1
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Ye X, Hu Y, Qiu H, Li N. Probe capsid structure stability and dynamics of adeno-associated virus as an important viral vector for gene therapy by hydrogen-deuterium exchange-mass spectrometry. Protein Sci 2024; 33:e5074. [PMID: 38888268 PMCID: PMC11184576 DOI: 10.1002/pro.5074] [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: 01/08/2024] [Revised: 04/14/2024] [Accepted: 05/25/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024]
Abstract
Adeno-associated virus (AAV), a widely used gene therapy vector, is a small, nonenveloped virus that contains a single-stranded DNA genome with a maximum length of 4.7 kb. Despite extensive biophysical and structural characterization, many aspects of AAV functions remain elusive. This knowledge gap is primarily due to a lack of structurally resolved dynamic information and the absence of structural coverage of functionally critical segments on the AAV capsid. Here, we developed a protocol to study AAV structural dynamics by hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS), a powerful method for monitoring protein structure stability and dynamics in solution. We performed HDX-MS measurements on AAVs without or with different DNA payloads of different sizes, and obtained detailed dynamic information on the entire AAV sequence including the two functionally important segments not previously structurally characterized. The unique N terminus of the capsid protein VP1 (VP1u) was found to adopt a highly dynamic and unstable conformation with low HDX protection across the entire region, whereas the presence of a DNA payload increased its protection. The VP1 and VP2 shared region (VP1/2) showed no measurable protection, with or without DNA. Differential HDX between empty and full capsid samples allowed us to identify potential new DNA-capsid interaction sites located primarily around the five-fold channel, which differ from the three-fold pocket binding site previously identified. Our HDX-MS method for characterizing AAV structural dynamics opens a new way for future efforts to understand AAV structure-function relationships and engineer next-generation AAV vectors with improved gene delivery properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Ye
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.TarrytownNew YorkUSA
| | - Yunli Hu
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.TarrytownNew YorkUSA
| | - Haibo Qiu
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.TarrytownNew YorkUSA
| | - Ning Li
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.TarrytownNew YorkUSA
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2
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Baxa MC, Lin X, Mukinay CD, Chakravarthy S, Sachleben JR, Antilla S, Hartrampf N, Riback JA, Gagnon IA, Pentelute BL, Clark PL, Sosnick TR. How hydrophobicity, side chains, and salt affect the dimensions of disordered proteins. Protein Sci 2024; 33:e4986. [PMID: 38607226 PMCID: PMC11010952 DOI: 10.1002/pro.4986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
Despite the generally accepted role of the hydrophobic effect as the driving force for folding, many intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), including those with hydrophobic content typical of foldable proteins, behave nearly as self-avoiding random walks (SARWs) under physiological conditions. Here, we tested how temperature and ionic conditions influence the dimensions of the N-terminal domain of pertactin (PNt), an IDP with an amino acid composition typical of folded proteins. While PNt contracts somewhat with temperature, it nevertheless remains expanded over 10-58°C, with a Flory exponent, ν, >0.50. Both low and high ionic strength also produce contraction in PNt, but this contraction is mitigated by reducing charge segregation. With 46% glycine and low hydrophobicity, the reduced form of snow flea anti-freeze protein (red-sfAFP) is unaffected by temperature and ionic strength and persists as a near-SARW, ν ~ 0.54, arguing that the thermal contraction of PNt is due to stronger interactions between hydrophobic side chains. Additionally, red-sfAFP is a proxy for the polypeptide backbone, which has been thought to collapse in water. Increasing the glycine segregation in red-sfAFP had minimal effect on ν. Water remained a good solvent even with 21 consecutive glycine residues (ν > 0.5), and red-sfAFP variants lacked stable backbone hydrogen bonds according to hydrogen exchange. Similarly, changing glycine segregation has little impact on ν in other glycine-rich proteins. These findings underscore the generality that many disordered states can be expanded and unstructured, and that the hydrophobic effect alone is insufficient to drive significant chain collapse for typical protein sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael C. Baxa
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular BiologyThe University of ChicagoChicagoIllinoisUSA
| | - Xiaoxuan Lin
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular BiologyThe University of ChicagoChicagoIllinoisUSA
| | - Cedrick D. Mukinay
- Department of Chemistry & BiochemistryUniversity of Notre DameNotre DameIndianaUSA
| | - Srinivas Chakravarthy
- Biophysics Collaborative Access Team (BioCAT), Center for Synchrotron Radiation Research and Instrumentation and Department of Biological and Chemical SciencesIllinois Institute of TechnologyChicagoIllinoisUSA
- Present address:
Cytiva, Fast TrakMarlboroughMAUSA
| | | | - Sarah Antilla
- Department of Materials Science and EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMassachusettsUSA
| | - Nina Hartrampf
- Department of ChemistryMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMassachusettsUSA
- Present address:
Department of ChemistryUniversity of ZurichSwitzerland
| | - Joshua A. Riback
- Graduate Program in Biophysical ScienceUniversity of ChicagoChicagoIllinoisUSA
- Present address:
Department of Molecular and Cellular BiologyBaylor College of MedicineHoustonTXUSA
| | - Isabelle A. Gagnon
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular BiologyThe University of ChicagoChicagoIllinoisUSA
| | - Bradley L. Pentelute
- Department of ChemistryMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMassachusettsUSA
| | - Patricia L. Clark
- Department of Chemistry & BiochemistryUniversity of Notre DameNotre DameIndianaUSA
| | - Tobin R. Sosnick
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular BiologyThe University of ChicagoChicagoIllinoisUSA
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3
