Structural determinants of protein dynamics: analysis of 15N NMR relaxation measurements for main-chain and side-chain nuclei of hen egg white lysozyme

A proteome-scale analysis of vertebrate protein amino acid occurrence: Thermoadaptation shows a correlation with protein solvation but less so with dynamics

Despite differences in behaviors and living conditions, vertebrate organisms share the great majority of proteins, often with subtle differences in amino acid sequence. Here, we present a simple way to analyze the difference in amino acid occurrence by comparing highly homologous proteins on a subproteome level between several vertebrate model organisms. Specifically, we use this method to identify a pattern of amino acid conservation as well as a shift in amino acid occurrence between homeotherms (warm-blooded species) and poikilotherms (cold-blooded species). Importantly, this general analysis and a specific example further establish a broad correlation, if not likely connection between the thermal adaptation of protein sequences and two of their physical features: on average a change in their protein dynamics and, even more strongly, in their solvation. For poikilotherms, such as frog and fish, the lower body temperature is expected to increase the protein-protein interaction due to a decrease in protein internal dynamics. In order to counteract the tendency for enhanced binding caused by low temperatures, poikilotherms enhance the solvation of their proteins by favoring polar amino acids. This feature appears to dominate over possible changes in dynamics for some proteins. The results suggest that a general trend for amino acid choice is part of the mechanism for thermoadaptation of vertebrate organisms at the molecular level.

Molecular dynamics simulation or structure refinement of proteins: are solvent molecules required? A case study using hen lysozyme

In protein simulation or structure refinement based on values of observable quantities measured in (aqueous) solution, solvent (water) molecules may be explicitly treated, omitted, or represented by a potential of mean-solvation-force term, depending on protein coordinates only, in the force field used. These three approaches are compared for hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL). This 129-residue non-spherical protein contains a variety of secondary-structure elements, and ample experimental data are available: 1630 atom–atom Nuclear Overhauser Enhancement (NOE) upper distance bounds, 213 ³ J-couplings and 200 S² order parameters. These data are used to compare the performance of the three approaches. It is found that a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation in explicit water approximates the experimental data much better than stochastic dynamics (SD) simulation in vacuo without or with a solvent-accessible-surface-area (SASA) implicit-solvation term added to the force field. This is due to the missing energetic and entropic contributions and hydrogen-bonding capacities of the water molecules and the missing dielectric screening effect of this high-permittivity solvent. Omission of explicit water molecules leads to compaction of the protein, an increased internal strain, distortion of exposed loop and turn regions and excessive intra-protein hydrogen bonding. As a consequence, the conformation and dynamics of groups on the surface of the protein, which may play a key role in protein–protein interactions or ligand or substrate binding, may be incorrectly modelled. It is thus recommended to include water molecules explicitly in structure refinement of proteins in aqueous solution based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) or other experimentally measured data.

Structural Analysis of Hen Egg Lysozyme Refolded after Denaturation at Acidic pH

Protein structures fluctuate in solution; therefore, proteins have multiple stable structures that are slightly different from each other. In this study, we determined the crystal structure of hen egg lysozyme refolded after denaturation at acidic pH (rHEL) and found a structure different from native HEL (nHEL). The different local conformations of the peptide bond between Asp101 and Gly102 found in the crystal structure was supported by the NMR results for nHEL and rHEL. The NMR experiments also showed shifts in the heteronuclear single quantum coherence signals derived from Thr43 and Asp52. The chemical shift change of Asp52 could be explained by the crystal structure of rHEL, showing the conformational change of Tyr53, whose phenol ring directly lies on the main chain of Asp52. The catalytic activity of rHEL was similar to that of nHEL, indicating that the conformational change had little effect on activity. In contrast, conformational changes could be detected by the binding of monoclonal antibodies against HEL. Using multiple methods, we successfully detected the unusual structure of HEL, which might be another stable structure of HEL in solution.

Fungal effector SIB1 of Colletotrichum orbiculare has unique structural features and can suppress plant immunity in Nicotiana benthamiana

Fungal plant pathogens secrete virulence-related proteins, called effectors, to establish host infection; however, the details are not fully understood yet. Functional screening of effector candidates using Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression assay in Nicotiana benthamiana identified two virulence-related effectors, named SIB1 and SIB2 (Suppression of Immunity in N. benthamiana), of an anthracnose fungus Colletotrichum orbiculare, which infects both cucurbits and N. benthamiana. The Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression of SIB1 or SIB2 increased the susceptibility of N. benthamiana to C. orbiculare, which suggested these effectors can suppress immune responses in N. benthamiana. The presence of SIB1 and SIB2 homologs was found to be limited to the genus Colletotrichum. SIB1 suppressed both (i) the generation of reactive oxygen species triggered by two different pathogen-associated molecular patterns, chitin and flg22, and (ii) the cell death response triggered by the Phytophthora infestans INF1 elicitin in N. benthamiana. We determined the NMR-based structure of SIB1 to obtain its structural insights. The three-dimensional structure of SIB1 comprises five β-strands, each containing three disulfide bonds. The overall conformation was found to be a cylindrical shape, such as the well-known antiparallel β-barrel structure. However, the β-strands were found to display a unique topology, one pair of these β-strands formed a parallel β-sheet. These results suggest that the effector SIB1 present in Colletotrichum fungi has unique structural features and can suppress pathogen-associated molecular pattern-triggered immunity in N. benthamiana.

