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Meador K, Castells-Graells R, Aguirre R, Sawaya MR, Arbing MA, Sherman T, Senarathne C, Yeates TO. A suite of designed protein cages using machine learning and protein fragment-based protocols. Structure 2024; 32:751-765.e11. [PMID: 38513658 PMCID: PMC11162342 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2024.02.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024]
Abstract
Designed protein cages and related materials provide unique opportunities for applications in biotechnology and medicine, but their creation remains challenging. Here, we apply computational approaches to design a suite of tetrahedrally symmetric, self-assembling protein cages. For the generation of docked conformations, we emphasize a protein fragment-based approach, while for sequence design of the de novo interface, a comparison of knowledge-based and machine learning protocols highlights the power and increased experimental success achieved using ProteinMPNN. An analysis of design outcomes provides insights for improving interface design protocols, including prioritizing fragment-based motifs, balancing interface hydrophobicity and polarity, and identifying preferred polar contact patterns. In all, we report five structures for seven protein cages, along with two structures of intermediate assemblies, with the highest resolution reaching 2.0 Å using cryo-EM. This set of designed cages adds substantially to the body of available protein nanoparticles, and to methodologies for their creation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyle Meador
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | | | - Roman Aguirre
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Michael R Sawaya
- UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Mark A Arbing
- UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Trent Sherman
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Chethaka Senarathne
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Todd O Yeates
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
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2
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Meador K, Castells-Graells R, Aguirre R, Sawaya MR, Arbing MA, Sherman T, Senarathne C, Yeates TO. A Suite of Designed Protein Cages Using Machine Learning Algorithms and Protein Fragment-Based Protocols. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.09.561468. [PMID: 37873110 PMCID: PMC10592684 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.09.561468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Designed protein cages and related materials provide unique opportunities for applications in biotechnology and medicine, while methods for their creation remain challenging and unpredictable. In the present study, we apply new computational approaches to design a suite of new tetrahedrally symmetric, self-assembling protein cages. For the generation of docked poses, we emphasize a protein fragment-based approach, while for de novo interface design, a comparison of computational protocols highlights the power and increased experimental success achieved using the machine learning program ProteinMPNN. In relating information from docking and design, we observe that agreement between fragment-based sequence preferences and ProteinMPNN sequence inference correlates with experimental success. Additional insights for designing polar interactions are highlighted by experimentally testing larger and more polar interfaces. In all, using X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM, we report five structures for seven protein cages, with atomic resolution in the best case reaching 2.0 Å. We also report structures of two incompletely assembled protein cages, providing unique insights into one type of assembly failure. The new set of designed cages and their structures add substantially to the body of available protein nanoparticles, and to methodologies for their creation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyle Meador
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095
| | | | - Roman Aguirre
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095
| | - Michael R. Sawaya
- UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095
| | - Mark A. Arbing
- UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095
| | - Trent Sherman
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095
| | - Chethaka Senarathne
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095
| | - Todd O. Yeates
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095
- UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095
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3
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Chenna A, Khan WH, Dash R, Saraswat S, Chugh A, Rathore AS, Goel G. An efficient computational protocol for template-based design of peptides that inhibit interactions involving SARS-CoV-2 proteins. Proteins 2023; 91:1222-1234. [PMID: 37283297 DOI: 10.1002/prot.26511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) complex of SARS-CoV-2 lies at the core of its replication and transcription processes. The interfaces between holo-RdRp subunits are highly conserved, facilitating the design of inhibitors with high affinity for the interaction interface hotspots. We, therefore, take this as a model protein complex for the application of a structural bioinformatics protocol to design peptides that inhibit RdRp complexation by preferential binding at the interface of its core subunit nonstructural protein, nsp12, with accessory factor nsp7. Here, the interaction hotspots of the nsp7-nsp12 subunit of RdRp, determined from a long molecular dynamics trajectory, are used as a template. A large library of peptide sequences constructed from multiple hotspot motifs of nsp12 is screened in-silico to determine sequences with high geometric complementarity and interaction specificity for the binding interface of nsp7 (target) in the complex. Two lead designed peptides are extensively characterized using orthogonal bioanalytical methods to determine their suitability for inhibition of RdRp complexation. Binding affinity of these peptides to accessory factor nsp7, determined using a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay, is slightly better than that of nsp12: dissociation constant of 133nM and 167nM, respectively, compared to 473nM for nsp12. A competitive ELISA is used to quantify inhibition of nsp7-nsp12 complexation, with one of the lead peptides giving an IC50 of 25μM . Cell penetrability and cytotoxicity are characterized using a cargo delivery assay and MTT cytotoxicity assay, respectively. Overall, this work presents a proof-of-concept of an approach for rational discovery of peptide inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 protein-protein interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akshay Chenna
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
| | - Wajihul Hasan Khan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
- Virology Unit, Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Rozaleen Dash
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
| | - Saurabh Saraswat
- Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
| | - Archana Chugh
- Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
| | - Anurag S Rathore
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
| | - Gaurav Goel
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
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4
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Rui H, Ashton KS, Min J, Wang C, Potts PR. Protein-protein interfaces in molecular glue-induced ternary complexes: classification, characterization, and prediction. RSC Chem Biol 2023; 4:192-215. [PMID: 36908699 PMCID: PMC9994104 DOI: 10.1039/d2cb00207h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/02/2023] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Molecular glues are a class of small molecules that stabilize the interactions between proteins. Naturally occurring molecular glues are present in many areas of biology where they serve as central regulators of signaling pathways. Importantly, several clinical compounds act as molecular glue degraders that stabilize interactions between E3 ubiquitin ligases and target proteins, leading to their degradation. Molecular glues hold promise as a new generation of therapeutic agents, including those molecular glue degraders that can redirect the protein degradation machinery in a precise way. However, rational discovery of molecular glues is difficult in part due to the lack of understanding of the protein-protein interactions they stabilize. In this review, we summarize the structures of known molecular glue-induced ternary complexes and the interface properties. Detailed analysis shows different mechanisms of ternary structure formation. Additionally, we also review computational approaches for predicting protein-protein interfaces and highlight the promises and challenges. This information will ultimately help inform future approaches for rational molecular glue discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huan Rui
- Center for Research Acceleration by Digital Innovation, Amgen Research Thousand Oaks CA 91320 USA
| | - Kate S Ashton
- Medicinal Chemistry, Amgen Research Thousand Oaks CA 91320 USA
| | - Jaeki Min
- Induced Proximity Platform, Amgen Research Thousand Oaks CA 91320 USA
| | - Connie Wang
- Digital, Technology & Innovation, Amgen Thousand Oaks CA 91320 USA
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5
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Zlobin A, Golovin A. Between Protein Fold and Nucleophile Identity: Multiscale Modeling of the TEV Protease Enzyme-Substrate Complex. ACS OMEGA 2022; 7:40279-40292. [PMID: 36385818 PMCID: PMC9647873 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.2c05201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The cysteine protease from the tobacco etch virus (TEVp) is a well-known and widely utilized enzyme. TEVp's chymotrypsin-like fold is generally associated with serine catalytic triads that differ in terms of a reaction mechanism from the most well-studied papain-like cysteine proteases. The question of what dominates the TEVp mechanism, nucleophile identity, or structural composition has never been previously addressed. Here, we use enhanced sampling multiscale modeling to uncover that TEVp combines the features of two worlds in such a way that potentially hampers its activity. We show that TEVp cysteine is strictly in the anionic form in a free enzyme similar to papain. Peptide binding shifts the equilibrium toward the nucleophile's protonated form, characteristic of chymotrypsin-like proteases, although the cysteinyl anion form is still present and interconversion is rapid. This way cysteine protonation generates enzyme states that are a diversion from the most effective course of action, with only 13.2% of Michaelis complex sub-states able to initiate the reaction. As a result, we propose an updated view on the reaction mechanism catalyzed by TEVp. We also demonstrate that AlphaFold is able to construct protease-substrate complexes with high accuracy. We propose that our findings open a way for its industrious use in enzymological tasks. Unique features of TEVp discovered in this work open a discussion on the evolutionary history and trade-offs of optimizing serine triad-associated folds to cysteine as a nucleophile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Zlobin
