs do not correlate with synergy for either CAHS or LEA proteins. We further demonstrate that for CAHS, but not LEA proteins, synergy is related to self-assembly and the formation of a gel. Our results suggest that functional synergy between IDPs and endogenous cosolutes is a convergent desiccation protection strategy seen among different IDP families and organisms, yet, the mechanisms underlying this synergy differ between IDP families.
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4
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Bickel D, Vranken W. Effects of Phosphorylation on Protein Backbone Dynamics and Conformational Preferences. J Chem Theory Comput 2024; 20:4998-5011. [PMID: 38830621 PMCID: PMC11210476 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.4c00206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2024] [Revised: 05/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024]
Abstract
Phosphorylations are the most common and extensively studied post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins in eukaryotes. They constitute a major regulatory mechanism, modulating protein function, protein-protein interactions, as well as subcellular localization. Phosphorylation sites are preferably located in intrinsically disordered regions and have been shown to trigger structural rearrangements and order-to-disorder transitions. They can therefore have a significant effect on protein backbone dynamics or conformation, but only sparse experimental data are available. To obtain a more general description of how and when phosphorylations have a significant effect on protein behavior, molecular dynamics (MD) currently provides the only suitable framework to study these effects at a large scale in atomistic detail. This study develops a systematic MD simulation framework to explore the influence of phosphorylations on the local backbone dynamics and conformational propensities of proteins. Through a series of glycine-backbone peptides, we studied the effects of amino acid residues including the three most common phosphorylations (Ser, Thr, and Tyr), on local backbone dynamics and conformational propensities. We further extended our study to investigate the interactions of all such residues between position i to positions i + 1, i + 2, i + 3, and i + 4 in such peptides. The final data set comprises structural ensembles for 3393 sequences with more than 1 μs of sampling for each ensemble. To validate the relevance of the results, the structural and conformational properties extracted from the MD simulations are compared to NMR data from the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank. The systematic nature of this study enables the projection of the gained knowledge onto any phosphorylation site in the proteome and provides a general framework for the study of further PTMs. The full data set is publicly available, as a training and reference set.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Bickel
- Interuniversity
Institute of Bioinformatics in Brussels, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
- Structural
Biology Brussels, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Wim Vranken
- Interuniversity
Institute of Bioinformatics in Brussels, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
- Structural
Biology Brussels, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
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5
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Dudas EF, Tully MD, Foldes T, Kelly G, Tartaglia GG, Pastore A. The structural properties of full-length annexin A11. Front Mol Biosci 2024; 11:1347741. [PMID: 38516187 PMCID: PMC10955470 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2024.1347741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Annexin A11 (ANXA11) is a calcium-dependent phospholipid-binding protein belonging to the annexin protein family and implicated in the neurodegenerative amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Structurally, ANXA11 contains a conserved calcium-binding C-terminal domain common to all annexins and a putative intrinsically unfolded N-terminus specific for ANXA11. Little is known about the structure and functions of this region of the protein. By analogy with annexin A1, it was suggested that residues 38 to 59 within the ANXA11 N-terminus could form a helical region that would be involved in interactions. Interestingly, this region contains residues that, when mutated, may lead to clinical manifestations. In the present study, we have studied the structural features of the full-length protein with special attention to the N-terminal region using a combination of biophysical techniques which include nuclear magnetic resonance and small angle X-ray scattering. We show that the N-terminus is intrinsically disordered and that the overall features of the protein are not markedly affected by the presence of calcium. We also analyzed the 38-59 helix hypothesis using synthetic peptides spanning both the wild-type sequence and clinically relevant mutations. We show that the peptides have a remarkable character typical of a native helix and that mutations do not alter the behaviour suggesting that they are required for interactions rather than being structurally important. Our work paves the way to a more thorough understanding of the ANXA11 functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erika F. Dudas
- Dementia Research Institute at King’s College London, The Wohl Institute, London, United Kingdom
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France
| | - Mark D. Tully
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France
| | - Tamas Foldes
- University College London, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS), Institut Laue-Langevin, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Geoff Kelly
- MRC Biomedical NMR Centre, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Annalisa Pastore
- Dementia Research Institute at King’s College London, The Wohl Institute, London, United Kingdom
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France
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6
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Chen SH, Weiss KL, Stanley C, Bhowmik D. Structural characterization of an intrinsically disordered protein complex using integrated small-angle neutron scattering and computing. Protein Sci 2023; 32:e4772. [PMID: 37646172 PMCID: PMC10503416 DOI: 10.1002/pro.4772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/27/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Abstract
Characterizing structural ensembles of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of proteins is essential for studying structure-function relationships. Due to the different neutron scattering lengths of hydrogen and deuterium, selective labeling and contrast matching in small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) becomes an effective tool to study dynamic structures of disordered systems. However, experimental timescales typically capture measurements averaged over multiple conformations, leaving complex SANS data for disentanglement. We hereby demonstrate an integrated method to elucidate the structural ensemble of a complex formed by two IDRs. We use data from both full contrast and contrast matching with residue-specific deuterium labeling SANS experiments, microsecond all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with four molecular mechanics force fields, and an autoencoder-based deep learning (DL) algorithm. From our combined approach, we show that selective deuteration provides additional information that helps characterize structural ensembles. We find that among the four force fields, a99SB-disp and CHARMM36m show the strongest agreement with SANS and NMR experiments. In addition, our DL algorithm not only complements conventional structural analysis methods but also successfully differentiates NMR and MD structures which are indistinguishable on the free energy surface. Lastly, we present an ensemble that describes experimental SANS and NMR data better than MD ensembles generated by one single force field and reveal three clusters of distinct conformations. Our results demonstrate a new integrated approach for characterizing structural ensembles of IDPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serena H. Chen