Removing Thermostat Distortions of Protein Dynamics in Constant-Temperature Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Molecular dynamics simulations are widely used to determine equilibrium and dynamic properties of proteins. Nearly all simulations, currently, are carried out at constant temperature, with a Langevin thermostat among the most widely used. Thermostats distort protein dynamics, but whether or how such distortions can be corrected has long been an open question. Here, we show that constant-temperature simulations with a Langevin thermostat dilate protein dynamics and present a correction scheme to remove the dynamic distortions. Specifically, ns-scale time constants for overall rotation are dilated significantly but sub-ns time constants for internal motions are dilated modestly, while all motional amplitudes are unaffected. The correction scheme involves contraction of the time constants, with the contraction factor a linear function of the time constant to be corrected. The corrected dynamics of eight proteins are validated by NMR data for rotational diffusion and for backbone amide and side-chain methyl relaxation. The present work demonstrates that even for complex systems like proteins with dynamics spanning multiple timescales, one can predict how thermostats distort protein dynamics and remove such distortions. The correction scheme will have wide applications, facilitating force-field parameterization and propelling simulations to be on par with NMR and other experimental techniques in determining dynamic properties of proteins.

Hydration of methemoglobin studied by in silico modeling and dielectric spectroscopy

The hemoglobin concentration of 35 g/dl of human red blood cells is close to the solubility threshold. Using microwave dielectric spectroscopy, we have assessed the amount of water associated with hydration shells of methemoglobin as a function of its concentration in the presence or absence of ions. We estimated water-hemoglobin interactions to interpret the obtained data. Within the concentration range of 5-10 g/dl of methemoglobin, ions play an important role in defining the free-to-bound water ratio competing with hemoglobin to recruit water molecules for the hydration shell. At higher concentrations, hemoglobin is a major contributor to the recruitment of water to its hydration shell. Furthermore, the amount of bound water does not change as the hemoglobin concentration is increased from 15 to 30 g/dl, remaining at the level of ∼20% of the total intracellular water pool. The theoretical evaluation of the ratio of free and bound water for the hemoglobin concentration in the absence of ions corresponds with the experimental results and shows that the methemoglobin molecule binds about 1400 water molecules. These observations suggest that within the concentration range close to the physiological one, hemoglobin molecules are so close to each other that their hydration shells interact. In this case, the orientation of the hemoglobin molecules is most likely not stochastic, but rather supports partial neutralization of positive and negative charges at the protein surface. Furthermore, deformation of the red blood cell shape results in the rearrangement of these structures.

Similarities and Differences among Protein Dynamics Studied by Variable Temperature Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Relaxation

Understanding and describing the dynamics of proteins is one of the major challenges in biology. Here, we use multifield variable-temperature NMR longitudinal relaxation (R₁) measurements to determine the hierarchical activation energies of motions of four different proteins: two small globular proteins (GB1 and the SH3 domain of α-spectrin), an intrinsically disordered protein (the C-terminus of the nucleoprotein of the Sendai virus, Sendai Ntail), and an outer membrane protein (OmpG). The activation energies map the motions occurring in the side chains, in the backbone, and in the hydration shells of the proteins. We were able to identify similarities and differences in the average motions of the proteins. We find that the NMR relaxation properties of the four proteins do share similar features. The data characterizing average backbone motions are found to be very similar, the same for methyl group rotations, and similar activation energies are measured. The main observed difference occurs for the intrinsically disordered Sendai Ntail, where we observe much lower energy of activation for motions of protons associated with the protein-solvent interface as compared to the others. We also observe variability between the proteins regarding side chain ¹⁵N relaxation of lysine residues, with a higher activation energy observed in OmpG. This hints at strong interactions with negatively charged lipids in the bilayer and provides a possible mechanistic clue for the "positive-inside" rule for helical membrane proteins. Overall, these observations refine the understanding of the similarities and differences between hierarchical dynamics in proteins.

On the use of 3J-coupling NMR data to derive structural information on proteins

Values of ³J-couplings as obtained from NMR experiments on proteins cannot easily be used to determine protein structure due to the difficulty of accounting for the high sensitivity of intermediate ³J-coupling values (4-8 Hz) to the averaging period that must cover the conformational variability of the torsional angle related to the ³J-coupling, and due to the difficulty of handling the multiple-valued character of the inverse Karplus relation between torsional angle and ³J-coupling. Both problems can be solved by using ³J-coupling time-averaging local-elevation restraining MD simulation. Application to the protein hen egg white lysozyme using 213 backbone and side-chain ³J-coupling restraints shows that a conformational ensemble compatible with the experimental data can be obtained using this technique, and that accounting for averaging and the ability of the algorithm to escape from local minima for the torsional angle induced by the Karplus relation, are essential for a comprehensive use of ³J-coupling data in protein structure determination.

On the Mechanism of Bioinspired Formation of Inorganic Oxides: Structural Evidence of the Electrostatic Nature of the Interaction between a Mononuclear Inorganic Precursor and Lysozyme

Nature has evolved several molecular machineries to promote the formation at physiological conditions of inorganic materials, which would otherwise be formed in extreme conditions. The molecular determinants of this process have been established over the last decade, identifying a strong role of electrostatics in the first steps of the precipitation. However, no conclusive, structure-based evidence has been provided so far. In this manuscript, we test the binding of lysozyme with silica and titania potential precursors. In contrast with the absence of structural information about the interaction with the silica precursor, we observe the interaction with a mononuclear titanium(IV) species, which is found to occur in a region rich of positive charges.