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Hellemann E, Durrant JD. Worth the Weight: Sub-Pocket EXplorer (SubPEx), a Weighted Ensemble Method to Enhance Binding-Pocket Conformational Sampling. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:5677-5689. [PMID: 37585617 PMCID: PMC10500992 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00478] [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: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023]
Abstract
Structure-based virtual screening (VS) is an effective method for identifying potential small-molecule ligands, but traditional VS approaches consider only a single binding-pocket conformation. Consequently, they struggle to identify ligands that bind to alternate conformations. Ensemble docking helps address this issue by incorporating multiple conformations into the docking process, but it depends on methods that can thoroughly explore pocket flexibility. We here introduce Sub-Pocket EXplorer (SubPEx), an approach that uses weighted ensemble (WE) path sampling to accelerate binding-pocket sampling. As proof of principle, we apply SubPEx to three proteins relevant to drug discovery: heat shock protein 90, influenza neuraminidase, and yeast hexokinase 2. SubPEx is available free of charge without registration under the terms of the open-source MIT license: http://durrantlab.com/subpex/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erich Hellemann
- Department of Biological
Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
| | - Jacob D. Durrant
- Department of Biological
Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States
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4
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Hellemann E, Durrant JD. Worth the weight: Sub-Pocket EXplorer (SubPEx), a weighted-ensemble method to enhance binding-pocket conformational sampling. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.03.539330. [PMID: 37251500 PMCID: PMC10214482 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.03.539330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Structure-based virtual screening (VS) is an effective method for identifying potential small-molecule ligands, but traditional VS approaches consider only a single binding-pocket conformation. Consequently, they struggle to identify ligands that bind to alternate conformations. Ensemble docking helps address this issue by incorporating multiple conformations into the docking process, but it depends on methods that can thoroughly explore pocket flexibility. We here introduce Sub-Pocket EXplorer (SubPEx), an approach that uses weighted ensemble (WE) path sampling to accelerate binding-pocket sampling. As proof of principle, we apply SubPEx to three proteins relevant to drug discovery: heat shock protein 90, influenza neuraminidase, and yeast hexokinase 2. SubPEx is available free of charge without registration under the terms of the open-source MIT license: http://durrantlab.com/subpex/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erich Hellemann
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15260, United States
| | - Jacob D. Durrant
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15260, United States
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5
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Devaurs D, Antunes DA, Borysik AJ. Computational Modeling of Molecular Structures Guided by Hydrogen-Exchange Data. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY 2022; 33:215-237. [PMID: 35077179 DOI: 10.1021/jasms.1c00328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Data produced by hydrogen-exchange monitoring experiments have been used in structural studies of molecules for several decades. Despite uncertainties about the structural determinants of hydrogen exchange itself, such data have successfully helped guide the structural modeling of challenging molecular systems, such as membrane proteins or large macromolecular complexes. As hydrogen-exchange monitoring provides information on the dynamics of molecules in solution, it can complement other experimental techniques in so-called integrative modeling approaches. However, hydrogen-exchange data have often only been used to qualitatively assess molecular structures produced by computational modeling tools. In this paper, we look beyond qualitative approaches and survey the various paradigms under which hydrogen-exchange data have been used to quantitatively guide the computational modeling of molecular structures. Although numerous prediction models have been proposed to link molecular structure and hydrogen exchange, none of them has been widely accepted by the structural biology community. Here, we present as many hydrogen-exchange prediction models as we could find in the literature, with the aim of providing the first exhaustive list of its kind. From purely structure-based models to so-called fractional-population models or knowledge-based models, the field is quite vast. We aspire for this paper to become a resource for practitioners to gain a broader perspective on the field and guide research toward the definition of better prediction models. This will eventually improve synergies between hydrogen-exchange monitoring and molecular modeling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Didier Devaurs
- MRC Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, U.K
| | - Dinler A Antunes
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Antoni J Borysik
- Department of Chemistry, King's College London, London SE1 1DB, U.K
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6
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Peng X, Baxa M, Faruk N, Sachleben JR, Pintscher S, Gagnon IA, Houliston S, Arrowsmith CH, Freed KF, Rocklin GJ, Sosnick TR. Prediction and Validation of a Protein's Free Energy Surface Using Hydrogen Exchange and (Importantly) Its Denaturant Dependence. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 18:550-561. [PMID: 34936354 PMCID: PMC8757463 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The denaturant dependence of hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) is a powerful measurement to identify the breaking of individual H-bonds and map the free energy surface (FES) of a protein including the very rare states. Molecular dynamics (MD) can identify each partial unfolding event with atomic-level resolution. Hence, their combination provides a great opportunity to test the accuracy of simulations and to verify the interpretation of HDX data. For this comparison, we use Upside, our new and extremely fast MD package that is capable of folding proteins with an accuracy comparable to that of all-atom methods. The FESs of two naturally occurring and two designed proteins are so generated and compared to our NMR/HDX data. We find that Upside's accuracy is considerably improved upon modifying the energy function using a new machine-learning procedure that trains for proper protein behavior including realistic denatured states in addition to stable native states. The resulting increase in cooperativity is critical for replicating the HDX data and protein stability, indicating that we have properly encoded the underlying physiochemical interactions into an MD package. We did observe some mismatch, however, underscoring the ongoing challenges faced by simulations in calculating accurate FESs. Nevertheless, our ensembles can identify the properties of the fluctuations that lead to HDX, whether they be small-, medium-, or large-scale openings, and can speak to the breadth of the native ensemble that has been a matter of debate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangda Peng
