1
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Chen R, Gibson T, Craven GT. Molecular heat transport across a time-periodic temperature gradient. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:194305. [PMID: 38767255 DOI: 10.1063/5.0204819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024] Open
Abstract
The time-periodic modulation of a temperature gradient can alter the heat transport properties of a physical system. Oscillating thermal gradients give rise to behaviors such as modified thermal conductivity and controllable time-delayed energy storage that are not present in a system with static temperatures. Here, we examine how the heat transport properties of a molecular lattice model are affected by an oscillating temperature gradient. We use analytical analysis and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the vibrational heat flow in a molecular lattice system consisting of a chain of particles connected to two heat baths at different temperatures, where the temperature difference between baths is oscillating in time. We derive expressions for heat currents in this system using a stochastic energetics framework and a nonequilibrium Green's function approach that is modified to treat the nonstationary average energy fluxes. We find that emergent energy storage, energy release, and thermal conductance mechanisms induced by the temperature oscillations can be controlled by varying the frequency, waveform, and amplitude of the oscillating gradient. The developed theoretical approach provides a general framework to describe how vibrational heat transmission through a molecular lattice is affected by temperature gradient oscillations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renai Chen
- Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
| | - Tammie Gibson
- Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
| | - Galen T Craven
- Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
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2
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Russell PPS, Maytin AK, Rickard MM, Russell MC, Pogorelov TV, Gruebele M. Metastable States in the Hinge-Bending Landscape of an Enzyme in an Atomistic Cytoplasm Simulation. J Phys Chem Lett 2024; 15:940-946. [PMID: 38252018 PMCID: PMC11180962 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c03134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2024]
Abstract
Many enzymes undergo major conformational changes to function in cells, particularly when they bind to more than one substrate. We quantify the large-amplitude hinge-bending landscape of human phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) in a human cytoplasm. Approximately 70 μs of all-atom simulations, upon coarse graining, reveal three metastable states of PGK with different hinge angle distributions and additional substates. The "open" state was more populated than the "semi-open" or "closed" states. In addition to free energies and barriers within the landscape, we characterized the average transition state passage time of ≈0.3 μs and reversible substrate and product binding. Human PGK in a dilute solution simulation shows a transition directly from the open to closed states, in agreement with previous SAXS experiments, suggesting that the cell-like model environment promotes stability of the human PGK semi-open state. Yeast PGK also sampled three metastable states within the cytoplasm model, with the closed state favored in our simulation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Andrew K. Maytin
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
| | - Meredith M. Rickard
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
| | - Matthew C. Russell
- Department of Mathematics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
| | - Taras V. Pogorelov
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
| | - Martin Gruebele
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
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3
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Bai Y, Zhang S, Dong H, Liu Y, Liu C, Zhang X. Advanced Techniques for Detecting Protein Misfolding and Aggregation in Cellular Environments. Chem Rev 2023; 123:12254-12311. [PMID: 37874548 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Protein misfolding and aggregation, a key contributor to the progression of numerous neurodegenerative diseases, results in functional deficiencies and the creation of harmful intermediates. Detailed visualization of this misfolding process is of paramount importance for improving our understanding of disease mechanisms and for the development of potential therapeutic strategies. While in vitro studies using purified proteins have been instrumental in delivering significant insights into protein misfolding, the behavior of these proteins in the complex milieu of living cells often diverges significantly from such simplified environments. Biomedical imaging performed in cell provides cellular-level information with high physiological and pathological relevance, often surpassing the depth of information attainable through in vitro methods. This review highlights a variety of methodologies used to scrutinize protein misfolding within biological systems. This includes optical-based methods, strategies leaning on mass spectrometry, in-cell nuclear magnetic resonance, and cryo-electron microscopy. Recent advancements in these techniques have notably deepened our understanding of protein misfolding processes and the features of the resulting misfolded species within living cells. The progression in these fields promises to catalyze further breakthroughs in our comprehension of neurodegenerative disease mechanisms and potential therapeutic interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yulong Bai
- Department of Chemistry, Research Center for Industries of the Future, Westlake University, 600 Dunyu Road, Hangzhou 310030, Zhejiang Province, China
- CAS Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, Liaoning 116023, China
| | - Shengnan Zhang
- Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China
| | - Hui Dong
- Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China
- University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 A Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yu Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, Liaoning 116023, China
| | - Cong Liu
- Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Xin Zhang
- Department of Chemistry, Research Center for Industries of the Future, Westlake University, 600 Dunyu Road, Hangzhou 310030, Zhejiang Province, China
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, 18 Shilongshan Road, Hangzhou 310024, Zhejiang Province, China
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4
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Ruan Z, Li S, Grigoropoulos A, Amiri H, Hilburg SL, Chen H, Jayapurna I, Jiang T, Gu Z, Alexander-Katz A, Bustamante C, Huang H, Xu T. Population-based heteropolymer design to mimic protein mixtures. Nature 2023; 615:251-258. [PMID: 36890370 PMCID: PMC10468399 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05675-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 03/10/2023]
Abstract
Biological fluids, the most complex blends, have compositions that constantly vary and cannot be molecularly defined1. Despite these uncertainties, proteins fluctuate, fold, function and evolve as programmed2-4. We propose that in addition to the known monomeric sequence requirements, protein sequences encode multi-pair interactions at the segmental level to navigate random encounters5,6; synthetic heteropolymers capable of emulating such interactions can replicate how proteins behave in biological fluids individually and collectively. Here, we extracted the chemical characteristics and sequential arrangement along a protein chain at the segmental level from natural protein libraries and used the information to design heteropolymer ensembles as mixtures of disordered, partially folded and folded proteins. For each heteropolymer ensemble, the level of segmental similarity to that of natural proteins determines its ability to replicate many functions of biological fluids including assisting protein folding during translation, preserving the viability of fetal bovine serum without refrigeration, enhancing the thermal stability of proteins and behaving like synthetic cytosol under biologically relevant conditions. Molecular studies further translated protein sequence information at the segmental level into intermolecular interactions with a defined range, degree of diversity and temporal and spatial availability. This framework provides valuable guiding principles to synthetically realize protein properties, engineer bio/abiotic hybrid materials and, ultimately, realize matter-to-life transformations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiyuan Ruan
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Shuni Li
- Department of Statistics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Alexandra Grigoropoulos
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Hossein Amiri
- Institute for Quantitative Biosciences-QB3, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Shayna L Hilburg
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Haotian Chen
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Ivan Jayapurna
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Tao Jiang
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Xiamen University and The MOE Key Laboratory of Spectrochemical Analysis and Instrumentation, Xiamen, China
| | - Zhaoyi Gu
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Departments of Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Alfredo Alexander-Katz
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Carlos Bustamante
- Institute for Quantitative Biosciences-QB3, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Department of Chemistry, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Haiyan Huang
- Department of Statistics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Center for Computational Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Ting Xu
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Department of Chemistry, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
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5
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Parray ZA, Naqvi AAT, Ahanger IA, Shahid M, Ahmad F, Hassan MI, Islam A. Measuring Structural Changes in Cytochrome c under Crowded Conditions Using In Vitro and In Silico Approaches. Polymers (Basel) 2022; 14:polym14224808. [PMID: 36432935 PMCID: PMC9692323 DOI: 10.3390/polym14224808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2022] [Revised: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 07/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
