1
|
Lipsh-Sokolik R, Fleishman SJ. Addressing epistasis in the design of protein function. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2314999121. [PMID: 39133844 PMCID: PMC11348311 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2314999121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Mutations in protein active sites can dramatically improve function. The active site, however, is densely packed and extremely sensitive to mutations. Therefore, some mutations may only be tolerated in combination with others in a phenomenon known as epistasis. Epistasis reduces the likelihood of obtaining improved functional variants and dramatically slows natural and lab evolutionary processes. Research has shed light on the molecular origins of epistasis and its role in shaping evolutionary trajectories and outcomes. In addition, sequence- and AI-based strategies that infer epistatic relationships from mutational patterns in natural or experimental evolution data have been used to design functional protein variants. In recent years, combinations of such approaches and atomistic design calculations have successfully predicted highly functional combinatorial mutations in active sites. These were used to design thousands of functional active-site variants, demonstrating that, while our understanding of epistasis remains incomplete, some of the determinants that are critical for accurate design are now sufficiently understood. We conclude that the space of active-site variants that has been explored by evolution may be expanded dramatically to enhance natural activities or discover new ones. Furthermore, design opens the way to systematically exploring sequence and structure space and mutational impacts on function, deepening our understanding and control over protein activity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rosalie Lipsh-Sokolik
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
| | - Sarel J Fleishman
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Crandall JG, Zhou X, Rokas A, Hittinger CT. Specialization restricts the evolutionary paths available to yeast sugar transporters. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.07.22.604696. [PMID: 39091816 PMCID: PMC11291069 DOI: 10.1101/2024.07.22.604696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/04/2024]
Abstract
Functional innovation at the protein level is a key source of evolutionary novelties. The constraints on functional innovations are likely to be highly specific in different proteins, which are shaped by their unique histories and the extent of global epistasis that arises from their structures and biochemistries. These contextual nuances in the sequence-function relationship have implications both for a basic understanding of the evolutionary process and for engineering proteins with desirable properties. Here, we have investigated the molecular basis of novel function in a model member of an ancient, conserved, and biotechnologically relevant protein family. These Major Facilitator Superfamily sugar porters are a functionally diverse group of proteins that are thought to be highly plastic and evolvable. By dissecting a recent evolutionary innovation in an α-glucoside transporter from the yeast Saccharomyces eubayanus, we show that the ability to transport a novel substrate requires high-order interactions between many protein regions and numerous specific residues proximal to the transport channel. To reconcile the functional diversity of this family with the constrained evolution of this model protein, we generated new, state-of-the-art genome annotations for 332 Saccharomycotina yeast species spanning approximately 400 million years of evolution. By integrating phylogenetic and phenotypic analyses across these species, we show that the model yeast α-glucoside transporters likely evolved from a multifunctional ancestor and became subfunctionalized. The accumulation of additive and epistatic substitutions likely entrenched this subfunction, which made the simultaneous acquisition of multiple interacting substitutions the only reasonably accessible path to novelty.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Johnathan G. Crandall
- Laboratory of Genetics, J. F. Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, Center for Genomic Science Innovation, DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53726, USA
| | - Xiaofan Zhou
- Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Microbial Signals and Disease Control, Integrative Microbiology Research Center, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
- Department of Biological Sciences and Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Antonis Rokas
- Department of Biological Sciences and Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Chris Todd Hittinger
- Laboratory of Genetics, J. F. Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, Center for Genomic Science Innovation, DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53726, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Chisholm LO, Orlandi KN, Phillips SR, Shavlik MJ, Harms MJ. Ancestral Reconstruction and the Evolution of Protein Energy Landscapes. Annu Rev Biophys 2024; 53:127-146. [PMID: 38134334 PMCID: PMC11192866 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-030722-125440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
A protein's sequence determines its conformational energy landscape. This, in turn, determines the protein's function. Understanding the evolution of new protein functions therefore requires understanding how mutations alter the protein energy landscape. Ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) has proven a valuable tool for tackling this problem. In ASR, one phylogenetically infers the sequences of ancient proteins, allowing characterization of their properties. When coupled to biophysical, biochemical, and functional characterization, ASR can reveal how historical mutations altered the energy landscape of ancient proteins, allowing the evolution of enzyme activity, altered conformations, binding specificity, oligomerization, and many other protein features. In this article, we review how ASR studies have been used to dissect the evolution of energy landscapes. We also discuss ASR studies that reveal how energy landscapes have shaped protein evolution. Finally, we propose that thinking about evolution from the perspective of an energy landscape can improve how we approach and interpret ASR studies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lauren O Chisholm
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA;
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
| | - Kona N Orlandi
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
| | - Sophia R Phillips
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA;
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
| | - Michael J Shavlik
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
| | - Michael J Harms
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA;
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Metzger BPH, Park Y, Starr TN, Thornton JW. Epistasis facilitates functional evolution in an ancient transcription factor. eLife 2024; 12:RP88737. [PMID: 38767330 PMCID: PMC11105156 DOI: 10.7554/elife.88737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2024] Open
Abstract
A protein's genetic architecture - the set of causal rules by which its sequence produces its functions - also determines its possible evolutionary trajectories. Prior research has proposed that the genetic architecture of proteins is very complex, with pervasive epistatic interactions that constrain evolution and make function difficult to predict from sequence. Most of this work has analyzed only the direct paths between two proteins of interest - excluding the vast majority of possible genotypes and evolutionary trajectories - and has considered only a single protein function, leaving unaddressed the genetic architecture of functional specificity and its impact on the evolution of new functions. Here, we develop a new method based on ordinal logistic regression to directly characterize the global genetic determinants of multiple protein functions from 20-state combinatorial deep mutational scanning (DMS) experiments. We use it to dissect the genetic architecture and evolution of a transcription factor's specificity for DNA, using data from a combinatorial DMS of an ancient steroid hormone receptor's capacity to activate transcription from two biologically relevant DNA elements. We show that the genetic architecture of DNA recognition consists of a dense set of main and pairwise effects that involve virtually every possible amino acid state in the protein-DNA interface, but higher-order epistasis plays only a tiny role. Pairwise interactions enlarge the set of functional sequences and are the primary determinants of specificity for different DNA elements. They also massively expand the number of opportunities for single-residue mutations to switch specificity from one DNA target to another. By bringing variants with different functions close together in sequence space, pairwise epistasis therefore facilitates rather than constrains the evolution of new functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Brian PH Metzger
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of ChicagoChicagoUnited States
| | - Yeonwoo Park
- Program in Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology, University of ChicagoChicagoUnited States
| | - Tyler N Starr
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, University of ChicagoChicagoUnited States
| | - Joseph W Thornton
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of ChicagoChicagoUnited States
- Department of Human Genetics, University of ChicagoChicagoUnited States
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Raisinghani N, Alshahrani M, Gupta G, Xiao S, Tao P, Verkhivker G. AlphaFold2 Predictions of Conformational Ensembles and Atomistic Simulations of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike XBB Lineages Reveal Epistatic Couplings between Convergent Mutational Hotspots that Control ACE2 Affinity. J Phys Chem B 2024; 128:4696-4715. [PMID: 38696745 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c01341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2024]
Abstract
In this study, we combined AlphaFold-based atomistic structural modeling, microsecond molecular simulations, mutational profiling, and network analysis to characterize binding mechanisms of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with the host receptor ACE2 for a series of Omicron XBB variants including XBB.1.5, XBB.1.5+L455F, XBB.1.5+F456L, and XBB.1.5+L455F+F456L. AlphaFold-based structural and dynamic modeling of SARS-CoV-2 Spike XBB lineages can accurately predict the experimental structures and characterize conformational ensembles of the spike protein complexes with the ACE2. Microsecond molecular dynamics simulations identified important differences in the conformational landscapes and equilibrium ensembles of the XBB variants, suggesting that combining AlphaFold predictions of multiple conformations with molecular dynamics simulations can provide a complementary approach for the characterization of functional protein states and binding mechanisms. Using the ensemble-based mutational profiling of protein residues and physics-based rigorous calculations of binding affinities, we identified binding energy hotspots and characterized the molecular basis underlying epistatic couplings between convergent mutational hotspots. Consistent with the experiments, the results revealed the mediating role of the Q493 hotspot in the synchronization of epistatic couplings between L455F and F456L mutations, providing a quantitative insight into the energetic determinants underlying binding differences between XBB lineages. We also proposed a network-based perturbation approach for mutational profiling of allosteric communications and uncovered the important relationships between allosteric centers mediating long-range communication and binding hotspots of epistatic couplings. The results of this study support a mechanism in which the binding mechanisms of the XBB variants may be determined by epistatic effects between convergent evolutionary hotspots that control ACE2 binding.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nishank Raisinghani
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, California 92866, United States
| | - Mohammed Alshahrani
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, California 92866, United States
| | - Grace Gupta
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, California 92866, United States
| | - Sian Xiao
- Department of Chemistry, Center for Research Computing, Center for Drug Discovery, Design, and Delivery (CD4), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, United States
| | - Peng Tao
