Computational centrosomics: An approach to understand the dynamic behaviour of centrosome

Polymorphism in miRNA target sites of CEP-63 and CEP-152 ring complex influences expression of CEP genes and favors tumorigenesis in glioma

Purpose: The present study was designed to screen the genetic polymorphisms and expression profiling of CEP-152 and CEP-63 genes in brain tumor patients. Methods: The amplification refractory mutation system PCR technique (ARMS-PCR) was used for mutation analysis using 300 blood samples of brain tumor patients and 300 overtly healthy controls. For expression analysis, 150 brain tumor tissue samples along with adjacent uninvolved/normal tissues (controls) were collected. Results: A significantly higher frequency of the mutant genotype of the CEP-152 single nucleotide polymorphism (rs2169757) and CEP-63 single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs9809619 and rs13060247) was observed in patients versus overtly healthy controls. The authors' results showed highly significant deregulation of CEP-152 (p < 0.0001) and CEP-63 (p < 0.0001) in glioma/meningioma tumor tissues versus adjacent normal tissue. Conclusion: The present study showed that variations in CEP-152 and CEP-63 genes were associated with an increased risk of brain tumor.

Mutations in microRNA binding sites of CEP genes involved in cancer

The CEP genes play a pivotal role in the replication of the cell. CEP family proteins form the major constituents of the centrosome and play a prominent role in centriole biogenesis and in cell replication. Alteration in CEP genes will result in disruption of cell cycle that may in turn cause cancer. In our study, we found that 16 of the CEP genes are a potential target to miRNA that binds to complementary sequences in 3'untranslated regions (UTR) of mRNA and stop them from translation. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) occurring naturally in such miRNA binding site can alter the miRNA: mRNA interaction and can significantly alter gene expression. We developed a systematic computational pipeline that integrates data from well-established databases, followed stringent selection criteria and identified a panel of 44 high-confidence SNPs that may impair miRNA target sites in the 3'UTR of 16 genes. Further we performed expression analysis to shed light on the potential tissues that might be affected by mutation, enrichment analysis to find the metabolic functions of the gene, and network analysis to highlight the important interactions of CEP genes with other genes to provide insight that complex network will be disturbed upon mutation. In this study, we explored and prioritised the SNPs in CEP gene which could act as a potential target in centrosome-associated human disease. Our analysis would provide a thoughtful insight to wet lab researches to understand the expression pattern of CEP genes and binding phenomenon of mRNA and miRNA upon mutation, which is responsible for inhibition of translation process at genomic levels.

Evidence of colorectal cancer-associated mutation in MCAK: a computational report

Computational prediction of disease-associated non-synonymous polymorphism (nsSNP) has provided a significant platform to filter out the pathological mutations from large pool of SNP datasets at a very low cost input. Several methodologies and complementary protocols have been previously implemented and has provided significant prediction results. Although the previously implicated prediction methods were capable of investigating the most likely deleterious nsSNPs, but due to the lack of genotype-phenotype association analysis, the prediction results lacked in accuracy level. In this work we implemented the computational compilation of protein conformational changes as well as the probable disease-associated phenotypic outcomes. Our result suggested E403K mutation in mitotic centromere-associated kinesin protein as highly damaging and showed strong concordance to the previously observed colorectal cancer mutations aggregation tendency and energy value changes. Moreover, the molecular dynamics simulation results showed major loss in conformation and stability of mutant N-terminal kinesin-like domain structure. The result obtained in this study will provide future prospect of computational approaches in determining the SNPs that may affect the native conformation of protein structure and lead to cancer-associated disorders.