- Belozersky
Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov
Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia
- Shemyakin
and Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia
| | - Andrey Golovin
- Belozersky
Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov
Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia
- Shemyakin
and Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia
- Sirius
University of Science and Technology, 354340 Sochi, Russia
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6
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Hurwitz N, Zaidman D, Wolfson HJ. Pep–Whisperer: Inhibitory peptide design. Proteins 2022; 90:1886-1895. [DOI: 10.1002/prot.26384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2021] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Naama Hurwitz
- Blavatnik School of Computer Science Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel
| | - Daniel Zaidman
- Department of Organic Chemistry Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot Israel
| | - Haim J. Wolfson
- Blavatnik School of Computer Science Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel
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7
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Swanson S, Sivaraman V, Grigoryan G, Keating AE. Tertiary motifs as building blocks for the design of protein-binding peptides. Protein Sci 2022; 31:e4322. [PMID: 35634780 PMCID: PMC9088223 DOI: 10.1002/pro.4322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Revised: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Despite advances in protein engineering, the de novo design of small proteins or peptides that bind to a desired target remains a difficult task. Most computational methods search for binder structures in a library of candidate scaffolds, which can lead to designs with poor target complementarity and low success rates. Instead of choosing from pre-defined scaffolds, we propose that custom peptide structures can be constructed to complement a target surface. Our method mines tertiary motifs (TERMs) from known structures to identify surface-complementing fragments or "seeds." We combine seeds that satisfy geometric overlap criteria to generate peptide backbones and score the backbones to identify the most likely binding structures. We found that TERM-based seeds can describe known binding structures with high resolution: the vast majority of peptide binders from 486 peptide-protein complexes can be covered by seeds generated from single-chain structures. Furthermore, we demonstrate that known peptide structures can be reconstructed with high accuracy from peptide-covering seeds. As a proof of concept, we used our method to design 100 peptide binders of TRAF6, seven of which were predicted by Rosetta to form higher-quality interfaces than a native binder. The designed peptides interact with distinct sites on TRAF6, including the native peptide-binding site. These results demonstrate that known peptide-binding structures can be constructed from TERMs in single-chain structures and suggest that TERM information can be applied to efficiently design novel target-complementing binders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Swanson
- Department of BiologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMassachusettsUSA
| | - Venkatesh Sivaraman
- Department of BiologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMassachusettsUSA
| | - Gevorg Grigoryan
- Department of Computer ScienceDartmouth CollegeHanoverNew HampshireUSA
| | - Amy E. Keating
- Department of BiologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMassachusettsUSA
- Department of Biological EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMassachusettsUSA
- Koch Center for Integrative Cancer ResearchMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMassachusettsUSA
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8
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Matching protein surface structural patches for high-resolution blind peptide docking. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2121153119. [PMID: 35482919 PMCID: PMC9170164 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2121153119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Modeling interactions between short peptides and their receptors is a challenging docking problem due to the peptide flexibility, resulting in a formidable sampling problem of peptide conformation in addition to its orientation. Alternatively, the peptide can be viewed as a piece that complements the receptor monomer structure. Here, we show that the peptide conformation can be determined based on the receptor backbone only and sampled using local structural motifs found in solved protein monomers and interfaces, independent of sequence similarity. This approach outperforms current peptide docking protocols and promotes new directions for peptide interface design. Peptide docking can be perceived as a subproblem of protein–protein docking. However, due to the short length and flexible nature of peptides, many do not adopt one defined conformation prior to binding. Therefore, to tackle a peptide docking problem, not only the relative orientation, but also the bound conformation of the peptide needs to be modeled. Traditional peptide-centered approaches use information about peptide sequences to generate representative conformer ensembles, which can then be rigid-body docked to the receptor. Alternatively, one may look at this problem from the viewpoint of the receptor, namely, that the protein surface defines the peptide-bound conformation. Here, we present PatchMAN (Patch-Motif AligNments), a global peptide-docking approach that uses structural motifs to map the receptor surface with backbone scaffolds extracted from protein structures. On a nonredundant set of protein–peptide complexes, starting from free receptor structures, PatchMAN successfully models and identifies near-native peptide–protein complexes in 58%/84% within 2.5 Å/5 Å interface backbone RMSD, with corresponding sampling in 81%/100% of the cases, outperforming other approaches. PatchMAN leverages the observation that structural units of peptides with their binding pocket can be found not only within interfaces, but also within monomers. We show that the bound peptide conformation is sampled based on the structural context of the receptor only, without taking into account any sequence information. Beyond peptide docking, this approach opens exciting new avenues to study principles of peptide–protein association, and to the design of new peptide binders. PatchMAN is available as a server at https://furmanlab.cs.huji.ac.il/patchman/.
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9
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Tsaban T, Varga JK, Avraham O, Ben-Aharon Z, Khramushin A, Schueler-Furman O. Harnessing protein folding neural networks for peptide-protein docking. Nat Commun 2022; 13:176. [PMID: 35013344 PMCID: PMC8748686 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27838-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 233] [Impact Index Per Article: 116.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Highly accurate protein structure predictions by deep neural networks such as AlphaFold2 and RoseTTAFold have tremendous impact on structural biology and beyond. Here, we show that, although these deep learning approaches have originally been developed for the in silico folding of protein monomers, AlphaFold2 also enables quick and accurate modeling of peptide-protein interactions. Our simple implementation of AlphaFold2 generates peptide-protein complex models without requiring multiple sequence alignment information for the peptide partner, and can handle binding-induced conformational changes of the receptor. We explore what AlphaFold2 has memorized and learned, and describe specific examples that highlight differences compared to state-of-the-art peptide docking protocol PIPER-FlexPepDock. These results show that AlphaFold2 holds great promise for providing structural insight into a wide range of peptide-protein complexes, serving as a starting point for the detailed characterization and manipulation of these interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomer Tsaban
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute for Biomedical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Julia K Varga
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute for Biomedical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Orly Avraham
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute for Biomedical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ziv Ben-Aharon
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute for Biomedical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Alisa Khramushin
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute for Biomedical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ora Schueler-Furman
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute for Biomedical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
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10
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Xu X, Xiaoqin Zou. Predicting Protein-Peptide Complex Structures by Accounting for Peptide Flexibility and the Physicochemical Environment. J Chem Inf Model 2022; 62:27-39. [PMID: 34931833 PMCID: PMC9020583 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.1c00836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Predicting protein-peptide complex structures is crucial to the understanding of a vast variety of peptide-mediated cellular processes and to peptide-based drug development. Peptide flexibility and binding mode ranking are the two major challenges for protein-peptide complex structure prediction. Peptides are highly flexible molecules, and therefore, brute-force modeling of peptide conformations of interest in protein-peptide docking is beyond current computing power. Inspired by the fact that the protein-peptide binding process is like protein folding, we developed a novel strategy, named MDockPeP2, which tries to address these challenges using physicochemical information embedded in abundant monomeric proteins with an exhaustive search strategy, in combination with an integrated global search and a local flexible minimization method. Only the peptide sequence and the protein crystal structure are required. The method was systemically assessed using a newly constructed structural database of 89 nonredundant protein-peptide complexes with the peptide sequence length ranging from 5 to 29 in which about half of the peptides are longer than 15 residues. MDockPeP2 yielded a total success rate of 58.4% (70.8, 79.8%) for the bound docking (i.e., with the bound receptor and fully flexible peptides) and 19.0% (44.8, 70.7%) for the challenging unbound docking when top 10 (100, 1000) models were considered for each prediction. MDockPeP2 achieved significantly higher success rates on two other datasets, peptiDB and LEADS-PEP, which contain only short- and medium-size peptides (≤ 15 residues). For peptiDB, our method obtained a success rate of 62.0% for the bound docking and 35.9% for the unbound docking when the top 10 models were considered. For LEADS-PEP, MDockPeP2 achieved a success rate of 69.8% when the top 10 models were considered. The program is available at https://zougrouptoolkit.missouri.edu/mdockpep2/download.html.