- Department of Chemistry, Center for Research Computing, Center for Drug Discovery, Design, and Delivery (CD4), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, United States
| | - Gennady Verkhivker
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, California 92866, United States
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Irvine, California 92618, United States
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Ma C, Luo Y, Zhang C, Cheng C, Hua N, Liu X, Wu J, Qin L, Yu P, Luo J, Yang F, Jiang LH, Zhang G, Yang W. Evolutionary trajectory of TRPM2 channel activation by adenosine diphosphate ribose and calcium. Sci Bull (Beijing) 2024:S2095-9273(24)00301-3. [PMID: 38734586 DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2024.04.052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2023] [Revised: 02/07/2024] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024]
Abstract
Ion channel activation upon ligand gating triggers a myriad of biological events and, therefore, evolution of ligand gating mechanism is of fundamental importance. TRPM2, a typical ancient ion channel, is activated by adenosine diphosphate ribose (ADPR) and calcium and its activation has evolved from a simple mode in invertebrates to a more complex one in vertebrates, but the evolutionary process is still unknown. Molecular evolutionary analysis of TRPM2s from more than 280 different animal species has revealed that, the C-terminal NUDT9-H domain has evolved from an enzyme to a ligand binding site for activation, while the N-terminal MHR domain maintains a conserved ligand binding site. Calcium gating pattern has also evolved, from one Ca2+-binding site as in sea anemones to three sites as in human. Importantly, we identified a new group represented by olTRPM2, which has a novel gating mode and fills the missing link of the channel gating evolution. We conclude that the TRPM2 ligand binding or activation mode evolved through at least three identifiable stages in the past billion years from simple to complicated and coordinated. Such findings benefit the evolutionary investigations of other channels and proteins.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cheng Ma
- Department of Biophysics and Department of Neurosurgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China; Protein Facility, Core Facilities, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Yanping Luo
- Department of Biophysics and Department of Neurosurgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Congyi Zhang
- Department of Biophysics and Department of Neurosurgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Cheng Cheng
- Department of Biophysics and Department of Neurosurgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Ning Hua
- Department of Biophysics and Department of Neurosurgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Xiaocao Liu
- Department of Biophysics and Department of Neurosurgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Jianan Wu
- Department of Biophysics and Department of Neurosurgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Luying Qin
- Department of Biophysics and Department of Neurosurgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Peilin Yu
- Department of Toxicology, and Department of Medical Oncology of The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Jianhong Luo
- Department of Neurobiology, Affiliated Mental Health Center, College of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Fan Yang
- Department of Biophysics, and Kidney Disease Center of The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Lin-Hua Jiang
- Sino-UK Joint Laboratory of Brain Function and Injury of Henan Province, and Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453004, China; Henan Collaborative Innovation Center of Prevention and Treatment of Mental Disorder, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453004, China
| | - Guojie Zhang
- Evolutionary & Organismal Biology Research Center, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Wei Yang
- Department of Biophysics and Department of Neurosurgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China; GuiZhou University Medical College, Guiyang 550025, China.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Meger AT, Spence MA, Sandhu M, Matthews D, Chen J, Jackson CJ, Raman S. Rugged fitness landscapes minimize promiscuity in the evolution of transcriptional repressors. Cell Syst 2024; 15:374-387.e6. [PMID: 38537640 PMCID: PMC11299162 DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2024.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2023] [Revised: 09/08/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
How a protein's function influences the shape of its fitness landscape, smooth or rugged, is a fundamental question in evolutionary biochemistry. Smooth landscapes arise when incremental mutational steps lead to a progressive change in function, as commonly seen in enzymes and binding proteins. On the other hand, rugged landscapes are poorly understood because of the inherent unpredictability of how sequence changes affect function. Here, we experimentally characterize the entire sequence phylogeny, comprising 1,158 extant and ancestral sequences, of the DNA-binding domain (DBD) of the LacI/GalR transcriptional repressor family. Our analysis revealed an extremely rugged landscape with rapid switching of specificity, even between adjacent nodes. Further, the ruggedness arises due to the necessity of the repressor to simultaneously evolve specificity for asymmetric operators and disfavors potentially adverse regulatory crosstalk. Our study provides fundamental insight into evolutionary, molecular, and biophysical rules of genetic regulation through the lens of fitness landscapes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anthony T Meger
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Matthew A Spence
- Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Mahakaran Sandhu
- Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Dana Matthews
- Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Jackie Chen
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Colin J Jackson
- Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide & Protein Science, Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Synthetic Biology, Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
| | - Srivatsan Raman
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA; Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA; Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Raisinghani N, Alshahrani M, Gupta G, Verkhivker G. Ensemble-Based Mutational Profiling and Network Analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Omicron XBB Lineages for Interactions with the ACE2 Receptor and Antibodies: Cooperation of Binding Hotspots in Mediating Epistatic Couplings Underlies Binding Mechanism and Immune Escape. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:4281. [PMID: 38673865 PMCID: PMC11049863 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25084281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2024] [Revised: 04/09/2024] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
In this study, we performed a computational study of binding mechanisms for the SARS-CoV-2 spike Omicron XBB lineages with the host cell receptor ACE2 and a panel of diverse class one antibodies. The central objective of this investigation was to examine the molecular factors underlying epistatic couplings among convergent evolution hotspots that enable optimal balancing of ACE2 binding and antibody evasion for Omicron variants BA.1, BA2, BA.3, BA.4/BA.5, BQ.1.1, XBB.1, XBB.1.5, and XBB.1.5 + L455F/F456L. By combining evolutionary analysis, molecular dynamics simulations, and ensemble-based mutational scanning of spike protein residues in complexes with ACE2, we identified structural stability and binding affinity hotspots that are consistent with the results of biochemical studies. In agreement with the results of deep mutational scanning experiments, our quantitative analysis correctly reproduced strong and variant-specific epistatic effects in the XBB.1.5 and BA.2 variants. It was shown that Y453W and F456L mutations can enhance ACE2 binding when coupled with Q493 in XBB.1.5, while these mutations become destabilized when coupled with the R493 position in the BA.2 variant. The results provided a molecular rationale of the epistatic mechanism in Omicron variants, showing a central role of the Q493/R493 hotspot in modulating epistatic couplings between convergent mutational sites L455F and F456L in XBB lineages. The results of mutational scanning and binding analysis of the Omicron XBB spike variants with ACE2 receptors and a panel of class one antibodies provide a quantitative rationale for the experimental evidence that epistatic interactions of the physically proximal binding hotspots Y501, R498, Q493, L455F, and F456L can determine strong ACE2 binding, while convergent mutational sites F456L and F486P are instrumental in mediating broad antibody resistance. The study supports a mechanism in which the impact on ACE2 binding affinity is mediated through a small group of universal binding hotspots, while the effect of immune evasion could be more variant-dependent and modulated by convergent mutational sites in the conformationally adaptable spike regions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nishank Raisinghani
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (N.R.); (M.A.); (G.G.)
| | - Mohammed Alshahrani
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (N.R.); (M.A.); (G.G.)
| | - Grace Gupta
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (N.R.); (M.A.); (G.G.)
| | - Gennady Verkhivker
- Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (N.R.); (M.A.); (G.G.)
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Seaton WB, Burke SJ, Fisch AR, Schilletter WA, Beck MGA, Cassagne GA, Harvey I, Fontenot MS, Collier JJ, Campagna SR. Channel Expansion in the Ligand-Binding Domain of the Glucocorticoid Receptor Contributes to the Activity of Highly Potent Glucocorticoid Analogues. Molecules 2024; 29:1546. [PMID: 38611825 PMCID: PMC11013598 DOI: 10.3390/molecules29071546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2024] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Glucocorticoids (GCs) act through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and are commonly used as anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant medications. Chronic GC use has been linked with unwanted complications such as steroid-induced diabetes mellitus (SIDM), although the mechanisms for these effects are not completely understood. Modification of six GC parent molecules with 2-mercaptobenzothiazole resulted in consistently less promoter activity in transcriptional activation assays using a 3xGRE reporter construct while constantly reducing inflammatory pathway activity. The most selective candidate, DX1, demonstrated a significant reduction (87%) in transactivation compared to commercially available dexamethasone. DX1 also maintained 90% of the anti-inflammatory potential of dexamethasone while simultaneously displaying a reduced toxicity profile. Additionally, two novel and highly potent compounds, DX4 and PN4, were developed and shown to elicit similar mRNA expression at attomolar concentrations that dexamethasone exhibits at nanomolar dosages. To further explain these results, Molecular Dynamic (MD) simulations were performed to examine structural changes in the ligand-binding domain of the glucocorticoid receptor in response to docking with the top ligands. Differing interactions with the transcriptional activation function 2 (AF-2) region of the GR may be responsible for lower transactivation capacity in DX1. DX4 and PN4 lose contact with Arg611 due to a key interaction changing from a stronger hydrophilic to a weaker hydrophobic one, which leads to the formation of an unoccupied channel at the location of the deacylcortivazol (DAC)-expanded binding pocket. These findings provide insights into the structure-function relationships important for regulating anti-inflammatory activity, which has implications for clinical utility.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wesley B. Seaton
- Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA; (W.B.S.)
| | - Susan J. Burke
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA (J.J.C.)
| | - Alexander R. Fisch
- Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA; (W.B.S.)
| | | | - Mary Grace A. Beck
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA (J.J.C.)
| | | | - Innocence Harvey
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA (J.J.C.)
| | - Molly S. Fontenot
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA (J.J.C.)
| | - J. Jason Collier
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA (J.J.C.)
| | - Shawn R. Campagna
- Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA; (W.B.S.)