It is known from in vitro studies that macromolecular crowding in the cell effects protein structure, stability and function; but predictive studies are relatively unexplored. There are few reports where the effect of various crowder mixtures has been exploited to discern their combined effect on the structural stability of proteins. These studies are more significant because their effect can mimicked with in vivo conditions, where the environment is heterogeneous. Effects of two crowders, polyethylene glycol (PEG 400 Da), and its monomer ethylene glycol (EG) alone and in mixture on the structural stability of cytochrome c (cyt c) were determined using various spectroscopic and bioinformatics tools. The main conclusions of our study are (i) the monomer EG has a kosmotropic effect on the protein (stabilizes the protein), and has no significant effect on the tertiary structure; (ii) PEG 400 destabilizes the structure as well as the stability of the protein; and (iii) EG counteracts the destabilizing effect of PEG 400. From this investigation, it seems evident that proteins may fold or unfold in the crowded environment of the cell where various interactions assist them to maintain their structure for their functions. Bioinformatics approaches were also used to support all of the in vitro observations. Cyt c is functional protein; if the structure of the protein is modulated due to change in the environment its nature of function will also change. Our research addresses the question by modulating the environment around the protein, and the macromolecule (protein) conformation dynamics and interaction study via in vitro and in silico approaches which indirectly compares with that of the environment in-cellular milieu, which is highly crowded.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zahoor Ahmad Parray
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, IIT Campus, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Ahmad Abu Turab Naqvi
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India
| | - Ishfaq Ahmad Ahanger
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India
- Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Forensic Science, Amity School of Applied Sciences, Amity University Haryana, Gurugram 122413, India
| | - Mohammad Shahid
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia
| | - Faizan Ahmad
- Department of Biochemistry, School of Chemical and Life Sciences, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi 110062, India
| | - Md. Imtaiyaz Hassan
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India
| | - Asimul Islam
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +91-9312812007
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6
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Loss of stability and unfolding cooperativity in hPGK1 upon gradual structural perturbation of its N-terminal domain hydrophobic core. Sci Rep 2022; 12:17200. [PMID: 36229482 PMCID: PMC9561527 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22088-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Phosphoglycerate kinase has been a model for the stability, folding cooperativity and catalysis of a two-domain protein. The human isoform 1 (hPGK1) is associated with cancer development and rare genetic diseases that affect several of its features. To investigate how mutations affect hPGK1 folding landscape and interaction networks, we have introduced mutations at a buried site in the N-terminal domain (F25 mutants) that either created cavities (F25L, F25V, F25A), enhanced conformational entropy (F25G) or introduced structural strain (F25W) and evaluated their effects using biophysical experimental and theoretical methods. All F25 mutants folded well, but showed reduced unfolding cooperativity, kinetic stability and altered activation energetics according to the results from thermal and chemical denaturation analyses. These alterations correlated well with the structural perturbation caused by mutations in the N-terminal domain and the destabilization caused in the interdomain interface as revealed by H/D exchange under native conditions. Importantly, experimental and theoretical analyses showed that these effects are significant even when the perturbation is mild and local. Our approach will be useful to establish the molecular basis of hPGK1 genotype-phenotype correlations due to phosphorylation events and single amino acid substitutions associated with disease.
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7
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Theillet FX, Luchinat E. In-cell NMR: Why and how? PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY 2022; 132-133:1-112. [PMID: 36496255 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnmrs.2022.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
NMR spectroscopy has been applied to cells and tissues analysis since its beginnings, as early as 1950. We have attempted to gather here in a didactic fashion the broad diversity of data and ideas that emerged from NMR investigations on living cells. Covering a large proportion of the periodic table, NMR spectroscopy permits scrutiny of a great variety of atomic nuclei in all living organisms non-invasively. It has thus provided quantitative information on cellular atoms and their chemical environment, dynamics, or interactions. We will show that NMR studies have generated valuable knowledge on a vast array of cellular molecules and events, from water, salts, metabolites, cell walls, proteins, nucleic acids, drugs and drug targets, to pH, redox equilibria and chemical reactions. The characterization of such a multitude of objects at the atomic scale has thus shaped our mental representation of cellular life at multiple levels, together with major techniques like mass-spectrometry or microscopies. NMR studies on cells has accompanied the developments of MRI and metabolomics, and various subfields have flourished, coined with appealing names: fluxomics, foodomics, MRI and MRS (i.e. imaging and localized spectroscopy of living tissues, respectively), whole-cell NMR, on-cell ligand-based NMR, systems NMR, cellular structural biology, in-cell NMR… All these have not grown separately, but rather by reinforcing each other like a braided trunk. Hence, we try here to provide an analytical account of a large ensemble of intricately linked approaches, whose integration has been and will be key to their success. We present extensive overviews, firstly on the various types of information provided by NMR in a cellular environment (the "why", oriented towards a broad readership), and secondly on the employed NMR techniques and setups (the "how", where we discuss the past, current and future methods). Each subsection is constructed as a historical anthology, showing how the intrinsic properties of NMR spectroscopy and its developments structured the accessible knowledge on cellular phenomena. Using this systematic approach, we sought i) to make this review accessible to the broadest audience and ii) to highlight some early techniques that may find renewed interest. Finally, we present a brief discussion on what may be potential and desirable developments in the context of integrative studies in biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francois-Xavier Theillet
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
| | - Enrico Luchinat
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agro-Alimentari, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Piazza Goidanich 60, 47521 Cesena, Italy; CERM - Magnetic Resonance Center, and Neurofarba Department, Università degli Studi di Firenze, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
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8
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Gong Z, Yang J, Qin LY, Tang C, Jiang H, Ke Y, Dong X. Preferential Regulation of Transient Protein-Protein Interaction by the Macromolecular Crowders. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:4840-4848. [PMID: 35731981 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c02713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The environmental condition is a critical regulation factor for protein behavior in solution. Several studies have shown that macromolecular crowders can modulate protein structures, interactions, and functions. Recent publications described the regulation of specific interaction by macromolecular crowders. However, the other category of protein-protein interaction, namely, the transient interaction, is rarely investigated, especially from the perspective of protein structure to study transient interactions between proteins. Here, we used nuclear magnetic resonance and small-angle X-ray/neutron scattering methods to structurally investigate the ensemble of the protein complex in dilute buffer and crowded environments. Histidine phosphocarrier protein (HPr) and the N-terminal domain of enzyme I (EIN) are the important components of the bacterial phosphotransfer system. Our results show that the addition of Ficoll-70 promotes HPr molecules to form the encounter complex with EIN maintained by long-range electrostatic interaction. However, when macromolecular crowder BSA is used, the soft interaction between BSA and HPr perturbs the active site of HPr, driving HPr to form an encounter complex with EIN at the weakly charged interface. Our results indicate that different macromolecular crowders could influence transient EIN-HPr interaction through different mechanisms and provide new insights into protein-protein interaction regulation in native environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhou Gong
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic Molecular Physics, National Center for Magnetic Resonance at Wuhan, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, China
| | - Ju Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic Molecular Physics, National Center for Magnetic Resonance at Wuhan, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, China
| | - Ling-Yun Qin
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic Molecular Physics, National Center for Magnetic Resonance at Wuhan, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, China
| | - Chun Tang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Hanqiu Jiang
- Spallation Neutron Source Science Center (SNSSC), Dalang, Dongguan 523803, China.,Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yubin Ke
- Spallation Neutron Source Science Center (SNSSC), Dalang, Dongguan 523803, China.,Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xu Dong
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic Molecular Physics, National Center for Magnetic Resonance at Wuhan, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, China
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9
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Abstract
In-cell structural biology aims at extracting structural information about proteins or nucleic acids in their native, cellular environment. This emerging field holds great promise and is already providing new facts and outlooks of interest at both fundamental and applied levels. NMR spectroscopy has important contributions on this stage: It brings information on a broad variety of nuclei at the atomic scale, which ensures its great versatility and uniqueness. Here, we detail the methods, the fundamental knowledge, and the applications in biomedical engineering related to in-cell structural biology by NMR. We finally propose a brief overview of the main other techniques in the field (EPR, smFRET, cryo-ET, etc.) to draw some advisable developments for in-cell NMR. In the era of large-scale screenings and deep learning, both accurate and qualitative experimental evidence are as essential as ever to understand the interior life of cells. In-cell structural biology by NMR spectroscopy can generate such a knowledge, and it does so at the atomic scale. This review is meant to deliver comprehensive but accessible information, with advanced technical details and reflections on the methods, the nature of the results, and the future of the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francois-Xavier Theillet
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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10
