Protein folding mechanisms and energy landscape of src SH3 domain studied by a structure prediction toolbox

Stability and Local Unfolding of SOD1 in the Presence of Protein Crowders

Using NMR and Monte Carlo (MC) methods, we investigate the stability and dynamics of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) in homogeneous crowding environments, where either bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) or the B1 domain of streptococcal protein G (PGB1) serves as a crowding agent. By NMR, we show that both crowders, and especially BPTI, cause a drastic loss in the overall stability of SOD1 in its apo monomeric form. Additionally, we determine chemical shift perturbations indicating that SOD1 interacts with the crowder proteins in a residue-specific manner that further depends on the identity of the crowding protein. Furthermore, the specificity of SOD1-crowder interactions is reciprocal: chemical shift perturbations on BPTI and PGB1 identify regions that interact preferentially with SOD1. By MC simulations, we investigate the local unfolding of SOD1 in the absence and presence of the crowders. We find that the crowders primarily interact with the long flexible loops of the folded SOD1 monomer. The basic mechanisms by which the SOD1 β-barrel core unfolds remain unchanged when adding the crowders. In particular, both with and without the crowders, the second β-sheet of the barrel is more dynamic and unfolding-prone than the first. Notably, the MC simulations (exploring the early stages of SOD1 unfolding) and the NMR experiments (under equilibrium conditions) identify largely the same set of PGB1 and BPTI residues as prone to form SOD1 contacts. Thus, contacts stabilizing the unfolded state of SOD1 in many cases appear to form early in the unfolding reaction.

Local unfolding and aggregation mechanisms of SOD1: a Monte Carlo exploration

Copper, zinc superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) is a ubiquitous homodimeric enzyme, whose misfolding and aggregation play a potentially key role in the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). SOD1 aggregation is thought to be preceded by dimer dissociation and metal loss, but the mechanisms by which the metal-free monomer aggregates remain incompletely understood. Here we use implicit solvent all-atom Monte Carlo (MC) methods to investigate the local unfolding dynamics of the β-barrel-forming SOD1 monomer. Although event-to-event variations are large, on average, we find clear differences in dynamics among the eight strands forming the β-barrel. Most dynamic is the eighth strand, β8, which is located in the dimer interface of native SOD1. For the four strands in or near the dimer interface (β1, β2, β7, and β8), we perform aggregation simulations to assess the propensity of these chain segments to self-associate. We find that β1 and β2 readily self-associate to form intermolecular parallel β-sheets, whereas β8 shows a very low aggregation propensity.

Residue-specific description of non-native transient structures in the ensemble of acid-denatured structures of the all-beta protein c-src SH3

Secondary chemical shift analysis has been used to characterize the unfolded state of acid-denatured c-src SH3. Even though native c-src SH3 adopts an all-beta fold, we found evidence of transient helicity in regions corresponding to native loops. In particular, residues 40-46, connecting the n-src loop to the third beta-strand, exhibited an apparent helicity of nearly 45%. Furthermore, the RT loop and the diverging turn appeared to adopt non-native-like helical conformations. Interestingly, none of the residues found in transient helical conformations exhibited significant varphi-values [Riddle, D. S., et al. (1999) Nat. Struct. Biol. 6, 1016-1024]. This indicated that the transient helicity has no influence or only a weak influence on the actual protein folding reaction. The residual structural propensities were compared to those of other SH3 domains, revealing heterogeneity in the unfolded ensemble that clearly contrasts with the conserved character of the topology of native state and transition state ensembles typical for SH3 domains.

Multiscale methods for protein folding simulations

Inherently hierarchic nature of proteins makes multiscale computational methods especially useful in the studies of folding and other functional dynamics. With the multiscale strategies, one can achieve improved accuracy and efficiency by coupling the atomistic and the coarse grained simulations. Depending on the problems studied, very different implementation protocols can be used to realize the multiscale idea. Here, we give detailed introductions to the currently used multiscale protocols, together with some recent applications to the protein folding simulations in our group. The advantages and weakness, as well as the application scopes of these multiscale protocols are discussed. The directions for the future developments are also proposed.

Constructing templates for protein structure prediction by simulation of protein folding pathways

How a one-dimensional protein sequence folds into a specific 3D structure remains a difficult challenge in structural biology. Many computational methods have been developed in an attempt to predict the tertiary structure of the protein; most of these employ approaches that are based on the accumulated knowledge of solved protein structures. Here we introduce a novel and fully automated approach for predicting the 3D structure of a protein that is based on the well accepted notion that protein folding is a hierarchical process. Our algorithm follows the hierarchical model by employing two stages: the first aims to find a match between the sequences of short independently-folding structural entities and parts of the target sequence and assigns the respective structures. The second assembles these local structural parts into a complete 3D structure, allowing for long-range interactions between them. We present the results of applying our method to a subset of the targets from CASP6 and CASP7. Our results indicate that for targets with a significant sequence similarity to known structures we are often able to provide predictions that are better than those achieved by two leading servers, and that the most significant improvements in comparison with these methods occur in regions of a gapped structural alignment between the native structure and the closest available structural template. We conclude that in addition to performing well for targets with known homologous structures, our method shows great promise for addressing the more general category of comparative modeling targets, which is our next goal.