- Computational Sciences and Engineering DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Kevin L. Weiss
- Neutron Scattering DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Christopher Stanley
- Computational Sciences and Engineering DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Debsindhu Bhowmik
- Computational Sciences and Engineering DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
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7
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Gaalswyk K, Haider A, Ghosh K. Critical Assessment of Self-Consistency Checks in the All-Atom Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:2973-2984. [PMID: 37133846 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c01140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
All atom simulations can be used to quantify conformational properties of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (IDP). However, simulations must satisfy convergence checks to ensure observables computed from simulation are reliable and reproducible. While absolute convergence is purely a theoretical concept requiring infinitely long simulation, a more practical, yet rigorous, approach is to impose Self Consistency Checks (SCCs) to gain confidence in the simulated data. Currently there is no study of SCCs in IDPs, unlike their folded counterparts. In this paper, we introduce different criteria for self-consistency checks for IDPs. Next, we impose these SCCs to critically assess the performance of different simulation protocols using the N terminal domain of HIV Integrase and the linker region of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleoprotein as two model IDPs. All simulation protocols begin with all-atom implicit solvent Monte Carlo (MC) simulation and subsequent clustering of MC generated conformations to create the representative structures of the IDPs. These representative structures serve as the initial structure for subsequent molecular dynamics (MD) runs with explicit solvent. We conclude that generating multiple short (∼3 μs) MD simulation trajectories─all starting from the most representative MC generated conformation─and merging them is the protocol of choice due to (i) its ability to satisfy multiple SCCs, (ii) consistently reproducing experimental data, and (iii) the efficiency of running independent trajectories in parallel by harnessing multiple cores available in modern GPU clusters. Running one long trajectory (greater than 20 μs) can also satisfy the first two criteria but is less desirable due to prohibitive computation time. These findings help resolve the challenge of identifying a usable starting configuration, provide an objective measure of SCC, and establish rigorous criteria to determine the minimum length (for one long simulation) or number of trajectories needed in all-atom simulation of IDPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kari Gaalswyk
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado 80208, United States
| | - Austin Haider
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biophysics, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado 80208, United States
| | - Kingshuk Ghosh
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado 80208, United States
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biophysics, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado 80208, United States
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8
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Rizuan A, Jovic N, Phan TM, Kim YC, Mittal J. Developing Bonded Potentials for a Coarse-Grained Model of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. J Chem Inf Model 2022; 62:4474-4485. [PMID: 36066390 PMCID: PMC10165611 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.2c00450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Recent advances in residue-level coarse-grained (CG) computational models have enabled molecular-level insights into biological condensates of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), shedding light on the sequence determinants of their phase separation. The existing CG models that treat protein chains as flexible molecules connected via harmonic bonds cannot populate common secondary-structure elements. Here, we present a CG dihedral angle potential between four neighboring beads centered at Cα atoms to faithfully capture the transient helical structures of IDPs. In order to parameterize and validate our new model, we propose Cα-based helix assignment rules based on dihedral angles that succeed in reproducing the atomistic helicity results of a polyalanine peptide and folded proteins. We then introduce sequence-dependent dihedral angle potential parameters (εd) and use experimentally available helical propensities of naturally occurring 20 amino acids to find their optimal values. The single-chain helical propensities from the CG simulations for commonly studied prion-like IDPs are in excellent agreement with the NMR-based α-helix fraction, demonstrating that the new HPS-SS model can accurately produce structural features of IDPs. Furthermore, this model can be easily implemented for large-scale assembly simulations due to its simplicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Azamat Rizuan
- Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, United States
| | - Nina Jovic
- Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, United States
| | - Tien M Phan
- Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, United States
| | - Young C Kim
- Center for Materials Physics and Technology, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, District of Columbia 20375, United States
| | - Jeetain Mittal
- Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, United States
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9
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Sokolova OS, Pichkur EB, Maslova ES, Kurochkina LP, Semenyuk PI, Konarev PV, Samygina VR, Stanishneva-Konovalova TB. Local Flexibility of a New Single-Ring Chaperonin Encoded by Bacteriophage AR9 Bacillus subtilis. Biomedicines 2022; 10:biomedicines10102347. [PMID: 36289609 PMCID: PMC9598537 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10102347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 09/13/2022] [Accepted: 09/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Chaperonins, a family of molecular chaperones, assist protein folding in all domains of life. They are classified into two groups: bacterial variants and those present in endosymbiotic organelles of eukaryotes belong to group I, while group II includes chaperonins from the cytosol of archaea and eukaryotes. Recently, chaperonins of a prospective new group were discovered in giant bacteriophages; however, structures have been determined for only two of them. Here, using cryo-EM, we resolved a structure of a new chaperonin encoded by gene 228 of phage AR9 B. subtilis. This structure has similarities and differences with members of both groups, as well as with other known phage chaperonins, which further proves their diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga S. Sokolova