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Brylski O, Shrestha P, Gnutt P, Gnutt D, Mueller JW, Ebbinghaus S. Cellular ATP Levels Determine the Stability of a Nucleotide Kinase. Front Mol Biosci 2021; 8:790304. [PMID: 34966785 PMCID: PMC8710738 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.790304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Accepted: 11/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The energy currency of the cell ATP, is used by kinases to drive key cellular processes. However, the connection of cellular ATP abundance and protein stability is still under investigation. Using Fast Relaxation Imaging paired with alanine scanning and ATP depletion experiments, we study the nucleotide kinase (APSK) domain of 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS) synthase, a marginally stable protein. Here, we show that the in-cell stability of the APSK is determined by ligand binding and directly connected to cellular ATP levels. The observed protein stability change for different ligand-bound states or under ATP-depleted conditions ranges from ΔGf 0 = -10.7 to +13.8 kJ/mol, which is remarkable since it exceeds changes measured previously, for example upon osmotic pressure, cellular stress or differentiation. The results have implications for protein stability during the catalytic cycle of APS kinase and suggest that the cellular ATP level functions as a global regulator of kinase activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver Brylski
- Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, TU Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
- Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology (BRICS), Braunschweig, Germany
- Institute of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
| | - Puja Shrestha
- Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, TU Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
- Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology (BRICS), Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Patricia Gnutt
- Institute of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
| | - David Gnutt
- Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, TU Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
- Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology (BRICS), Braunschweig, Germany
- Institute of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
| | - Jonathan Wolf Mueller
- Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research (IMSR), University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Centre for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (CEDAM), Birmingham Health Partners, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Simon Ebbinghaus
- Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, TU Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
- Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology (BRICS), Braunschweig, Germany
- Institute of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany
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11
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Song X, Wang M, Chen X, Zhang X, Yang Y, Liu Z, Yao L. Quantifying Protein Electrostatic Interactions in Cells by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. J Am Chem Soc 2021; 143:19606-19613. [PMID: 34766768 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c10154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Most proteins perform their functions in cells. How the cellular environment modulates protein interactions is an important question. In this work, electrostatic interactions between protein charges were studied using in-cell nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. A total of eight charge pairs were introduced in protein GB3. Compared to the charge pair electrostatic interactions in a buffer, five charge pairs in cells displayed no apparent changes whereas three pairs had the interactions weakened by more than 70%. Further investigation suggests that the transfer free energy is responsible for the electrostatic interaction modulation. Both the transfer free energy of the folded state and that of the unfolded state can contribute to the cellular environmental effect on protein electrostatics, although the latter is generally larger (more negative) than the former. Our work highlights the importance of direct in-cell studies of protein interactions and thus protein function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangfei Song
- Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China.,Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao 266101, China
| | - Mengting Wang
- Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China.,Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao 266101, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xiaoxu Chen
- Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China.,Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao 266101, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xueying Zhang
- Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China.,Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao 266101, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Ying Yang
- Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China.,Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao 266101, China
| | - Zhijun Liu
- National Facility for Protein Science, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China
| | - Lishan Yao
- Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China.,Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao 266101, China
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12
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Structural Refolding and Thermal Stability of Myoglobin in the Presence of Mixture of Crowders: Importance of Various Interactions for Protein Stabilization in Crowded Conditions. Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26092807. [PMID: 34068693 PMCID: PMC8126177 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26092807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The intracellular environment is overcrowded with a range of molecules (small and large), all of which influence protein conformation. As a result, understanding how proteins fold and stay functional in such crowded conditions is essential. Several in vitro experiments have looked into the effects of macromolecular crowding on different proteins. However, there are hardly any reports regarding small molecular crowders used alone and in mixtures to observe their effects on the structure and stability of the proteins, which mimics of the cellular conditions. Here we investigate the effect of different mixtures of crowders, ethylene glycol (EG) and its polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG 400 Da) on the structural and thermal stability of myoglobin (Mb). Our results show that monomer (EG) has no significant effect on the structure of Mb, while the polymer disrupts its structure and decreases its stability. Conversely, the additive effect of crowders showed structural refolding of the protein to some extent. Moreover, the calorimetric binding studies of the protein showed very weak interactions with the mixture of crowders. Usually, we can assume that soft interactions induce structural perturbations while exclusion volume effects stabilize the protein structure; therefore, we hypothesize that under in vivo crowded conditions, both phenomena occur and maintain the stability and function of proteins.
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13
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Davis CM, Gruebele M. Cytoskeletal Drugs Modulate Off-Target Protein Folding Landscapes Inside Cells. Biochemistry 2020; 59:2650-2659. [PMID: 32567840 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.0c00299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
The dynamic cytoskeletal network of microtubules and actin filaments can be disassembled by drugs. Cytoskeletal drugs work by perturbing the monomer-polymer equilibrium, thus changing the size and number of macromolecular crowders inside cells. Changes in both crowding and nonspecific surface interactions ("sticking") following cytoskeleton disassembly can affect the protein stability, structure, and function directly or indirectly by changing the fluidity of the cytoplasm and altering the crowding and sticking of other macromolecules in the cytoplasm. The effect of cytoskeleton disassembly on protein energy landscapes inside cells has yet to be observed. Here we have measured the effect of several cytoskeletal drugs on the folding energy landscape of two FRET-labeled proteins with different in vitro sensitivities to macromolecular crowding. Phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) was previously shown to be more sensitive to crowding, whereas variable major protein-like sequence expressed (VlsE) was previously shown to be more sensitive to sticking. The in-cell effects of drugs that depolymerize either actin filaments (cytochalasin D and latrunculin B) or microtubules (nocodazole and vinblastine) were compared. The crowding sensor protein CrH2-FRET verified that cytoskeletal drugs decrease the extent of crowding inside cells despite also reducing the overall cell volume. The decreased compactness and folding stability of PGK could be explained by the decreased extent of crowding induced by these drugs. VlsE's opposite response to the drugs shows that depolymerization of the cytoskeleton also changes sticking in the cellular milieu. Our results demonstrate that perturbation of the monomer-polymer cytoskeletal equilibrium, for example, during natural cell migration or stresses from drug treatment, has off-target effects on the energy landscapes of proteins in the cell.
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14
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Rickard MM, Zhang Y, Pogorelov TV, Gruebele M. Crowding, Sticking, and Partial Folding of GTT WW Domain in a Small Cytoplasm Model. J Phys Chem B 2020; 124:4732-4740. [PMID: 32463238 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c02536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Recent experimental data has shown that protein folding in the cytoplasm can differ from in vitro folding with respect to speed, stability, and residual structure. Here we investigate the all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of 9 copies of the model protein GTT WW domain in a small bacterial cytoplasm model using three force fields. GTT has been well-studied by MD in aqueous solution for comparison. We find that folded copies remain folded for up 25 μs, whereas unfolded copies do not fold for up to 190 μs. Unfolded GTT in our cytoplasm model does populate partly folded intermediates with one of the two hairpins formed. Relative to aqueous solution, GTT gets stuck in metastable states with a small RMSD and radius of gyration and extensive burial of surface area against other macromolecules. In particular, GTT is even able to form transient intermolecular β-sheets with other proteins, resulting in a "chimeric structure" that could be a precursor to oligomeric β-aggregates. We conclude that sticking, enhanced by the non-native mutations of GTT, is largely responsible, and we propose, on the basis of our result as well as recent experiments, that coevolution of protein surfaces with their solvation environment (including chaperones) is important for folding and diffusion of proteins in the cytoplasm.