Caching of a chameleon segment facilitates folding of a protein with end-to-end beta-sheet

We report results from all-atom simulations of a 49-residue C-terminal fragment of TOP7 in implicit solvent. Using parallel tempering simulations with high statistics, we probe the thermodynamic properties of the protein over a large range of temperatures and evaluate its free energy landscape at room temperature. Our results confirm that the protein folds by a caching mechanism that relies on a chameleon segment. This mechanism differs from the one seen in high-temperature unfolding simulations. Finally, we discuss a possible mechanism for dimerization of the protein.

Folding energy landscape and network dynamics of small globular proteins

The folding energy landscape of proteins has been suggested to be funnel-like with some degree of ruggedness on the slope. How complex the landscape, however, is still rather unclear. Many experiments for globular proteins suggested relative simplicity, whereas molecular simulations of shorter peptides implied more complexity. Here, by using complete conformational sampling of 2 globular proteins, protein G and src SH3 domain and 2 related random peptides, we investigated their energy landscapes, topological properties of folding networks, and folding dynamics. The projected energy surfaces of globular proteins were funneled in the vicinity of the native but also have other quite deep, accessible minima, whereas the randomized peptides have many local basins, including some leading to seriously misfolded forms. Dynamics in the denatured part of the network exhibited basin-hopping itinerancy among many conformations, whereas the protein reached relatively well-defined final stages that led to their native states. We also found that the folding network has the hierarchic nature characterized by the scale-free and the small-world properties.

Simulation of Top7-CFr: a transient helix extension guides folding

Protein structures often feature beta-sheets in which adjacent beta-strands have large sequence separation. How the folding process orchestrates the formation and correct arrangement of these strands is not comprehensively understood. Particularly challenging are proteins in which beta-strands at the N and C termini are neighbors in a beta-sheet. The N-terminal beta-strand is synthesized early on, but it can not bind to the C terminus before the chain is fully synthesized. During this time, there is a danger that the beta-strand at the N terminus interacts with nearby molecules, leading to potentially harmful aggregates of incompletely folded proteins. Simulations of the C-terminal fragment of Top7 show that this risk of misfolding and aggregation can be avoided by a "caching" mechanism that relies on the "chameleon" behavior of certain segments.

Shaping up the protein folding funnel by local interaction: lesson from a structure prediction study

Predicting protein tertiary structure by folding-like simulations is one of the most stringent tests of how much we understand the principle of protein folding. Currently, the most successful method for folding-based structure prediction is the fragment assembly (FA) method. Here, we address why the FA method is so successful and its lesson for the folding problem. To do so, using the FA method, we designed a structure prediction test of "chimera proteins." In the chimera proteins, local structural preference is specific to the target sequences, whereas nonlocal interactions are only sequence-independent compaction forces. We find that these chimera proteins can find the native folds of the intact sequences with high probability indicating dominant roles of the local interactions. We further explore roles of local structural preference by exact calculation of the HP lattice model of proteins. From these results, we suggest principles of protein folding: For small proteins, compact structures that are fully compatible with local structural preference are few, one of which is the native fold. These local biases shape up the funnel-like energy landscape.

The effect of long-range interactions on the secondary structure formation of proteins

The influence of long-range residue interactions on defining secondary structure in a protein has long been discussed and is often cited as the current limitation to accurate secondary structure prediction. There are several experimental examples where a local sequence alone is not sufficient to determine its secondary structure, but a comprehensive survey on a large data set has not yet been done. Interestingly, some earlier studies denied the negative effect of long-range interactions on secondary structure prediction accuracy. Here, we have introduced the residue contact order (RCO), which directly indicates the separation of contacting residues in terms of the position in the sequence, and examined the relationship between the RCO and the prediction accuracy. A large data set of 2777 nonhomologous proteins was used in our analysis. Unlike previous studies, we do find that prediction accuracy drops as residues have contacts with more distant residues. Moreover, this negative correlation between the RCO and the prediction accuracy was found not only for beta-strands, but also for alpha-helices. The prediction accuracy of beta-strands is lower if residues have a high RCO or a low RCO, which corresponds to the situation that a beta-sheet is formed by beta-strands from different chains in a protein complex. The reason why the current study draws the opposite conclusion from the previous studies is examined. The implication for protein folding is also discussed.