On the Use of Side-Chain NMR Relaxation Data to Derive Structural and Dynamical Information on Proteins: A Case Study Using Hen Lysozyme

Values of S2CH and S2NH order parameters derived from NMR relaxation measurements on proteins cannot be used straightforwardly to determine protein structure because they cannot be related to a single protein structure, but are defined in terms of an average over a conformational ensemble. Molecular dynamics simulation can generate a conformational ensemble and thus can be used to restrain S2CH and S2NH order parameters towards experimentally derived target values S2CH (exp) and S2NH (exp). Application of S2CH and S2NH order‐parameter restraining MD simulation to bond vectors in 63 side chains of the protein hen egg white lysozyme using 51 S2CH (exp) target values and 28 S2NH (exp) target values shows that a conformational ensemble compatible with the experimentally derived data can be obtained by using this technique. It is observed that S2CH order‐parameter restraining of C−H bonds in methyl groups is less reliable than S2NH order‐parameter restraining because of the possibly less valid assumptions and approximations used to derive experimental S2CH (exp) values from NMR relaxation measurements and the necessity to adopt the assumption of uniform rotational motion of methyl C−H bonds around their symmetry axis and of the independence of these motions from each other. The restrained simulations demonstrate that side chains on the protein surface are highly dynamic. Any hydrogen bonds they form and that appear in any of four different crystal structures, are fluctuating with short lifetimes in solution.

Asparagine and Glutamine Side-Chains and Ladders in HET-s(218-289) Amyloid Fibrils Studied by Fast Magic-Angle Spinning NMR

Asparagine and glutamine side-chains can form hydrogen-bonded ladders which contribute significantly to the stability of amyloid fibrils. We show, using the example of HET-s(218–289) fibrils, that the primary amide side-chain proton resonances can be detected in cross-polarization based solid-state NMR spectra at fast magic-angle spinning (MAS). J-coupling based experiments offer the possibility to distinguish them from backbone amide groups if the spin-echo lifetimes are long enough, which turned out to be the case for the glutamine side-chains, but not for the asparagine side-chains forming asparagine ladders. We explore the sensitivity of NMR observables to asparagine ladder formation. One of the two possible asparagine ladders in HET-s(218–289), the one comprising N226 and N262, is assigned by proton-detected 3D experiments at fast MAS and significant de-shielding of one of the NH₂ proton resonances indicative of hydrogen-bond formation is observed. Small rotating-frame ¹⁵N relaxation-rate constants point to rigidified asparagine side-chains in this ladder. The proton resonances are homogeneously broadened which could indicate chemical exchange, but is presently not fully understood. The second asparagine ladder (N243 and N279) in contrast remains more flexible.

Exploring exchange processes in proteins by paramagnetic perturbation of NMR spectra

The effect of extrinsic paramagnetic probes on NMR relaxation rates for surface mapping of proteins and other biopolymers is a widely investigated and powerful NMR technique. Here we describe a new application of those probes. It relies on the setting of the relaxation delay to generate magnetization equilibrium and off-equilibrium conditions, in order to tailor the extent of steady state signal recovery with and without the water-soluble nitroxide Tempol. With this approach it is possible to identify signals whose relaxation is affected by exchange processes and, from the relative assignments, to map the protein residues involved in association or conformational interconversion processes on a micro-to-millisecond time scale. This finding is confirmed by the comparison with the results obtained from relaxation dispersion measurements. This simple and convenient method allows preliminary inspection to highlight regions where structural or chemical exchange events are operative, in order to focus on quantitative subsequent determinations by transverse relaxation dispersion experiments or analogous NMR relaxation studies, and/or to gain insights into the predictions of calculations.

Two Hands Grip Better Than One for Tight Binding and Specificity: How a Phage Endolysin Fits into the Cell Wall of Its Host

Endolysin enzymes of bacteriophages that cut up cell walls have a potential use in combating bacterial antibiotic resistance. In this issue of Structure, Lee et al. (2019) present tandem SH3b domains as the structural basis of an endolysin against Bacillus cereus that selectively recognize opposing glycan strands of the bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan.

ff19SB: Amino-Acid-Specific Protein Backbone Parameters Trained against Quantum Mechanics Energy Surfaces in Solution

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have become increasingly popular in studying the motions and functions of biomolecules. The accuracy of the simulation, however, is highly determined by the molecular mechanics (MM) force field (FF), a set of functions with adjustable parameters to compute the potential energies from atomic positions. However, the overall quality of the FF, such as our previously published ff99SB and ff14SB, can be limited by assumptions that were made years ago. In the updated model presented here (ff19SB), we have significantly improved the backbone profiles for all 20 amino acids. We fit coupled φ/ψ parameters using 2D φ/ψ conformational scans for multiple amino acids, using as reference data the entire 2D quantum mechanics (QM) energy surface. We address the polarization inconsistency during dihedral parameter fitting by using both QM and MM in aqueous solution. Finally, we examine possible dependency of the backbone fitting on side chain rotamer. To extensively validate ff19SB parameters, and to compare to results using other Amber models, we have performed a total of ∼5 ms MD simulations in explicit solvent. Our results show that after amino-acid-specific training against QM data with solvent polarization, ff19SB not only reproduces the differences in amino-acid-specific Protein Data Bank (PDB) Ramachandran maps better but also shows significantly improved capability to differentiate amino-acid-dependent properties such as helical propensities. We also conclude that an inherent underestimation of helicity is present in ff14SB, which is (inexactly) compensated for by an increase in helical content driven by the TIP3P bias toward overly compact structures. In summary, ff19SB, when combined with a more accurate water model such as OPC, should have better predictive power for modeling sequence-specific behavior, protein mutations, and also rational protein design. Of the explicit water models tested here, we recommend use of OPC with ff19SB.