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Affiliation(s)
- M M Rickard
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Y Zhang
- Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - T V Pogorelov
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.,Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.,National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.,Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - M Gruebele
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.,Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.,Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.,Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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15
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Influence of crowding agents on the dynamics of a multidomain protein in its denatured state: a solvation approach. EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL: EBJ 2020; 49:289-305. [PMID: 32399581 DOI: 10.1007/s00249-020-01435-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2019] [Revised: 03/26/2020] [Accepted: 04/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
It is now well appreciated that the crowded intracellular environment significantly modulates an array of physiological processes including protein folding-unfolding, aggregation, and dynamics to name a few. In this work we have studied the dynamics of domain I of the protein human serum albumin (HSA) in its urea-induced denatured states, in the presence of a series of commonly used macromolecular crowding agents. HSA was labeled at Cys-34 (a free cysteine) in domain I with the fluorophore 6-bromoacetyl-2-dimethylaminonaphthalene (BADAN) to act as a solvation probe. In partially denatured states (2-6 M urea), lower crowder concentrations (~ < 125 g/L) induced faster dynamics, while the dynamics became slower beyond 150 g/L of crowders. We propose that this apparent switch in dynamics is an evidence of a crossover from soft (enthalpic) to hard-core (entropic) interactions between the protein and crowder molecules. That soft interactions are also important for the crowders used here was further confirmed by the appreciable shift in the wavelength of the emission maximum of BADAN, in particular for PEG8000 and Ficoll 70 at concentrations where the excluded volume effect is not dominant.
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16
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Brylski O, Ebbinghaus S, Mueller JW. Melting Down Protein Stability: PAPS Synthase 2 in Patients and in a Cellular Environment. Front Mol Biosci 2019; 6:31. [PMID: 31131283 PMCID: PMC6509946 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2019.00031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2019] [Accepted: 04/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Within the crowded and complex environment of the cell, a protein experiences stabilizing excluded-volume effects and destabilizing quinary interactions with other proteins. Which of these prevail, needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis. PAPS synthases are dimeric and bifunctional enzymes, providing activated sulfate in the form of 3′-phosphoadenosine-5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS) for sulfation reactions. The human PAPS synthases PAPSS1 and PAPSS2 differ significantly in their protein stability as PAPSS2 is a naturally fragile protein. PAPS synthases bind a series of nucleotide ligands and some of them markedly stabilize these proteins. PAPS synthases are of biomedical relevance as destabilizing point mutations give rise to several pathologies. Genetic defects in PAPSS2 have been linked to bone and cartilage malformations as well as a steroid sulfation defect. All this makes PAPS synthases ideal to study protein unfolding, ligand binding, and the stabilizing and destabilizing factors in their cellular environment. This review provides an overview on current concepts of protein folding and stability and links this with our current understanding of the different disease mechanisms of PAPSS2-related pathologies with perspectives for future research and application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver Brylski
- Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Simon Ebbinghaus
- Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Jonathan W Mueller
- Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.,Centre for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Birmingham Health Partners, Birmingham, United Kingdom
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17
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Royer CA. Characterizing proteins in their cellular environment: Examples of recent advances in quantitative fluorescence microscopy. Protein Sci 2019; 28:1210-1221. [PMID: 31012169 DOI: 10.1002/pro.3630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2019] [Revised: 04/20/2019] [Accepted: 04/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Quantitative characterization of protein interactions, both intramolecular and intermolecular, is crucial in understanding the mechanisms and regulation of their function. In recent years, it has become possible to obtain such information on protein systems in live cells, from bacteria to mammalian cell lines. This review discusses recent advances in measuring protein folding, absolute concentration, oligomerization, diffusion, transport, and organization at super-resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine A Royer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, 12180
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18
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Nandy A, Chakraborty S, Nandi S, Bhattacharyya K, Mukherjee S. Structure, Activity, and Dynamics of Human Serum Albumin in a Crowded Pluronic F127 Hydrogel. J Phys Chem B 2019; 123:3397-3408. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b00219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Atanu Nandy
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal Bypass Road, Bhopal 462066, Madhya Pradesh, India
| | - Subhajit Chakraborty
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal Bypass Road, Bhopal 462066, Madhya Pradesh, India
| | - Somen Nandi
- School of Chemical Sciences, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032, India
| | - Kankan Bhattacharyya
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal Bypass Road, Bhopal 462066, Madhya Pradesh, India
| | - Saptarshi Mukherjee
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal Bypass Road, Bhopal 462066, Madhya Pradesh, India
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19
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Han F, Liu Y, E J, Guan S, Han W, Shan Y, Wang S, Zhang H. Effects of Tyr555 and Trp678 on the processivity of cellobiohydrolase A from Ruminiclostridium thermocellum: A simulation study. Biopolymers 2018; 109:e23238. [PMID: 30484856 DOI: 10.1002/bip.23238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Revised: 09/21/2018] [Accepted: 10/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Cellobiohydrolase A from Ruminiclostridium thermocellum (Cbh9A) is a processive exoglucanase from family 9 and is an important cellobiohydrolase that hydrolyzes cello-oligosaccharide into cellobiose. Residues Tyr555 and Trp678 considerably affect catalytic activity, but their mechanisms are still unknown. To investigate how the Tyr555 and Trp678 affect the processivity of Cbh9A, conventional molecular dynamics, steered molecular dynamics, and free energy calculation were performed to simulate the processive process of wild type (WT)-Cbh9A, Y555S mutant, and W678G mutant. Analysis of simulation results suggests that the binding free energies between the substrate and WT-Cbh9A are lower than those of Y555S and W678G mutants. The pull forces and energy barrier in Y555S and W678G mutants also reduced significantly during the steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulation compared with that of the WT-Cbh9A. And the potential mean force calculations showed that the pulling energy barrier of Y555S and W678G mutants is much lower than that of WT-Cbh9A.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fei Han
- Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Ye Liu
- Key Laboratory for Molecular Enzymology and Engineering of the Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory of AIDS Vaccine, College of Life Science, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Jingwen E
- Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Shanshan Guan
- Key Laboratory for Molecular Enzymology and Engineering of the Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory of AIDS Vaccine, College of Life Science, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Weiwei Han
- Key Laboratory for Molecular Enzymology and Engineering of the Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory of AIDS Vaccine, College of Life Science, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Yaming Shan
- Key Laboratory for Molecular Enzymology and Engineering of the Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory of AIDS Vaccine, College of Life Science, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Song Wang
- Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Hao Zhang
- Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, China
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20
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Biswas S, Kundu J, Mukherjee SK, Chowdhury PK. Mixed Macromolecular Crowding: A Protein and Solvent Perspective. ACS OMEGA 2018; 3:4316-4330. [PMID: 30023892 PMCID: PMC6044960 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.7b01864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2017] [Accepted: 03/16/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
In the living cell, biomolecules perform their respective functions in the presence of not only one type of macromolecules but rather in the presence of various macromolecules with different shapes and sizes. In this study, we have investigated the effects of five single macromolecular crowding agents, Dextran 6, Dextran 40, Dextran 70, Ficoll 70, and PEG 8000 and their binary mixtures on the modulation in the domain separation of human serum albumin using a Förster resonance energy transfer-based approach and the translational mobility of a small fluorescent probe fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). Our observations suggest that mixed crowding induces greater cooperativity in the domain movement as compared to the components of the mixtures. Thermodynamic analyses of the same provide evidence of crossovers from enthalpy-based interactions to effects dominated by hard-sphere potential. When compared with those obtained for individual crowders, both domain movements and FITC diffusion studies show significant deviations from ideality, with an ideal solution being considered to be that arising from the sum of the contributions of those obtained in the presence of individual crowding agents. Considering the fact that domain movements are local (on the order of a few angstroms) in nature while translational movements span much larger lengthscales, our results imply that the observed deviation from simple additivity exists at several possible levels or lengthscales in such mixtures. Moreover, the nature and the type of deviation not only depend on the identities of the components of the crowder mixtures but are also influenced by the particular face of the serum protein (either the domain I-II or the domain II-III face) that the crowders interact with, thus providing further insights into the possible existence of microheterogeneities in such solutions.