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Michael Baxa
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Nabil Faruk
- Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Joseph R Sachleben
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Sebastian Pintscher
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States.,Department of Molecular Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków 30387, Poland
| | - Isabelle A Gagnon
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Scott Houliston
- Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7, Canada.,Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2M9, Canada
| | - Cheryl H Arrowsmith
- Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7, Canada.,Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2M9, Canada
| | - Karl F Freed
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Gabriel J Rocklin
- Department of Pharmacology & Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois 60614, United States
| | - Tobin R Sosnick
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
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7
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Scrosati PM, Yin V, Konermann L. Hydrogen/Deuterium Exchange Measurements May Provide an Incomplete View of Protein Dynamics: a Case Study on Cytochrome c. Anal Chem 2021; 93:14121-14129. [PMID: 34644496 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c02471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Many aspects of protein function rely on conformational fluctuations. Hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) mass spectrometry (MS) provides a window into these dynamics. Despite the widespread use of HDX-MS, it remains unclear whether this technique provides a truly comprehensive view of protein dynamics. HDX is mediated by H-bond-opening/closing events, implying that HDX methods provide an H-bond-centric view. This raises the question if there could be fluctuations that leave the H-bond network unaffected, thereby rendering them undetectable by HDX-MS. We explore this issue in experiments on cytochrome c (cyt c). Compared to the Fe(II) protein, Fe(III) cyt c shows enhanced deuteration on both the distal and proximal sides of the heme. Previous studies have attributed the enhanced dynamics of Fe(III) cyt c to the facile and reversible rupture of the distal M80-Fe(III) bond. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we conducted a detailed analysis of various cyt c conformers. Our MD data confirm that rupture of the M80-Fe(III) contact triggers major reorientation of the distal Ω loop. Surprisingly, this event takes place with only miniscule H-bonding alterations. In other words, the distal loop dynamics are almost "HDX-silent". Moreover, distal loop movements cannot account for enhanced dynamics on the opposite (proximal) side of the heme. Instead, enhanced deuteration of Fe(III) cyt c is attributed to sparsely populated conformers where both the distal (M80) and proximal (H18) coordination bonds have been ruptured, along with opening of numerous H-bonds on both sides of the heme. We conclude that there can be major structural fluctuations that are only weakly coupled to changes in H-bonding, making them virtually impossible to track by HDX-MS. In such cases, HDX-MS may provide an incomplete view of protein dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo M Scrosati
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Victor Yin
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Lars Konermann
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
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8
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Rose GD. Protein folding - seeing is deceiving. Protein Sci 2021; 30:1606-1616. [PMID: 33938055 PMCID: PMC8284583 DOI: 10.1002/pro.4096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Revised: 04/24/2021] [Accepted: 04/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
This Perspective is intended to raise questions about the conventional interpretation of protein folding. According to the conventional interpretation, developed over many decades, a protein population can visit a vast number of conformations under unfolding conditions, but a single dominant native population emerges under folding conditions. Accordingly, folding comes with a substantial loss of conformational entropy. How is this price paid? The conventional answer is that favorable interactions between and among the side chains can compensate for entropy loss, and moreover, these interactions are responsible for the structural particulars of the native conformation. Challenging this interpretation, the Perspective introduces a proposal that high energy (i.e., unfavorable) excluding interactions winnow the accessible population substantially under physical-chemical conditions that favor folding. Both steric clash and unsatisfied hydrogen bond donors and acceptors are classified as excluding interactions, so called because conformers with such disfavored interactions will be largely excluded from the thermodynamic population. Both excluding interactions and solvent factors that induce compactness are somewhat nonspecific, yet together they promote substantial chain organization. Moreover, proteins are built on a backbone scaffold consisting of α-helices and strands of β-sheet, where the number of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors is exactly balanced. These repetitive secondary structural elements are the only two conformers that can be both completely hydrogen-bond satisfied and extended indefinitely without encountering a steric clash. Consequently, the number of fundamental folds is limited to no more than ~10,000 for a protein domain. Once excluding interactions are taken into account, the issue of "frustration" is largely eliminated and the Levinthal paradox is resolved. Putting the "bottom line" at the top: it is likely that hydrogen-bond satisfaction represents a largely under-appreciated parameter in protein folding models.