- Faculty of Biology, MSU-BIT Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518172, China
| | - Evgeny B. Pichkur
- Complex of NBICS Technologies, National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, 123098 Moscow, Russia
| | | | - Lidia P. Kurochkina
- Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Russia
| | - Pavel I. Semenyuk
- Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Russia
| | - Petr V. Konarev
- Complex of NBICS Technologies, National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, 123098 Moscow, Russia
- Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography of FSRC “Crystallography and Photonics”, RAS, 119333 Moscow, Russia
| | - Valeriya R. Samygina
- Complex of NBICS Technologies, National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, 123098 Moscow, Russia
- Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography of FSRC “Crystallography and Photonics”, RAS, 119333 Moscow, Russia
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10
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Gupta A, Dey S, Hicks A, Zhou HX. Artificial intelligence guided conformational mining of intrinsically disordered proteins. Commun Biol 2022; 5:610. [PMID: 35725761 PMCID: PMC9209487 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03562-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Artificial intelligence recently achieved the breakthrough of predicting the three-dimensional structures of proteins. The next frontier is presented by intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which, representing 30% to 50% of proteomes, readily access vast conformational space. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are promising in sampling IDP conformations, but only at extremely high computational cost. Here, we developed generative autoencoders that learn from short MD simulations and generate full conformational ensembles. An encoder represents IDP conformations as vectors in a reduced-dimensional latent space. The mean vector and covariance matrix of the training dataset are calculated to define a multivariate Gaussian distribution, from which vectors are sampled and fed to a decoder to generate new conformations. The ensembles of generated conformations cover those sampled by long MD simulations and are validated by small-angle X-ray scattering profile and NMR chemical shifts. This work illustrates the vast potential of artificial intelligence in conformational mining of IDPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aayush Gupta
- grid.185648.60000 0001 2175 0319Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607 USA
| | - Souvik Dey
- grid.185648.60000 0001 2175 0319Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607 USA
| | - Alan Hicks
- grid.185648.60000 0001 2175 0319Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607 USA
| | - Huan-Xiang Zhou
- grid.185648.60000 0001 2175 0319Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607 USA ,grid.185648.60000 0001 2175 0319Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607 USA
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11
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Piovesan D, Monzon AM, Quaglia F, Tosatto SCE. Databases for intrinsically disordered proteins. Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol 2022; 78:144-151. [PMID: 35102880 PMCID: PMC8805306 DOI: 10.1107/s2059798321012109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) lacking a fixed three-dimensional protein structure are widespread and play a central role in cell regulation. Only a small fraction of IDRs have been functionally characterized, with heterogeneous experimental evidence that is largely buried in the literature. Predictions of IDRs are still difficult to estimate and are poorly characterized. Here, an overview of the publicly available knowledge about IDRs is reported, including manually curated resources, deposition databases and prediction repositories. The types, scopes and availability of the various resources are analyzed, and their complementarity and overlap are highlighted. The volume of information included and the relevance to the field of structural biology are compared.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damiano Piovesan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | | | - Federica Quaglia
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Institute of Biomembranes, Bioenergetics and Molecular Biotechnologies, National Research Council (CNR–IBIOM), Bari, Italy
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12
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Azegami N, Taguchi R, Suzuki N, Sakata Y, Konuma T, Akashi S. Native Mass Spectrometry of BRD4 Bromodomains Linked to a Long Disordered Region. Mass Spectrom (Tokyo) 2022; 11:A0110. [PMID: 36713808 PMCID: PMC9853951 DOI: 10.5702/massspectrometry.a0110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The contribution of disordered regions to protein function and structure is a relatively new field of study and of particular significance as their function has been implicated in some human diseases. Our objective was to analyze various deletion mutants of the bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) using native mass spectrometry to characterize the gas-phase behavior of the disordered region connected to the folded domain. A protein with a single bromodomain but no long disordered linker displayed a narrow charge distribution at low charge states, suggesting a compact structure. In contrast, proteins containing one or two bromodomains connected to a long disordered region exhibited multimodal charge distributions, suggesting the presence of compact and elongated conformers. In the presence of a pan-BET-bromodomain inhibitor, JQ1, the protein-JQ1 complex ions had relatively small numbers of positive charges, corresponding to compact conformers. In contrast, the ions with extremely high charge states did not form a complex with JQ1. This suggests that all of the JQ1-bound BRD4 proteins in the gas phase are in a compact conformation, including the linker region, while the unbound forms are considerably elongated. Although these are gas-phase phenomena, it is possible that the long disordered linker connected to the bromodomain causes the denaturation of the folded domain, which, in turn, affects its JQ1 recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nanako Azegami
- Graduate School of Medical Life Science, Yokohama City University, 1–7–29 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan
| | - Rina Taguchi
- Graduate School of Medical Life Science, Yokohama City University, 1–7–29 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan
| | - Noa Suzuki
- School of Science, Yokohama City University, 1–7–29 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan
| | - Yusuke Sakata
- Graduate School of Medical Life Science, Yokohama City University, 1–7–29 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan
| | - Tsuyoshi Konuma
