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Galles GD, Infield DT, Clark CJ, Hemshorn ML, Manikandan S, Fazan F, Rasouli A, Tajkhorshid E, Galpin JD, Cooley RB, Mehl RA, Ahern CA. Tuning phenylalanine fluorination to assess aromatic contributions to protein function and stability in cells. Nat Commun 2023; 14:59. [PMID: 36599844 PMCID: PMC9813137 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35761-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The aromatic side-chains of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan interact with their environments via both hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions. Determining the extent to which these contribute to protein function and stability is not possible with conventional mutagenesis. Serial fluorination of a given aromatic is a validated method in vitro and in silico to specifically alter electrostatic characteristics, but this approach is restricted to a select few experimental systems. Here, we report a group of pyrrolysine-based aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNA pairs (tRNA/RS pairs) that enable the site-specific encoding of a varied spectrum of fluorinated phenylalanine amino acids in E. coli and mammalian (HEK 293T) cells. By allowing the cross-kingdom expression of proteins bearing these unnatural amino acids at biochemical scale, these tools may potentially enable the study of biological mechanisms which utilize aromatic interactions in structural and cellular contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace D Galles
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA
- The GCE4All Research Center, Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Daniel T Infield
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Colin J Clark
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Marcus L Hemshorn
- The GCE4All Research Center, Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Shivani Manikandan
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Frederico Fazan
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Ali Rasouli
- Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Emad Tajkhorshid
- Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Jason D Galpin
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Richard B Cooley
- The GCE4All Research Center, Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Ryan A Mehl
- The GCE4All Research Center, Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Christopher A Ahern
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA.
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