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Affiliation(s)
- George D. Rose
- T.C. Jenkins Department of BiophysicsJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMarylandUSA
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9
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Huang L, So PK, Chen YW, Leung YC, Yao ZP. Interdomain flexibility and interfacial integrity of β-lactamase inhibitory protein (BLIP) modulate its binding to class A β-lactamases. J Biol Chem 2021; 297:100980. [PMID: 34302811 PMCID: PMC8363833 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100980] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Revised: 07/10/2021] [Accepted: 07/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
β-Lactamase inhibitory protein (BLIP) consists of a tandem repeat of αβ domains conjugated by an interdomain loop and can effectively bind and inactivate class A β-lactamases, which are responsible for resistance of bacteria to β-lactam antibiotics. The varied ability of BLIP to bind different β-lactamases and the structural determinants for significant enhancement of BLIP variants with a point mutation are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the conformational dynamics of BLIP upon binding to three clinically prevalent class A β-lactamases (TEM1, SHV1, and PC1) with dissociation constants between subnanomolar and micromolar. Hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry revealed that the flexibility of the interdomain region was significantly suppressed upon strong binding to TEM1, but was not significantly changed upon weak binding to SHV1 or PC1. E73M and K74G mutations in the interdomain region improved binding affinity toward SHV1 and PC1, respectively, showing significantly increased flexibility of the interdomain region compared to the wild-type and favorable conformational changes upon binding. In contrast, more rigidity of the interfacial loop 135–145 was observed in these BLIP mutants in both free and bound states. Consistently, molecular dynamics simulations of BLIP exhibited drastic changes in the flexibility of the loop 135–145 in all complexes. Our results indicated for the first time that higher flexibility of the interdomain linker, as well as more rigidity of the interfacial loop 135–145, could be desirable determinants for enhancing inhibition of BLIP to class A β-lactamases. Together, these findings provide unique insights into the design of enhanced inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liwen Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Research Institute for Future Food and Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine and Molecular Pharmacology (Incubation) and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Food Biological Safety Control, Shenzhen Research Institute of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Pui-Kin So
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Research Institute for Future Food and Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
| | - Yu Wai Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Research Institute for Future Food and Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
| | - Yun-Chung Leung
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Research Institute for Future Food and Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
| | - Zhong-Ping Yao
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Research Institute for Future Food and Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine and Molecular Pharmacology (Incubation) and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Food Biological Safety Control, Shenzhen Research Institute of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, China.
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10
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Ploetz EA, Karunaweera S, Smith PE. Kirkwood-Buff-Derived Force Field for Peptides and Proteins: Applications of KBFF20. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:2991-3009. [PMID: 33878264 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Here, we perform structural, thermodynamic, and kinetics tests of the Kirkwood-Buff-derived force field, KBFF20, for peptides and proteins developed in the previous article. The physical/structural tests measure the ability of KBFF20 to capture the experimental J-couplings for small peptides, to keep globular monomeric and oligomeric proteins folded, and to produce the experimentally relevant expanded conformational ensembles of intrinsically disordered proteins. The thermodynamic-based tests probe KBFF20's ability to quantify the preferential interactions of sodium chloride around native β-lactoglobulin and urea around native lysozyme, to reproduce the melting curves for small helix- and sheet-based peptides, and to fold the small proteins Trp-cage and Villin. The kinetics-based tests quantify how well KBFF20 can match the experimental contact formation rates of small, repeat-sequence peptides of variable lengths and the rotational diffusion coefficients of globular proteins. The results suggest that KBFF20 is naturally able to reproduce properties of both folded and disordered proteins, which we attribute to the use of the Kirkwood-Buff theory as the foundation of the force field's development. However, we show that KBFF20 tends to lose some well-defined secondary structural elements and increases the percentage of coil regions, indicating that the perfect balance of all interactions remains elusive. Nevertheless, we argue that KBFF20 is an improvement over recently modified force fields that require ad hoc interventions to prevent the collapse of intrinsically disordered proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A Ploetz
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Sadish Karunaweera
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Paul E Smith
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
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11
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Ploetz EA, Karunaweera S, Bentenitis N, Chen F, Dai S, Gee MB, Jiao Y, Kang M, Kariyawasam NL, Naleem N, Weerasinghe S, Smith PE. Kirkwood-Buff-Derived Force Field for Peptides and Proteins: Philosophy and Development of KBFF20. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:2964-2990. [PMID: 33878263 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
A new classical nonpolarizable force field, KBFF20, for the simulation of peptides and proteins is presented. The force field relies heavily on the use of Kirkwood-Buff theory to provide a comparison of simulated and experimental Kirkwood-Buff integrals for solutes containing the functional groups common in proteins, thus ensuring intermolecular interactions that provide a good balance between the peptide-peptide, peptide-solvent, and solvent-solvent distributions observed in solution mixtures. In this way, it differs significantly from other biomolecular force fields. Further development and testing of the intermolecular potentials are presented here. Subsequently, rotational potentials for the ϕ/ψ and χ dihedral degrees of freedom are obtained by analysis of the Protein Data Bank, followed by small modifications to provide a reasonable balance between simulated and observed α and β percentages for small peptides. This, the first of two articles, describes in detail the philosophy and development behind KBFF20.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A Ploetz