- Graduate School of Medical Life Science, Yokohama City University, 1–7–29 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan,School of Science, Yokohama City University, 1–7–29 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan,Correspondence to: Tsuyoshi Konuma, Graduate School of Medical Life Science, Yokohama City University, 1–7–29 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan, e-mail:
| | - Satoko Akashi
- Graduate School of Medical Life Science, Yokohama City University, 1–7–29 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan,School of Science, Yokohama City University, 1–7–29 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan,Correspondence to: Satoko Akashi, Graduate School of Medical Life Science, Yokohama City University, 1–7–29 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230–0045, Japan, e-mail:
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13
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Lyu C, Da Vela S, Al-Hilaly Y, Marshall KE, Thorogate R, Svergun D, Serpell LC, Pastore A, Hanger DP. The Disease Associated Tau35 Fragment has an Increased Propensity to Aggregate Compared to Full-Length Tau. Front Mol Biosci 2021; 8:779240. [PMID: 34778381 PMCID: PMC8581542 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.779240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2021] [Accepted: 10/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Tau35 is a truncated form of tau found in human brain in a subset of tauopathies. Tau35 expression in mice recapitulates key features of human disease, including progressive increase in tau phosphorylation, along with cognitive and motor dysfunction. The appearance of aggregated tau suggests that Tau35 may have structural properties distinct from those of other tau species that could account for its pathological role in disease. To address this hypothesis, we performed a structural characterization of monomeric and aggregated Tau35 and compared the results to those of two longer isoforms, 2N3R and 2N4R tau. We used small angle X-ray scattering to show that Tau35, 2N3R and 2N4R tau all behave as disordered monomeric species but Tau35 exhibits higher rigidity. In the presence of the poly-anion heparin, Tau35 increases thioflavin T fluorescence significantly faster and to a greater extent than full-length tau, demonstrating a higher propensity to aggregate. By using atomic force microscopy, circular dichroism, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray fiber diffraction, we provide evidence that Tau35 aggregation is mechanistically and morphologically similar to previously reported tau fibrils but they are more densely packed. These data increase our understanding of the aggregation inducing properties of clinically relevant tau fragments and their potentially damaging role in the pathogenesis of human tauopathies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Lyu
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Stefano Da Vela
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Site, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Youssra Al-Hilaly
- Sussex Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Karen E. Marshall
- Sussex Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Richard Thorogate
- London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Dmitri Svergun
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Site, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Louise C. Serpell
- Sussex Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Annalisa Pastore
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Diane P. Hanger
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
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14
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Kursula P. Small-angle X-ray scattering for the proteomics community: current overview and future potential. Expert Rev Proteomics 2021; 18:415-422. [PMID: 34210208 DOI: 10.1080/14789450.2021.1951242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Introduction: Proteins are biological nanoparticles. For structural proteomics and hybrid structural biology, complementary methods are required that allow both high throughput and accurate automated data analysis. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) is a method for observing the size and shape of particles, such as proteins and complexes, in solution. SAXS data can be used to model both the structure, oligomeric state, conformational changes, and flexibility of biomolecular samples.Areas covered: The key principles of SAXS, its sample requirements, and its current and future applications for structural proteomics are briefly reviewed. Recent technical developments in SAXS experiments are discussed, and future potential of the method in structural proteomics is evaluated.Expert opinion: SAXS is a method suitable for several aspects of integrative structural proteomics, with current technical developments allowing for higher throughput and time-resolved studies, as well as the analysis of complex samples, such as membrane proteins. Increasing automation and streamlined data analysis are expected to equip SAXS for structure-based screening workflows. Originally, structural genomics had a heavy focus on folded, crystallizable proteins and complexes - SAXS is a method allowing an expansion of this focus to flexible and disordered systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petri Kursula
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Biocenter Oulu & Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
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15
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Taylor A, Warner M, Mendoza C, Memmott C, LeCheminant T, Bailey S, Christensen C, Keller J, Suli A, Mizrachi D. Chimeric Claudins: A New Tool to Study Tight Junction Structure and Function. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22094947. [PMID: 34066630 PMCID: PMC8124314 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22094947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2021] [Revised: 05/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The tight junction (TJ) is a structure composed of multiple proteins, both cytosolic and membranal, responsible for cell–cell adhesion in polarized endothelium and epithelium. The TJ is intimately connected to the cytoskeleton and plays a role in development and homeostasis. Among the TJ’s membrane proteins, claudins (CLDNs) are key to establishing blood–tissue barriers that protect organismal physiology. Recently, several crystal structures have been reported for detergent extracted recombinant CLDNs. These structural advances lack direct evidence to support quaternary structure of CLDNs. In this article, we have employed protein-engineering principles to create detergent-independent chimeric CLDNs, a combination of a 4-helix bundle soluble monomeric protein (PDB ID: 2jua) and the apical—50% of human CLDN1, the extracellular domain that is responsible for cell–cell adhesion. Maltose-binding protein-fused chimeric CLDNs (MBP-CCs) used in this study are soluble proteins that retain structural and functional aspects of native CLDNs. Here, we report the biophysical characterization of the structure and function of MBP-CCs. MBP-fused epithelial cadherin (MBP-eCAD) is used as a control and point of comparison of a well-characterized cell-adhesion molecule. Our synthetic strategy may benefit other families of 4-α-helix membrane proteins, including tetraspanins, connexins, pannexins, innexins, and more.