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11
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Lu G, Li X, Zhang J, Xu Q. Molecular insight into the affinity, specificity and cross-reactivity of systematic hepatocellular carcinoma RALT interaction profile with human receptor tyrosine kinases. Amino Acids 2021; 53:1715-1728. [PMID: 34618235 DOI: 10.1007/s00726-021-03083-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) contains four members: EGFR, ErbB2, ErbB3 and ErbB4; they are involved in the tumorigenesis of diverse cancers and can be inhibited natively by receptor-associated late transducer (RALT), a negative feedback regulator of ErbB signaling in human hepatocytes and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although the biological effects of RALT on EGFR kinase have been widely documented previously, the binding behavior of RALT to other ErbB/RTK kinases still remains largely unexplored. Here, the intermolecular interactions of RALT ErbB-binding region (EBR) as well as its functional sections and peptide segments with ErbBs and other human RTKs were systematically investigated at molecular and structural levels, from which we were able to identify those potential kinase targets of RALT protein, and to profile the affinity, specificity and cross-reactivity of RALT EBR domain and its sub-regions against various RTKs. It is revealed that RALT can target all the four ErbB kinases with high affinity for EGFR/ErbB2/ErbB4 and moderate affinity for ErbB3, but generally exhibits modest affinity to other RTKs, albeit few kinases such as LTK, EPHB6, MET and MUSK were also top-ranked as the unexpected targets of RALT. Peptide segments covering the key binding regions of RALT EBR domain were identified with computational alanine scanning, which were then optimized to obtain a number of designed peptide mutants with improved selectivity between different top-ranked RTKs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guang Lu
- Department of General Surgery, Liyang People's Hospital, Liyang, 213300, China
| | - Xiaoping Li
- Department of General Surgery, Liyang People's Hospital, Liyang, 213300, China
| | - Jun Zhang
- Department of General Surgery, Liyang People's Hospital, Liyang, 213300, China
| | - Qinghua Xu
- Department of General Surgery, Liyang People's Hospital, Liyang, 213300, China.
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12
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A novel peptide antagonist of the human growth hormone receptor. J Biol Chem 2021; 296:100588. [PMID: 33774052 PMCID: PMC8086144 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 03/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Excess circulating human growth hormone (hGH) in vivo is linked to metabolic and growth disorders such as cancer, diabetes, and acromegaly. Consequently, there is considerable interest in developing antagonists of hGH action. Here, we present the design, synthesis, and characterization of a 16-residue peptide (site 1-binding helix [S1H]) that inhibits hGH-mediated STAT5 phosphorylation in cultured cells. S1H was designed as a direct sequence mimetic of the site 1 mini-helix (residues 36-51) of wild-type hGH and acts by inhibiting the interaction of hGH with the human growth hormone receptor (hGHR). In vitro studies indicated that S1H is stable in human serum and can adopt an α-helix in solution. Our results also show that S1H mitigates phosphorylation of STAT5 in cells co-treated with hGH, reducing intracellular STAT5 phosphorylation levels to those observed in untreated controls. Furthermore, S1H was found to attenuate the activity of the hGHR and the human prolactin receptor, suggesting that this peptide acts as an antagonist of both lactogenic and somatotrophic hGH actions. Finally, we used alanine scanning to determine how discrete amino acids within the S1H sequence contribute to its structural organization and biological activity. We observed a strong correlation between helical propensity and inhibitory effect, indicating that S1H-mediated antagonism of the hGHR is largely dependent on the ability for S1H to adopt an α-helix. Taken together, these results show that S1H not only acts as a novel peptide-based antagonist of the hGHR but can also be applied as a chemical tool to study the molecular nature of hGH-hGHR interactions.
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13
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Abstract
Biological processes are often mediated by complexes formed between proteins and various biomolecules. The 3D structures of such protein-biomolecule complexes provide insights into the molecular mechanism of their action. The structure of these complexes can be predicted by various computational methods. Choosing an appropriate method for modelling depends on the category of biomolecule that a protein interacts with and the availability of structural information about the protein and its interacting partner. We intend for the contents of this chapter to serve as a guide as to what software would be the most appropriate for the type of data at hand and the kind of 3D complex structure required. Particularly, we have dealt with protein-small molecule ligand, protein-peptide, protein-protein, and protein-nucleic acid interactions.Most, if not all, model building protocols perform some sampling and scoring. Typically, several alternate conformations and configurations of the interactors are sampled. Each such sample is then scored for optimization. To boost the confidence in these predicted models, their assessment using other independent scoring schemes besides the inbuilt/default ones would prove to be helpful. This chapter also lists such software and serves as a guide to gauge the fidelity of modelled structures of biomolecular complexes.
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14
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Bechor E, Zahavi A, Berdichevsky Y, Pick E. p67 phox -derived self-assembled peptides prevent Nox2 NADPH oxidase activation by an auto-inhibitory mechanism. J Leukoc Biol 2020; 109:657-673. [PMID: 32640488 DOI: 10.1002/jlb.4a0620-292r] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2020] [Revised: 06/13/2020] [Accepted: 06/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Activation of the Nox2-dependent NADPH oxidase is the result of a conformational change in Nox2 induced by interaction with the cytosolic component p67phox . In preliminary work we identified a cluster of overlapping 15-mer synthetic peptides, corresponding to p67phox residues 259-279, which inhibited oxidase activity in an in vitro, cell-free assay, but the results did not point to a competitive mechanism. We recently identified an auto-inhibitory intramolecular bond in p67phox , one extremity of which was located within the 259-279 sequence, and we hypothesized that inhibition by exogenous peptides might mimic intrinsic auto-inhibition. In this study, we found that: (i) progressive N- and C-terminal truncation of inhibitory p67phox peptides, corresponding to residues 259-273 and 265-279, revealed that inhibitory ability correlated with the presence of residues 265 NIVFVL270 , exposed at either the N- or C-termini of the peptides; (ii) inhibition of oxidase activity was associated exclusively with self-assembled peptides, which pelleted upon centrifugation at 12,000 ×g; (iii) self-assembled p67phox peptides inhibited oxidase activity by specific binding of p67phox and the ensuing depletion of this component, essential for interaction with Nox2; and (iv) peptides subjected to scrambling or reversing the order of residues in NIVFVL retained the propensity for self-assembly, oxidase inhibitory ability, and specific binding of p67phox , indicating that the dominant parameter was the hydrophobic character of five of the six residues. This appears to be the first description of inhibition of oxidase activity by self-assembled peptides derived from an oxidase component, acting by an auto-inhibitory mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edna Bechor
- The Julius Friedrich Cohnheim Laboratory of Phagocyte Research, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Anat Zahavi
- The Julius Friedrich Cohnheim Laboratory of Phagocyte Research, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Yevgeny Berdichevsky
- The Julius Friedrich Cohnheim Laboratory of Phagocyte Research, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Edgar Pick
- The Julius Friedrich Cohnheim Laboratory of Phagocyte Research, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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15
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Abbass J, Nebel JC. Enhancing fragment-based protein structure prediction by customising fragment cardinality according to local secondary structure. BMC Bioinformatics 2020; 21:170. [PMID: 32357827 PMCID: PMC7195757 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-020-3491-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2019] [Accepted: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Whenever suitable template structures are not available, usage of fragment-based protein structure prediction becomes the only practical alternative as pure ab initio techniques require massive computational resources even for very small proteins. However, inaccuracy of their energy functions and their stochastic nature imposes generation of a large number of decoys to explore adequately the solution space, limiting their usage to small proteins. Taking advantage of the uneven complexity of the sequence-structure relationship of short fragments, we adjusted the fragment insertion process by customising the number of available fragment templates according to the expected complexity of the predicted local secondary structure. Whereas the number of fragments is kept to its default value for coil regions, important and dramatic reductions are proposed for beta sheet and alpha helical regions, respectively. RESULTS The evaluation of our fragment selection approach was conducted using an enhanced version of the popular Rosetta fragment-based protein structure prediction tool. It was modified so that the number of fragment candidates used in Rosetta could be adjusted based on the local secondary structure. Compared to Rosetta's standard predictions, our strategy delivered improved first models, + 24% and + 6% in terms of GDT, when using 2000 and 20,000 decoys, respectively, while reducing significantly the number of fragment candidates. Furthermore, our enhanced version of Rosetta is able to deliver with 2000 decoys a performance equivalent to that produced by standard Rosetta while using 20,000 decoys. We hypothesise that, as the fragment insertion process focuses on the most challenging regions, such as coils, fewer decoys are needed to explore satisfactorily conformation spaces. CONCLUSIONS Taking advantage of the high accuracy of sequence-based secondary structure predictions, we showed the value of that information to customise the number of candidates used during the fragment insertion process of fragment-based protein structure prediction. Experimentations conducted using standard Rosetta showed that, when using the recommended number of decoys, i.e. 20,000, our strategy produces better results. Alternatively, similar results can be achieved using only 2000 decoys. Consequently, we recommend the adoption of this strategy to either improve significantly model quality or reduce processing times by a factor 10.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jad Abbass
- Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing, Kingston University, London, KT1 2EE UK
- Department of Computer Science, Lebanese International University, Bekaa, Lebanon
| | - Jean-Christophe Nebel
- Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing, Kingston University, London, KT1 2EE UK
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16
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Mishra A, Bansal R, Sreenivasan S, Dash R, Joshi S, Singh R, Rathore AS, Goel G. Structure-Based Design of Small Peptide Ligands to Inhibit Early-Stage Protein Aggregation Nucleation. J Chem Inf Model 2020; 60:3304-3314. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.0c00226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Avinash Mishra
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Rohit Bansal
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Shravan Sreenivasan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Rozaleen Dash
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Srishti Joshi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Richa Singh
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Anurag S. Rathore
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Gaurav Goel
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
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17
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Badaczewska-Dawid AE, Kolinski A, Kmiecik S. Computational reconstruction of atomistic protein structures from coarse-grained models. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2019; 18:162-176. [PMID: 31969975 PMCID: PMC6961067 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2019.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2019] [Accepted: 12/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Three-dimensional protein structures, whether determined experimentally or theoretically, are often too low resolution. In this mini-review, we outline the computational methods for protein structure reconstruction from incomplete coarse-grained to all atomistic models. Typical reconstruction schemes can be divided into four major steps. Usually, the first step is reconstruction of the protein backbone chain starting from the C-alpha trace. This is followed by side-chains rebuilding based on protein backbone geometry. Subsequently, hydrogen atoms can be reconstructed. Finally, the resulting all-atom models may require structure optimization. Many methods are available to perform each of these tasks. We discuss the available tools and their potential applications in integrative modeling pipelines that can transfer coarse-grained information from computational predictions, or experiment, to all atomistic structures.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Sebastian Kmiecik
- Faculty of Chemistry, Biological and Chemical Research Center, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 1, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
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18
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Wen Z, He J, Tao H, Huang SY. PepBDB: a comprehensive structural database of biological peptide-protein interactions. Bioinformatics 2019; 35:175-177. [PMID: 29982280 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/bty579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2017] [Accepted: 07/04/2018] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Summary A structural database of peptide-protein interactions is important for drug discovery targeting peptide-mediated interactions. Although some peptide databases, especially for special types of peptides, have been developed, a comprehensive database of cleaned peptide-protein complex structures is still not available. Such cleaned structures are valuable for docking and scoring studies in structure-based drug design. Here, we have developed PepBDB-a curated Peptide Binding DataBase of biological complex structures from the Protein Data Bank (PDB). PepBDB presents not only cleaned structures but also extensive information about biological peptide-protein interactions, and allows users to search the database with a variety of options and interactively visualize the search results. Availability and implementation PepBDB is available at http://huanglab.phys.hust.edu.cn/pepbdb/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zeyu Wen
- Institute of Biophysics, School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Jiahua He
- Institute of Biophysics, School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Huanyu Tao
- Institute of Biophysics, School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Sheng-You Huang
- Institute of Biophysics, School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
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19
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Saberi-Bosari S, Omary M, Lavoie A, Prodromou R, Day K, Menegatti S, San-Miguel A. Affordable Microfluidic Bead-Sorting Platform for Automated Selection of Porous Particles Functionalized with Bioactive Compounds. Sci Rep 2019; 9:7210. [PMID: 31076584 PMCID: PMC6510793 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-42869-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2018] [Accepted: 04/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to rapidly and accurately evaluate bioactive compounds immobilized on porous particles is crucial in the discovery of drugs, diagnostic reagents, ligands, and catalysts. Existing options for solid phase screening of bioactive compounds, while highly effective and well established, can be cost-prohibitive for proof-of-concept and early stage work, limiting its applicability and flexibility in new research areas. Here, we present a low-cost microfluidics-based platform enabling automated screening of small porous beads from solid-phase peptide libraries with high sensitivity and specificity, to identify leads with high binding affinity for a biological target. The integration of unbiased computer assisted image processing and analysis tools, provided the platform with the flexibility of sorting through beads with distinct fluorescence patterns. The customized design of the microfluidic device helped with handling beads with different diameters (~100-300 µm). As a microfluidic device, this portable novel platform can be integrated with a variety of analytical instruments to perform screening. In this study, the system utilizes fluorescence microscopy and unsupervised image analysis, and can operate at a sorting speed of up to 125 beads/hr (~3.5 times faster than a trained operator) providing >90% yield and >90% bead sorting accuracy. Notably, the device has proven successful in screening a model solid-phase peptide library by showing the ability to select beads carrying peptides binding a target protein (human IgG).
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahand Saberi-Bosari
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Mohammad Omary
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Ashton Lavoie
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Raphael Prodromou
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Kevin Day
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Stefano Menegatti
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA. .,Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC), NC State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA.
| | - Adriana San-Miguel
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA.
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20
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Johansson-Åkhe I, Mirabello C, Wallner B. Predicting protein-peptide interaction sites using distant protein complexes as structural templates. Sci Rep 2019; 9:4267. [PMID: 30862810 PMCID: PMC6414505 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-38498-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2018] [Accepted: 12/31/2018] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Protein-peptide interactions play an important role in major cellular processes, and are associated with several human diseases. To understand and potentially regulate these cellular function and diseases it is important to know the molecular details of the interactions. However, because of peptide flexibility and the transient nature of protein-peptide interactions, peptides are difficult to study experimentally. Thus, computational methods for predicting structural information about protein-peptide interactions are needed. Here we present InterPep, a pipeline for predicting protein-peptide interaction sites. It is a novel pipeline that, given a protein structure and a peptide sequence, utilizes structural template matches, sequence information, random forest machine learning, and hierarchical clustering to predict what region of the protein structure the peptide is most likely to bind. When tested on its ability to predict binding sites, InterPep successfully pinpointed 255 of 502 (50.7%) binding sites in experimentally determined structures at rank 1 and 348 of 502 (69.3%) among the top five predictions using only structures with no significant sequence similarity as templates. InterPep is a powerful tool for identifying peptide-binding sites; with a precision of 80% at a recall of 20% it should be an excellent starting point for docking protocols or experiments investigating peptide interactions. The source code for InterPred is available at http://wallnerlab.org/InterPep/ .
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Affiliation(s)
- Isak Johansson-Åkhe
- Division of Bioinformatics, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Claudio Mirabello
- Division of Bioinformatics, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Björn Wallner
- Division of Bioinformatics, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden.