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Nguyen ANT, Gorrell R, Kwok T, Connallon T, McDonald MJ. Horizontal gene transfer facilitates the molecular reverse-evolution of antibiotic sensitivity in experimental populations of H. pylori. Nat Ecol Evol 2024; 8:315-324. [PMID: 38177692 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02269-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
Reversing the evolution of traits harmful to humans, such as antimicrobial resistance, is a key ambition of applied evolutionary biology. A major impediment to reverse evolution is the relatively low spontaneous mutation rates that revert evolved genotypes back to their ancestral state. However, the repeated re-introduction of ancestral alleles by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) could make reverse evolution likely. Here we evolve populations of an antibiotic-resistant strain of Helicobacter pylori in growth conditions without antibiotics while introducing an ancestral antibiotic-sensitive allele by HGT. We evaluate reverse evolution using DNA sequencing and find that HGT facilitates the molecular reverse evolution of the antibiotic resistance allele, and that selection for high rates of HGT drives the evolution of increased HGT rates in low-HGT treatment populations. Finally, we use a theoretical model and carry out simulations to infer how the fitness costs of antibiotic resistance, rates of HGT and effects of genetic drift interact to determine the probability and predictability of reverse evolution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- An N T Nguyen
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- Centre to Impact AMR, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Rebecca Gorrell
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Terry Kwok
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- Biomedical Discovery Institute, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Tim Connallon
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Michael J McDonald
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
- Centre to Impact AMR, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Catania EM, Dubs NM, Soumen S, Barkman TJ. The Mutational Road not Taken: Using Ancestral Sequence Resurrection to Evaluate the Evolution of Plant Enzyme Substrate Preferences. Genome Biol Evol 2024; 16:evae016. [PMID: 38290535 PMCID: PMC10853004 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evae016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/01/2024] Open
Abstract
We investigated the flowering plant salicylic acid methyl transferase (SAMT) enzyme lineage to understand the evolution of substrate preference change. Previous studies indicated that a single amino acid replacement to the SAMT active site (H150M) was sufficient to change ancestral enzyme substrate preference from benzoic acid to the structurally similar substrate, salicylic acid (SA). Yet, subsequent studies have shown that the H150M function-changing replacement did not likely occur during the historical episode of enzymatic divergence studied. Therefore, we reinvestigated the origin of SA methylation preference here and additionally assessed the extent to which epistasis may act to limit mutational paths. We found that the SAMT lineage of enzymes acquired preference to methylate SA from an ancestor that preferred to methylate benzoic acid as previously reported. In contrast, we found that a different amino acid replacement, Y267Q, was sufficient to change substrate preference with others providing small positive-magnitude epistatic improvements. We show that the kinetic basis for the ancestral enzymatic change in substate preference by Y267Q appears to be due to both a reduced specificity constant, kcat/KM, for benzoic acid and an improvement in KM for SA. Therefore, this lineage of enzymes appears to have had multiple mutational paths available to achieve the same evolutionary divergence. While the reasons remain unclear for why one path was taken, and the other was not, the mutational distance between ancestral and descendant codons may be a factor.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Emily M Catania
- Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA
| | - Nicole M Dubs
- Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA
| | - Shejal Soumen
- Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA
| | - Todd J Barkman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Douglas J, Bouckaert R, Carter CW, Wills P. Enzymic recognition of amino acids drove the evolution of primordial genetic codes. Nucleic Acids Res 2024; 52:558-571. [PMID: 38048305 PMCID: PMC10810186 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad1160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Revised: 10/28/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023] Open
Abstract
How genetic information gained its exquisite control over chemical processes needed to build living cells remains an enigma. Today, the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (AARS) execute the genetic codes in all living systems. But how did the AARS that emerged over three billion years ago as low-specificity, protozymic forms then spawn the full range of highly-specific enzymes that distinguish between 22 diverse amino acids? A phylogenetic reconstruction of extant AARS genes, enhanced by analysing modular acquisitions, reveals six AARS with distinct bacterial, archaeal, eukaryotic, or organellar clades, resulting in a total of 36 families of AARS catalytic domains. Small structural modules that differentiate one AARS family from another played pivotal roles in discriminating between amino acid side chains, thereby expanding the genetic code and refining its precision. The resulting model shows a tendency for less elaborate enzymes, with simpler catalytic domains, to activate amino acids that were not synthesised until later in the evolution of the code. The most probable evolutionary route for an emergent amino acid type to establish a place in the code was by recruiting older, less specific AARS, rather than adapting contemporary lineages. This process, retrofunctionalisation, differs from previously described mechanisms through which amino acids would enter the code.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jordan Douglas
- Department of Physics, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
- Centre for Computational Evolution, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Remco Bouckaert
- Centre for Computational Evolution, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
- School of Computer Science, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Charles W Carter
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
| | - Peter R Wills
- Department of Physics, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
- Centre for Computational Evolution, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Hayes RL, Nixon CF, Marqusee S, Brooks CL. Selection pressures on evolution of ribonuclease H explored with rigorous free-energy-based design. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2312029121. [PMID: 38194446 PMCID: PMC10801872 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2312029121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding natural protein evolution and designing novel proteins are motivating interest in development of high-throughput methods to explore large sequence spaces. In this work, we demonstrate the application of multisite λ dynamics (MSλD), a rigorous free energy simulation method, and chemical denaturation experiments to quantify evolutionary selection pressure from sequence-stability relationships and to address questions of design. This study examines a mesophilic phylogenetic clade of ribonuclease H (RNase H), furthering its extensive characterization in earlier studies, focusing on E. coli RNase H (ecRNH) and a more stable consensus sequence (AncCcons) differing at 15 positions. The stabilities of 32,768 chimeras between these two sequences were computed using the MSλD framework. The most stable and least stable chimeras were predicted and tested along with several other sequences, revealing a designed chimera with approximately the same stability increase as AncCcons, but requiring only half the mutations. Comparing the computed stabilities with experiment for 12 sequences reveals a Pearson correlation of 0.86 and root mean squared error of 1.18 kcal/mol, an unprecedented level of accuracy well beyond less rigorous computational design methods. We then quantified selection pressure using a simple evolutionary model in which sequences are selected according to the Boltzmann factor of their stability. Selection temperatures from 110 to 168 K are estimated in three ways by comparing experimental and computational results to evolutionary models. These estimates indicate selection pressure is high, which has implications for evolutionary dynamics and for the accuracy required for design, and suggests accurate high-throughput computational methods like MSλD may enable more effective protein design.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ryan L. Hayes
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA92697
- Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109
| | - Charlotte F. Nixon
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
| | - Susan Marqusee
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA94720
| | - Charles L. Brooks
- Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109
- Biophysics Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Fujikawa T, Sasamoto T, Zhao F, Yamagishi A, Akanuma S. Comparative analysis of reconstructed ancestral proteins with their extant counterparts suggests primitive life had an alkaline habitat. Sci Rep 2024; 14:398. [PMID: 38172176 PMCID: PMC10764835 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-50828-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
To understand the origin and early evolution of life it is crucial to establish characteristics of the primordial environment that facilitated the emergence and evolution of life. One important environmental factor is the pH of the primordial environment. Here, we assessed the pH-dependent thermal stabilities of previously reconstructed ancestral nucleoside diphosphate kinases and ribosomal protein uS8s. The selected proteins were likely to be present in ancient organisms such as the last common ancestor of bacteria and that of archaea. We also assessed the thermal stability of homologous proteins from extant acidophilic, neutralophilic, and alkaliphilic microorganisms as a function of pH. Our results indicate that the reconstructed ancestral proteins are more akin to those of extant alkaliphilic bacteria, which display greater stability under alkaline conditions. These findings suggest that the common ancestors of bacterial and archaeal species thrived in an alkaline environment. Moreover, we demonstrate the reconstruction method employed in this study is a valuable technique for generating alkali-tolerant proteins that can be used in a variety of biotechnological and environmental applications.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Takayuki Fujikawa
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Takahiro Sasamoto
- Department of Applied Life Science, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, 1432-1 Horinouchi, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392, Japan
| | - Fangzheng Zhao
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Akihiko Yamagishi
- Department of Applied Life Science, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, 1432-1 Horinouchi, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392, Japan
| | - Satoshi Akanuma
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan.
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Buda K, Miton CM, Tokuriki N. Pervasive epistasis exposes intramolecular networks in adaptive enzyme evolution. Nat Commun 2023; 14:8508. [PMID: 38129396 PMCID: PMC10739712 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44333-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/08/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Enzyme evolution is characterized by constant alterations of the intramolecular residue networks supporting their functions. The rewiring of these network interactions can give rise to epistasis. As mutations accumulate, the epistasis observed across diverse genotypes may appear idiosyncratic, that is, exhibit unique effects in different genetic backgrounds. Here, we unveil a quantitative picture of the prevalence and patterns of epistasis in enzyme evolution by analyzing 41 fitness landscapes generated from seven enzymes. We show that >94% of all mutational and epistatic effects appear highly idiosyncratic, which greatly distorted the functional prediction of the evolved enzymes. By examining seemingly idiosyncratic changes in epistasis along adaptive trajectories, we expose several instances of higher-order, intramolecular rewiring. Using complementary structural data, we outline putative molecular mechanisms explaining higher-order epistasis along two enzyme trajectories. Our work emphasizes the prevalence of epistasis and provides an approach to exploring this phenomenon through a molecular lens.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Karol Buda
- Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Charlotte M Miton
- Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Nobuhiko Tokuriki
- Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Lynch VJ, Wagner GP. Cooption of polyalanine tract into a repressor domain in the mammalian transcription factor HoxA11. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY. PART B, MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTION 2023; 340:486-495. [PMID: 34125492 DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.23063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2020] [Revised: 04/21/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
An enduring problem in biology is explaining how novel functions of genes originated and how those functions diverge between species. Despite detailed studies on the functional evolution of a few proteins, the molecular mechanisms by which protein functions have evolved are almost entirely unknown. Here, we show that a polyalanine tract in the homeodomain transcription factor HoxA11 arose in the stem-lineage of mammals and functions as an autonomous repressor module by physically interacting with the PAH domains of SIN3 proteins. These results suggest that long polyalanine tracts, which are common in transcription factors and often associated with disease, may tend to function as repressor domains and can contribute to the diversification of transcription factor functions despite the deleterious consequences of polyalanine tract expansion.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vincent J Lynch
- Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA
| | - Gunter P Wagner
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Yale Systems Biology Institute, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Ogbunugafor CB, Guerrero RF, Miller-Dickson MD, Shakhnovich EI, Shoulders MD. Epistasis and pleiotropy shape biophysical protein subspaces associated with drug resistance. Phys Rev E 2023; 108:054408. [PMID: 38115433 PMCID: PMC10935598 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.108.054408] [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] [Received: 04/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Protein space is a rich analogy for genotype-phenotype maps, where amino acid sequence is organized into a high-dimensional space that highlights the connectivity between protein variants. It is a useful abstraction for understanding the process of evolution, and for efforts to engineer proteins towards desirable phenotypes. Few mentions of protein space consider how protein phenotypes can be described in terms of their biophysical components, nor do they rigorously interrogate how forces like epistasis-describing the nonlinear interaction between mutations and their phenotypic consequences-manifest across these components. In this study, we deconstruct a low-dimensional protein space of a bacterial enzyme (dihydrofolate reductase; DHFR) into "subspaces" corresponding to a set of kinetic and thermodynamic traits [k_{cat}, K_{M}, K_{i}, and T_{m} (melting temperature)]. We then examine how combinations of three mutations (eight alleles in total) display pleiotropy, or unique effects on individual subspace traits. We examine protein spaces across three orthologous DHFR enzymes (Escherichia coli, Listeria grayi, and Chlamydia muridarum), adding a genotypic context dimension through which epistasis occurs across subspaces. In doing so, we reveal that protein space is a deceptively complex notion, and that future applications to bioengineering should consider how interactions between amino acid substitutions manifest across different phenotypic subspaces.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- C. Brandon Ogbunugafor
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
| | - Rafael F. Guerrero
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
| | | | - Eugene I. Shakhnovich
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Matthew D. Shoulders
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Ogbunugafor CB. Mutations that enhance evolvability may open doors to faster adaptation. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6310. [PMID: 37813831 PMCID: PMC10562388 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41914-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- C Brandon Ogbunugafor
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Tang GQ, Elder JJH, Douglas J, Carter CW. Domain acquisition by class I aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase urzymes coordinated the catalytic functions of HVGH and KMSKS motifs. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:8070-8084. [PMID: 37470821 PMCID: PMC10450160 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LeuRS) is a Class I aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRS) that synthesizes leucyl-tRNAleu for codon-directed protein synthesis. Two signature sequences, HxGH and KMSKS help stabilize transition-states for amino acid activation and tRNA aminoacylation by all Class I aaRS. Separate alanine mutants of each signature, together with the double mutant, behave in opposite ways in Pyrococcus horikoshii LeuRS and the 129-residue urzyme ancestral model generated from it (LeuAC). Free energy coupling terms, Δ(ΔG‡), for both reactions are large and favourable for LeuRS, but unfavourable for LeuAC. Single turnover assays with 32Pα-ATP show correspondingly different internal products. These results implicate domain motion in catalysis by full-length LeuRS. The distributed thermodynamic cycle of mutational changes authenticates LeuAC urzyme catalysis far more convincingly than do single point mutations. Most importantly, the evolutionary gain of function induced by acquiring the anticodon-binding (ABD) and multiple insertion modules in the catalytic domain appears to be to coordinate the catalytic function of the HxGH and KMSKS signature sequences. The implication that backbone elements of secondary structures achieve a major portion of the overall transition-state stabilization by LeuAC is also consistent with coevolution of the genetic code and metabolic pathways necessary to produce histidine and lysine sidechains.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guo Qing Tang
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7260, USA
| | - Jessica J H Elder
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7260, USA
| | - Jordan Douglas
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7260, USA
- Department of Physics, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Charles W Carter
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7260, USA
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Deploey N, Van Moortel L, Rogatsky I, Peelman F, De Bosscher K. The Biologist's Guide to the Glucocorticoid Receptor's Structure. Cells 2023; 12:1636. [PMID: 37371105 PMCID: PMC10297449 DOI: 10.3390/cells12121636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Revised: 06/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The glucocorticoid receptor α (GRα) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily and functions as a glucocorticoid (GC)-responsive transcription factor. GR can halt inflammation and kill off cancer cells, thus explaining the widespread use of glucocorticoids in the clinic. However, side effects and therapy resistance limit GR's therapeutic potential, emphasizing the importance of resolving all of GR's context-specific action mechanisms. Fortunately, the understanding of GR structure, conformation, and stoichiometry in the different GR-controlled biological pathways is now gradually increasing. This information will be crucial to close knowledge gaps on GR function. In this review, we focus on the various domains and mechanisms of action of GR, all from a structural perspective.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nick Deploey
- VIB Center for Medical Biotechnology, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium; (N.D.); (L.V.M.); (F.P.)