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16
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Sagar A, Jeffries CM, Petoukhov MV, Svergun DI, Bernadó P. Comment on the Optimal Parameters to Derive Intrinsically Disordered Protein Conformational Ensembles from Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Data Using the Ensemble Optimization Method. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:2014-2021. [PMID: 33725442 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The Ensemble Optimization Method (EOM) is a popular approach to describe small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data from highly disordered proteins. The EOM algorithm selects subensembles of coexisting states from large pools of randomized conformations to fit the SAXS data. Based on the unphysical bimodal radius of gyration (Rg) distribution of conformations resulting from the EOM analysis, a recent article (Fagerberg et al. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2019, 15 (12), 6968-6983) concluded that this approach inadequately described the SAXS data measured for human Histatin 5 (Hst5), a peptide with antifungal properties. Using extensive experimental and synthetic data, we explored the origin of this observation. We found that the one-bead-per-residue coarse-grained representation with averaged scattering form factors (provided in the EOM as an add-on to represent disordered missing loops or domains) may not be appropriate for EOM analyses of scattering data from short (below 50 residues) proteins/peptides. The method of choice for these proteins is to employ atomistic models (e.g., from molecular dynamics simulations) to sample the protein conformational landscape. As a convenient alternative, we have also improved the coarse-grained approach by introducing amino acid specific form factors in the calculations. We also found that, for small proteins, the search for relatively large subensembles of 20-50 conformers (as implemented in the original EOM version) more adequately describes the conformational space sampled in solution than the procedures optimizing the ensemble size. Our observations have been added as recommendations into the information for EOM users to promote the proper utilization of the program for ensemble-based modeling of SAXS data for all types of disordered systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amin Sagar
- Centre de Biologie Structurale (CBS), INSERM, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, 29, rue de Navacelles, 34090 Montpellier, France
| | - Cy M Jeffries
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Unit, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Maxim V Petoukhov
- A.V. Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography of Federal Scientific Research Centre "Crystallography and Photonics" of Russian Academy of Sciences, 119333 Moscow, Russia
| | - Dmitri I Svergun
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Unit, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Pau Bernadó
- Centre de Biologie Structurale (CBS), INSERM, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, 29, rue de Navacelles, 34090 Montpellier, France
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17
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ODiNPred: comprehensive prediction of protein order and disorder. Sci Rep 2020; 10:14780. [PMID: 32901090 PMCID: PMC7479119 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71716-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2020] [Accepted: 08/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Structural disorder is widespread in eukaryotic proteins and is vital for their function in diverse biological processes. It is therefore highly desirable to be able to predict the degree of order and disorder from amino acid sequence. It is, however, notoriously difficult to predict the degree of local flexibility within structured domains and the presence and nuances of localized rigidity within intrinsically disordered regions. To identify such instances, we used the CheZOD database, which encompasses accurate, balanced, and continuous-valued quantification of protein (dis)order at amino acid resolution based on NMR chemical shifts. To computationally forecast the spectrum of protein disorder in the most comprehensive manner possible, we constructed the sequence-based protein order/disorder predictor ODiNPred, trained on an expanded version of CheZOD. ODiNPred applies a deep neural network comprising 157 unique sequence features to 1325 protein sequences together with the experimental NMR chemical shift data. Cross-validation for 117 protein sequences shows that ODiNPred better predicts the continuous variation in order along the protein sequence, suggesting that contemporary predictors are limited by the quality of training data. The inclusion of evolutionary features reduces the performance gap between ODiNPred and its peers, but analysis shows that it retains greater accuracy for the more challenging prediction of intermediate disorder.