Extensive tests and evaluation of the CHARMM36IDPSFF force field for intrinsically disordered proteins and folded proteins

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) have received increasing attention in recent studies due to their structural heterogeneity and critical biological functions. To fully understand the structural properties and determine accurate ensembles of IDPs, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was widely used to sample diverse conformations and reveal the structural dynamics. However, the classical state-of-the-art force fields perform well for folded proteins while being unsatisfactory for the simulations of disordered proteins reported in many previous studies. Thus, improved force fields were developed to precisely describe both folded proteins and disordered proteins. Preliminary tests show that our newly developed CHARMM36IDPSFF (C36IDPSFF) force field can well reproduce the experimental observables of several disordered proteins, but more tests on different types of proteins are needed to further evaluate the performance of C36IDPSFF. Here, we extensively simulate short peptides, disordered proteins, and fast-folding proteins as well as folded proteins, and compare the simulated results with the experimental observables. The simulation results show that C36IDPSFF could substantially reproduce the experimental observables for most of the tested proteins but some limitations are also found in the radius of gyration of large disordered proteins and the stability of fast-folding proteins. This force field will facilitate large scale studies of protein structural dynamics and functions using MD simulations.

About TFE: Old and New Findings

The fluorinated alcohol 2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol (TFE) has been implemented for many decades now in conformational studies of proteins and peptides. In peptides, which are often disordered in aqueous solutions, TFE acts as secondary structure stabilizer and primarily induces an α -helical conformation. The exact mechanism through which TFE plays its stabilizing roles is still debated and direct and indirect routes, relying either on straight interaction between TFE and molecules or indirect pathways based on perturbation of solvation sphere, have been proposed. Another still unanswered question is the capacity of TFE to favor in peptides a bioactive or a native-like conformation rather than simply stimulate the raise of secondary structure elements that reflect only the inherent propensity of a specific amino-acid sequence. In protein studies, TFE destroys unique protein tertiary structure and often leads to the formation of non-native secondary structure elements, but, interestingly, gives some hints about early folding intermediates. In this review, we will summarize proposed mechanisms of TFE actions. We will also describe several examples, in which TFE has been successfully used to reveal structural properties of different molecular systems, including antimicrobial and aggregation-prone peptides, as well as globular folded and intrinsically disordered proteins.

Structural and thermodynamic basis for the recognition of the substrate-binding cleft on hen egg lysozyme by a single-domain antibody

Single-domain antibodies (VHHs or nanobodies), developed from heavy chain-only antibodies of camelids, are gaining attention as next-generation therapeutic agents. Despite their small size, the high affinity and specificity displayed by VHHs for antigen molecules rival those of IgGs. How such small antibodies achieve that level of performance? Structural studies have revealed that VHHs tend to recognize concave surfaces of their antigens with high shape-complementarity. However, the energetic contribution of individual residues located at the binding interface has not been addressed in detail, obscuring the actual mechanism by which VHHs target the concave surfaces of proteins. Herein, we show that a VHH specific for hen egg lysozyme, D3-L11, not only displayed the characteristic binding of VHHs to a concave region of the surface of the antigen, but also exhibited a distribution of energetic hot-spots like those of IgGs and conventional protein-protein complexes. The highly preorganized and energetically compact interface of D3-L11 recognizes the concave epitope with high shape complementarity by the classical lock-and-key mechanism. Our results shed light on the fundamental basis by which a particular VHH accommodate to the concave surface of an antigens with high affinity in a specific manner, enriching the mechanistic landscape of VHHs.

Lysozyme as the anti-proliferative agent to block the interaction between S100A6 and the RAGE V domain

In this report, using NMR and molecular modeling, we have studied the structure of lysozyme-S100A6 complex and the influence of tranilast [N-(3, 4-dimethoxycinnamoyl) anthranilic acid], an antiallergic drug which binds to lysozyme, on lysozyme-S100A6 and S100A6-RAGE complex formation and, finally, on cell proliferation. We have found that tranilast may block the S100A6-lysozyme interaction and enhance binding of S100A6 to RAGE. Using WST1 assay, we have found that lysozyme, most probably by blocking the interaction between S100A6 and RAGE, inhibits cell proliferation while tranilast may reverse this effect by binding to lysozyme. In conclusion, studies presented in this work, describing the protein-protein/-drug interactions, are of great importance for designing new therapies to treat diseases associated with cell proliferation such as cancers.

Accurate measurement of dipole/dipole transverse cross-correlated relaxation [Formula: see text] in methylenes and primary amines of uniformly [Formula: see text]-labeled proteins

Side chains possess a broader conformational space (compared to the backbone) and are directly affected by intra- and intermolecular interactions, hence their dynamics and the corresponding NMR relaxation data are more sensitive and informative. Nevertheless, transverse relaxation in [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text]) spin systems is predominantly non-measurable in uniformly [Formula: see text]-labeled proteins due to cross-correlation effects. In the present publication, we propose a number of pulse sequences for accurate and precise measurement of the dipole-dipole transverse cross-correlated relaxation rate [Formula: see text], which, similarly to [Formula: see text] measurements, provides information about the amplitudes of intramolecular dynamics. The suggested approach has allowed us to circumvent a number of obstacles that were limiting earlier applications of [Formula: see text]: (1) impossibility of transmission of the central component of the triplet of [Formula: see text] group to [Formula: see text]-acquisition via INEPT has been solved by transmission of the averaged signal of "inner" and "outer" components of the triplet; (2) direct recording of the entire triplets resulting in substantial overlap of side chain signals has been replaced by recording of individual singlets with the use of [Formula: see text]-modulated approach and constant-time evolution; (3) low sensitivity has been enhanced via proton acquisition which required special attention to a zero-quantum coherence evolution. The proposed method expands the set of "dynamics sensors" covering protein side chains and substantially improves the quality and the level of detail of experimental data describing dynamic processes in proteins and protein complexes.