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Translational Nuclear Receptor Research (TNRR) Laboratory, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Laura Van Moortel
- VIB Center for Medical Biotechnology, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium; (N.D.); (L.V.M.); (F.P.)
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Translational Nuclear Receptor Research (TNRR) Laboratory, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Inez Rogatsky
- Hospital for Special Surgery Research Institute, The David Z. Rosensweig Genomics Center, New York, NY 10021, USA;
- Graduate Program in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Frank Peelman
- VIB Center for Medical Biotechnology, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium; (N.D.); (L.V.M.); (F.P.)
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Karolien De Bosscher
- VIB Center for Medical Biotechnology, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium; (N.D.); (L.V.M.); (F.P.)
- Department of Biomolecular Medicine, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Translational Nuclear Receptor Research (TNRR) Laboratory, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Rabitz H, Russell B, Ho TS. The Surprising Ease of Finding Optimal Solutions for Controlling Nonlinear Phenomena in Quantum and Classical Complex Systems. J Phys Chem A 2023; 127:4224-4236. [PMID: 37142303 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.3c01896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
This Perspective addresses the often observed surprising ease of achieving optimal control of nonlinear phenomena in quantum and classical complex systems. The circumstances involved are wide-ranging, with scenarios including manipulation of atomic scale processes, maximization of chemical and material properties or synthesis yields, Nature's optimization of species' populations by natural selection, and directed evolution. Natural evolution will mainly be discussed in terms of laboratory experiments with microorganisms, and the field is also distinct from the other domains where a scientist specifies the goal(s) and oversees the control process. We use the word "control" in reference to all of the available variables, regardless of the circumstance. The empirical observations on the ease of achieving at least good, if not excellent, control in diverse domains of science raise the question of why this occurs despite the generally inherent complexity of the systems in each scenario. The key to addressing the question lies in examining the associated control landscape, which is defined as the optimization objective as a function of the control variables that can be as diverse as the phenomena under consideration. Controls may range from laser pulses, chemical reagents, chemical processing conditions, out to nucleic acids in the genome and more. This Perspective presents a conjecture, based on present findings, that the systematics of readily finding good outcomes from controlled phenomena may be unified through consideration of control landscapes with the same common set of three underlying assumptions─the existence of an optimal solution, the ability for local movement on the landscape, and the availability of sufficient control resources─whose validity needs assessment in each scenario. In practice, many cases permit using myopic gradient-like algorithms while other circumstances utilize algorithms having some elements of stochasticity or introduced noise, depending on whether the landscape is locally smooth or rough. The overarching observation is that only relatively short searches are required despite the common high dimensionality of the available controls in typical scenarios.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Herschel Rabitz
- Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States
| | - Benjamin Russell
- Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States
| | - Tak-San Ho
- Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Ogbunugafor CB, Guerrero RF, Shakhnovich EI, Shoulders MD. Epistasis meets pleiotropy in shaping biophysical protein subspaces associated with antimicrobial resistance. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.04.09.535490. [PMID: 37066177 PMCID: PMC10104174 DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.09.535490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/18/2023]
Abstract
Protein space is a rich analogy for genotype-phenotype maps, where amino acid sequence is organized into a high-dimensional space that highlights the connectivity between protein variants. It is a useful abstraction for understanding the process of evolution, and for efforts to engineer proteins towards desirable phenotypes. Few framings of protein space consider how higher-level protein phenotypes can be described in terms of their biophysical dimensions, nor do they rigorously interrogate how forces like epistasis-describing the nonlinear interaction between mutations and their phenotypic consequences-manifest across these dimensions. In this study, we deconstruct a low-dimensional protein space of a bacterial enzyme (dihydrofolate reductase; DHFR) into "subspaces" corresponding to a set of kinetic and thermodynamic traits [(kcat, KM, Ki, and Tm (melting temperature)]. We then examine how three mutations (eight alleles in total) display pleiotropy in their interactions across these subspaces. We extend this approach to examine protein spaces across three orthologous DHFR enzymes (Escherichia coli, Listeria grayi, and Chlamydia muridarum), adding a genotypic context dimension through which epistasis occurs across subspaces. In doing so, we reveal that protein space is a deceptively complex notion, and that the process of protein evolution and engineering should consider how interactions between amino acid substitutions manifest across different phenotypic subspaces.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- C. Brandon Ogbunugafor
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM
| | - Rafael F. Guerrero
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
23
|
Lai HY, Yu YH, Jhou YT, Liao CW, Leu JY. Multiple intermolecular interactions facilitate rapid evolution of essential genes. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:745-755. [PMID: 36997737 PMCID: PMC10172115 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02029-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 04/01/2023]
Abstract
Essential genes are commonly assumed to function in basic cellular processes and to change slowly. However, it remains unclear whether all essential genes are similarly conserved or if their evolutionary rates can be accelerated by specific factors. To address these questions, we replaced 86 essential genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with orthologues from four other species that diverged from S. cerevisiae about 50, 100, 270 and 420 Myr ago. We identify a group of fast-evolving genes that often encode subunits of large protein complexes, including anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C). Incompatibility of fast-evolving genes is rescued by simultaneously replacing interacting components, suggesting it is caused by protein co-evolution. Detailed investigation of APC/C further revealed that co-evolution involves not only primary interacting proteins but also secondary ones, suggesting the evolutionary impact of epistasis. Multiple intermolecular interactions in protein complexes may provide a microenvironment facilitating rapid evolution of their subunits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Huei-Yi Lai
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yen-Hsin Yu
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Ting Jhou
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chia-Wei Liao
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Jun-Yi Leu
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Zhao F, Akanuma S. Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction of the Ribosomal Protein uS8 and Reduction of Amino Acid Usage to a Smaller Alphabet. J Mol Evol 2023; 91:10-23. [PMID: 36396786 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-022-10078-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the origin and early evolution of proteins is important for unveiling how the RNA world developed into an RNA-protein world. Because the composition of organic molecules in the Earth's primitive environment was plausibly not as diverse as today, the number of different amino acids used in early protein synthesis is likely to be substantially less than the current 20 proteinogenic residues. In this study, we have explored the thermal stability and RNA binding of ancestral variants of the ribosomal protein uS8 constructed from a reduced-alphabet of amino acids. First, we built a phylogenetic tree based on the amino acid sequences of uS8 from multiple extant organisms and used the tree to infer two plausible amino acid sequences corresponding to the last bacterial common ancestor of uS8. Both ancestral proteins were thermally stable and bound to an RNA fragment. By eliminating individual amino acid letters and monitoring thermal stability and RNA binding in the resulting proteins, we reduced the size of the amino acid set constituting one of the ancestral proteins, eventually finding that convergent sequences consisting of 15- or 14-amino acid alphabets still folded into stable structures that bound to the RNA fragment. Furthermore, a simplified variant reconstructed from a 13-amino-acid alphabet retained affinity for the RNA fragment, although it lost conformational stability. Collectively, RNA-binding activity may be achieved with a subset of the current 20 amino acids, raising the possibility of a simpler composition of RNA-binding proteins in the earliest stage of protein evolution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fangzheng Zhao
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15, Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan
| | - Satoshi Akanuma
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15, Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan.