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21
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Gao M, Held C, Patra S, Arns L, Sadowski G, Winter R. Crowders and Cosolvents-Major Contributors to the Cellular Milieu and Efficient Means to Counteract Environmental Stresses. Chemphyschem 2017; 18:2951-2972. [DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201700762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2017] [Revised: 08/15/2017] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Mimi Gao
- TU Dortmund University; Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Biology; Physical Chemistry I-Biophysical Chemistry; Otto Hahn Str. 4a 44227 Dortmund Germany
| | - Christoph Held
- TU Dortmund University; Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering; Emil-Figge-Str. 70 44227 Dortmund Germany
| | - Satyajit Patra
- TU Dortmund University; Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Biology; Physical Chemistry I-Biophysical Chemistry; Otto Hahn Str. 4a 44227 Dortmund Germany
| | - Loana Arns
- TU Dortmund University; Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Biology; Physical Chemistry I-Biophysical Chemistry; Otto Hahn Str. 4a 44227 Dortmund Germany
| | - Gabriele Sadowski
- TU Dortmund University; Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering; Emil-Figge-Str. 70 44227 Dortmund Germany
| | - Roland Winter
- TU Dortmund University; Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Biology; Physical Chemistry I-Biophysical Chemistry; Otto Hahn Str. 4a 44227 Dortmund Germany
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22
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Abstract
In vitro, computational, and theoretical studies of protein folding have converged to paint a rich and complex energy landscape. This landscape is sensitively modulated by environmental conditions and subject to evolutionary pressure on protein function. Of these environments, none is more complex than the cell itself, where proteins function in the cytosol, in membranes, and in different compartments. A wide variety of kinetic and thermodynamics experiments, ranging from single-molecule studies to jump kinetics and from nuclear magnetic resonance to imaging on the microscope, have elucidated how protein energy landscapes facilitate folding and how they are subject to evolutionary constraints and environmental perturbation. Here we review some recent developments in the field and refer the reader to some original work and additional reviews that cover this broad topic in protein science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Gruebele
- Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801; , .,Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801; .,Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801
| | - Kapil Dave
- Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801; ,
| | - Shahar Sukenik
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801;
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23
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Chaperones rescue the energetic landscape of mutant CFTR at single molecule and in cell. Nat Commun 2017; 8:398. [PMID: 28855508 PMCID: PMC5577305 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00444-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2016] [Accepted: 06/29/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Molecular chaperones are pivotal in folding and degradation of the cellular proteome but their impact on the conformational dynamics of near-native membrane proteins with disease relevance remains unknown. Here we report the effect of chaperone activity on the functional conformation of the temperature-sensitive mutant cystic fibrosis channel (∆F508-CFTR) at the plasma membrane and after reconstitution into phospholipid bilayer. Thermally induced unfolding at 37 °C and concomitant functional inactivation of ∆F508-CFTR are partially suppressed by constitutive activity of Hsc70 and Hsp90 chaperone/co-chaperone at the plasma membrane and post-endoplasmic reticulum compartments in vivo, and at single-molecule level in vitro, indicated by kinetic and thermodynamic remodeling of the mutant gating energetics toward its wild-type counterpart. Thus, molecular chaperones can contribute to functional maintenance of ∆F508-CFTR by reshaping the conformational energetics of its final fold, a mechanism with implication in the regulation of metastable ABC transporters and other plasma membrane proteins activity in health and diseases. The F508 deletion (F508del) in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is the most common CF causing mutation. Here the authors show that cytosolic chaperones shift the F508del channel conformation to the native fold by kinetic and thermodynamic remodelling of the gating energetics towards that of wild-type CTFR.
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24
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Craven GT, Junginger A, Hernandez R. Lagrangian descriptors of driven chemical reaction manifolds. Phys Rev E 2017; 96:022222. [PMID: 28950601 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.96.022222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The persistence of a transition state structure in systems driven by time-dependent environments allows the application of modern reaction rate theories to solution-phase and nonequilibrium chemical reactions. However, identifying this structure is problematic in driven systems and has been limited by theories built on series expansion about a saddle point. Recently, it has been shown that to obtain formally exact rates for reactions in thermal environments, a transition state trajectory must be constructed. Here, using optimized Lagrangian descriptors [G. T. Craven and R. Hernandez, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 148301 (2015)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.115.148301], we obtain this so-called distinguished trajectory and the associated moving reaction manifolds on model energy surfaces subject to various driving and dissipative conditions. In particular, we demonstrate that this is exact for harmonic barriers in one dimension and this verification gives impetus to the application of Lagrangian descriptor-based methods in diverse classes of chemical reactions. The development of these objects is paramount in the theory of reaction dynamics as the transition state structure and its underlying network of manifolds directly dictate reactivity and selectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Galen T Craven
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
| | - Andrej Junginger
- Institut für Theoretische Physik 1, Universität Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Rigoberto Hernandez
- Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
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25
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Kisley L, Miller KA, Guin D, Kong X, Gruebele M, Leckband DE. Direct Imaging of Protein Stability and Folding Kinetics in Hydrogels. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2017; 9:21606-21617. [PMID: 28553706 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b01371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
We apply fast relaxation imaging (FReI) as a novel technique for investigating the folding stability and dynamics of proteins within polyacrylamide hydrogels, which have diverse and widespread uses in biotechnology. FReI detects protein unfolding in situ by imaging changes in fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) after temperature jump perturbations. Unlike bulk measurements, diffraction-limited epifluorescence imaging combined with fast temperature perturbations reveals the impact of local environment effects on protein-biomaterial compatibility. Our experiments investigated a crowding sensor protein (CrH2) and phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK), which undergoes cooperative unfolding. The crowding sensor quantifies the confinement effect of the cross-linked hydrogel: the 4% polyacrylamide hydrogel is similar to aqueous solution (no confinement), while the 10% hydrogel is strongly confining. FRAP measurements and protein concentration gradients in the 4% and 10% hydrogels further support this observation. PGK reveals that noncovalent interactions of the protein with the polymer surface are more important than confinement for determining protein properties in the gel: the mere presence of hydrogel increases protein stability, speeds up folding relaxation, and promotes irreversible binding to the polymer even at the solution-gel interface, whereas the difference between the 4% and the 10% hydrogels is negligible despite their large difference in confinement. The imaging capabilities of FReI, demonstrated to be diffraction limited, further revealed spatially homogeneous protein unfolding across the hydrogels at 500 nm length scales and revealed differences in protein properties at the gel-solution boundary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lydia Kisley
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, ‡Department of Chemistry, §Department of Biochemistry, ∥Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and ⊥Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Kali A Miller
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, ‡Department of Chemistry, §Department of Biochemistry, ∥Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and ⊥Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Drishti Guin
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, ‡Department of Chemistry, §Department of Biochemistry, ∥Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and ⊥Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Xinyu Kong
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, ‡Department of Chemistry, §Department of Biochemistry, ∥Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and ⊥Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Martin Gruebele
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, ‡Department of Chemistry, §Department of Biochemistry, ∥Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and ⊥Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Deborah E Leckband
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, ‡Department of Chemistry, §Department of Biochemistry, ∥Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and ⊥Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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26