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21
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Litfin T, Yang Y, Zhou Y. SPOT-Peptide: Template-Based Prediction of Peptide-Binding Proteins and Peptide-Binding Sites. J Chem Inf Model 2019; 59:924-930. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.8b00777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Litfin
- School of Information and Communication Technology, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia
| | - Yuedong Yang
- School of Data and Computer Science, Sun-Yat Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China
| | - Yaoqi Zhou
- School of Information and Communication Technology, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia
- Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia
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22
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Xu X, Yan C, Zou X. MDockPeP: An ab-initio protein-peptide docking server. J Comput Chem 2018; 39:2409-2413. [PMID: 30368849 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.25555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2018] [Revised: 07/13/2018] [Accepted: 07/22/2018] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Protein-peptide interactions play a crucial role in a variety of cellular processes. The protein-peptide complex structure is a key to understand the mechanisms underlying protein-peptide interactions and is critical for peptide therapeutic development. We present a user-friendly protein-peptide docking server, MDockPeP. Starting from a peptide sequence and a protein receptor structure, the MDockPeP Server globally docks the all-atom, flexible peptide to the protein receptor. The produced modes are then evaluated with a statistical potential-based scoring function, ITScorePeP. This method was systematically validated using the peptiDB benchmarking database. At least one near-native peptide binding mode was ranked among top 10 (or top 500) in 59% (85%) of the bound cases, and in 40.6% (71.9%) of the challenging unbound cases. The server can be used for both protein-peptide complex structure prediction and initial-stage sampling of the protein-peptide binding modes for other docking or simulation methods. MDockPeP Server is freely available at http://zougrouptoolkit.missouri.edu/mdockpep. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianjin Xu
- Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Biochemistry, Informatics Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211
| | - Chengfei Yan
- Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Biochemistry, Informatics Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211
| | - Xiaoqin Zou
- Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Biochemistry, Informatics Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211
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23
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Abstract
During the last two decades, the pharmaceutical industry has progressed from detecting small molecules to designing biologic-based therapeutics. Amino acid-based drugs are a group of biologic-based therapeutics that can effectively combat the diseases caused by drug resistance or molecular deficiency. Computational techniques play a key role to design and develop the amino acid-based therapeutics such as proteins, peptides and peptidomimetics. In this study, it was attempted to discuss the various elements for computational design of amino acid-based therapeutics. Protein design seeks to identify the properties of amino acid sequences that fold to predetermined structures with desirable structural and functional characteristics. Peptide drugs occupy a middle space between proteins and small molecules and it is hoped that they can target "undruggable" intracellular protein-protein interactions. Peptidomimetics, the compounds that mimic the biologic characteristics of peptides, present refined pharmacokinetic properties compared to the original peptides. Here, the elaborated techniques that are developed to characterize the amino acid sequences consistent with a specific structure and allow protein design are discussed. Moreover, the key principles and recent advances in currently introduced computational techniques for rational peptide design are spotlighted. The most advanced computational techniques developed to design novel peptidomimetics are also summarized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tayebeh Farhadi
- Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center (CRDRC), National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Seyed MohammadReza Hashemian
- Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center (CRDRC), National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- Clinical Tuberculosis and Epidemiology Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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24
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Peptide Derivatives of Erythropoietin in the Treatment of Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration. THERAPEUTIC PROTEINS AND PEPTIDES 2018; 112:309-357. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.apcsb.2018.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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25
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Alam N, Goldstein O, Xia B, Porter KA, Kozakov D, Schueler-Furman O. High-resolution global peptide-protein docking using fragments-based PIPER-FlexPepDock. PLoS Comput Biol 2017; 13:e1005905. [PMID: 29281622 PMCID: PMC5760072 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2017] [Revised: 01/09/2018] [Accepted: 11/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Peptide-protein interactions contribute a significant fraction of the protein-protein interactome. Accurate modeling of these interactions is challenging due to the vast conformational space associated with interactions of highly flexible peptides with large receptor surfaces. To address this challenge we developed a fragment based high-resolution peptide-protein docking protocol. By streamlining the Rosetta fragment picker for accurate peptide fragment ensemble generation, the PIPER docking algorithm for exhaustive fragment-receptor rigid-body docking and Rosetta FlexPepDock for flexible full-atom refinement of PIPER docked models, we successfully addressed the challenge of accurate and efficient global peptide-protein docking at high-resolution with remarkable accuracy, as validated on a small but representative set of peptide-protein complex structures well resolved by X-ray crystallography. Our approach opens up the way to high-resolution modeling of many more peptide-protein interactions and to the detailed study of peptide-protein association in general. PIPER-FlexPepDock is freely available to the academic community as a server at http://piperfpd.furmanlab.cs.huji.ac.il. Peptide-protein interactions are crucial components of various important biological processes in living cells. High-resolution structural information of such interactions provides insight about the underlying biophysical principles governing the interactions, and a starting point for their targeted manipulations. Accurate docking algorithms can help fill the gap between the vast number of these interactions and the small number of experimentally solved structures. However, the accuracies of the existing protocols have been limited, in particular for ab initio docking when no information about the peptide beyond its sequence is available. Here we introduce PIPER-FlexPepDock, a fragment-based global docking protocol for high-resolution modeling of peptide-protein interactions. Integration of accurate and efficient representation of the peptide using fragment ensembles, their fast and exhaustive rigid-body docking, and their subsequent accurate flexible refinement, enables peptide-protein docking of remarkable accuracy. The validation on a representative benchmark set of crystallographically solved high-resolution peptide-protein complexes demonstrates significantly improved performance over all existing docking protocols. This opens up the way to the modeling of many more peptide-protein interactions, and to a more detailed study of peptide-protein association in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nawsad Alam
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Oriel Goldstein
- School of Computer Sciences and Engineering, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Bing Xia
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Kathryn A. Porter
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Dima Kozakov
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America
- Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America
- Institute for Advanced Computational Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail: (OSF); (DK)
| | - Ora Schueler-Furman
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
- * E-mail: (OSF); (DK)
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26
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Bruzzoni-Giovanelli H, Alezra V, Wolff N, Dong CZ, Tuffery P, Rebollo A. Interfering peptides targeting protein-protein interactions: the next generation of drugs? Drug Discov Today 2017; 23:272-285. [PMID: 29097277 DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2017.10.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2017] [Revised: 09/22/2017] [Accepted: 10/17/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are well recognized as promising therapeutic targets. Consequently, interfering peptides (IPs) - natural or synthetic peptides capable of interfering with PPIs - are receiving increasing attention. Given their physicochemical characteristics, IPs seem better suited than small molecules to interfere with the large surfaces implicated in PPIs. Progress on peptide administration, stability, biodelivery and safety are also encouraging the interest in peptide drug development. The concept of IPs has been validated for several PPIs, generating great expectations for their therapeutic potential. Here, we describe approaches and methods useful for IPs identification and in silico, physicochemical and biological-based strategies for their design and optimization. Selected promising in-vivo-validated examples are described and advantages, limitations and potential of IPs as therapeutic tools are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heriberto Bruzzoni-Giovanelli
- Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot, Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France; UMRS 1160 Inserm, Paris, France; Centre d'Investigation Clinique 1427 Inserm/AP-HP Hôpital Saint Louis, Paris, France
| | - Valerie Alezra
- Université Paris-Sud, Laboratoire de Méthodologie, Synthèse et Molécules Thérapeutiques, ICMMO, UMR 8182, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Faculté des Sciences d'Orsay, France
| | - Nicolas Wolff
- Unité de Résonance Magnétique Nucléaire des Biomolécules, CNRS, UMR 3528, Institut Pasteur, F-75015 Paris, France
| | - Chang-Zhi Dong
- Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot, Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France; ITODYS, UMR 7086 CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Pierre Tuffery
- Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot, Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France; Inserm UMR-S 973, RPBS, Paris, France
| | - Angelita Rebollo
- CIMI Paris, UPMC, Inserm U1135, Hôpital Pitié Salpétrière, Paris, France.
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27
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Mackenzie CO, Grigoryan G. Protein structural motifs in prediction and design. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2017; 44:161-167. [PMID: 28460216 PMCID: PMC5513761 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2017.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2016] [Revised: 03/18/2017] [Accepted: 03/28/2017] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
The Protein Data Bank (PDB) has been an integral resource for shaping our fundamental understanding of protein structure and for the advancement of such applications as protein design and structure prediction. Over the years, information from the PDB has been used to generate models ranging from specific structural mechanisms to general statistical potentials. With accumulating structural data, it has become possible to mine for more complete and complex structural observations, deducing more accurate generalizations. Motif libraries, which capture recurring structural features along with their sequence preferences, have exposed modularity in the structural universe and found successful application in various problems of structural biology. Here we summarize recent achievements in this arena, focusing on subdomain level structural patterns and their applications to protein design and structure prediction, and suggest promising future directions as the structural database continues to grow.
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Affiliation(s)
- Craig O Mackenzie
- Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, United States
| | - Gevorg Grigoryan
- Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, United States; Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, United States.
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28
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Application of the ATTRACT Coarse-Grained Docking and Atomistic Refinement for Predicting Peptide-Protein Interactions. Methods Mol Biol 2017. [PMID: 28236233 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-6798-8_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
Abstract
Peptide-protein interactions are abundant in the cell and form an important part of the interactome. Large-scale modeling of peptide-protein complexes requires a fully blind approach; i.e., simultaneously predicting the peptide-binding site and the peptide conformation to high accuracy. Here, we present one of the first fully blind peptide-protein docking protocols, pepATTRACT. It combines a coarse-grained ensemble docking search of the entire protein surface with two stages of atomistic flexible refinement. pepATTRACT yields high-quality predictions for 70 % of the cases when tested on a large benchmark of peptide-protein complexes. This performance in fully blind mode is similar to state-of-the-art local docking approaches that use information on the location of the binding site. Limiting the search to the peptide-binding region, the resulting pepATTRACT-local approach further improves the performance. Docking scripts for pepATTRACT and pepATTRACT-local can be generated via a web interface at www.attract.ph.tum.de/peptide.html . Here, we explain how to set up a docking run with the pepATTRACT web interface and demonstrate its usage by an application on binding of disordered regions from tumor suppressor p53 to a partner protein.