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Draghi JA, Ogbunugafor CB. Exploring the expanse between theoretical questions and experimental approaches in the modern study of evolvability. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY. PART B, MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTION 2023; 340:8-17. [PMID: 35451559 PMCID: PMC10083935 DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.23134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2021] [Revised: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Despite several decades of computational and experimental work across many systems, evolvability remains on the periphery with regards to its status as a widely accepted and regularly applied theoretical concept. Here we propose that its marginal status is partly a result of large gaps between the diverse but disconnected theoretical treatments of evolvability and the relatively narrower range of studies that have tested it empirically. To make this case, we draw on a range of examples-from experimental evolution in microbes, to molecular evolution in proteins-where attempts have been made to mend this disconnect. We highlight some examples of progress that has been made and point to areas where synthesis and translation of existing theory can lead to further progress in the still-new field of empirical measurements of evolvability.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy A Draghi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
| | - C Brandon Ogbunugafor
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Harman JL, Reardon PN, Costello SM, Warren GD, Phillips SR, Connor PJ, Marqusee S, Harms MJ. Evolution avoids a pathological stabilizing interaction in the immune protein S100A9. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2208029119. [PMID: 36194634 PMCID: PMC9565474 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2208029119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 09/07/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Stability constrains evolution. While much is known about constraints on destabilizing mutations, less is known about the constraints on stabilizing mutations. We recently identified a mutation in the innate immune protein S100A9 that provides insight into such constraints. When introduced into human S100A9, M63F simultaneously increases the stability of the protein and disrupts its natural ability to activate Toll-like receptor 4. Using chemical denaturation, we found that M63F stabilizes a calcium-bound conformation of hS100A9. We then used NMR to solve the structure of the mutant protein, revealing that the mutation distorts the hydrophobic binding surface of hS100A9, explaining its deleterious effect on function. Hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) experiments revealed stabilization of the region around M63F in the structure, notably Phe37. In the structure of the M63F mutant, the Phe37 and Phe63 sidechains are in contact, plausibly forming an edge-face π-stack. Mutating Phe37 to Leu abolished the stabilizing effect of M63F as probed by both chemical denaturation and HDX. It also restored the biological activity of S100A9 disrupted by M63F. These findings reveal that Phe63 creates a molecular staple with Phe37 that stabilizes a nonfunctional conformation of the protein, thus disrupting function. Using a bioinformatic analysis, we found that S100A9 proteins from different organisms rarely have Phe at both positions 37 and 63, suggesting that avoiding a pathological stabilizing interaction indeed constrains S100A9 evolution. This work highlights an important evolutionary constraint on stabilizing mutations, namely, that they must avoid inappropriately stabilizing nonfunctional protein conformations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joseph L. Harman
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
| | - Patrick N. Reardon
- College of Science, NMR Facility, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331
| | - Shawn M. Costello
- Biophysics Graduate Program, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
| | - Gus D. Warren
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
| | - Sophia R. Phillips
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
| | - Patrick J. Connor
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
| | - Susan Marqusee
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
- California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
| | - Michael J. Harms
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Beinsteiner B, Markov GV, Bourguet M, McEwen AG, Erb S, Patel AKM, El Khaloufi El Khaddar FZ, Lecroisey C, Holzer G, Essabri K, Hazemann I, Hamiche A, Cianférani S, Moras D, Laudet V, Billas IML. A novel nuclear receptor subfamily enlightens the origin of heterodimerization. BMC Biol 2022; 20:217. [PMID: 36199108 PMCID: PMC9535869 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-022-01413-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Nuclear receptors are transcription factors of central importance in human biology and associated diseases. Much of the knowledge related to their major functions, such as ligand and DNA binding or dimerization, derives from functional studies undertaken in classical model animals. It has become evident, however, that a deeper understanding of these molecular functions requires uncovering how these characteristics originated and diversified during evolution, by looking at more species. In particular, the comprehension of how dimerization evolved from ancestral homodimers to a more sophisticated state of heterodimers has been missing, due to a too narrow phylogenetic sampling. Here, we experimentally and phylogenetically define the evolutionary trajectory of nuclear receptor dimerization by analyzing a novel NR7 subgroup, present in various metazoan groups, including cnidarians, annelids, mollusks, sea urchins, and amphioxus, but lost in vertebrates, arthropods, and nematodes. RESULTS We focused on NR7 of the cephalochordate amphioxus B. lanceolatum. We present a complementary set of functional, structural, and evolutionary analyses that establish that NR7 lies at a pivotal point in the evolutionary trajectory from homodimerizing to heterodimerizing nuclear receptors. The crystal structure of the NR7 ligand-binding domain suggests that the isolated domain is not capable of dimerizing with the ubiquitous dimerization partner RXR. In contrast, the full-length NR7 dimerizes with RXR in a DNA-dependent manner and acts as a constitutively active receptor. The phylogenetic and sequence analyses position NR7 at a pivotal point, just between the basal class I nuclear receptors that form monomers or homodimers on DNA and the derived class II nuclear receptors that exhibit the classical DNA-independent RXR heterodimers. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that NR7 represents the "missing link" in the transition between class I and class II nuclear receptors and that the DNA independency of heterodimer formation is a feature that was acquired during evolution. Our studies define a novel paradigm of nuclear receptor dimerization that evolved from DNA-dependent to DNA-independent requirements. This new concept emphasizes the importance of DNA in the dimerization of nuclear receptors, such as the glucocorticoid receptor and other members of this pharmacologically important oxosteroid receptor subfamily. Our studies further underline the importance of studying emerging model organisms for supporting cutting-edge research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Brice Beinsteiner
- IGBMC (Institute of Genetics and of Molecular and Cellular Biology), Illkirch, France
- Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U1258, Illkirch, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR 7104, Illkirch, France
| | - Gabriel V Markov
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR 8227, Integrative Biology of Marine Models, (LBI2M, UMR8227), Station Biologique de Roscoff (SBR), 29680, Roscoff, France
| | - Maxime Bourguet
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse BioOrganique, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, 67000, Strasbourg, France
- Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI - FR2048 CNRS CEA, 67087, Strasbourg, France
| | - Alastair G McEwen
- IGBMC (Institute of Genetics and of Molecular and Cellular Biology), Illkirch, France
- Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U1258, Illkirch, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR 7104, Illkirch, France
| | - Stéphane Erb
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse BioOrganique, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, 67000, Strasbourg, France
- Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI - FR2048 CNRS CEA, 67087, Strasbourg, France
| | - Abdul Kareem Mohideen Patel
- IGBMC (Institute of Genetics and of Molecular and Cellular Biology), Illkirch, France
- Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U1258, Illkirch, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR 7104, Illkirch, France
| | - Fatima Z El Khaloufi El Khaddar
- IGBMC (Institute of Genetics and of Molecular and Cellular Biology), Illkirch, France
- Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U1258, Illkirch, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR 7104, Illkirch, France
| | - Claire Lecroisey
- Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, UMR 5242 CNRS, Molecular Zoology Team, 46 allée d'Italie, 69364, Lyon, Cedex 07, France
| | - Guillaume Holzer
- Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, UMR 5242 CNRS, Molecular Zoology Team, 46 allée d'Italie, 69364, Lyon, Cedex 07, France
- Present address: Uniklinikum RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
| | - Karim Essabri
- IGBMC (Institute of Genetics and of Molecular and Cellular Biology), Illkirch, France
- Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U1258, Illkirch, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR 7104, Illkirch, France
| | - Isabelle Hazemann
- IGBMC (Institute of Genetics and of Molecular and Cellular Biology), Illkirch, France
- Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U1258, Illkirch, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR 7104, Illkirch, France
| | - Ali Hamiche
- IGBMC (Institute of Genetics and of Molecular and Cellular Biology), Illkirch, France
- Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U1258, Illkirch, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR 7104, Illkirch, France
| | - Sarah Cianférani
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse BioOrganique, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, 67000, Strasbourg, France
- Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI - FR2048 CNRS CEA, 67087, Strasbourg, France
| | - Dino Moras
- IGBMC (Institute of Genetics and of Molecular and Cellular Biology), Illkirch, France
- Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U1258, Illkirch, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR 7104, Illkirch, France
| | - Vincent Laudet
- Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan.
- Marine Research Station, Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, 23-10, Dah-Uen Rd, Jiau Shi, I-Lan, 262, Taiwan.
| | - Isabelle M L Billas
- IGBMC (Institute of Genetics and of Molecular and Cellular Biology), Illkirch, France.
- Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France.
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U1258, Illkirch, France.
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR 7104, Illkirch, France.
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Azbukina N, Zharikova A, Ramensky V. Intragenic compensation through the lens of deep mutational scanning. Biophys Rev 2022; 14:1161-1182. [PMID: 36345285 PMCID: PMC9636336 DOI: 10.1007/s12551-022-01005-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
A significant fraction of mutations in proteins are deleterious and result in adverse consequences for protein function, stability, or interaction with other molecules. Intragenic compensation is a specific case of positive epistasis when a neutral missense mutation cancels effect of a deleterious mutation in the same protein. Permissive compensatory mutations facilitate protein evolution, since without them all sequences would be extremely conserved. Understanding compensatory mechanisms is an important scientific challenge at the intersection of protein biophysics and evolution. In human genetics, intragenic compensatory interactions are important since they may result in variable penetrance of pathogenic mutations or fixation of pathogenic human alleles in orthologous proteins from related species. The latter phenomenon complicates computational and clinical inference of an allele's pathogenicity. Deep mutational scanning is a relatively new technique that enables experimental studies of functional effects of thousands of mutations in proteins. We review the important aspects of the field and discuss existing limitations of current datasets. We reviewed ten published DMS datasets with quantified functional effects of single and double mutations and described rates and patterns of intragenic compensation in eight of them. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12551-022-01005-w.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nadezhda Azbukina
- Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1-73, Leninskie Gory, 119991 Moscow, Russia
| | - Anastasia Zharikova
- Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1-73, Leninskie Gory, 119991 Moscow, Russia
- National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine, Petroverigsky per., 10, Bld.3, 101000 Moscow, Russia
| | - Vasily Ramensky
- Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1-73, Leninskie Gory, 119991 Moscow, Russia
- National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine, Petroverigsky per., 10, Bld.3, 101000 Moscow, Russia
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Eenink BDG, Kaminski TS, Bornberg-Bauer E, Jose J, Hollfelder F, van Loo B. Vector redesign and in-droplet cell-growth improves enrichment and recovery in live Escherichia coli. Microb Biotechnol 2022; 15:2845-2853. [PMID: 36099491 PMCID: PMC9618318 DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.14144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2021] [Revised: 08/23/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Directed evolution (DE) is a widely used method for improving the function of biomolecules via multiple rounds of mutation and selection. Microfluidic droplets have emerged as an important means to screen the large libraries needed for DE, but this approach was so far partially limited by the need to lyse cells, recover DNA, and retransform into cells for the next round, necessitating the use of a high‐copy number plasmid or oversampling. The recently developed live cell recovery avoids some of these limitations by directly regrowing selected cells after sorting. However, repeated sorting cycles used to further enrich the most active variants ultimately resulted in unfavourable recovery of empty plasmid vector‐containing cells over those expressing the protein of interest. In this study, we found that engineering of the original expression vector solved the problem of false positives (i.e. plasmids lacking an insert) cells containing empty vectors. Five approaches to measure activity of cell‐displayed enzymes in microdroplets were compared. By comparing various cell treatment methods prior to droplet sorting two things were found. Substrate encapsulation from the start, that is prior to expression of enzyme, showed no disadvantage to post‐induction substrate addition by pico‐injection with respect to recovery of true positive variants. Furthermore in‐droplet cell growth prior to induction of enzyme production improves the total amount of cells retrieved (recovery) and proportion of true positive variants (enrichment) after droplet sorting.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bernard D G Eenink
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Tomasz S Kaminski
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Department of Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Microbiology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Erich Bornberg-Bauer
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Department of Protein Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Joachim Jose
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | | | - Bert van Loo
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Department of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Debray R, De Luna N, Koskella B. Historical contingency drives compensatory evolution and rare reversal of phage resistance. Mol Biol Evol 2022; 39:6673247. [PMID: 35994371 PMCID: PMC9447851 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msac182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacteria and lytic viruses (phages) engage in highly dynamic coevolutionary interactions over time, yet we have little idea of how transient selection by phages might shape the future evolutionary trajectories of their host populations. To explore this question, we generated genetically diverse phage-resistant mutants of the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae. We subjected the panel of mutants to prolonged experimental evolution in the absence of phages. Some populations re-evolved phage sensitivity, whereas others acquired compensatory mutations that reduced the costs of resistance without altering resistance levels. To ask whether these outcomes were driven by the initial genetic mechanisms of resistance, we next evolved independent replicates of each individual mutant in the absence of phages. We found a strong signature of historical contingency: some mutations were highly reversible across replicate populations, whereas others were highly entrenched. Through whole-genome sequencing of bacteria over time, we also found that populations with the same resistance gene acquired more parallel sets of mutations than populations with different resistance genes, suggesting that compensatory adaptation is also contingent on how resistance initially evolved. Our study identifies an evolutionary ratchet in bacteria–phage coevolution and may explain previous observations that resistance persists over time in some bacterial populations but is lost in others. We add to a growing body of work describing the key role of phages in the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of their host communities. Beyond this specific trait, our study provides a new insight into the genetic architecture of historical contingency, a crucial component of interpreting and predicting evolution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Reena Debray
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Nina De Luna
- Department of Immunology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA
| | - Britt Koskella
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Chan Zuckerberg BioHub, San Francisco, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Abstract
The rediscovery of Mendel’s work showing that the heredity of phenotypes is controlled by discrete genes was followed by the reconciliation of Mendelian genetics with evolution by natural selection in the middle of the last century with the Modern Synthesis. In the past two decades, dramatic advances in genomic methods have facilitated the identification of the loci, genes, and even individual mutations that underlie phenotypic variants that are the putative targets of natural selection. Moreover, these methods have also changed how we can study adaptation by flipping the problem around, allowing us to first examine what loci show evidence of having been under selection, and then connecting these genetic variants to phenotypic variation. As a result, we now have an expanding list of actual genetic changes that underlie potentially adaptive phenotypic variation. Here, we synthesize how considering the effects of these adaptive loci in the context of cellular environments, genomes, organisms, and populations has provided new insights to the genetic architecture of adaptation.