GRPY: An Accurate Bead Method for Calculation of Hydrodynamic Properties of Rigid Biomacromolecules

Two main problems that arise in the context of hydrodynamic bead modeling are an inaccurate treatment of bead overlaps and the necessity of using volume corrections when calculating intrinsic viscosity. We present a formalism based on the generalized Rotne-Prager-Yamakawa approximation that successfully addresses both of these issues. The generalized Rotne-Prager-Yamakawa method is shown to be highly effective for the calculation of transport properties of rigid biomolecules represented as assemblies of spherical beads of different sizes, both overlapping and nonoverlapping. We test the method on simple molecular shapes as well as real protein structures and compare its performance with other computational approaches.

FF12MC: A revised AMBER forcefield and new protein simulation protocol

Specialized to simulate proteins in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with explicit solvation, FF12MC is a combination of a new protein simulation protocol employing uniformly reduced atomic masses by tenfold and a revised AMBER forcefield FF99 with (i) shortened CH bonds, (ii) removal of torsions involving a nonperipheral sp(3) atom, and (iii) reduced 1-4 interaction scaling factors of torsions ϕ and ψ. This article reports that in multiple, distinct, independent, unrestricted, unbiased, isobaric-isothermal, and classical MD simulations FF12MC can (i) simulate the experimentally observed flipping between left- and right-handed configurations for C14-C38 of BPTI in solution, (ii) autonomously fold chignolin, CLN025, and Trp-cage with folding times that agree with the experimental values, (iii) simulate subsequent unfolding and refolding of these miniproteins, and (iv) achieve a robust Z score of 1.33 for refining protein models TMR01, TMR04, and TMR07. By comparison, the latest general-purpose AMBER forcefield FF14SB locks the C14-C38 bond to the right-handed configuration in solution under the same protein simulation conditions. Statistical survival analysis shows that FF12MC folds chignolin and CLN025 in isobaric-isothermal MD simulations 2-4 times faster than FF14SB under the same protein simulation conditions. These results suggest that FF12MC may be used for protein simulations to study kinetics and thermodynamics of miniprotein folding as well as protein structure and dynamics. Proteins 2016; 84:1490-1516. © 2016 The Authors Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Atomistic details of protein dynamics and the role of hydration water

BACKGROUND

The importance of protein dynamics for their biological activity is now well recognized. Different experimental and computational techniques have been employed to study protein dynamics, hierarchy of different processes and the coupling between protein and hydration water dynamics. Yet, understanding the atomistic details of protein dynamics and the role of hydration water remains rather limited.

SCOOP OF REVIEW

Based on overview of neutron scattering, molecular dynamic simulations, NMR and dielectric spectroscopy results we present a general picture of protein dynamics covering time scales from faster than ps to microseconds and the influence of hydration water on different relaxation processes.

MAJOR CONCLUSIONS

Internal protein dynamics spread over a wide time range from faster than picosecond to longer than microseconds. We suggest that the structural relaxation in hydrated proteins appears on the microsecond time scale, while faster processes present mostly motion of side groups and some domains. Hydration water plays a crucial role in protein dynamics on all time scales. It controls the coupled protein-hydration water relaxation on 10-100ps time scale. This process defines the friction for slower protein dynamics. Analysis suggests that changes in amount of hydration water affect not only general friction, but also influence significantly the protein's energy landscape.

GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE

The proposed atomistic picture of protein dynamics provides deeper understanding of various relaxation processes and their hierarchy, similarity and differences between various biological macromolecules, including proteins, DNA and RNA. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Science for Life" Guest Editor: Dr. Austen Angell, Dr. Salvatore Magazù and Dr. Federica Migliardo".

Influence of Sulfolane on ESI-MS Measurements of Protein-Ligand Affinities

The results of an investigation into the influence of sulfolane, a commonly used supercharging agent, on electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) measurements of protein-ligand affinities are described. Binding measurements carried out on four protein-carbohydrate complexes, lysozyme with β-D-GlcNAc-(1→4)-β-D-GlcNAc-(1→4)-β-D-GlcNAc-(1→4)-D-GlcNAc, a single chain variable fragment and α-D-Gal-(1→2)-[α-D-Abe-(1→3)]-α-D-Man-OCH3, cholera toxin B subunit homopentamer with β-D-Gal-(1→3)-β-D-GalNAc-(1→4)[α-D-Neu5Ac-(2→3)]-β-D-Gal-(1→4)-β-D-Glc, and a fragment of galectin 3 and α-L-Fuc-(1→2)-β-D-Gal-(1→3)-β-D-GlcNAc-(1→3)-β-D-Gal-(1→4)-β-D-Glc, revealed that sulfolane generally reduces the apparent (as measured by ESI-MS) protein-ligand affinities. To establish the origin of this effect, a detailed study was undertaken using the lysozyme-tetrasaccharide interaction as a model system. Measurements carried out using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), circular dichroism, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies reveal that sulfolane reduces the binding affinity in solution but does not cause any significant change in the higher order structure of lysozyme or to the intermolecular interactions. These observations confirm that changes to the structure of lysozyme in bulk solution are not responsible for the supercharging effect induced by sulfolane. Moreover, the agreement between the ESI-MS and ITC-derived affinities indicates that there is no dissociation of the complex during ESI or in the gas phase (i.e., in-source dissociation). This finding suggests that supercharging of lysozyme by sulfolane is not related to protein unfolding during the ESI process. Binding measurements performed using liquid sample desorption ESI-MS revealed that protein supercharging with sulfolane can be achieved without a reduction in affinity.