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29
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Gomez-Gutierrez P, Campos PM, Vega M, Perez JJ. Identification of a Novel Inhibitory Allosteric Site in p38α. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0167379. [PMID: 27898710 PMCID: PMC5127581 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2016] [Accepted: 11/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
In the present study, we report the discovery of a novel allosteric inhibitory site for p38α, a subclass of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) family. The putative site was discovered after inspection of the crystallographic structure of the p38α-MK2 complex. MK2 (MAPK-activated protein kinase 2) is an interesting protein playing a dual role as modulator and substrate of p38α. This intriguing behavior is due to the ability of the two proteins to form distinctive heterodimers when p38α is phosphorylated or not. We hypothesized that the regulatory action of MK2 is due to its capability to keep p38α in an inactive conformation and consequently, we investigated the atomic structure of the p38α-MK2 complex to understand such regulatory behavior at the molecular level. After inspection of the complex structure, two peptides designed from the MK2 regulatory loop in contact with p38α with sequences Tyr1-Ser2-Asn3-His4-Gly5-Leu6 (peptide-1) and [Phe0]-peptide-1 (peptide-2) in their zwitterionic form were investigated for their phosphorylation inhibitory capability in vitro. Since both peptides exhibited inhibitory capability of the p38α kinase mediated phosphorylation of MEF2A, in a subsequent step we pursued the discovery of small molecule peptidomimetics. For this purpose we characterized in detail the peptide-p38α interaction using molecular dynamics simulations, leading to the definition of a pharmacophore for the peptide-protein interaction. This hypothesis was used as query for a in silico screening, leading to the discovery of a fused ring compound with micromolar inhibitory activity. Site-directed mutagenesis studies support that the compound binds to the putative novel allosteric site in p38α.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Gomez-Gutierrez
- Allinky Biopharma. Madrid Scientific Park. Faraday, 7. Campus de Cantoblanco, Spain
- Dept. of Chemical Engineering. Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya. ETSEIB. Av. Diagonal, Spain
| | - Pedro M. Campos
- Allinky Biopharma. Madrid Scientific Park. Faraday, 7. Campus de Cantoblanco, Spain
| | - Miguel Vega
- Allinky Biopharma. Madrid Scientific Park. Faraday, 7. Campus de Cantoblanco, Spain
| | - Juan J. Perez
- Dept. of Chemical Engineering. Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya. ETSEIB. Av. Diagonal, Spain
- * E-mail:
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30
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Lima AH, dos Santos AM, Alves CN, Lameira J. Computed insight into a peptide inhibitor preventing the induced fit mechanism of MurA enzyme fromPseudomonas aeruginosa. Chem Biol Drug Des 2016; 89:599-607. [DOI: 10.1111/cbdd.12882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2016] [Revised: 08/16/2016] [Accepted: 09/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anderson H. Lima
- Laboratório de Planejamento e Desenvolvimento de Fármacos; Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Naturais; Universidade Federal do Pará; Belém PA Brasil
| | - Alberto M. dos Santos
- Laboratório de Planejamento e Desenvolvimento de Fármacos; Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Naturais; Universidade Federal do Pará; Belém PA Brasil
| | - Cláudio Nahum Alves
- Laboratório de Planejamento e Desenvolvimento de Fármacos; Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Naturais; Universidade Federal do Pará; Belém PA Brasil
| | - Jerônimo Lameira
- Laboratório de Planejamento e Desenvolvimento de Fármacos; Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Naturais; Universidade Federal do Pará; Belém PA Brasil
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31
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Abstract
Here, we systematically decompose the known protein structural universe into its basic elements, which we dub tertiary structural motifs (TERMs). A TERM is a compact backbone fragment that captures the secondary, tertiary, and quaternary environments around a given residue, comprising one or more disjoint segments (three on average). We seek the set of universal TERMs that capture all structure in the Protein Data Bank (PDB), finding remarkable degeneracy. Only ∼600 TERMs are sufficient to describe 50% of the PDB at sub-Angstrom resolution. However, more rare geometries also exist, and the overall structural coverage grows logarithmically with the number of TERMs. We go on to show that universal TERMs provide an effective mapping between sequence and structure. We demonstrate that TERM-based statistics alone are sufficient to recapitulate close-to-native sequences given either NMR or X-ray backbones. Furthermore, sequence variability predicted from TERM data agrees closely with evolutionary variation. Finally, locations of TERMs in protein chains can be predicted from sequence alone based on sequence signatures emergent from TERM instances in the PDB. For multisegment motifs, this method identifies spatially adjacent fragments that are not contiguous in sequence-a major bottleneck in structure prediction. Although all TERMs recur in diverse proteins, some appear specialized for certain functions, such as interface formation, metal coordination, or even water binding. Structural biology has benefited greatly from previously observed degeneracies in structure. The decomposition of the known structural universe into a finite set of compact TERMs offers exciting opportunities toward better understanding, design, and prediction of protein structure.
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32
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Raghavender US. Analysis of residue conformations in peptides in Cambridge structural database and protein-peptide structural complexes. Chem Biol Drug Des 2016; 89:428-442. [DOI: 10.1111/cbdd.12862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2016] [Revised: 07/27/2016] [Accepted: 08/25/2016] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
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Yan C, Xu X, Zou X. Fully Blind Docking at the Atomic Level for Protein-Peptide Complex Structure Prediction. Structure 2016; 24:1842-1853. [PMID: 27642160 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2016.07.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2016] [Revised: 07/13/2016] [Accepted: 07/29/2016] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Protein-peptide interactions play an important role in many cellular processes. In silico prediction of protein-peptide complex structure is highly desirable for mechanistic investigation of these processes and for therapeutic design. However, predicting all-atom structures of protein-peptide complexes without any knowledge about the peptide binding site and the bound peptide conformation remains a big challenge. Here, we present a docking-based method for predicting protein-peptide complex structures, referred to as MDockPeP, which starts with the peptide sequence and globally docks the all-atom, flexible peptide onto the protein structure. MDockPeP was tested on the peptiDB benchmarking database using both bound and unbound protein structures. The results show that MDockPeP successfully generated near-native peptide binding modes in 95.0% of the bound docking cases and in 92.2% of the unbound docking cases. The performance is significantly better than other existing docking methods. MDockPeP is computationally efficient and suitable for large-scale applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chengfei Yan
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Department of Biochemistry, Informatics Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
| | - Xianjin Xu
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Department of Biochemistry, Informatics Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
| | - Xiaoqin Zou
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA; Department of Biochemistry, Informatics Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
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34
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Obarska-Kosinska A, Iacoangeli A, Lepore R, Tramontano A. PepComposer: computational design of peptides binding to a given protein surface. Nucleic Acids Res 2016; 44:W522-8. [PMID: 27131789 PMCID: PMC4987918 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkw366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2016] [Accepted: 04/22/2016] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
There is a wide interest in designing peptides able to bind to a specific region of a protein with the aim of interfering with a known interaction or as starting point for the design of inhibitors. Here we describe PepComposer, a new pipeline for the computational design of peptides binding to a given protein surface. PepComposer only requires the target protein structure and an approximate definition of the binding site as input. We first retrieve a set of peptide backbone scaffolds from monomeric proteins that harbor the same backbone arrangement as the binding site of the protein of interest. Next, we design optimal sequences for the identified peptide scaffolds. The method is fully automatic and available as a web server at http://biocomputing.it/pepcomposer/webserver.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alfredo Iacoangeli
- Department of Physics, Sapienza University, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5-00184 Rome, Italy
| | - Rosalba Lepore
- Department of Physics, Sapienza University, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5-00184 Rome, Italy
| | - Anna Tramontano
- Department of Physics, Sapienza University, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5-00184 Rome, Italy Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Viale Regina Elena 291, 00161 Rome, Italy
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35
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Schindler CEM, de Vries SJ, Zacharias M. Fully Blind Peptide-Protein Docking with pepATTRACT. Structure 2015; 23:1507-1515. [PMID: 26146186 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2015.05.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2015] [Revised: 05/21/2015] [Accepted: 05/25/2015] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Peptide-protein interactions are ubiquitous in the cell and form an important part of the interactome. Computational docking methods can complement experimental characterization of these complexes, but current protocols are not applicable on the proteome scale. Here, we present a new fully blind flexible peptide-protein docking protocol, pepATTRACT, which combines a rapid coarse-grained global peptide docking search of the entire protein surface with a two-stage atomistic flexible refinement. Global unbound-unbound docking yielded near-native models for 70% of the docking cases when testing the protocol on the largest benchmark of peptide-protein complexes available to date. This performance is similar to that of state-of-the-art local docking protocols that rely on information about the binding site. Upon restricting the search to the peptide binding region, the resulting pepATTRACT-local approach outperformed existing methods. Docking scripts for pepATTRACT and pepATTRACT-local can be generated via a web interface at www.attract.ph.tum.de/peptide.html.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina E M Schindler
- Physics Department T38, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
| | - Sjoerd J de Vries
- Physics Department T38, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
| | - Martin Zacharias
- Physics Department T38, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany.