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18
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Mitra G. Emerging Role of Mass Spectrometry-Based Structural Proteomics in Elucidating Intrinsic Disorder in Proteins. Proteomics 2020; 21:e2000011. [PMID: 32959512 DOI: 10.1002/pmic.202000011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2020] [Revised: 06/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Inherent disorder is an integral part of all proteomes, represented as fully or partially unfolded proteins. The lack of order in intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) results in an incredibly flexible, floppy, and heterogeneous ensemble, contrary to the well-structured and unique organization of folded proteins. Despite such unusual demeanor, IDPs are crucial for numerous cellular processes and are increasingly being associated with disease-causing pathologies. These warrant more intensive investigation of this atypical class of protein. Traditional biophysical tools, however, fall short of analyzing IDPs, thus making their structure-function characterization challenging. Mass spectrometry (MS) in recent years has evolved as a valuable tool for elucidating the unusual conformational facets of IDPs. In this review, the features of advanced MS techniques such as Hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX)-MS, native MS, limited proteolysis (LiP)-MS, chemical cross-linking (XL)-MS, and Fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP)-MS are briefly discussed. Recent MS studies on IDPs and the unique advantages/shortfalls associated with the above methods while evaluating structural proteomics of IDPs, are illustrated. Eventually the future scope of the MS methods in further decoding the unexplored landscapes of IDPs is presented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gopa Mitra
- Clinical Proteomics Unit, Division of Molecular Medicine, St. John's Research Institute, St John's Medical College, St. John's National Academy of Health Sciences, 100 Feet Road, Koramangala, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560034, India
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19
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Martin EW, Hopkins JB, Mittag T. Small-angle X-ray scattering experiments of monodisperse intrinsically disordered protein samples close to the solubility limit. Methods Enzymol 2020; 646:185-222. [PMID: 33453925 PMCID: PMC8370720 DOI: 10.1016/bs.mie.2020.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
The condensation of biomolecules into biomolecular condensates via liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is a ubiquitous mechanism that drives cellular organization. To enable these functions, biomolecules have evolved to drive LLPS and facilitate partitioning into biomolecular condensates. Determining the molecular features of proteins that encode LLPS will provide critical insights into a plethora of biological processes. Problematically, probing biomolecular dense phases directly is often technologically difficult or impossible. By capitalizing on the symmetry between the conformational behavior of biomolecules in dilute solution and dense phases, it is possible to infer details critical to phase separation by precise measurements of the dilute phase thus circumventing complicated characterization of dense phases. The symmetry between dilute and dense phases is found in the size and shape of the conformational ensemble of a biomolecule-parameters that small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) is ideally suited to probe. Recent technological advances have made it possible to accurately characterize samples of intrinsically disordered protein regions at low enough concentration to avoid interference from intermolecular attraction, oligomerization or aggregation, all of which were previously roadblocks to characterizing self-assembling proteins. Herein, we describe the pitfalls inherent to measuring such samples, the experimental details required for circumventing these issues and analysis methods that place the results of SAXS measurements into the theoretical framework of LLPS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik W Martin
- Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Jesse B Hopkins
- The Biophysics Collaborative Access Team (BioCAT), Department of Biological Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Tanja Mittag
- Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States.
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20
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Sokolik CG, Qassem N, Chill JH. The Disordered Cellular Multi-Tasker WIP and Its Protein-Protein Interactions: A Structural View. Biomolecules 2020; 10:biom10071084. [PMID: 32708183 PMCID: PMC7407642 DOI: 10.3390/biom10071084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2020] [Revised: 07/16/2020] [Accepted: 07/18/2020] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
WASp-interacting protein (WIP), a regulator of actin cytoskeleton assembly and remodeling, is a cellular multi-tasker and a key member of a network of protein-protein interactions, with significant impact on health and disease. Here, we attempt to complement the well-established understanding of WIP function from cell biology studies, summarized in several reviews, with a structural description of WIP interactions, highlighting works that present a molecular view of WIP's protein-protein interactions. This provides a deeper understanding of the mechanisms by which WIP mediates its biological functions. The fully disordered WIP also serves as an intriguing example of how intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) exert their function. WIP consists of consecutive small functional domains and motifs that interact with a host of cellular partners, with a striking preponderance of proline-rich motif capable of interactions with several well-recognized binding partners; indeed, over 30% of the WIP primary structure are proline residues. We focus on the binding motifs and binding interfaces of three important WIP segments, the actin-binding N-terminal domain, the central domain that binds SH3 domains of various interaction partners, and the WASp-binding C-terminal domain. Beyond the obvious importance of a more fundamental understanding of the biology of this central cellular player, this approach carries an immediate and highly beneficial effect on drug-design efforts targeting WIP and its binding partners. These factors make the value of such structural studies, challenging as they are, readily apparent.