CD4+ T-cell epitope prediction using antigen processing constraints

T-cell CD4+ epitopes are important targets of immunity against infectious diseases and cancer. State-of-the-art methods for MHC class II epitope prediction rely on supervised learning methods in which an implicit or explicit model of sequence specificity is constructed using a training set of peptides with experimentally tested MHC class II binding affinity. In this paper we present a novel method for CD4+ T-cell eptitope prediction based on modeling antigen-processing constraints. Previous work indicates that dominant CD4+ T-cell epitopes tend to occur adjacent to sites of initial proteolytic cleavage. Given an antigen with known three-dimensional structure, our algorithm first aggregates four types of conformational stability data in order to construct a profile of stability that allows us to identify regions of the protein that are most accessible to proteolysis. Using this profile, we then construct a profile of epitope likelihood based on the pattern of transitions from unstable to stable regions. We validate our method using 35 datasets of experimentally measured CD4+ T cell responses of mice bearing I-Ab or HLA-DR4 alleles as well as of human subjects. Overall, our results show that antigen processing constraints provide a significant source of predictive power. For epitope prediction in single-allele systems, our approach can be combined with sequence-based methods, or used in instances where little or no training data is available. In multiple-allele systems, sequence-based methods can only be used if the allele distribution of a population is known. In contrast, our approach does not make use of MHC binding prediction, and is thus agnostic to MHC class II genotypes.

Imidazole derivatives differentially destabilize the low pH conformation of lysozyme through weak electrostatic interactions

Imidazole derivatives forms charge transfer complexes with lysozyme at low pH (4–2) and destabilize its conformation through weak electrostatic interactions.

Negative Regulation of Peptidyl-Prolyl Isomerase Activity by Interdomain Contact in Human Pin1

Pin1 is a modular peptidyl-prolyl isomerase specific for phosphorylated Ser/Thr-Pro (pS/T-P) motifs, typically within intrinsically disordered regions of signaling proteins. Pin1 consists of two flexibly linked domains: an N-terminal WW domain for substrate binding and a larger C-terminal peptidyl-prolyl isomerase (PPIase) domain. Previous studies showed that binding of phosphopeptide substrates to Pin1 could alter Pin1 interdomain contact, strengthening or weakening it depending on the substrate sequence. Thus, substrate-induced changes in interdomain contact may act as a trigger within the Pin1 mechanism. Here, we investigate this possibility via nuclear magnetic resonance studies of several Pin1 mutants. Our findings provide new mechanistic insights for those substrates that reduce interdomain contact. Specifically, the reduced interdomain contact can allosterically enhance PPIase activity relative to that when the contact is sustained. These findings suggest Pin1 interdomain contact can negatively regulate its activity.

ff14SB: Improving the Accuracy of Protein Side Chain and Backbone Parameters from ff99SB

Molecular mechanics is powerful for its speed in atomistic simulations, but an accurate force field is required. The Amber ff99SB force field improved protein secondary structure balance and dynamics from earlier force fields like ff99, but weaknesses in side chain rotamer and backbone secondary structure preferences have been identified. Here, we performed a complete refit of all amino acid side chain dihedral parameters, which had been carried over from ff94. The training set of conformations included multidimensional dihedral scans designed to improve transferability of the parameters. Improvement in all amino acids was obtained as compared to ff99SB. Parameters were also generated for alternate protonation states of ionizable side chains. Average errors in relative energies of pairs of conformations were under 1.0 kcal/mol as compared to QM, reduced 35% from ff99SB. We also took the opportunity to make empirical adjustments to the protein backbone dihedral parameters as compared to ff99SB. Multiple small adjustments of φ and ψ parameters were tested against NMR scalar coupling data and secondary structure content for short peptides. The best results were obtained from a physically motivated adjustment to the φ rotational profile that compensates for lack of ff99SB QM training data in the β-ppII transition region. Together, these backbone and side chain modifications (hereafter called ff14SB) not only better reproduced their benchmarks, but also improved secondary structure content in small peptides and reproduction of NMR χ1 scalar coupling measurements for proteins in solution. We also discuss the Amber ff12SB parameter set, a preliminary version of ff14SB that includes most of its improvements.

Protein dynamics: from rattling in a cage to structural relaxation

We present an overview of protein dynamics based mostly on results of neutron scattering, dielectric relaxation spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. We identify several major classes of protein motions on the time scale from faster than picoseconds to several microseconds, and discuss the coupling of these processes to solvent dynamics. Our analysis suggests that the microsecond backbone relaxation process might be the main structural relaxation of the protein that defines its glass transition temperature, while faster processes present some localized secondary relaxations. Based on the overview, we formulate a general picture of protein dynamics and discuss the challenges in this field.

Conformational dynamics and antigenicity in the disordered malaria antigen merozoite surface protein 2

Merozoite surface protein 2 (MSP2) of Plasmodium falciparum is an abundant, intrinsically disordered protein that is GPI-anchored to the surface of the invasive blood stage of the malaria parasite. Recombinant MSP2 has been trialled as a component of a malaria vaccine, and is one of several disordered proteins that are candidates for inclusion in vaccines for malaria and other diseases. Nonetheless, little is known about the implications of protein disorder for the development of an effective antibody response. We have therefore undertaken a detailed analysis of the conformational dynamics of the two allelic forms of MSP2 (3D7 and FC27) using NMR spectroscopy. Chemical shifts and NMR relaxation data indicate that conformational and dynamic properties of the N- and C-terminal conserved regions in the two forms of MSP2 are essentially identical, but significant variation exists between and within the central variable regions. We observe a strong relationship between the conformational dynamics and the antigenicity of MSP2, as assessed with antisera to recombinant MSP2. Regions of increased conformational order in MSP2, including those in the conserved regions, are more strongly antigenic, while the most flexible regions are minimally antigenic. This suggests that modifications that increase conformational order may offer a means to tune the antigenicity of MSP2 and other disordered antigens, with implications for vaccine design.

