Allosteric transition and binding of small molecule effectors causes curvature change in central β-sheets of selected enzymes

Visualizing correlated motion with HDBSCAN clustering

Correlated motion analysis provides a method for understanding communication between and dynamic similarities of biopolymer residues and domains. The typical equal-time correlation matrices-frequently visualized with pseudo-colorings or heat maps-quickly convey large regions of highly correlated motion but hide more subtle similarities of motion. Here we propose a complementary method for visualizing correlations within proteins (or general biopolymers) that quickly conveys intuition about which residues have a similar dynamic behavior. For grouping residues, we use the recently developed non-parametric clustering algorithm HDBSCAN. Although the method we propose here can be used to group residues using correlation as a similarity matrix-the most straightforward and intuitive method-it can also be used to more generally determine groups of residues which have similar dynamic properties. We term these latter groups "Dynamic Domains", as they are based not on spatial closeness but rather closeness in the column space of a correlation matrix. We provide examples of this method across three human proteins of varying size and function-the Nf-Kappa-Beta essential modulator, the clotting promoter Thrombin and the mismatch repair protein (dimer) complex MutS-alpha. Although the examples presented here are from all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, this visualization technique can also be used on correlations matrices built from any ensembles of conformations from experiment or computation.

Modeling Beta-Traces for Beta-Barrels from Cryo-EM Density Maps

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has produced density maps of various resolutions. Although α-helices can be detected from density maps at 5-8 Å resolutions, β-strands are challenging to detect at such density maps due to close-spacing of β-strands. The variety of shapes of β-sheets adds the complexity of β-strands detection from density maps. We propose a new approach to model traces of β-strands for β-barrel density regions that are extracted from cryo-EM density maps. In the test containing eight β-barrels extracted from experimental cryo-EM density maps at 5.5 Å-8.25 Å resolution, StrandRoller detected about 74.26% of the amino acids in the β-strands with an overall 2.05 Å 2-way distance between the detected β-traces and the observed ones, if the best of the fifteen detection cases is considered.

Correlated motions are a fundamental property of β-sheets

Correlated motions in proteins can mediate fundamental biochemical processes such as signal transduction and allostery. The mechanisms that underlie these processes remain largely unknown due mainly to limitations in their direct detection. Here, based on a detailed analysis of protein structures deposited in the protein data bank, as well as on state-of-the art molecular simulations, we provide general evidence for the transfer of structural information by correlated backbone motions, mediated by hydrogen bonds, across β-sheets. We also show that the observed local and long-range correlated motions are mediated by the collective motions of β-sheets and investigate their role in large-scale conformational changes. Correlated motions represent a fundamental property of β-sheets that contributes to protein function.

Combining image processing and modeling to generate traces of beta-strands from cryo-EM density images of beta-barrels

Electron cryo-microscopy (Cryo-EM) technique produces 3-dimensional (3D) density images of proteins. When resolution of the images is not high enough to resolve the molecular details, it is challenging for image processing methods to enhance the molecular features. β-barrel is a particular structure feature that is formed by multiple β-strands in a barrel shape. There is no existing method to derive β-strands from the 3D image of a β-barrel at medium resolutions. We propose a new method, StrandRoller, to generate a small set of possible β-traces from the density images at medium resolutions of 5-10Å. StrandRoller has been tested using eleven β-barrel images simulated to 10Å resolution and one image isolated from the experimentally derived cryo-EM density image at 6.7Å resolution. StrandRoller was able to detect 81.84% of the β-strands with an overall 1.5Å 2-way distance between the detected and the observed β-traces, if the best of fifteen detections is considered. Our results suggest that it is possible to derive a small set of possible β-traces from the β-barrel cryo-EM image at medium resolutions even when no separation of the β-strands is visible in the images.

Macrocycles that inhibit the binding between heat shock protein 90 and TPR-containing proteins

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) accounts for 1-2% of the total proteins in normal cells and functions as a molecular chaperone that folds, assembles, and stabilizes client proteins. Hsp90 is overexpressed (3- to 6-fold increase) in stressed cells, including cancer cells, and regulates over 200 client and co-chaperone proteins. Hsp90 client proteins are involved in a plethora of cellular signaling events including numerous growth and apoptotic pathways. Since pathway-specific inhibitors can be problematic in drug-resistant cancers, shutting down multiple pathways at once is a promising approach when developing new therapeutics. Hsp90's ability to modulate many growth and signaling pathways simultaneously makes this protein an attractive target in the field of cancer therapeutics. Herein we present evidence that a small molecule modulates Hsp90 via binding between the N and middle domain and allosterically inhibiting the binding interaction between Hsp90 and four C-terminal binding client proteins: IP6K2, FKBP38, FKBP52, and HOP. These last three clients contain a tetratricopeptide-repeat (TPR) region, which is known to interact with the MEEVD sequence on the C-terminus of Hsp90. Thus, this small molecule modulates the activity between co-chaperones that contain TPR motifs and Hsp90's MEEVD region. This mechanism of action is unique from that of all Hsp90 inhibitors currently in clinical trials where these molecules have no effect on proteins that bind to the C-terminus of Hsp90. Further, our small molecule induces a Caspase-3 dependent apoptotic event. Thus, we describe the mechanism of a novel scaffold that is a useful tool for studying cell-signaling events that result when blocking the MEEVD-TPR interaction between Hsp90 and co-chaperone proteins.