Collapse
|
32
|
Vigué L, Croce G, Petitjean M, Ruppé E, Tenaillon O, Weigt M. Deciphering polymorphism in 61,157 Escherichia coli genomes via epistatic sequence landscapes. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4030. [PMID: 35821377 PMCID: PMC9276797 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31643-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Characterizing the effect of mutations is key to understand the evolution of protein sequences and to separate neutral amino-acid changes from deleterious ones. Epistatic interactions between residues can lead to a context dependence of mutation effects. Context dependence constrains the amino-acid changes that can contribute to polymorphism in the short term, and the ones that can accumulate between species in the long term. We use computational approaches to accurately predict the polymorphisms segregating in a panel of 61,157 Escherichia coli genomes from the analysis of distant homologues. By comparing a context-aware Direct-Coupling Analysis modelling to a non-epistatic approach, we show that the genetic context strongly constrains the tolerable amino acids in 30% to 50% of amino-acid sites. The study of more distant species suggests the gradual build-up of genetic context over long evolutionary timescales by the accumulation of small epistatic contributions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucile Vigué
- Université Paris Cité and Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Inserm, IAME, F-75018, Paris, France
| | - Giancarlo Croce
- Department of Oncology, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Lausanne, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics-SIB, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Marie Petitjean
- Université Paris Cité and Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Inserm, IAME, F-75018, Paris, France
| | - Etienne Ruppé
- Université Paris Cité and Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Inserm, IAME, F-75018, Paris, France
- Laboratoire de Bactériologie, Hôpital Bichat, APHP, Paris, France
| | - Olivier Tenaillon
- Université Paris Cité and Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Inserm, IAME, F-75018, Paris, France.
| | - Martin Weigt
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, Computational and Quantitative Biology-LCQB, Paris, France.
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Drabeck DH, Rucavado A, Hingst-Zaher E, Dean A, Jansa SA. Ancestrally Reconstructed von Willebrand Factor Reveals Evidence for Trench Warfare Coevolution between Opossums and Pit Vipers. Mol Biol Evol 2022; 39:msac140. [PMID: 35723968 PMCID: PMC9255381 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msac140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Opossums in the tribe Didelphini are resistant to pit viper venoms and are hypothesized to be coevolving with venomous snakes. Specifically, a protein involved in blood clotting (von Willebrand factor [vWF] which is targeted by snake venom C-type lectins [CTLs]) has been found to undergo rapid adaptive evolution in Didelphini. Several unique amino acid changes in vWF could explain their resistance; however, experimental evidence that these changes disrupt binding to venom CTLs was lacking. Furthermore, without explicit testing of ancestral phenotypes to reveal the mode of evolution, the assertion that this system represents an example of coevolution rather than noncoevolutionary adaptation remains unsupported. Using expressed vWF proteins and purified venom CTLs, we quantified binding affinity for vWF proteins from all resistant taxa, their venom-sensitive relatives, and their ancestors. We show that CTL-resistant vWF is present in opossums outside clade Didelphini and likely across a wider swath of opossums (family Didelphidae) than previously thought. Ancestral reconstruction and in vitro testing of vWF phenotypes in a clade of rapidly evolving opossums reveal a pattern consistent with trench warfare coevolution between opossums and their venomous snake prey.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Danielle H Drabeck
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1479 Gortner Ave., St Paul, MN 55108, USA
- Bell Museum, University of Minnesota, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA
| | - Alexandra Rucavado
- Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
| | - Erika Hingst-Zaher
- Museu Biológico, Instituto Butantan, CEP 05503-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Antony Dean
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1479 Gortner Ave., St Paul, MN 55108, USA
| | - Sharon A Jansa
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1479 Gortner Ave., St Paul, MN 55108, USA
- Bell Museum, University of Minnesota, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Barnes JE, Miller CR, Ytreberg FM. Searching for a mechanistic description of pairwise epistasis in protein systems. Proteins 2022; 90:1474-1485. [DOI: 10.1002/prot.26328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Revised: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan E. Barnes
- Department of Physics University of Idaho Moscow Idaho USA
- Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation, University of Idaho Moscow Idaho USA
| | - Craig R. Miller
- Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation, University of Idaho Moscow Idaho USA
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Idaho Moscow Idaho USA
- Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences, University of Idaho Moscow Idaho USA
| | - Frederick Marty Ytreberg
- Department of Physics University of Idaho Moscow Idaho USA
- Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation, University of Idaho Moscow Idaho USA
- Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences, University of Idaho Moscow Idaho USA
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Savino S, Desmet T, Franceus J. Insertions and deletions in protein evolution and engineering. Biotechnol Adv 2022; 60:108010. [PMID: 35738511 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2022.108010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Revised: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Protein evolution or engineering studies are traditionally focused on amino acid substitutions and the way these contribute to fitness. Meanwhile, the insertion and deletion of amino acids is often overlooked, despite being one of the most common sources of genetic variation. Recent methodological advances and successful engineering stories have demonstrated that the time is ripe for greater emphasis on these mutations and their understudied effects. This review highlights the evolutionary importance and biotechnological relevance of insertions and deletions (indels). We provide a comprehensive overview of approaches that can be employed to include indels in random, (semi)-rational or computational protein engineering pipelines. Furthermore, we discuss the tolerance to indels at the structural level, address how domain indels can link the function of unrelated proteins, and feature studies that illustrate the surprising and intriguing potential of frameshift mutations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Simone Savino
- Centre for Synthetic Biology (CSB), Department of Biotechnology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Tom Desmet
- Centre for Synthetic Biology (CSB), Department of Biotechnology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jorick Franceus
- Centre for Synthetic Biology (CSB), Department of Biotechnology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium..
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Nocedal I, Laub MT. Ancestral reconstruction of duplicated signaling proteins reveals the evolution of signaling specificity. eLife 2022; 11:e77346. [PMID: 35686729 PMCID: PMC9208753 DOI: 10.7554/elife.77346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Gene duplication is crucial to generating novel signaling pathways during evolution. However, it remains unclear how the redundant proteins produced by gene duplication ultimately acquire new interaction specificities to establish insulated paralogous signaling pathways. Here, we used ancestral sequence reconstruction to resurrect and characterize a bacterial two-component signaling system that duplicated in α-proteobacteria. We determined the interaction specificities of the signaling proteins that existed before and immediately after this duplication event and then identified key mutations responsible for establishing specificity in the two systems. Just three mutations, in only two of the four interacting proteins, were sufficient to establish specificity of the extant systems. Some of these mutations weakened interactions between paralogous systems to limit crosstalk. However, others strengthened interactions within a system, indicating that the ancestral interaction, although functional, had the potential to be strengthened. Our work suggests that protein-protein interactions with such latent potential may be highly amenable to duplication and divergence.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Nocedal
- Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeUnited States
| | - Michael T Laub
- Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeUnited States
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeUnited States
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
Park Y, Metzger BPH, Thornton JW. Epistatic drift causes gradual decay of predictability in protein evolution. Science 2022; 376:823-830. [PMID: 35587978 DOI: 10.1126/science.abn6895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Epistatic interactions can make the outcomes of evolution unpredictable, but no comprehensive data are available on the extent and temporal dynamics of changes in the effects of mutations as protein sequences evolve. Here, we use phylogenetic deep mutational scanning to measure the functional effect of every possible amino acid mutation in a series of ancestral and extant steroid receptor DNA binding domains. Across 700 million years of evolution, epistatic interactions caused the effects of most mutations to become decorrelated from their initial effects and their windows of evolutionary accessibility to open and close transiently. Most effects changed gradually and without bias at rates that were largely constant across time, indicating a neutral process caused by many weak epistatic interactions. Our findings show that protein sequences drift inexorably into contingency and unpredictability, but that the process is statistically predictable, given sufficient phylogenetic and experimental data.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yeonwoo Park
- Committee on Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Brian P H Metzger
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Joseph W Thornton
- Committee on Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.,Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.,Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Abrams MB, Brem RB. Temperature-dependent genetics of thermotolerance between yeast species. Front Ecol Evol 2022; 10:859904. [PMID: 36911365 PMCID: PMC10004143 DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.859904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Many traits of industrial and basic biological interest arose long ago, and manifest now as fixed differences between a focal species and its reproductively isolated relatives. In these systems, extant individuals can hold clues to the mechanisms by which phenotypes evolved in their ancestors. We harnessed yeast thermotolerance as a test case for such molecular-genetic inferences. In viability experiments, we showed that extant Saccharomyces cerevisiae survived at temperatures where cultures of its sister species S. paradoxus died out. Then, focusing on loci that contribute to this difference, we found that the genetic mechanisms of high-temperature growth changed with temperature. We also uncovered an enrichment of low-frequency variants at thermotolerance loci in S. cerevisiae population sequences, suggestive of a history of non-neutral selective forces acting at these genes. We interpret these results in light of models of the evolutionary mechanisms by which the thermotolerance trait arose in the S. cerevisiae lineage. Together, our results and interpretation underscore the power of genetic approaches to explore how an ancient trait came to be.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Melanie B. Abrams
- UC Berkeley, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Rachel B. Brem
- UC Berkeley, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, Berkeley, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
DiFrisco J, Wagner GP, Love AC. Reframing research on evolutionary novelty and co-option: Character identity mechanisms versus deep homology. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2022; 145:3-12. [PMID: 35400563 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2022.03.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2021] [Revised: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
A central topic in research at the intersection of development and evolution is the origin of novel traits. Despite progress on understanding how developmental mechanisms underlie patterns of diversity in the history of life, the problem of novelty continues to challenge researchers. Here we argue that research on evolutionary novelty and the closely associated phenomenon of co-option can be reframed fruitfully by: (1) specifying a conceptual model of mechanisms that underwrite character identity, (2) providing a richer and more empirically precise notion of co-option that goes beyond common appeals to "deep homology", and (3) attending to the nature of experimental interventions that can determine whether and how the co-option of identity mechanisms can help to explain novel character origins. This reframing has the potential to channel future investigation to make substantive progress on the problem of evolutionary novelty. To illustrate this potential, we apply our reframing to two case studies: treehopper helmets and beetle horns.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Günter P Wagner
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Yale Systems Biology Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale Medical School, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Alan C Love
- Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Lichman BR. Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction for Exploring Alkaloid Evolution. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2505:165-179. [PMID: 35732944 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2349-7_12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The complex and bioactive monoterpene indole alkaloids (MIAs) found in Catharanthus roseus and related species are the products of many millions of years of evolution through mutation and natural selection. Ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) is a method that combines phylogenetic analysis and experimental biochemistry to infer details about past events in protein evolution. Here, I propose that ASR could be leveraged to understand how enzymes catalyzing the formation of complex alkaloids arose over evolutionary time. I discuss the steps of ASR, including sequence selection, multiple sequence alignment, tree inference, and the generation and characterization of inferred ancestral enzymes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin R Lichman
- Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Truong DP, Rousseau S, Machala BW, Huddleston JP, Zhu M, Hull KG, Romo D, Raushel FM, Sacchettini JC, Glasner ME. Second-Shell Amino Acid R266 Helps Determine N-Succinylamino Acid Racemase Reaction Specificity in Promiscuous N-Succinylamino Acid Racemase/ o-Succinylbenzoate Synthase Enzymes. Biochemistry 2021; 60:3829-3840. [PMID: 34845903 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.1c00627] [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