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Sadish Karunaweera
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Nikolaos Bentenitis
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Feng Chen
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Shu Dai
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Moon B Gee
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Yuanfang Jiao
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Myungshim Kang
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Nilusha L Kariyawasam
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | - Nawavi Naleem
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
| | | | - Paul E Smith
- Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, 213 CBC Building, 1212 Mid-Campus Drive North, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, United States
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12
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Gopal SM, Wingbermühle S, Schnatwinkel J, Juber S, Herrmann C, Schäfer LV. Conformational Preferences of an Intrinsically Disordered Protein Domain: A Case Study for Modern Force Fields. J Phys Chem B 2021; 125:24-35. [PMID: 33382616 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c08702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Molecular simulations of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are challenging because they require sampling a very large number of relevant conformations, corresponding to a multitude of shallow minima in a flat free energy landscape. However, in the presence of a binding partner, the free energy landscape of an IDP can be dominated by few deep minima. This characteristic imposes high demands on the accuracy of the force field used to describe the molecular interactions. Here, as a model system for an IDP that is unstructured in solution but folds upon binding to a structured interaction partner, the transactivation domain of c-Myb was studied both in the unbound (free) form and when bound to the KIX domain. Six modern biomolecular force fields were systematically tested and compared in terms of their ability to describe the structural ensemble of the IDP. The protein force field/water model combinations included in this study are AMBER ff99SB-disp with its corresponding water model that was derived from TIP4P-D, CHARMM36m with TIP3P, ff15ipq with SPC/Eb, ff99SB*-ILDNP with TIP3P and TIP4P-D, and FB15 with TIP3P-FB water. Comparing the results from REST2-enhanced sampling simulations with experimental CD spectra and secondary chemical shifts reveals that the ff99SB-disp force field can realistically capture the broad and mildly helical structural ensemble of free c-Myb. The structural ensembles yielded by CHARMM36m, ff99SB*-ILDNP together with TIP4P-D water, and FB15 are also mildly helical; however, each of these force fields can be assigned a specific subset of c-Myb residues for which the simulations could not reproduce the experimental secondary chemical shifts. In addition, microsecond-timescale MD simulations of the KIX/c-Myb complex show that most force fields used preserve a stable helix fold of c-Myb in the complex. Still, all force fields predict a KIX/c-Myb complex interface that differs slightly from the structures provided by NMR because several NOE-derived distances between KIX and c-Myb were exceeded in the simulations. Taken together, the ff99SB-disp force field in the first place but also CHARMM36m, ff99SB*-ILDNP together with TIP4P-D water, and FB15 can be suitable choices for future simulation studies of the coupled folding and binding mechanism of the KIX/c-Myb complex and potentially also other IDPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srinivasa M Gopal
- Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Sebastian Wingbermühle
- Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Jan Schnatwinkel
- Physical Chemistry I, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Selina Juber
- Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Christian Herrmann
- Physical Chemistry I, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Lars V Schäfer
- Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
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13
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Ham D, Ahn D, Ashim J, Cho Y, Kim HR, Yu W, Chung KY. Conformational switch that induces GDP release from Gi. J Struct Biol 2021; 213:107694. [PMID: 33418033 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2020.107694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2020] [Revised: 12/14/2020] [Accepted: 12/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins) are composed of α, β, and γ subunits. Gα switches between guanosine diphosphate (GDP)-bound inactive and guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-bound active states, and Gβγ interacts with the GDP-bound state. The GDP-binding regions are composed of two sites: the phosphate-binding and guanine-binding regions. The turnover of GDP and GTP is induced by guanine nucleotide-exchange factors (GEFs), including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), Ric8A, and GIV/Girdin. However, the key structural factors for stabilizing the GDP-bound state of G proteins and the direct structural event for GDP release remain unclear. In this study, we investigated structural factors affecting GDP release by introducing point mutations in selected, conserved residues in Gαi3. We examined the effects of these mutations on the GDP/GTP turnover rate and the overall conformation of Gαi3 as well as the binding free energy between Gαi3 and GDP. We found that dynamic changes in the phosphate-binding regions are an immediate factor for the release of GDP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donghee Ham
- School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
| | - Donghoon Ahn
- School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
| | - Janbolat Ashim
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, DGIST, 333 Techno jungang-daero, Daegu 42988, Republic of Korea
| | - Yejin Cho
- School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
| | - Hee Ryung Kim
- School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
| | - Wookyung Yu
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, DGIST, 333 Techno jungang-daero, Daegu 42988, Republic of Korea; Core Protein Resources Center, DGIST, 333 Techno jungang-daero, Daegu 42988, Republic of Korea.