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Singh P, Chowdhury PK. Unravelling the Intricacy of the Crowded Environment through Tryptophan Quenching in Lysozyme. J Phys Chem B 2017; 121:4687-4699. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b01055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Priyanka Singh
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Pramit K. Chowdhury
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
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27
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Zhang N, An L, Li J, Liu Z, Yao L. Quinary Interactions Weaken the Electric Field Generated by Protein Side-Chain Charges in the Cell-like Environment. J Am Chem Soc 2017; 139:647-654. [DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b11058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Ning Zhang
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | | | - Jingwen Li
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Zhijun Liu
- National
Center for Protein Science Shanghai, Institute of Biochemistry and
Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China
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28
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Gopi S, Singh A, Suresh S, Paul S, Ranu S, Naganathan AN. Toward a quantitative description of microscopic pathway heterogeneity in protein folding. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2017; 19:20891-20903. [DOI: 10.1039/c7cp03011h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Experimentally consistent statistical modeling of protein folding thermodynamics reveals unprecedented complexity with numerous parallel folding routes in five different proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soundhararajan Gopi
- Department of Biotechnology
- Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras
- Chennai 600036
- India
| | - Animesh Singh
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras
- Chennai 600036
- India
| | | | - Suvadip Paul
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras
- Chennai 600036
- India
| | - Sayan Ranu
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras
- Chennai 600036
- India
| | - Athi N. Naganathan
- Department of Biotechnology
- Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras
- Chennai 600036
- India
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29
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Hanselmann RG, Welter C. Origin of Cancer: An Information, Energy, and Matter Disease. Front Cell Dev Biol 2016; 4:121. [PMID: 27909692 PMCID: PMC5112236 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2016.00121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2016] [Accepted: 10/14/2016] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Cells are open, highly ordered systems that are far away from equilibrium. For this reason, the first function of any cell is to prevent the permanent threat of disintegration that is described by thermodynamic laws and to preserve highly ordered cell characteristics such as structures, the cell cycle, or metabolism. In this context, three basic categories play a central role: energy, information, and matter. Each of these three categories is equally important to the cell and they are reciprocally dependent. We therefore suggest that energy loss (e.g., through impaired mitochondria) or disturbance of information (e.g., through mutations or aneuploidy) or changes in the composition or distribution of matter (e.g., through micro-environmental changes or toxic agents) can irreversibly disturb molecular mechanisms, leading to increased local entropy of cellular functions and structures. In terms of physics, changes to these normally highly ordered reaction probabilities lead to a state that is irreversibly biologically imbalanced, but that is thermodynamically more stable. This primary change—independent of the initiator—now provokes and drives a complex interplay between the availability of energy, the composition, and distribution of matter and increasing information disturbance that is dependent upon reactions that try to overcome or stabilize this intracellular, irreversible disorder described by entropy. Because a return to the original ordered state is not possible for thermodynamic reasons, the cells either die or else they persist in a metastable state. In the latter case, they enter into a self-driven adaptive and evolutionary process that generates a progression of disordered cells and that results in a broad spectrum of progeny with different characteristics. Possibly, 1 day, one of these cells will show an autonomous and aggressive behavior—it will be a cancer cell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rainer G Hanselmann
- Institute of Human Genetics, Saarland UniversityHomburg, Germany; Beratungszentrum für HygieneFreiburg, Germany
| | - Cornelius Welter
- Institute of Human Genetics, Saarland University Homburg, Germany
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30
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Wei G, Xi W, Nussinov R, Ma B. Protein Ensembles: How Does Nature Harness Thermodynamic Fluctuations for Life? The Diverse Functional Roles of Conformational Ensembles in the Cell. Chem Rev 2016; 116:6516-51. [PMID: 26807783 PMCID: PMC6407618 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 253] [Impact Index Per Article: 31.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
All soluble proteins populate conformational ensembles that together constitute the native state. Their fluctuations in water are intrinsic thermodynamic phenomena, and the distributions of the states on the energy landscape are determined by statistical thermodynamics; however, they are optimized to perform their biological functions. In this review we briefly describe advances in free energy landscape studies of protein conformational ensembles. Experimental (nuclear magnetic resonance, small-angle X-ray scattering, single-molecule spectroscopy, and cryo-electron microscopy) and computational (replica-exchange molecular dynamics, metadynamics, and Markov state models) approaches have made great progress in recent years. These address the challenging characterization of the highly flexible and heterogeneous protein ensembles. We focus on structural aspects of protein conformational distributions, from collective motions of single- and multi-domain proteins, intrinsically disordered proteins, to multiprotein complexes. Importantly, we highlight recent studies that illustrate functional adjustment of protein conformational ensembles in the crowded cellular environment. We center on the role of the ensemble in recognition of small- and macro-molecules (protein and RNA/DNA) and emphasize emerging concepts of protein dynamics in enzyme catalysis. Overall, protein ensembles link fundamental physicochemical principles and protein behavior and the cellular network and its regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guanghong Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory for Computational Physical Sciences (MOE), and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Wenhui Xi
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory for Computational Physical Sciences (MOE), and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Ruth Nussinov
- Basic Science Program, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. Cancer and Inflammation Program, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA
- Sackler Inst. of Molecular Medicine Department of Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Buyong Ma
- Basic Science Program, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. Cancer and Inflammation Program, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA
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31
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Davtyan A, Platkov M, Gruebele M, Papoian GA. Stochastic Resonance in Protein Folding Dynamics. Chemphyschem 2016; 17:1305-13. [PMID: 26992148 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201501125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Although protein folding reactions are usually studied under static external conditions, it is likely that proteins fold in a locally fluctuating cellular environment in vivo. To mimic such behavior in in vitro experiments, the local temperature of the solvent can be modulated either harmonically or using correlated noise. In this study, coarse-grained molecular simulations are used to investigate these possibilities, and it is found that both periodic and correlated random fluctuations of the environment can indeed accelerate folding kinetics if the characteristic frequencies of the applied fluctuations are commensurate with the internal timescale of the folding reaction; this is consistent with the phenomenon of stochastic resonance observed in many other condensed-matter processes. To test this theoretical prediction, the folding dynamics of phosphoglycerate kinase under harmonic temperature fluctuations are experimentally probed using Förster resonance energy transfer fluorescence measurements. To analyze these experiments, a combination of theoretical approaches is developed, including stochastic simulations of folding kinetics and an analytical mean-field kinetic theory. The experimental observations are consistent with the theoretical predictions of stochastic resonance in phosphoglycerate kinase folding. When combined with an alternative experiment on the protein VlsE using a power spectrum analysis, elaborated in Dave et al., ChemPhysChem 2016, 10.1002/cphc.201501041, the overall data overwhelmingly point to the experimental confirmation of stochastic resonance in protein folding dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aram Davtyan
- Department of Chemistry and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, Computation Institute, James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 60637, USA
| | - Max Platkov
- Department of Physics, Ariel University, Ariel, 40770, Israel
| | - Martin Gruebele
- Department of Chemistry and Physics and, Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Garegin A Papoian
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and, Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
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32