Investigation of binding phenomenon of NSP3 and p130Cas mutants and their effect on cell signalling

Members of the novel SH2-containing protein (NSP3) and Crk-associated substrate (p130Cas) protein families form a multi-domain signalling platforms that mediate cell signalling process. We analysed the damaging consequences of three mutations, each from NSP3 (NSP3(L469R), NSP3(L623E), NSP3(R627E)) and p130Cas (p130Cas(F794R), p130Cas(L787E), p130Cas(D797R)) protein with respect to their native biological partners. Mutations depicted notable loss in interaction affinity towards their corresponding biological partners. NSP3(L469R) and p130Cas(D797R) mutations were predicted as most prominent in docking analysis. Molecular dynamics (MD) studies were conducted to evaluate structural consequences of most prominent mutation in NSP3 and p130Cas obtained from the docking analysis. MD analysis confirmed that mutation in NSP3(L469R) and p130Cas(D797R) showed significant structural deviation, changes in conformations and increased flexibility, which in turn affected the binding affinity with their biological partners. Moreover, the root mean square fluctuation has indicated a rise in fluctuation of residues involved in moderate interaction acquired between the NSP3 and p130Cas. It has significantly affected the binding interaction in mutant complexes. The results obtained in this work present a detailed overview of molecular mechanisms involved in the loss of cell signalling associated with NSP3 and p130Cas protein.

Computational investigation of cancer-associated molecular mechanism in Aurora A (S155R) mutation

Centrosomes are the key-regulating element of cell cycle progression. Aberrations in their functional mechanism lead to several cancer-related disorders. Aurora A protein is a centrosome-associated protein that regulates the centriole duplication and its abberations are associated with multiple cases of aneuploidy and cancer-related disorders. S155R mutation in Aurora A is reported to induce cancer like phenotype and disrupt its binding with TPX2 protein. In this study, we have demonstrated the structural consequences of Aurora A S155R mutation and the atomic changes that influenced the loss of TPX2-binding affinity. Docking and molecular dynamics simulation results suggested significant loss in atomic contacts between mutant Aurora A and TPX2 protein. Further, we observed a notable changes in conformation of mutant Aurora A-TPX2 docked complex as compared to the native. Loss of binding affinity rendered the TPX2 domain free which then induced unfolding in its coiled region and enabled the overall expansion of mutant complex as compared to the native. The significant outcomes obtained from this study will facilitate in future cancer researches and in developing the potent drug therapies.

CEP proteins: the knights of centrosome dynasty

Centrosome forms the backbone of cell cycle progression mechanism. Recent debates have occurred regarding the essentiality of centrosome in cell cycle regulation. CEP family protein is the active component of centrosome and plays a vital role in centriole biogenesis and cell cycle progression control. A total of 31 proteins have been categorized into CEP family protein category and many more are under candidate evaluation. Furthermore, by the recent advancements in genomics and proteomics researches, several new CEP proteins have also been characterized. Here we have summarized the importance of CEP family proteins and their regulation mechanism involved in proper cell cycle progression. Further, we have reviewed the detailed molecular mechanism behind the associated pathological phenotypes and the possible therapeutic approaches. Proteins such as CEP57, CEP63, CEP152, CEP164, and CEP215 have been extensively studied with a detailed description of their molecular mechanisms, which are among the primary targets for drug discovery. Moreover, CEP27, CEP55, CEP70, CEP110, CEP120, CEP135, CEP192, CEP250, CEP290, and CEP350 also seem promising for future drug discovery approaches. Since the overview implicates that the overall researches on CEP proteins are not yet able to present significant details required for effective therapeutics development, thus, it is timely to discuss the importance of future investigations in this field.

In silico prediction of a disease-associated STIL mutant and its affect on the recruitment of centromere protein J (CENPJ)

Human STIL (SCL/TAL1 interrupting locus) protein maintains centriole stability and spindle pole localisation. It helps in recruitment of CENPJ (Centromere protein J)/CPAP (centrosomal P4.1-associated protein) and other centrosomal proteins. Mutations in STIL protein are reported in several disorders, especially in deregulation of cell cycle cascades. In this work, we examined the non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) reported in STIL protein for their disease association. Different SNP prediction tools were used to predict disease-associated nsSNPs. Our evaluation technique predicted rs147744459 (R242C) as a highly deleterious disease-associated nsSNP and its interaction behaviour with CENPJ protein. Molecular modelling, docking and molecular dynamics simulation were conducted to examine the structural consequences of the predicted disease-associated mutation. By molecular dynamic simulation we observed structural consequences of R242C mutation which affects interaction of STIL and CENPJ functional domains. The result obtained in this study will provide a biophysical insight into future investigations of pathological nsSNPs using a computational platform.