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Akke M, Weininger U. NMR Studies of Aromatic Ring Flips to Probe Conformational Fluctuations in Proteins. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:591-599. [PMID: 36640108 PMCID: PMC9884080 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c07258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Aromatic residues form a significant part of the protein core, where they make tight interactions with multiple surrounding side chains. Despite the dense packing of internal side chains, the aromatic rings of phenylalanine and tyrosine residues undergo 180° rotations, or flips, which are mediated by transient and large-scale "breathing" motions that generate sufficient void volume around the aromatic ring. Forty years after the seminal work by Wagner and Wüthrich, NMR studies of aromatic ring flips are now undergoing a renaissance as a powerful means of probing fundamental dynamic properties of proteins. Recent developments of improved NMR methods and isotope labeling schemes have enabled a number of advances in addressing the mechanisms and energetics of aromatic ring flips. The nature of the transition states associated with ring flips can be described by thermodynamic activation parameters, including the activation enthalpy, activation entropy, activation volume, and also the isothermal volume compressibility of activation. Consequently, it is of great interest to study how ring flip rate constants and activation parameters might vary with protein structure and external conditions like temperature and pressure. The field is beginning to gather such data for aromatic residues in a variety of environments, ranging from surface exposed to buried. In the future, the combination of solution and solid-state NMR spectroscopy together with molecular dynamics simulations and other computational approaches is likely to provide detailed information about the coupled dynamics of aromatic rings and neighboring residues. In this Perspective, we highlight recent developments and provide an outlook toward the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikael Akke
- Division
of Biophysical Chemistry, Center for Molecular Protein Science, Department
of Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden,(M.A.)
| | - Ulrich Weininger
- Institute
of Physics, Biophysics, Martin-Luther-University
Halle-Wittenberg, D-06129 Halle (Saale), Germany,(U.W.)
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2
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Dreydoppel M, Akke M, Weininger U. Characterizing Fast Conformational Exchange of Aromatic Rings Using Residual Dipolar Couplings: Distinguishing Jumplike Flips from Other Exchange Mechanisms. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:7950-7956. [PMID: 36180044 PMCID: PMC9574926 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c05097] [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] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
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Aromatic ring flips are a hallmark of protein dynamics.
They are
experimentally studied by NMR spectroscopy, where recent advances
have led to improved characterization across a wide range of time
scales. Results on different proteins have been interpreted as continuous
diffusive ring rotations or jumplike flips, leading to diverging views
of the protein interior as being fluidlike or solidlike, respectively.
It is challenging to distinguish between these mechanisms and other
types of conformational exchange because chemical-shift-mediated line
broadening provides only conclusive evidence for ring flips only if
the system can be moved from the slow- to intermediate/fast-exchange
regime. Moreover, whenever the chemical shift difference between the
two symmetry-related sites is close to zero, it is not generally possible
to determine the exchange time scale. Here we resolve these issues
by measuring residual dipolar coupling (RDC)-mediated exchange contributions
using NMR relaxation dispersion experiments on proteins dissolved
in dilute liquid crystalline media. Excellent agreement is found between
the experimental difference in RDC between the two symmetry-related
sites and the value calculated from high-resolution X-ray structures,
demonstrating that dynamics measured for F52 in the B1 domain of protein
G reports on distinct, jumplike flips rather than other types of conformational
exchange.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Dreydoppel
- Institute of Physics, Biophysics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, D-06120Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Mikael Akke
- Division of Biophysical Chemistry, Center for Molecular Protein Science, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-22100Lund, Sweden
| | - Ulrich Weininger
- Institute of Physics, Biophysics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, D-06120Halle (Saale), Germany