| | - Ka Young Chung
- School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
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14
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Dynamics of an LPS translocon induced by substrate and an antimicrobial peptide. Nat Chem Biol 2020; 17:187-195. [PMID: 33199913 DOI: 10.1038/s41589-020-00694-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2020] [Accepted: 10/12/2020] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) transport to the outer membrane (OM) is a crucial step in the biogenesis of microbial surface defenses. Although many features of the translocation mechanism have been elucidated, molecular details of LPS insertion via the LPS transport (Lpt) OM protein LptDE remain elusive. Here, we integrate native MS with hydrogen-deuterium exchange MS and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the influence of substrate and peptide binding on the conformational dynamics of LptDE. Our data reveal that LPS induces opening of the LptD β-taco domain, coupled with conformational changes on β-strands adjacent to the putative lateral exit gate. Conversely, an antimicrobial peptide, thanatin, stabilizes the β-taco, thereby preventing LPS transport. Our results illustrate that LPS insertion into the OM relies on concerted opening movements of both the β-barrel and β-taco domains of LptD, and suggest a means for developing antimicrobial therapeutics targeting this essential process in Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens.
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15
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Clark PL, Plaxco KW, Sosnick TR. Water as a Good Solvent for Unfolded Proteins: Folding and Collapse are Fundamentally Different. J Mol Biol 2020; 432:2882-2889. [PMID: 32044346 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2020.01.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2019] [Revised: 01/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The argument that the hydrophobic effect is the primary effect driving the folding of globular proteins is nearly universally accepted (including by the authors). But does this view also imply that water is a "poor" solvent for the unfolded states of these same proteins? Here we argue that the answer is "no," that is, folding to a well-packed, extensively hydrogen-bonded native structure differs fundamentally from the nonspecific chain collapse that defines a poor solvent. Thus, the observation that a protein folds in water does not necessitate that water is a poor solvent for its unfolded state. Indeed, chain-solvent interactions that are marginally more favorable than nonspecific intrachain interactions are beneficial to protein function because they destabilize deleterious misfolded conformations and inter-chain interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia L Clark
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.
| | - Kevin W Plaxco
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
| | - Tobin R Sosnick
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
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16
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Yu L, Li DW, Brüschweiler R. Balanced Amino-Acid-Specific Molecular Dynamics Force Field for the Realistic Simulation of Both Folded and Disordered Proteins. J Chem Theory Comput 2019; 16:1311-1318. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.9b01062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
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17
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Martens C, Shekhar M, Lau AM, Tajkhorshid E, Politis A. Integrating hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry with molecular dynamics simulations to probe lipid-modulated conformational changes in membrane proteins. Nat Protoc 2019; 14:3183-3204. [PMID: 31605097 PMCID: PMC7058097 DOI: 10.1038/s41596-019-0219-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2019] [Accepted: 06/20/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Biological membranes define the boundaries of cells and are composed primarily of phospholipids and membrane proteins. It has become increasingly evident that direct interactions of membrane proteins with their surrounding lipids play key roles in regulating both protein conformations and function. However, the exact nature and structural consequences of these interactions remain difficult to track at the molecular level. Here, we present a protocol that specifically addresses this challenge. First, hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) of membrane proteins incorporated into nanodiscs of controlled lipid composition is used to obtain information on the lipid species that are involved in modulating the conformational changes in the membrane protein. Then molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in lipid bilayers are used to pinpoint likely lipid-protein interactions, which can be tested experimentally using HDX-MS. By bringing together the MD predictions with the conformational readouts from HDX-MS, we have uncovered key lipid-protein interactions implicated in stabilizing important functional conformations. This protocol can be applied to virtually any integral membrane protein amenable to classic biophysical studies and for which a near-atomic-resolution structure or homology model is available. This protocol takes ~4 d to complete, excluding the time for data analysis and MD simulations, which depends on the size of the protein under investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chloe Martens
- Department of Chemistry, King's College London, London, UK
- Department of Chemistry, Center for Structural Biology and Bioinformatics, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Mrinal Shekhar
- Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, Department of Biochemistry, NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Andy M Lau
- Department of Chemistry, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Emad Tajkhorshid
- Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, Department of Biochemistry, NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
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18
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Yang S, Liu H, Zhang Y, Lu H, Chen H. Residue-Specific Force Field Improving the Sample of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Folded Proteins. J Chem Inf Model 2019; 59:4793-4805. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sheng Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, SJTU−Yale Joint Center for Biostatistics, National Experimental Teaching Center for Life Sciences and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Hao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, SJTU−Yale Joint Center for Biostatistics, National Experimental Teaching Center for Life Sciences and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Yangpeng Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, SJTU−Yale Joint Center for Biostatistics, National Experimental Teaching Center for Life Sciences and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Hui Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, SJTU−Yale Joint Center for Biostatistics, National Experimental Teaching Center for Life Sciences and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China
- SJTU-Yale Joint Center for Biostatistics and Data Science, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China
| | - Haifeng Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, SJTU−Yale Joint Center for Biostatistics, National Experimental Teaching Center for Life Sciences and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China
- Shanghai Center for Bioinformation Technology, 1278 Keyuan Road, Shanghai, 200235, China