Catalytic promiscuity is the coincidental ability to catalyze nonbiological reactions in the same active site as the native biological reaction. Several lines of evidence show that catalytic promiscuity plays a role in the evolution of new enzyme functions. Thus, studying catalytic promiscuity can help identify structural features that predispose an enzyme to evolve new functions. This study identifies a potentially preadaptive residue in a promiscuous N-succinylamino acid racemase/o-succinylbenzoate synthase (NSAR/OSBS) enzyme from Amycolatopsis sp. T-1-60. This enzyme belongs to a branch of the OSBS family which includes many catalytically promiscuous NSAR/OSBS enzymes. R266 is conserved in all members of the NSAR/OSBS subfamily. However, the homologous position is usually hydrophobic in other OSBS subfamilies, whose enzymes lack NSAR activity. The second-shell amino acid R266 is close to the catalytic acid/base K263, but it does not contact the substrate, suggesting that R266 could affect the catalytic mechanism. Mutating R266 to glutamine in Amycolatopsis NSAR/OSBS profoundly reduces NSAR activity but moderately reduces OSBS activity. This is due to a 1000-fold decrease in the rate of proton exchange between the substrate and the general acid/base catalyst K263. This mutation is less deleterious for the OSBS reaction because K263 forms a cation-π interaction with the OSBS substrate and/or the intermediate, rather than acting as a general acid/base catalyst. Together, the data explain how R266 contributes to NSAR reaction specificity and was likely an essential preadaptation for the evolution of NSAR activity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dat P Truong
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-2128, United States
| | - Simon Rousseau
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-2128, United States
| | - Benjamin W Machala
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-2128, United States
| | - Jamison P Huddleston
- Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, 3255 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-3255, United States
| | - Mingzhao Zhu
- Baylor Synthesis and Drug-Lead Discovery Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Baylor University, One Bear Place, Waco, Texas 76798-7348, United States
| | - Kenneth G Hull
- Baylor Synthesis and Drug-Lead Discovery Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Baylor University, One Bear Place, Waco, Texas 76798-7348, United States
| | - Daniel Romo
- Baylor Synthesis and Drug-Lead Discovery Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Baylor University, One Bear Place, Waco, Texas 76798-7348, United States
| | - Frank M Raushel
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-2128, United States.,Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, 3255 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-3255, United States
| | - James C Sacchettini
- Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, 3255 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-3255, United States
| | - Margaret E Glasner
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-2128, United States
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Cardoso AR, Lopes-Marques M, Oliveira M, Amorim A, Prata MJ, Azevedo L. Genetic Variability of the Functional Domains of Chromodomains Helicase DNA-Binding (CHD) Proteins. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12111827. [PMID: 34828433 PMCID: PMC8623811 DOI: 10.3390/genes12111827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
In the past few years, there has been an increasing neuroscientific interest in understanding the function of mammalian chromodomains helicase DNA-binding (CHD) proteins due to their association with severe developmental syndromes. Mammalian CHDs include nine members (CHD1 to CHD9), grouped into subfamilies according to the presence of specific functional domains, generally highly conserved in evolutionary terms. Mutations affecting these domains hold great potential to disrupt protein function, leading to meaningful pathogenic scenarios, such as embryonic defects incompatible with life. Here, we analysed the evolution of CHD proteins by performing a comparative study of the functional domains of CHD proteins between orthologous and paralogous protein sequences. Our findings show that the highest degree of inter-species conservation was observed at Group II (CHD3, CHD4, and CHD5) and that most of the pathological variations documented in humans involve amino acid residues that are conserved not only between species but also between paralogs. The parallel analysis of both orthologous and paralogous proteins, in cases where gene duplications have occurred, provided extra information showing patterns of flexibility as well as interchangeability between amino acid positions. This added complexity needs to be considered when the impact of novel mutations is assessed in terms of evolutionary conservation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ana R. Cardoso
- i3S—Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (A.R.C.); (M.L.-M.); (M.O.); (A.A.); (M.J.P.)
- IPATIMUP—Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology, University of Porto, Rua Júlio Amaral de Carvalho 45, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
- FCUP—Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Mónica Lopes-Marques
- i3S—Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (A.R.C.); (M.L.-M.); (M.O.); (A.A.); (M.J.P.)
- IPATIMUP—Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology, University of Porto, Rua Júlio Amaral de Carvalho 45, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
- FCUP—Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Manuela Oliveira
- i3S—Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (A.R.C.); (M.L.-M.); (M.O.); (A.A.); (M.J.P.)
- IPATIMUP—Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology, University of Porto, Rua Júlio Amaral de Carvalho 45, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
- FCUP—Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - António Amorim
- i3S—Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (A.R.C.); (M.L.-M.); (M.O.); (A.A.); (M.J.P.)
- IPATIMUP—Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology, University of Porto, Rua Júlio Amaral de Carvalho 45, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
- FCUP—Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J. Prata
- i3S—Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (A.R.C.); (M.L.-M.); (M.O.); (A.A.); (M.J.P.)
- IPATIMUP—Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology, University of Porto, Rua Júlio Amaral de Carvalho 45, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
- FCUP—Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Luísa Azevedo
- i3S—Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; (A.R.C.); (M.L.-M.); (M.O.); (A.A.); (M.J.P.)
- IPATIMUP—Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology, University of Porto, Rua Júlio Amaral de Carvalho 45, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
- FCUP—Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
- Correspondence:
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
AlZaben F, Chuong JN, Abrams MB, Brem RB. Joint effects of genes underlying a temperature specialization tradeoff in yeast. PLoS Genet 2021; 17:e1009793. [PMID: 34520469 PMCID: PMC8462698 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Revised: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
A central goal of evolutionary genetics is to understand, at the molecular level, how organisms adapt to their environments. For a given trait, the answer often involves the acquisition of variants at unlinked sites across the genome. Genomic methods have achieved landmark successes in pinpointing these adaptive loci. To figure out how a suite of adaptive alleles work together, and to what extent they can reconstitute the phenotype of interest, requires their transfer into an exogenous background. We studied the joint effect of adaptive, gain-of-function thermotolerance alleles at eight unlinked genes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, when introduced into a thermosensitive sister species, S. paradoxus. Although the loci damped each other’s beneficial impact (that is, they were subject to negative epistasis), most boosted high-temperature growth alone and in combination, and none was deleterious. The complete set of eight genes was sufficient to confer ~15% of the S. cerevisiae thermotolerance phenotype in the S. paradoxus background. The same loci also contributed to a heretofore unknown advantage in cold growth by S. paradoxus. Together, our data establish temperature resistance in yeasts as a model case of a genetically complex evolutionary tradeoff, which can be partly reconstituted from the sequential assembly of unlinked underlying loci. Organisms adapt to threats in the environment by acquiring DNA sequence variants that tweak traits to improve fitness. Experimental studies of this process have proven to be a particular challenge when they involve manipulation of a suite of genes, all on different chromosomes. We set out to understand how so many loci could work together to confer a trait. We used as a model system eight genes that govern the ability of the unicellular yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to grow at high temperature. We introduced these variant loci stepwise into a non-thermotolerant sister species, and found that the more S. cerevisiae alleles we added, the better the phenotype. We saw no evidence for toxic interactions between the genes as they were combined. We also used the eight-fold transgenic to dissect the biological mechanism of thermotolerance. And we discovered a tradeoff: the same alleles that boosted growth at high temperature eroded the organism’s ability to deal with cold conditions. These results serve as a case study of modular construction of a trait from nature, by assembling the genes together in one genome.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Faisal AlZaben
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| | - Julie N. Chuong
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| | - Melanie B. Abrams
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
| | - Rachel B. Brem
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Frank F, Liu X, Ortlund EA. Glucocorticoid receptor condensates link DNA-dependent receptor dimerization and transcriptional transactivation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2024685118. [PMID: 34285072 PMCID: PMC8325269 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2024685118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is a ligand-regulated transcription factor (TF) that controls the tissue- and gene-specific transactivation and transrepression of thousands of target genes. Distinct GR DNA-binding sequences with activating or repressive activities have been identified, but how they modulate transcription in opposite ways is not known. We show that GR forms phase-separated condensates that specifically concentrate known coregulators via their intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in vitro. A combination of dynamic, multivalent (between IDRs) and specific, stable interactions (between LxxLL motifs and the GR ligand-binding domain) control the degree of recruitment. Importantly, GR DNA binding directs the selective partitioning of coregulators within GR condensates such that activating DNAs cause enhanced recruitment of coactivators. Our work shows that condensation controls GR function by modulating coregulator recruitment and provides a mechanism for the up- and down-regulation of GR target genes controlled by distinct DNA recognition elements.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Filipp Frank
- Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322
| | - Xu Liu
- Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322
| | - Eric A Ortlund
- Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Abrams MB, Dubin CA, AlZaben F, Bravo J, Joubert PM, Weiss CV, Brem RB. Population and comparative genetics of thermotolerance divergence between yeast species. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2021; 11:jkab139. [PMID: 33914073 PMCID: PMC8495929 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkab139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Many familiar traits in the natural world-from lions' manes to the longevity of bristlecone pine trees-arose in the distant past, and have long since fixed in their respective species. A key challenge in evolutionary genetics is to figure out how and why species-defining traits have come to be. We used the thermotolerance growth advantage of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae over its sister species Saccharomyces paradoxus as a model for addressing these questions. Analyzing loci at which the S. cerevisiae allele promotes thermotolerance, we detected robust evidence for positive selection, including amino acid divergence between the species and conservation within S. cerevisiae populations. Because such signatures were particularly strong at the chromosome segregation gene ESP1, we used this locus as a case study for focused mechanistic follow-up. Experiments revealed that, in culture at high temperature, the S. paradoxus ESP1 allele conferred a qualitative defect in biomass accumulation and cell division relative to the S. cerevisiae allele. Only genetic divergence in the ESP1 coding region mattered phenotypically, with no functional impact detectable from the promoter. Our data support a model in which an ancient ancestor of S. cerevisiae, under selection to boost viability at high temperature, acquired amino acid variants at ESP1 and many other loci, which have been constrained since then. Complex adaptations of this type hold promise as a paradigm for interspecies genetics, especially in deeply diverged traits that may have taken millions of years to evolve.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Melanie B Abrams
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Claire A Dubin
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Faisal AlZaben
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Juan Bravo
- Graduate Program in the Biology of Aging, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Pierre M Joubert
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Carly V Weiss
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA
| | - Rachel B Brem
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, CA 94945, USA
| |
Collapse
|
46
|
The adaptive landscape of a metallo-enzyme is shaped by environment-dependent epistasis. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3867. [PMID: 34162839 PMCID: PMC8222346 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23943-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Enzymes can evolve new catalytic activity when environmental changes present them with novel substrates. Despite this seemingly straightforward relationship, factors other than the direct catalytic target can also impact adaptation. Here, we characterize the catalytic activity of a recently evolved bacterial methyl-parathion hydrolase for all possible combinations of the five functionally relevant mutations under eight different laboratory conditions (in which an alternative divalent metal is supplemented). The resultant adaptive landscapes across this historical evolutionary transition vary in terms of both the number of “fitness peaks” as well as the genotype(s) at which they are found as a result of genotype-by-environment interactions and environment-dependent epistasis. This suggests that adaptive landscapes may be fluid and molecular adaptation is highly contingent not only on obvious factors (such as catalytic targets), but also on less obvious secondary environmental factors that can direct it towards distinct outcomes. The metaphor of an adaptive landscape is presented quantitatively by looking at molecular adaptations and their catalytic consequences in a recently evolved bacterial enzyme. The study identifies both genotype-by-environment interactions and environment-dependent epistasis as factors that can alter the fitness of functional mutations.