Selective (15)N-labeling of the side-chain amide groups of asparagine and glutamine for applications in paramagnetic NMR spectroscopy

The side-chain amide groups of asparagine and glutamine play important roles in stabilizing the structural fold of proteins, participating in hydrogen-bonding networks and protein interactions. Selective (15)N-labeling of side-chain amides, however, can be a challenge due to enzyme-catalyzed exchange of amide groups during protein synthesis. In the present study, we developed an efficient way of selectively labeling the side chains of asparagine, or asparagine and glutamine residues with (15)NH2. Using the biosynthesis pathway of tryptophan, a protocol was also established for simultaneous selective (15)N-labeling of the side-chain NH groups of asparagine, glutamine, and tryptophan. In combination with site-specific tagging of the target protein with a lanthanide ion, we show that selective detection of (15)N-labeled side-chains of asparagine and glutamine allows determination of magnetic susceptibility anisotropy tensors based exclusively on pseudocontact shifts of amide side-chain protons.

A phasin with many faces: structural insights on PhaP from Azotobacter sp. FA8

Phasins are a group of proteins associated to granules of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Apart from their structural role as part of the PHA granule cover, different structural and regulatory functions have been found associated to many of them, and several biotechnological applications have been developed using phasin protein fusions. Despite their remarkable functional diversity, the structure of these proteins has not been analyzed except in very few studies. PhaP from Azotobacter sp. FA8 (PhaPAz) is a representative of the prevailing type in the multifunctional phasin protein family. Previous work performed in our laboratory using this protein have demonstrated that it has some very peculiar characteristics, such as its stress protecting effects in recombinant Escherichia coli, both in the presence and absence of PHA. The aim of the present work was to perform a structural characterization of this protein, to shed light on its properties. Its aminoacid composition revealed that it lacks clear hydrophobic domains, a characteristic that appears to be common to most phasins, despite their lipid granule binding capacity. The secondary structure of this protein, consisting of α-helices and disordered regions, has a remarkable capacity to change according to its environment. Several experimental data support that it is a tetramer, probably due to interactions between coiled-coil regions. These structural features have also been detected in other phasins, and may be related to their functional diversity.

Characterization of the interdomain motions in hen lysozyme using residual dipolar couplings as replica-averaged structural restraints in molecular dynamics simulations

Hen lysozyme is an enzyme characterized by the presence of two domains whose relative motions are involved in the mechanism of binding and release of the substrates. By using residual dipolar couplings as replica-averaged structural restraints in molecular dynamics simulations, we characterize the breathing motions describing the interdomain fluctuations of this protein. We found that the ensemble of conformations that we determined spans the entire range of structures of hen lysozyme deposited in the Protein Data Bank, including both the free and bound states, suggesting that the thermal motions in the free state provide access to the structures populated upon binding. The approach that we present illustrates how the use of residual dipolar couplings as replica-averaged structural restraints in molecular dynamics simulations makes it possible to explore conformational fluctuations of a relatively large amplitude in proteins.

The Polarizable Atomic Multipole-based AMOEBA Force Field for Proteins

Development of the AMOEBA (Atomic Multipole Optimized Energetics for Biomolecular Simulation) force field for proteins is presented. The current version (AMOEBA-2013) utilizes permanent electrostatic multipole moments through the quadrupole at each atom, and explicitly treats polarization effects in various chemical and physical environments. The atomic multipole electrostatic parameters for each amino acid residue type are derived from high-level gas phase quantum mechanical calculations via a consistent and extensible protocol. Molecular polarizability is modeled via a Thole-style damped interactive induction model based upon distributed atomic polarizabilities. Inter- and intramolecular polarization is treated in a consistent fashion via the Thole model. The intramolecular polarization model ensures transferability of electrostatic parameters among different conformations, as demonstrated by the agreement between QM and AMOEBA electrostatic potentials, and dipole moments of dipeptides. The backbone and side chain torsional parameters were determined by comparing to gas-phase QM (RI-TRIM MP2/CBS) conformational energies of dipeptides and to statistical distributions from the Protein Data Bank. Molecular dynamics simulations are reported for short peptides in explicit water to examine their conformational properties in solution. Overall the calculated conformational free energies and J-coupling constants are consistent with PDB statistics and experimental NMR results, respectively. In addition, the experimental crystal structures of a number of proteins are well maintained during molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. While further calculations are necessary to fully validate the force field, initial results suggest the AMOEBA polarizable multipole force field is able to describe the structure and energetics of peptides and proteins, in both gas-phase and solution environments.

Buried and accessible surface area control intrinsic protein flexibility

Proteins experience a wide variety of conformational dynamics that can be crucial for facilitating their diverse functions. How is the intrinsic flexibility required for these motions encoded in their three-dimensional structures? Here, the overall flexibility of a protein is demonstrated to be tightly coupled to the total amount of surface area buried within its fold. A simple proxy for this, the relative solvent-accessible surface area (Arel), therefore shows excellent agreement with independent measures of global protein flexibility derived from various experimental and computational methods. Application of Arel on a large scale demonstrates its utility by revealing unique sequence and structural properties associated with intrinsic flexibility. In particular, flexibility as measured by Arel shows little correspondence with intrinsic disorder, but instead tends to be associated with multiple domains and increased α-helical structure. Furthermore, the apparent flexibility of monomeric proteins is found to be useful for identifying quaternary-structure errors in published crystal structures. There is also a strong tendency for the crystal structures of more flexible proteins to be solved to lower resolutions. Finally, local solvent accessibility is shown to be a primary determinant of local residue flexibility. Overall, this work provides both fundamental mechanistic insight into the origin of protein flexibility and a simple, practical method for predicting flexibility from protein structures.