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36
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A Decoy Peptide that Disrupts TIRAP Recruitment to TLRs Is Protective in a Murine Model of Influenza. Cell Rep 2015; 11:1941-52. [PMID: 26095366 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2015.05.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2014] [Revised: 05/06/2015] [Accepted: 05/19/2015] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) activate distinct, yet overlapping sets of signaling molecules, leading to inflammatory responses to pathogens. Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domains, present in all TLRs and TLR adapters, mediate protein interactions downstream of activated TLRs. A peptide library derived from TLR2 TIR was screened for inhibition of TLR2 signaling. Cell-permeable peptides derived from the D helix and the segment immediately N-terminal to the TLR2 TIR domain potently inhibited TLR2-mediated cytokine production. The D-helix peptide, 2R9, also potently inhibited TLR4, TLR7, and TLR9, but not TLR3 or TNF-α signaling. Cell imaging, co-immunoprecipitation, and in vitro studies demonstrated that 2R9 preferentially targets TIRAP. 2R9 diminished systemic cytokine responses elicited in vivo by synthetic TLR2 and TLR7 agonists; it inhibited the activation of macrophages infected with influenza strain A/PR/8/34 (PR8) and significantly improved the survival of PR8-infected mice. Thus, 2R9 represents a TLR-targeting agent that blocks protein interactions downstream of activated TLRs.
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37
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Duffy FJ, O’Donovan D, Devocelle M, Moran N, O’Connell DJ, Shields DC. Virtual Screening Using Combinatorial Cyclic Peptide Libraries Reveals Protein Interfaces Readily Targetable by Cyclic Peptides. J Chem Inf Model 2015; 55:600-13. [DOI: 10.1021/ci500431q] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Fergal J. Duffy
- School of Medicine and Medical
Science, ‡Complex and Adaptive Systems Laboratory, ¶Conway Institute of
Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, and §School of Biomolecular and Biomedical
Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland, and
- Department of Chemistry and ⊥Department of
Molecular and Cell Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Darragh O’Donovan
- School of Medicine and Medical
Science, ‡Complex and Adaptive Systems Laboratory, ¶Conway Institute of
Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, and §School of Biomolecular and Biomedical
Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland, and
- Department of Chemistry and ⊥Department of
Molecular and Cell Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Marc Devocelle
- School of Medicine and Medical
Science, ‡Complex and Adaptive Systems Laboratory, ¶Conway Institute of
Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, and §School of Biomolecular and Biomedical
Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland, and
- Department of Chemistry and ⊥Department of
Molecular and Cell Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Niamh Moran
- School of Medicine and Medical
Science, ‡Complex and Adaptive Systems Laboratory, ¶Conway Institute of
Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, and §School of Biomolecular and Biomedical
Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland, and
- Department of Chemistry and ⊥Department of
Molecular and Cell Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - David J. O’Connell
- School of Medicine and Medical
Science, ‡Complex and Adaptive Systems Laboratory, ¶Conway Institute of
Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, and §School of Biomolecular and Biomedical
Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland, and
- Department of Chemistry and ⊥Department of
Molecular and Cell Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Denis C. Shields
- School of Medicine and Medical
Science, ‡Complex and Adaptive Systems Laboratory, ¶Conway Institute of
Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, and §School of Biomolecular and Biomedical
Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland, and
- Department of Chemistry and ⊥Department of
Molecular and Cell Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
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38
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Yu H, Zhou P, Deng M, Shang Z. Indirect Readout in Protein-Peptide Recognition: A Different Story from Classical Biomolecular Recognition. J Chem Inf Model 2014; 54:2022-32. [DOI: 10.1021/ci5000246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Peng Zhou
- Center
of Bioinformatics (COBI), School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China
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39
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Téletchéa S, Stresing V, Hervouet S, Baud'huin M, Heymann MF, Bertho G, Charrier C, Ando K, Heymann D. Novel RANK antagonists for the treatment of bone-resorptive disease: theoretical predictions and experimental validation. J Bone Miner Res 2014; 29:1466-77. [PMID: 24390798 DOI: 10.1002/jbmr.2170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2013] [Revised: 12/17/2013] [Accepted: 01/01/2013] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB (RANK) and RANK ligand (RANKL) play a pivotal role in bone metabolism, and selective targeting of RANK signaling has become a promising therapeutic strategy in the management of resorptive bone diseases. Existing antibody-based therapies and novel inhibitors currently in development were designed to target the ligand, rather than the membrane receptor expressed on osteoclast precursors. We describe here an alternative approach to designing small peptides able to specifically bind to the hinge region of membrane RANK responsible for the conformational change upon RANKL association. A nonapeptide generated by this method was validated for its biological activity in vitro and in vivo and served as a lead compound for the generation of a series of peptide RANK antagonists derived from the original sequence. Our study presents a structure- and knowledge-based strategy for the design of novel effective and affordable small peptide inhibitors specifically targeting the receptor RANK and opens a new therapeutic opportunity for the treatment of resorptive bone disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stéphane Téletchéa
- INSERM, UMR 957, Equipe labellisée LIGUE 2012, Université de Nantes, Laboratory of the Physiopathology of Bone Resorption and Therapy of Primary Bone Tumors (LPRO), Nantes, France
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40
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Cukuroglu E, Gursoy A, Nussinov R, Keskin O. Non-redundant unique interface structures as templates for modeling protein interactions. PLoS One 2014; 9:e86738. [PMID: 24475173 PMCID: PMC3903793 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2013] [Accepted: 12/18/2013] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Improvements in experimental techniques increasingly provide structural data relating to protein-protein interactions. Classification of structural details of protein-protein interactions can provide valuable insights for modeling and abstracting design principles. Here, we aim to cluster protein-protein interactions by their interface structures, and to exploit these clusters to obtain and study shared and distinct protein binding sites. We find that there are 22604 unique interface structures in the PDB. These unique interfaces, which provide a rich resource of structural data of protein-protein interactions, can be used for template-based docking. We test the specificity of these non-redundant unique interface structures by finding protein pairs which have multiple binding sites. We suggest that residues with more than 40% relative accessible surface area should be considered as surface residues in template-based docking studies. This comprehensive study of protein interface structures can serve as a resource for the community. The dataset can be accessed at http://prism.ccbb.ku.edu.tr/piface.