Collapse
|
47
|
Xie VC, Pu J, Metzger BP, Thornton JW, Dickinson BC. Contingency and chance erase necessity in the experimental evolution of ancestral proteins. eLife 2021; 10:67336. [PMID: 34061027 PMCID: PMC8282340 DOI: 10.7554/elife.67336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 05/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The roles of chance, contingency, and necessity in evolution are unresolved because they have never been assessed in a single system or on timescales relevant to historical evolution. We combined ancestral protein reconstruction and a new continuous evolution technology to mutate and select proteins in the B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) family to acquire protein–protein interaction specificities that occurred during animal evolution. By replicating evolutionary trajectories from multiple ancestral proteins, we found that contingency generated over long historical timescales steadily erased necessity and overwhelmed chance as the primary cause of acquired sequence variation; trajectories launched from phylogenetically distant proteins yielded virtually no common mutations, even under strong and identical selection pressures. Chance arose because many sets of mutations could alter specificity at any timepoint; contingency arose because historical substitutions changed these sets. Our results suggest that patterns of variation in BCL-2 sequences – and likely other proteins, too – are idiosyncratic products of a particular and unpredictable course of historical events. One of the most fundamental and unresolved questions in evolutionary biology is whether the outcomes of evolution are predictable. Is the diversity of life we see today the expected result of organisms adapting to their environment throughout history (also known as natural selection) or the product of random chance? Or did chance events early in history shape the paths that evolution could take next, determining the biological forms that emerged under natural selection much later? These questions are hard to study because evolution happened only once, long ago. To overcome this barrier, Xie, Pu, Metzger et al. developed an experimental approach that can evolve reconstructed ancestral proteins that existed deep in the past. Using this method, it is possible to replay evolution multiple times, from various historical starting points, under conditions similar to those that existed long ago. The end products of the evolutionary trajectories can then be compared to determine how predictable evolution actually is. Xie, Pu, Metzger et al. studied proteins belonging to the BCL-2 family, which originated some 800 million years ago. These proteins have diversified greatly over time in both their genetic sequences and their ability to bind to specific partner proteins called co-regulators. Xie, Pu, Metzger et al. synthesized BCL-2 proteins that existed at various times in the past. Each ancestral protein was then allowed to evolve repeatedly under natural selection to acquire the same co-regulator binding functions that evolved during history. At the end of each evolutionary trajectory, the genetic sequence of the resulting BCL-2 proteins was recorded. This revealed that the outcomes of evolution were almost completely unpredictable: trajectories initiated from the same ancestral protein produced proteins with very different sequences, and proteins launched from different ancestral starting points were even more dissimilar. Further experiments identified the mutations in each trajectory that caused changes in coregulator binding. When these mutations were introduced into other ancestral proteins, they did not yield the same change in function. This suggests that early chance events influenced each protein’s evolution in an unpredictable way by opening and closing the paths available to it in the future. This research expands our understanding of evolution on a molecular level whilst providing a new experimental approach for studying evolutionary drivers in more detail. The results suggest that BCL-2 proteins, in all their various forms, are unique products of a particular, unpredictable course of history set in motion by ancient chance events.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jinyue Pu
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
| | - Brian Ph Metzger
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
| | - Joseph W Thornton
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States.,Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
| | - Bryan C Dickinson
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
Brunet TDP, Doolittle WF, Bielawski JP. The role of purifying selection in the origin and maintenance of complex function. STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 2021; 87:125-135. [PMID: 34111815 DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2021] [Accepted: 03/18/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Fitness contribution alone should not be the criterion of 'function' in molecular biology and genomics. Disagreement over the use of 'function' in molecular biology and genomics is still with us, almost eight years after publicity surrounding the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements project claimed that 80.4% of the human genome comprises "functional elements". Recent approaches attempt to resolve or reformulate this debate by redefining genomic 'function' in terms of current fitness contribution. In its favour, this redefinition for the genomic context is in apparent conformity with predominant experimental practices, especially in biomedical research, and with ascription of function by selective maintenance. We argue against approaches of this kind, however, on the grounds that they could be seen as non-Darwinian, and fail to properly account for the diversity of non-adaptive processes involved in the origin and maintenance of genomic complexity. We examine cases of molecular and organismal complexity that arise neutrally, showing how purifying selection maintains non-adaptive genomic complexity. Rather than lumping different sorts of genomic complexity together by defining 'function' as fitness contribution, we argue that it is best to separate the heterogeneous contributions of preaptation, exaptation and adaptation to the historical processes of origin and maintenance for complex features.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tyler D P Brunet
- Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
| | - W Ford Doolittle
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, Canada
| | - Joseph P Bielawski
- Departments of Biology and Mathematics and Statistics, Dalhousie University, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
49
|
Das A, Rana S. The role of human C5a as a non-genomic target in corticosteroid therapy for management of severe COVID19. Comput Biol Chem 2021; 92:107482. [PMID: 33845430 PMCID: PMC8020607 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2021.107482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Revised: 03/31/2021] [Accepted: 04/02/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Complement system plays a dual role; physiological as well as pathophysiological. While physiological role protects the host, pathophysiological role can substantially harm the host, by triggering several hyper-inflammatory pathways, referred as "hypercytokinaemia". Emerging clinical evidence suggests that exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2), tricks the complement to aberrantly activate the "hypercytokinaemia" loop, which significantly contributes to the severity of the COVID19. The pathophysiological response of the complement is usually amplified by the over production of potent chemoattractants and inflammatory modulators, like C3a and C5a. Therefore, it is logical that neutralizing the harmful effects of the inflammatory modulators of the complement system can be beneficial for the management of COVID19. While the hunt for safe and efficacious vaccines were underway, polypharmacology based combination therapies were fairly successful in reducing both the morbidity and mortality of COVID19 across the globe. Repurposing of small molecule drugs as "neutraligands" of C5a appears to be an alternative for modulating the hyper-inflammatory signals, triggered by the C5a-C5aR signaling axes. Thus, in the current study, few specific and non-specific immunomodulators (azithromycin, colchicine, famotidine, fluvoxamine, dexamethasone and prednisone) generally prescribed for prophylactic usage for management of COVID19 were subjected to computational and biophysical studies to probe whether any of the above drugs can act as "neutraligands", by selectively binding to C5a over C3a. The data presented in this study indicates that corticosteroids, like prednisone can have potentially better selectively (Kd ∼ 0.38 μM) toward C5a than C3a, suggesting the positive modulatory role of C5a in the general success of the corticosteroid therapy in moderate to severe COVID19.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Aurosikha Das
- Chemical Biology Laboratory, School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 752050, India
| | - Soumendra Rana
- Chemical Biology Laboratory, School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 752050, India.
| |
Collapse
|
50
|
Lalanne J, Parker DJ, Li G. Spurious regulatory connections dictate the expression-fitness landscape of translation factors. Mol Syst Biol 2021; 17:e10302. [PMID: 33900014 PMCID: PMC8073009 DOI: 10.15252/msb.202110302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Revised: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
During steady-state cell growth, individual enzymatic fluxes can be directly inferred from growth rate by mass conservation, but the inverse problem remains unsolved. Perturbing the flux and expression of a single enzyme could have pleiotropic effects that may or may not dominate the impact on cell fitness. Here, we quantitatively dissect the molecular and global responses to varied expression of translation termination factors (peptide release factors, RFs) in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. While endogenous RF expression maximizes proliferation, deviations in expression lead to unexpected distal regulatory responses that dictate fitness reduction. Molecularly, RF depletion causes expression imbalance at specific operons, which activates master regulators and detrimentally overrides the transcriptome. Through these spurious connections, RF abundances are thus entrenched by focal points within the regulatory network, in one case located at a single stop codon. Such regulatory entrenchment suggests that predictive bottom-up models of expression-fitness landscapes will require near-exhaustive characterization of parts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jean‐Benoît Lalanne
- Department of BiologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMAUSA
- Department of PhysicsMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMAUSA
- Present address:
Department of Genome SciencesUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWAUSA
| | - Darren J Parker
- Department of BiologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMAUSA
- Present address:
Biosciences DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTNUSA
| | - Gene‐Wei Li
- Department of BiologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMAUSA
| |
Collapse
|