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21
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Soranno A. Physical basis of the disorder-order transition. Arch Biochem Biophys 2020; 685:108305. [DOI: 10.1016/j.abb.2020.108305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2019] [Revised: 02/10/2020] [Accepted: 02/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
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22
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Sagar A, Svergun D, Bernadó P. Structural Analyses of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins by Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering. Methods Mol Biol 2020; 2141:249-269. [PMID: 32696361 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0524-0_12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) is a low-resolution method for the structural characterization of biological macromolecules in solution. Information about the overall structural features provided by SAXS is highly complementary to X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and cryo-electron microscopy, which are high-resolution methods. SAXS not only provides the shape, oligomeric state, and quaternary structure of folded proteins and protein complexes but also allows for quantitative analysis of flexible biomolecules. In this chapter, the most relevant SAXS procedures for structural characterization of flexible macromolecules, including intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), are presented. The sample requirements for SAXS experiments on protein solutions and the sequence of steps in data collection and processing are described. The use of the advanced data analysis tools to quantitatively characterize flexible proteins is presented in detail. Typical experimental issues and potential problems encountered during SAXS data measurements and analyses are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amin Sagar
- Centre de Biochimie Structurale, INSERM, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
| | - Dmitri Svergun
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Unit, EMBL c/o DESY, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Pau Bernadó
- Centre de Biochimie Structurale, INSERM, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
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23
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le Maire A, Germain P, Bourguet W. Protein-protein interactions in the regulation of RAR–RXR heterodimers transcriptional activity. Methods Enzymol 2020; 637:175-207. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.mie.2020.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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24
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Kolonko M, Greb-Markiewicz B. bHLH-PAS Proteins: Their Structure and Intrinsic Disorder. Int J Mol Sci 2019; 20:ijms20153653. [PMID: 31357385 PMCID: PMC6695611 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20153653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2019] [Revised: 07/15/2019] [Accepted: 07/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The basic helix–loop–helix/Per-ARNT-SIM (bHLH–PAS) proteins are a class of transcriptional regulators, commonly occurring in living organisms and highly conserved among vertebrates and invertebrates. These proteins exhibit a relatively well-conserved domain structure: the bHLH domain located at the N-terminus, followed by PAS-A and PAS-B domains. In contrast, their C-terminal fragments present significant variability in their primary structure and are unique for individual proteins. C-termini were shown to be responsible for the specific modulation of protein action. In this review, we present the current state of knowledge, based on NMR and X-ray analysis, concerning the structural properties of bHLH–PAS proteins. It is worth noting that all determined structures comprise only selected domains (bHLH and/or PAS). At the same time, substantial parts of proteins, comprising their long C-termini, have not been structurally characterized to date. Interestingly, these regions appear to be intrinsically disordered (IDRs) and are still a challenge to research. We aim to emphasize the significance of IDRs for the flexibility and function of bHLH–PAS proteins. Finally, we propose modern NMR methods for the structural characterization of the IDRs of bHLH–PAS proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Kolonko
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Beata Greb-Markiewicz
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland.
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25
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Wójcik S, Birol M, Rhoades E, Miranker AD, Levine ZA. Targeting the Intrinsically Disordered Proteome Using Small-Molecule Ligands. Methods Enzymol 2018; 611:703-734. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.mie.2018.09.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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26
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Bernadó P, Shimizu N, Zaccai G, Kamikubo H, Sugiyama M. Solution scattering approaches to dynamical ordering in biomolecular systems. Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj 2017; 1862:253-274. [PMID: 29107147 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2017.10.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2017] [Revised: 10/23/2017] [Accepted: 10/24/2017] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Clarification of solution structure and its modulation in proteins and protein complexes is crucially important to understand dynamical ordering in macromolecular systems. Small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) are among the most powerful techniques to derive structural information. Recent progress in sample preparation, instruments and software analysis is opening up a new era for small-angle scattering. In this review, recent progress and trends of SAXS and SANS are introduced from the point of view of instrumentation and analysis, touching on general features and standard methods of small-angle scattering. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Biophysical Exploration of Dynamical Ordering of Biomolecular Systems" edited by Dr. Koichi Kato.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pau Bernadó
- Centre de Biochimie Structurale, INSERM, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, France
| | - Nobutaka Shimizu
- Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan
| | - Giuseppe Zaccai
- Institut Laue Langevin, Institut de Biologie Structurale, CNRS, CNRS, UGA, Grenoble, France
| | - Hironari Kamikubo
- Graduate School of Materials Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, 8916-5 Takayama, Ikoma, Nara 630-0192, Japan.
| | - Masaaki Sugiyama
- Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, Kumatori, Sennan-gun, Osaka 590-0494, Japan..