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Abstract
The tetracysteine (tc) tag/biarsenical dye system (FlAsH or ReAsH) promises to combine the flexibility of fluorescent protein tags with the small size of dye labels, allowing in-cell study of target proteins that are perturbed by large protein tags. Quantitative thermodynamic and kinetic studies in-cell using FlAsH and ReAsH have been hampered by methodological complexities presented by the fluorescence properties of the tag-dye complex probed by either Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) or direct excitation. We label the model protein phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) with AcGFP1 and ReAsH for direct comparison with AcGFP1/mCherry-labeled PGK. We find that fast relaxation imaging (FReI), combining millisecond temperature jump kinetics with fluorescence microscopy detection, circumvents many of the difficulties encountered working with the ReAsH system, allowing us to obtain quantitative FRET measurements of protein stability and kinetics both in vitro and in cells. We also demonstrate the to us surprising result that fluorescence from directly excited, unburied ReAsH at the C-terminus of the model protein also reports on folding in vitro and in cells. Comparing the ReAsH-labeled protein to a construct labeled with two fluorescent protein tags allows us to evaluate how a bulkier protein tag affects protein dynamics in cells and in vitro. We find that the average folding rate in the cell is closer to the in vitro rate with the smaller tag, highlighting the effect of tags on quantitative in-cell measurements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Gelman
- Department of Physics, ‡Department of Chemistry, and §Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Anna Jean Wirth
- Department of Physics, ‡Department of Chemistry, and §Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Martin Gruebele
- Department of Physics, ‡Department of Chemistry, and §Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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33
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X-ray-responsive selenium nanoparticles for enhanced cancer chemo-radiotherapy. Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces 2016; 139:180-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2015.11.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2015] [Revised: 11/05/2015] [Accepted: 11/23/2015] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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34
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Gao M, Gnutt D, Orban A, Appel B, Righetti F, Winter R, Narberhaus F, Müller S, Ebbinghaus S. Faltung einer RNA-Haarnadel in der dicht gedrängten Zelle. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2016. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201510847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mimi Gao
- Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie II; Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Universitätsstr. 150 44801 Bochum Deutschland
| | - David Gnutt
- Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie II; Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Universitätsstr. 150 44801 Bochum Deutschland
| | - Axel Orban
- Institut für Biochemie; Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald; Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 4 17487 Greifswald Deutschland
| | - Bettina Appel
- Institut für Biochemie; Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald; Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 4 17487 Greifswald Deutschland
| | - Francesco Righetti
- Biologie der Mikroorganismen; Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Universitätsstr. 150 44801 Bochum Deutschland
| | - Roland Winter
- Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie I; TU Dortmund; Otto-Hahn-Str. 4a 44227 Dortmund Deutschland
| | - Franz Narberhaus
- Biologie der Mikroorganismen; Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Universitätsstr. 150 44801 Bochum Deutschland
| | - Sabine Müller
- Institut für Biochemie; Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald; Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 4 17487 Greifswald Deutschland
| | - Simon Ebbinghaus
- Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie II; Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Universitätsstr. 150 44801 Bochum Deutschland
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35
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Quérard J, Le Saux T, Gautier A, Alcor D, Croquette V, Lemarchand A, Gosse C, Jullien L. Kinetics of Reactive Modules Adds Discriminative Dimensions for Selective Cell Imaging. Chemphyschem 2016; 17:1396-413. [PMID: 26833808 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201500987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Living cells are chemical mixtures of exceptional interest and significance, whose investigation requires the development of powerful analytical tools fulfilling the demanding constraints resulting from their singular features. In particular, multiplexed observation of a large number of molecular targets with high spatiotemporal resolution appears highly desirable. One attractive road to address this analytical challenge relies on engaging the targets in reactions and exploiting the rich kinetic signature of the resulting reactive module, which originates from its topology and its rate constants. This review explores the various facets of this promising strategy. We first emphasize the singularity of the content of a living cell as a chemical mixture and suggest that its multiplexed observation is significant and timely. Then, we show that exploiting the kinetics of analytical processes is relevant to selectively detect a given analyte: upon perturbing the system, the kinetic window associated to response read-out has to be matched with that of the targeted reactive module. Eventually, we introduce the state-of-the-art of cell imaging exploiting protocols based on reaction kinetics and draw some promising perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jérôme Quérard
- Ecole Normale Supérieure-PSL Research University; Département de Chimie; 24, rue Lhomond F-75005 Paris France
- Sorbonne Universités; UPMC Univ Paris 06, PASTEUR; F-75005 Paris France
- CNRS, UMR 8640 PASTEUR; F-75005 Paris France
| | - Thomas Le Saux
- Ecole Normale Supérieure-PSL Research University; Département de Chimie; 24, rue Lhomond F-75005 Paris France
- Sorbonne Universités; UPMC Univ Paris 06, PASTEUR; F-75005 Paris France
- CNRS, UMR 8640 PASTEUR; F-75005 Paris France
| | - Arnaud Gautier
- Ecole Normale Supérieure-PSL Research University; Département de Chimie; 24, rue Lhomond F-75005 Paris France
- Sorbonne Universités; UPMC Univ Paris 06, PASTEUR; F-75005 Paris France
- CNRS, UMR 8640 PASTEUR; F-75005 Paris France
| | - Damien Alcor
- INSERM U1065, C3M; 151 route Saint Antoine de Ginestière, BP 2 3194 F-06204 Nice Cedex 3 France
| | - Vincent Croquette
- Ecole Normale Supérieure; Département de Physique and Département de Biologie, Laboratoire de Physique Statistique UMR CNRS-ENS 8550; 24 rue Lhomond F-75005 Paris France
| | - Annie Lemarchand
- Sorbonne Universités; UPMC Univ Paris 06, Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée; 4 place Jussieu, case courrier 121 75252 Paris cedex 05 France
- CNRS, UMR 7600 LPTMC; 75005 Paris France
| | - Charlie Gosse
- Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures, LPN-CNRS; route de Nozay 91460 Marcoussis France
| | - Ludovic Jullien
- Ecole Normale Supérieure-PSL Research University; Département de Chimie; 24, rue Lhomond F-75005 Paris France
- Sorbonne Universités; UPMC Univ Paris 06, PASTEUR; F-75005 Paris France
- CNRS, UMR 8640 PASTEUR; F-75005 Paris France
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36
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Gao M, Gnutt D, Orban A, Appel B, Righetti F, Winter R, Narberhaus F, Müller S, Ebbinghaus S. RNA Hairpin Folding in the Crowded Cell. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2016; 55:3224-8. [PMID: 26833452 PMCID: PMC4762321 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201510847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2015] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Precise secondary and tertiary structure formation is critically important for the cellular functionality of ribonucleic acids (RNAs). RNA folding studies were mainly conducted in vitro, without the possibility of validating these experiments inside cells. Here, we directly resolve the folding stability of a hairpin‐structured RNA inside live mammalian cells. We find that the stability inside the cell is comparable to that in dilute physiological buffer. On the contrary, the addition of in vitro artificial crowding agents, with the exception of high‐molecular‐weight PEG, leads to a destabilization of the hairpin structure through surface interactions and reduction in water activity. We further show that RNA stability is highly variable within cell populations as well as within subcellular regions of the cytosol and nucleus. We conclude that inside cells the RNA is subject to (localized) stabilizing and destabilizing effects that lead to an on average only marginal modulation compared to diluted buffer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mimi Gao
- Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany
| | - David Gnutt
- Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany
| | - Axel Orban
- Institute for Biochemistry, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 4, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Bettina Appel
- Institute for Biochemistry, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 4, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Francesco Righetti
- Microbial Biology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany
| | - Roland Winter
- Physical Chemistry I, Technical University Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Str. 4a, 44227, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Franz Narberhaus
- Microbial Biology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany
| | - Sabine Müller
- Institute for Biochemistry, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 4, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Simon Ebbinghaus
- Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany.