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19
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Zhou KI, Shi H, Lyu R, Wylder AC, Matuszek Ż, Pan JN, He C, Parisien M, Pan T. Regulation of Co-transcriptional Pre-mRNA Splicing by m 6A through the Low-Complexity Protein hnRNPG. Mol Cell 2019; 76:70-81.e9. [PMID: 31445886 DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2019.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 235] [Impact Index Per Article: 47.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2018] [Revised: 05/20/2019] [Accepted: 07/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification occurs co-transcriptionally and impacts pre-mRNA processing; however, the mechanism of co-transcriptional m6A-dependent alternative splicing regulation is still poorly understood. Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein G (hnRNPG) is an m6A reader protein that binds RNA through RRM and Arg-Gly-Gly (RGG) motifs. Here, we show that hnRNPG directly binds to the phosphorylated carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) using RGG motifs in its low-complexity region. Through interactions with the phosphorylated CTD and nascent RNA, hnRNPG associates co-transcriptionally with RNAPII and regulates alternative splicing transcriptome-wide. m6A near splice sites in nascent pre-mRNA modulates hnRNPG binding, which influences RNAPII occupancy patterns and promotes exon inclusion. Our results reveal an integrated mechanism of co-transcriptional m6A-mediated splicing regulation, in which an m6A reader protein uses RGG motifs to co-transcriptionally interact with both RNAPII and m6A-modified nascent pre-mRNA to modulate RNAPII occupancy and alternative splicing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine I Zhou
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Medical Scientist Training Program, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Hailing Shi
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Ruitu Lyu
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Adam C Wylder
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Żaneta Matuszek
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Jessica N Pan
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Chuan He
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA; Institute of Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Marc Parisien
- The Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, Department of Dentistry, McGill University, Montréal, QC H3A 0G14, Canada.
| | - Tao Pan
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Institute of Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
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20
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Demerdash O, Shrestha UR, Petridis L, Smith JC, Mitchell JC, Ramanathan A. Using Small-Angle Scattering Data and Parametric Machine Learning to Optimize Force Field Parameters for Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. Front Mol Biosci 2019; 6:64. [PMID: 31475155 PMCID: PMC6705226 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2019.00064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2019] [Accepted: 07/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and proteins with intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) play important roles in many aspects of normal cell physiology, such as signal transduction and transcription, as well as pathological states, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease. Unlike their globular counterparts that are defined by a few structures and free energy minima, IDP/IDR comprise a large ensemble of rapidly interconverting structures and a corresponding free energy landscape characterized by multiple minima. This aspect has precluded the use of structural biological techniques, such as X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for resolving their structures. Instead, low-resolution techniques, such as small-angle X-ray or neutron scattering (SAXS/SANS), have become a mainstay in characterizing coarse features of the ensemble of structures. These are typically complemented with NMR data if possible or computational techniques, such as atomistic molecular dynamics, to further resolve the underlying ensemble of structures. However, over the past 10–15 years, it has become evident that the classical, pairwise-additive force fields that have enjoyed a high degree of success for globular proteins have been somewhat limited in modeling IDP/IDR structures that agree with experiment. There has thus been a significant effort to rehabilitate these models to obtain better agreement with experiment, typically done by optimizing parameters in a piecewise fashion. In this work, we take a different approach by optimizing a set of force field parameters simultaneously, using machine learning to adapt force field parameters to experimental SAXS scattering profiles. We demonstrate our approach in modeling three biologically IDP ensembles based on experimental SAXS profiles and show that our optimization approach significantly improve force field parameters that generate ensembles in better agreement with experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Omar Demerdash
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, United States.,University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Molecular Biophysics, Oak Ridge, TN, United States
| | - Utsab R Shrestha
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, United States.,University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Molecular Biophysics, Oak Ridge, TN, United States
| | - Loukas Petridis
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, United States.,University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Molecular Biophysics, Oak Ridge, TN, United States
| | - Jeremy C Smith
- University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Molecular Biophysics, Oak Ridge, TN, United States.,Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, United States
| | - Julie C Mitchell
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, United States.,University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Molecular Biophysics, Oak Ridge, TN, United States
| | - Arvind Ramanathan
- Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, United States.,Data Science and Learning Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, United States
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21
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Huang L, So PK, Yao ZP. Protein dynamics revealed by hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry: Correlation between experiments and simulation. RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY : RCM 2019; 33 Suppl 3:83-89. [PMID: 30321473 DOI: 10.1002/rcm.8307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2018] [Revised: 10/08/2018] [Accepted: 10/08/2018] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) is a powerful technique for studying protein dynamics, which is an important factor governing protein functions. However, the process of hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) of proteins is highly complex and the underlying mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated. Meanwhile, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is a computational technique that can be used to elucidate HDX behaviour on proteins and facilitate interpretation of HDX-MS data. This article aims to summarize the current understandings on the mechanism of HDX and its correlation with MD simulation, to discuss the recent developments in the techniques of HDX-MS and MD simulation and to extend the perspectives of these two techniques in protein dynamics study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liwen Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Food Safety and Technology Research Centre and Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine and Molecular Pharmacology (Incubation) and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Food Biological Safety Control, Shenzhen Research Institute of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, 518057, China