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27
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Prischi F, Pastore A. Hybrid Methods in Iron-Sulfur Cluster Biogenesis. Front Mol Biosci 2017; 4:12. [PMID: 28349052 PMCID: PMC5346568 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2017.00012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2016] [Accepted: 02/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Hybrid methods, which combine and integrate several biochemical and biophysical techniques, have rapidly caught up in the last twenty years to provide a way to obtain a fuller description of proteins and molecular complexes with sizes and complexity otherwise not easily affordable. Here, we review the use of a robust hybrid methodology based on a mixture of NMR, SAXS, site directed mutagenesis and molecular docking which we have developed to determine the structure of weakly interacting molecular complexes. We applied this technique to gain insights into the structure of complexes formed amongst proteins involved in the molecular machine, which produces the essential iron-sulfur cluster prosthetic groups. Our results were validated both by X-ray structures and by other groups who adopted the same approach. We discuss the advantages and the limitations of our methodology and propose new avenues, which could improve it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filippo Prischi
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex Colchester, UK
| | - Annalisa Pastore
- Maurice Wohl Institute, King's College LondonLondon, UK; Molecular Medicine Department, University of PaviaPavia, Italy
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28
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Cordeiro TN, Herranz-Trillo F, Urbanek A, Estaña A, Cortés J, Sibille N, Bernadó P. Structural Characterization of Highly Flexible Proteins by Small-Angle Scattering. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2017; 1009:107-129. [DOI: 10.1007/978-981-10-6038-0_7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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29
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Jeffries CM, Graewert MA, Blanchet CE, Langley DB, Whitten AE, Svergun DI. Preparing monodisperse macromolecular samples for successful biological small-angle X-ray and neutron-scattering experiments. Nat Protoc 2016; 11:2122-2153. [PMID: 27711050 PMCID: PMC5402874 DOI: 10.1038/nprot.2016.113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 111] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) are techniques used to extract structural parameters and determine the overall structures and shapes of biological macromolecules, complexes and assemblies in solution. The scattering intensities measured from a sample contain contributions from all atoms within the illuminated sample volume, including the solvent and buffer components, as well as the macromolecules of interest. To obtain structural information, it is essential to prepare an exactly matched solvent blank so that background scattering contributions can be accurately subtracted from the sample scattering to obtain the net scattering from the macromolecules in the sample. In addition, sample heterogeneity caused by contaminants, aggregates, mismatched solvents, radiation damage or other factors can severely influence and complicate data analysis, so it is essential that the samples be pure and monodisperse for the duration of the experiment. This protocol outlines the basic physics of SAXS and SANS, and it reveals how the underlying conceptual principles of the techniques ultimately 'translate' into practical laboratory guidance for the production of samples of sufficiently high quality for scattering experiments. The procedure describes how to prepare and characterize protein and nucleic acid samples for both SAXS and SANS using gel electrophoresis, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and light scattering. Also included are procedures that are specific to X-rays (in-line SEC-SAXS) and neutrons, specifically preparing samples for contrast matching or variation experiments and deuterium labeling of proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cy M. Jeffries
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Hamburg Outstation, c/o
DESY. Hamburg, 22603, Germany
| | - Melissa A. Graewert
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Hamburg Outstation, c/o
DESY. Hamburg, 22603, Germany
| | - Clément E. Blanchet
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Hamburg Outstation, c/o
DESY. Hamburg, 22603, Germany
| | - David B. Langley
- Victor Chang Cardiac Research and Garvan Institutes, Darlinghurst,
NSW, Australia
| | - Andrew E. Whitten
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas
Heights, NSW, Australia
| | - Dmitri I Svergun
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Hamburg Outstation, c/o
DESY. Hamburg, 22603, Germany
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30
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Palamini M, Canciani A, Forneris F. Identifying and Visualizing Macromolecular Flexibility in Structural Biology. Front Mol Biosci 2016; 3:47. [PMID: 27668215 PMCID: PMC5016524 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2016.00047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2016] [Accepted: 08/22/2016] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Structural biology comprises a variety of tools to obtain atomic resolution data for the investigation of macromolecules. Conventional structural methodologies including crystallography, NMR and electron microscopy often do not provide sufficient details concerning flexibility and dynamics, even though these aspects are critical for the physiological functions of the systems under investigation. However, the increasing complexity of the molecules studied by structural biology (including large macromolecular assemblies, integral membrane proteins, intrinsically disordered systems, and folding intermediates) continuously demands in-depth analyses of the roles of flexibility and conformational specificity involved in interactions with ligands and inhibitors. The intrinsic difficulties in capturing often subtle but critical molecular motions in biological systems have restrained the investigation of flexible molecules into a small niche of structural biology. Introduction of massive technological developments over the recent years, which include time-resolved studies, solution X-ray scattering, and new detectors for cryo-electron microscopy, have pushed the limits of structural investigation of flexible systems far beyond traditional approaches of NMR analysis. By integrating these modern methods with powerful biophysical and computational approaches such as generation of ensembles of molecular models and selective particle picking in electron microscopy, more feasible investigations of dynamic systems are now possible. Using some prominent examples from recent literature, we review how current structural biology methods can contribute useful data to accurately visualize flexibility in macromolecular structures and understand its important roles in regulation of biological processes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Federico Forneris
- The Armenise-Harvard Laboratory of Structural Biology, Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of PaviaPavia, Italy
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