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Affiliation(s)
- Engin Cukuroglu
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics and College of Engineering, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Attila Gursoy
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics and College of Engineering, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ruth Nussinov
- National Cancer Institute, Cancer and Inflammation Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland, United States of America
- Sackler Institute of Molecular Medicine, Department of Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Ozlem Keskin
- Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics and College of Engineering, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey
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41
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Zhou Y, Ni Z, Chen K, Liu H, Chen L, Lian C, Yan L. Modeling Protein–Peptide Recognition Based on Classical Quantitative Structure–Affinity Relationship Approach: Implication for Proteome-Wide Inference of Peptide-Mediated Interactions. Protein J 2013; 32:568-78. [DOI: 10.1007/s10930-013-9519-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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42
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London N, Raveh B, Schueler-Furman O. Peptide docking and structure-based characterization of peptide binding: from knowledge to know-how. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2013; 23:894-902. [PMID: 24138780 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2013.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2013] [Revised: 07/04/2013] [Accepted: 07/08/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Peptide-mediated interactions are gaining increased attention due to their predominant roles in the many regulatory processes that involve dynamic interactions between proteins. The structures of such interactions provide an excellent starting point for their characterization and manipulation, and can provide leads for targeted inhibitor design. The relatively few experimentally determined structures of peptide-protein complexes can be complemented with an outburst of modeling approaches that have been introduced in recent years, with increasing accuracy and applicability to ever more systems. We review different methods to address the considerable challenges in modeling the binding of a short yet highly flexible peptide to its partner. These methods apply an array of sampling strategies and draw from a recent amassing of knowledge about the biophysical nature of peptide-protein interactions. We elaborate on applications of these structure-based approaches and in particular on the characterization of peptide binding specificity to different peptide-binding domains and enzymes. Such applications can identify new biological targets and thus complement our current view of protein-protein interactions in living organisms. Accurate peptide-protein docking is of particular importance in the light of increased appreciation of the crucial functional roles of disordered regions and the many linear binding motifs embedded within.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nir London
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
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43
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Abstract
The structures and inherent stabilities of hydrated, protonated ammonia, select protonated primary, secondary, and tertiary amines as well as tetramethylammonium with 19-21 water molecules were investigated using infrared photodissociation (IRPD) spectroscopy and blackbody infrared radiative dissociation (BIRD) at 133 K. Magic number clusters (MNCs) with 20 water molecules were observed for all ions except tetramethylammonium, and the BIRD results indicate that these clusters have stable structures, which are relatively unaffected by addition of one water molecule but are disrupted in clusters with one less water molecule. IRPD spectra in the water free O-H stretch region are consistent with clathrate structures for the MNCs with 20 water molecules, whereas nonclathrate structures are indicated for tetramethylammonium as well as ions at the other cluster sizes. The locations of protonated ammonia and the protonated primary amines either in the interior or at the surface of a clathrate were determined by comparing IRPD spectra of these ions to those of reference ions; Rb(+) and protonated tert-butylammonia with 20 water molecules were used as references for an ion in the interior and at the surface of a clathrate, respectively. These results indicate that protonated ammonia is in the interior of the clathrate, whereas protonated methyl- and n-heptylamine are at the surface. Calculations suggest that the number of hydrogen bonds in these clusters does not directly correlate with structural stability, indicating that both the number and orientation of the hydrogen bonds are important. These experimental results should serve as benchmarks for computational studies aimed at elucidating ion effects on the hydrogen-bonding network of water molecules and the surface activity of ions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Terrence M Chang
- Department of Chemistry, University of California , Berkeley, California 94720-1460, United States
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44
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Han KQ, Wu G, Lv F. Development of QSAR-Improved Statistical Potential for the Structure-Based Analysis of ProteinPeptide Binding Affinities. Mol Inform 2013; 32:783-92. [DOI: 10.1002/minf.201300064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2013] [Accepted: 06/21/2013] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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45
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Tian F, Tan R, Guo T, Zhou P, Yang L. Fast and reliable prediction of domain–peptide binding affinity using coarse-grained structure models. Biosystems 2013; 113:40-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2013.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2013] [Revised: 04/15/2013] [Accepted: 04/20/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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46
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Verschueren E, Vanhee P, Rousseau F, Schymkowitz J, Serrano L. Protein-peptide complex prediction through fragment interaction patterns. Structure 2013; 21:789-97. [PMID: 23583037 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2013.02.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2012] [Revised: 02/04/2013] [Accepted: 02/25/2013] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The number of protein-peptide interactions in a cell is so large that experimental determination of all these complex structures would be a daunting task. Although homology modeling and refinement protocols have vastly improved the number and quality of predicted structural models, ab initio methods are still challenged by both the large number of possible docking sites and the conformational space accessible to flexible peptides. We present a method that addresses these challenges by sampling the entire accessible surface of a protein with a reduced conformational space of interacting backbone fragment pairs from unrelated structures. We demonstrate its potential by predicting ab initio the bound structure for a variety of protein-peptide complexes. In addition, we show the potential of our method for the discovery of domain interaction sites and domain-domain docking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik Verschueren
- EMBL/CRG Systems Biology Research Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation-CRG, Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
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47
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Luo Q, Hamer R, Reinert G, Deane CM. Local network patterns in protein-protein interfaces. PLoS One 2013; 8:e57031. [PMID: 23520460 PMCID: PMC3592891 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2011] [Accepted: 01/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Protein-protein interfaces hold the key to understanding protein-protein interactions. In this paper we investigated local interaction network patterns beyond pair-wise contact sites by considering interfaces as contact networks among residues. A contact site was defined as any residue on the surface of one protein which was in contact with a residue on the surface of another protein. We labeled the sub-graphs of these contact networks by their amino acid types. The observed distributions of these labeled sub-graphs were compared with the corresponding background distributions and the results suggested that there were preferred chemical patterns of closely packed residues at the interface. These preferred patterns point to biological constraints on physical proximity between those residues on one protein which were involved in binding to residues which were close on the interacting partner. Interaction interfaces were far from random and contain information beyond pairs and triangles. To illustrate the possible application of the local network patterns observed, we introduced a signature method, called iScore, based on these local patterns to assess interface predictions. On our data sets iScore achieved 83.6% specificity with 82% sensitivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Luo
- Department of Management, College of Information Systems and Management, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
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48
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Abstract
The observation of a limited secondary-structural alphabet in native proteins, with significant sequence preferences, has profoundly influenced the fields of protein design and structure prediction (Simons, Kooperberg, Huang, & Baker, 1997; Verschueren et al., 2011). In the era of structural genomics, as the size of the structural dataset continues to grow rapidly, it is becoming possible to extend this analysis to tertiary structural motifs and their sequences. For a hypothetical tertiary motif, the rate of its utilization in natural proteins may be used to assess its designability-the ease with which the motif can be realized with natural amino acids. This requires a structural similarity search methodology, which rather than looking for global topological agreement (more appropriate for categorization of full proteins or domains), identifies detailed geometric matches. In this chapter, we introduce such a method, called MaDCaT, and demonstrate its use by assessing the designability landscapes of two tertiary structural motifs. We also show that such analysis can establish structure/sequence links by providing the sequence constraints necessary to encode designable motifs. As logical extension of their secondary-structure counterparts, tertiary structural preferences will likely prove extremely useful in de novo protein design and structure prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Zhang
- Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth College, Fax: 603-646-1672, 6211 Sudikoff Lab, Room 210, Hanover, NH 03755-3510, USA
| | - Gevorg Grigoryan
- Adjunct Professor of Biology, Dartmouth College, Phone: 603-646-3173, Fax: 603-646-1672, 6211 Sudikoff Lab, Room 113, Hanover, NH 03755-3510, USA
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49
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Use of fast conformational sampling to improve the characterization of VEGF A–peptide interactions. J Theor Biol 2013; 317:293-300. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2012.10.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2012] [Revised: 10/12/2012] [Accepted: 10/15/2012] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
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50
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London N, Gullá S, Keating AE, Schueler-Furman O. In silico and in vitro elucidation of BH3 binding specificity toward Bcl-2. Biochemistry 2012; 51:5841-50. [PMID: 22702834 DOI: 10.1021/bi3003567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Interactions between Bcl-2-like proteins and BH3 domains play a key role in the regulation of apoptosis. Despite the overall structural similarity of their interaction with helical BH3 domains, Bcl-2-like proteins exhibit an intricate spectrum of binding specificities whose underlying basis is not well understood. Here, we characterize these interactions using Rosetta FlexPepBind, a protocol for the prediction of peptide binding specificity that evaluates the binding potential of different peptides based on structural models of the corresponding peptide-receptor complexes. For two prominent players, Bcl-xL and Mcl-1, we obtain good agreement with a large set of experimental SPOT array measurements and recapitulate the binding specificity of peptides derived by yeast display in a previous study. We extend our approach to a third member of this family, Bcl-2: we test our blind prediction of the binding of 180 BIM-derived peptides with a corresponding experimental SPOT array. Both prediction and experiment reveal a Bcl-2 binding specificity pattern that resembles that of Bcl-xL. Finally, we extend this application to accurately predict the specificity pattern of additional human BH3-only derived peptides. This study characterizes the distinct patterns of binding specificity of BH3-only derived peptides for the Bcl-2 like proteins Bcl-xL, Mcl-1, and Bcl-2 and provides insight into the structural basis of determinants of specificity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nir London
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, Hadassah Medical School, The Hebrew University, POB 12272, Jerusalem 91120, Israel
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