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Dreydoppel M, Lichtenecker RJ, Akke M, Weininger U. 1H R 1ρ relaxation dispersion experiments in aromatic side chains. JOURNAL OF BIOMOLECULAR NMR 2021; 75:383-392. [PMID: 34510298 PMCID: PMC8642340 DOI: 10.1007/s10858-021-00382-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Aromatic side chains are attractive probes of protein dynamic, since they are often key residues in enzyme active sites and protein binding sites. Dynamic processes on microsecond to millisecond timescales can be studied by relaxation dispersion experiments that attenuate conformational exchange contributions to the transverse relaxation rate by varying the refocusing frequency of applied radio-frequency fields implemented as either CPMG pulse trains or continuous spin-lock periods. Here we present an aromatic 1H R1ρ relaxation dispersion experiment enabling studies of two to three times faster exchange processes than achievable by existing experiments for aromatic side chains. We show that site-specific isotope labeling schemes generating isolated 1H-13C spin pairs with vicinal 2H-12C moieties are necessary to avoid anomalous relaxation dispersion profiles caused by Hartmann-Hahn matching due to the 3JHH couplings and limited chemical shift differences among 1H spins in phenylalanine, tyrosine and the six-ring moiety of tryptophan. This labeling pattern is sufficient in that remote protons do not cause additional complications. We validated the approach by measuring ring-flip kinetics in the small protein GB1. The determined rate constants, kflip, agree well with previous results from 13C R1ρ relaxation dispersion experiments, and yield 1H chemical shift differences between the two sides of the ring in good agreement with values measured under slow-exchange conditions. The aromatic1H R1ρ relaxation dispersion experiment in combination with the site-selective 1H-13C/2H-12C labeling scheme enable measurement of exchange rates up to kex = 2kflip = 80,000 s-1, and serve as a useful complement to previously developed 13C-based methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Dreydoppel
- Institute of Physics, Biophysics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | | | - Mikael Akke
- Division of Biophysical Chemistry, Center for Molecular Protein Science, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 22100, Lund, Sweden
| | - Ulrich Weininger
- Institute of Physics, Biophysics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany.
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Young BM, Rossi P, Slavish PJ, Cui Y, Sowaileh M, Das J, Kalodimos CG, Rankovic Z. Synthesis of Isotopically Labeled, Spin-Isolated Tyrosine and Phenylalanine for Protein NMR Applications. Org Lett 2021; 23:6288-6292. [PMID: 34379431 PMCID: PMC8884888 DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.1c02084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
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Isotopically labeled
amino acids are widely used to study the structure
and dynamics of proteins by NMR. Herein we describe a facile, gram-scale
synthesis of compounds 1b and 2b under standard
laboratory conditions from the common intermediate 7. 2b is obtained via simple deprotection, while 1b is accessed through a reductive deoxygenation/deuteration sequence
and deprotection. 1b and 2b provide improved
signal intensity using lower amounts of labeled precursor and are
alternatives to existing labeling approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon M Young
- Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
| | - Paolo Rossi
- Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
| | - P Jake Slavish
- Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
| | - Yixin Cui
- Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
| | - Munia Sowaileh
- Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
| | - Jitendra Das
- Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
| | - Charalampos G Kalodimos
- Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
| | - Zoran Rankovic
- Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
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Dreydoppel M, Dorn B, Modig K, Akke M, Weininger U. Transition-State Compressibility and Activation Volume of Transient Protein Conformational Fluctuations. JACS AU 2021; 1:833-842. [PMID: 34467336 PMCID: PMC8395657 DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.1c00062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Proteins are dynamic entities that intermittently depart from their ground-state structures and undergo conformational transitions as a critical part of their functions. Central to understanding such transitions are the structural rearrangements along the connecting pathway, where the transition state plays a special role. Using NMR relaxation at variable temperature and pressure to measure aromatic ring flips inside a protein core, we obtain information on the structure and thermodynamics of the transition state. We show that the isothermal compressibility coefficient of the transition state is similar to that of short-chain hydrocarbon liquids, implying extensive local unfolding of the protein. Our results further indicate that the required local volume expansions of the protein can occur not only with a net positive activation volume of the protein, as expected from previous studies, but also with zero activation volume by compaction of remote void volume, when averaged over the ensemble of states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Dreydoppel
- Institute
of Physics, Biophysics, Martin-Luther-University
Halle-Wittenberg, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Britta Dorn
- Institute
of Physics, Biophysics, Martin-Luther-University
Halle-Wittenberg, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Kristofer Modig
- Division
of Biophysical Chemistry, Center for Molecular Protein Science, Department
of Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
| | - Mikael Akke
- Division
of Biophysical Chemistry, Center for Molecular Protein Science, Department
of Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
| | - Ulrich Weininger
- Institute
of Physics, Biophysics, Martin-Luther-University
Halle-Wittenberg, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
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