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37
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38
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Mukherjee SK, Gautam S, Biswas S, Kundu J, Chowdhury PK. Do Macromolecular Crowding Agents Exert Only an Excluded Volume Effect? A Protein Solvation Study. J Phys Chem B 2015; 119:14145-56. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.5b09446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sanjib K. Mukherjee
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Saurabh Gautam
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Saikat Biswas
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Jayanta Kundu
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Pramit K. Chowdhury
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
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39
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Abstract
Although protein folding and stability have been well explored under simplified conditions in vitro, it is yet unclear how these basic self-organization events are modulated by the crowded interior of live cells. To find out, we use here in-cell NMR to follow at atomic resolution the thermal unfolding of a β-barrel protein inside mammalian and bacterial cells. Challenging the view from in vitro crowding effects, we find that the cells destabilize the protein at 37 °C but with a conspicuous twist: While the melting temperature goes down the cold unfolding moves into the physiological regime, coupled to an augmented heat-capacity change. The effect seems induced by transient, sequence-specific, interactions with the cellular components, acting preferentially on the unfolded ensemble. This points to a model where the in vivo influence on protein behavior is case specific, determined by the individual protein's interplay with the functionally optimized "interaction landscape" of the cellular interior.
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40
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Fast-folding proteins under stress. Cell Mol Life Sci 2015; 72:4273-85. [PMID: 26231095 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-015-2002-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2015] [Revised: 07/07/2015] [Accepted: 07/24/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Proteins are subject to a variety of stresses in biological organisms, including pressure and temperature, which are the easiest stresses to simulate by molecular dynamics. We discuss the effect of pressure and thermal stress on very-fast-folding model proteins, whose in vitro folding can be fully simulated on computers and compared with experiments. We then discuss experiments that can be used to subject proteins to low- and high-temperature unfolding, as well as low- and high-pressure unfolding. Pressure and temperature are prototypical perturbations that illustrate how close many proteins are to instability, a property that cells can exploit to control protein function. We conclude by reviewing some recent in-cell experiments, and progress being made in simulating and measuring protein stability and function inside live cells.
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41
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Witten J, Ruschak A, Poterba T, Jaramillo A, Miranker AD, Jaswal SS. Mapping Protein Conformational Landscapes under Strongly Native Conditions with Hydrogen Exchange Mass Spectrometry. J Phys Chem B 2015; 119:10016-24. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.5b04528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jacob Witten
- Department
of Chemistry, Amherst College, P.O. Box 5000, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002, United States
| | - Amy Ruschak
- Department
of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, P.O. Box 208114, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-81114, United States
| | - Timothy Poterba
- Department
of Chemistry, Amherst College, P.O. Box 5000, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002, United States
| | - Alexis Jaramillo
- Department
of Chemistry, Amherst College, P.O. Box 5000, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002, United States
| | - Andrew D. Miranker
- Department
of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, P.O. Box 208114, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-81114, United States
| | - Sheila S. Jaswal
- Department
of Chemistry, Amherst College, P.O. Box 5000, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002, United States
- Department
of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, P.O. Box 208114, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-81114, United States
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42
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Single-molecule chemo-mechanical unfolding reveals multiple transition state barriers in a small single-domain protein. Nat Commun 2015; 6:6861. [PMID: 25882479 PMCID: PMC4410640 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2015] [Accepted: 03/05/2015] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
A fundamental question in protein folding is whether proteins fold through one or multiple trajectories. While most experiments indicate a single pathway, simulations suggest proteins can fold through many parallel pathways. Here, we use a combination of chemical denaturant, mechanical force and site-directed mutations to demonstrate the presence of multiple unfolding pathways in a simple, two-state folding protein. We show that these multiple pathways have structurally different transition states, and that seemingly small changes in protein sequence and environment can strongly modulate the flux between the pathways. These results suggest that in vivo, the crowded cellular environment could strongly influence the mechanisms of protein folding and unfolding. Our study resolves the apparent dichotomy between experimental and theoretical studies, and highlights the advantage of using a multipronged approach to reveal the complexities of a protein's free-energy landscape. Although most protein folding experiments can be explained by a single pathway, theoretical evidence suggests the presence of multiple pathways. Here, the authors resolve this using a combination of force, chemical denaturation and mutagenesis to modulate the flux between parallel pathways.
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43
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Abstract
When a protein unfolds in the cell, its diffusion coefficient is affected by its increased hydrodynamic radius and by interactions of exposed hydrophobic residues with the cytoplasmic matrix, including chaperones. We characterize protein diffusion by photobleaching whole cells at a single point, and imaging the concentration change of fluorescent-labeled protein throughout the cell as a function of time. As a folded reference protein we use green fluorescent protein. The resulting region-dependent anomalous diffusion is well characterized by 2-D or 3-D diffusion equations coupled to a clustering algorithm that accounts for position-dependent diffusion. Then we study diffusion of a destabilized mutant of the enzyme phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) and of its stable control inside the cell. Unlike the green fluorescent protein control's diffusion coefficient, PGK's diffusion coefficient is a non-monotonic function of temperature, signaling ‘sticking’ of the protein in the cytosol as it begins to unfold. The temperature-dependent increase and subsequent decrease of the PGK diffusion coefficient in the cytosol is greater than a simple size-scaling model suggests. Chaperone binding of the unfolding protein inside the cell is one plausible candidate for even slower diffusion of PGK, and we test the plausibility of this hypothesis experimentally, although we do not rule out other candidates.
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44
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Theillet FX, Binolfi A, Frembgen-Kesner T, Hingorani K, Sarkar M, Kyne C, Li C, Crowley PB, Gierasch L, Pielak GJ, Elcock AH, Gershenson A, Selenko P. Physicochemical properties of cells and their effects on intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). Chem Rev 2014; 114:6661-714. [PMID: 24901537 PMCID: PMC4095937 DOI: 10.1021/cr400695p] [Citation(s) in RCA: 326] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2013] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Francois-Xavier Theillet
- Department
of NMR-supported Structural Biology, In-cell NMR Laboratory, Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology (FMP Berlin), Robert-Roessle Strasse 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany
| | - Andres Binolfi
- Department
of NMR-supported Structural Biology, In-cell NMR Laboratory, Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology (FMP Berlin), Robert-Roessle Strasse 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany
| | - Tamara Frembgen-Kesner
- Department
of Biochemistry, University of Iowa, Bowen Science Building, 51 Newton
Road, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States
| | - Karan Hingorani
- Departments
of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Chemistry, Program in
Molecular & Cellular Biology, University
of Massachusetts, Amherst, 240 Thatcher Way, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States
| | - Mohona Sarkar
- Department
of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Lineberger
Comprehensive Cancer Center, University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3290, United States
| | - Ciara Kyne
- School
of Chemistry, National University of Ireland,
Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland
| | - Conggang Li
- Key Laboratory
of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, State Key Laboratory
of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Wuhan Center
for Magnetic Resonance, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, P.R. China
| | - Peter B. Crowley
- School
of Chemistry, National University of Ireland,
Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland
| | - Lila Gierasch
- Departments
of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Chemistry, Program in
Molecular & Cellular Biology, University
of Massachusetts, Amherst, 240 Thatcher Way, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States
| | - Gary J. Pielak
- Department
of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Lineberger
Comprehensive Cancer Center, University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3290, United States
| | - Adrian H. Elcock
- Department
of Biochemistry, University of Iowa, Bowen Science Building, 51 Newton
Road, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States
| | - Anne Gershenson
- Departments
of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Chemistry, Program in
Molecular & Cellular Biology, University
of Massachusetts, Amherst, 240 Thatcher Way, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, United States
| | - Philipp Selenko
- Department
of NMR-supported Structural Biology, In-cell NMR Laboratory, Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology (FMP Berlin), Robert-Roessle Strasse 10, 13125 Berlin, Germany
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45
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Affiliation(s)
- Irisbel Guzman
- Department
of Biochemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Martin Gruebele
- Department
of Chemistry, Department of Physics, Center for the Physics of Living
Cells, and Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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