Conformational dynamics and stability of HP35 studied with 2D IR vibrational echoes

Two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) vibrational echo spectroscopy was used to measure the fast dynamics of two variants of chicken villin headpiece 35 (HP35). The CN of cyanophenylalanine residues inserted in the hydrophobic core were used as a vibrational probe. Experiments were performed on both singly (HP35-P) and doubly CN-labeled peptide (HP35-P(2)) within the wild-type sequence, as well as on HP-35 containing a singly labeled cyanophenylalanine and two norleucine mutations (HP35-P NleNle). There is a remarkable similarity between the dynamics measured in singly and doubly CN-labeled HP35, demonstrating that the presence of an additional CN vibrational probe does not significantly alter the dynamics of the small peptide. The substitution of two lysine residues by norleucines markedly improves the stability of HP35 by replacing charged with nonpolar residues, stabilizing the hydrophobic core. The results of the 2D IR experiments reveal that the dynamics of HP35-P are significantly faster than those of HP35-P NleNle. These observations suggest that the slower structural fluctuations in the hydrophobic core, indicating a more tightly structured core, may be an important contributing factor to HP35-P NleNle's increased stability.

Solvating atomic level fine-grained proteins in supra-molecular level coarse-grained water for molecular dynamics simulations

Simulation of the dynamics of a protein in aqueous solution using an atomic model for both the protein and the many water molecules is still computationally extremely demanding considering the time scale of protein motions. The use of supra-atomic or supra-molecular coarse-grained (CG) models may enhance the computational efficiency, but inevitably at the cost of reduced accuracy. Coarse-graining solvent degrees of freedom is likely to yield a favourable balance between reduced accuracy and enhanced computational speed. Here, the use of a supra-molecular coarse-grained water model that largely preserves the thermodynamic and dielectric properties of atomic level fine-grained (FG) water in molecular dynamics simulations of an atomic model for four proteins is investigated. The results of using an FG, a CG, an implicit, or a vacuum solvent environment of the four proteins are compared, and for hen egg-white lysozyme a comparison to NMR data is made. The mixed-grained simulations do not show large differences compared to the FG atomic level simulations, apart from an increased tendency to form hydrogen bonds between long side chains, which is due to the reduced ability of the supra-molecular CG beads that represent five FG water molecules to make solvent-protein hydrogen bonds. But, the mixed-grained simulations are at least an order of magnitude faster than the atomic level ones.

The dynamical response of hen egg white lysozyme to the binding of a carbohydrate ligand

It has become clear that the binding of small and large ligands to proteins can invoke significant changes in side chain and main chain motion in the fast picosecond to nanosecond timescale. Recently, the use of a "dynamical proxy" has indicated that changes in these motions often reflect significant changes in conformational entropy. These entropic contributions are sometimes of the same order as the total entropy of binding. Thus, it is important to understand the connections amongst motion between the manifold of states accessible to the native state of proteins, the corresponding entropy, and how this impacts the overall energetics of protein function. The interaction of proteins with carbohydrate ligands is central to a range of biological functions. Here, we examine a classic carbohydrate interaction with an enzyme: the binding of wild-type hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) to the natural, competitive inhibitor chitotriose. Using NMR relaxation experiments, backbone amide and side chain methyl axial order parameters were obtained across apo and chitotriose-bound HEWL. Upon binding, changes in the apparent amplitude of picosecond to nanosecond main chain and side chain motions are seen across the protein. Indeed, binding of chitotriose renders a large contiguous fraction of HEWL effectively completely rigid. Changes in methyl flexibility are most pronounced closest to the binding site, but average to only a small overall change in the dynamics across the protein. The corresponding change in conformational entropy is unfavorable and estimated to be a significant fraction of the total binding entropy.

Structure and dynamics of calmodulin (CaM) bound to nitric oxide synthase peptides: effects of a phosphomimetic CaM mutation

Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) plays a major role in a number of key physiological and pathological processes. Knowledge of how this is regulated is important. The small acidic calcium binding protein, calmodulin (CaM), is required to fully activate the enzyme. The exact mechanism of how CaM activates NOS is not fully understood. Studies have shown CaM to act like a switch that causes a conformational change in NOS to allow for the transfer of an electron between the reductase and oxygenase domains through a process that is thought to be highly dynamic. To investigate the dynamic properties of CaM-NOS interactions, we determined the solution structure of CaM bound to the inducible NOS (iNOS) and endothelial NOS (eNOS) CaM binding region peptides. In addition, we investigated the effect of CaM phosphorylation. Tyrosine 99 (Y99) of CaM is reported to be phosphorylated in vivo. We have produced a phosphomimetic Y99E CaM to investigate the structural and functional effects that the phosphorylation of this residue may have on nitric oxide production. All three mammalian NOS isoforms were included in the investigation. Our results show that a phosphomimetic Y99E CaM significantly reduces the maximal synthase activity of eNOS by 40% while having little effect on nNOS or iNOS activity. A comparative nuclear magnetic resonance study between phosphomimetic Y99E CaM and wild-type CaM bound to the eNOS CaM binding region peptide was performed. This investigation provides important insights into how the increased electronegativity of a phosphorylated CaM protein affects the binding, dynamics, and activation of the NOS enzymes.