| | - Pui-Kin So
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Food Safety and Technology Research Centre and Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine and Molecular Pharmacology (Incubation) and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Food Biological Safety Control, Shenzhen Research Institute of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, 518057, China
| | - Zhong-Ping Yao
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Food Safety and Technology Research Centre and Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine and Molecular Pharmacology (Incubation) and Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Food Biological Safety Control, Shenzhen Research Institute of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, 518057, China
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22
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Kasahara K, Terazawa H, Takahashi T, Higo J. Studies on Molecular Dynamics of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Their Fuzzy Complexes: A Mini-Review. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2019; 17:712-720. [PMID: 31303975 PMCID: PMC6603302 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2019.06.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2019] [Revised: 05/29/2019] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The molecular dynamics (MD) method is a promising approach toward elucidating the molecular mechanisms of intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of proteins and their fuzzy complexes. This mini-review introduces recent studies that apply MD simulations to investigate the molecular recognition of IDRs. Firstly, methodological issues by which MD simulations treat IDRs, such as developing force fields, treating periodic boundary conditions, and enhanced sampling approaches, are discussed. Then, several examples of the applications of MD to investigate molecular interactions of IDRs in terms of the two kinds of complex formations; coupled-folding and binding and fuzzy complex. MD simulations provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of these binding processes by sampling conformational ensembles of flexible IDRs. In particular, we focused on all-atom explicit-solvent MD simulations except for studies of higher-order assembly of IDRs. Recent advances in MD methods, and computational power make it possible to dissect the molecular details of realistic molecular systems involving the dynamic behavior of IDRs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kota Kasahara
- College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1 Noji-higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577, Japan
- Corresponding author.
| | - Hiroki Terazawa
- Graduate School of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1 Noji-higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577, Japan
| | - Takuya Takahashi
- College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1 Noji-higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577, Japan
| | - Junichi Higo
- Graduate School of Simulation Studies, University of Hyogo, 7-1-28 Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan
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23
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Cheng Q, Joung I, Lee J, Kuwajima K, Lee J. Exploring the Folding Mechanism of Small Proteins GB1 and LB1. J Chem Theory Comput 2019; 15:3432-3449. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.8b01163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Qianyi Cheng
- Department of Chemistry, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee 38152, United States
- School of Computational Sciences, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul 02455, South Korea
| | - InSuk Joung
- Department of Chemistry, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, South Korea
- School of Computational Sciences, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul 02455, South Korea
| | - Juyong Lee
- Department of Chemistry, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, South Korea
| | - Kunihiro Kuwajima
- Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
- School of Computational Sciences, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul 02455, South Korea
| | - Jooyoung Lee
- Center for In Silico Protein Science, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul 02455, South Korea
- School of Computational Sciences, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul 02455, South Korea
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24
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Commonly used FRET fluorophores promote collapse of an otherwise disordered protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:8889-8894. [PMID: 30992378 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1813038116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The dimensions that unfolded proteins, including intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), adopt in the absence of denaturant remain controversial. We developed an analysis procedure for small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) profiles and used it to demonstrate that even relatively hydrophobic IDPs remain nearly as expanded in water as they are in high denaturant concentrations. In contrast, as demonstrated here, most fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements have indicated that relatively hydrophobic IDPs contract significantly in the absence of denaturant. We use two independent approaches to further explore this controversy. First, using SAXS we show that fluorophores employed in FRET can contribute to the observed discrepancy. Specifically, we find that addition of Alexa-488 to a normally expanded IDP causes contraction by an additional 15%, a value in reasonable accord with the contraction reported in FRET-based studies. Second, using our simulations and analysis procedure to accurately extract both the radius of gyration (Rg) and end-to-end distance (Ree) from SAXS profiles, we tested the recent suggestion that FRET and SAXS results can be reconciled if the Rg and Ree are "uncoupled" (i.e., no longer simply proportional), in contrast to the case for random walk homopolymers. We find, however, that even for unfolded proteins, these two measures of unfolded state dimensions remain proportional. Together, these results suggest that improved analysis procedures and a correction for significant, fluorophore-driven interactions are sufficient to reconcile prior SAXS and FRET studies, thus providing a unified picture of the nature of unfolded polypeptide chains in the absence of denaturant.
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25
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Williams LJ, Schendt BJ, Fritz ZR, Attali Y, Lavroff RH, Yarmush ML. A protein interaction free energy model based on amino acid residue contributions: Assessment of point mutation stability of T4 lysozyme. TECHNOLOGY 2019; 7:12-39. [PMID: 32211456 PMCID: PMC7093156 DOI: 10.1142/s233954781950002x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Here we present a model to estimate the interaction free energy contribution of each amino acid residue of a given protein. Protein interaction energy is described in terms of per-residue interaction factors, μ. Multibody interactions are implicitly captured in μ through the combination of amino acid terms (γ) guided by local conformation indices (σ). The model enables construction of an interaction factor heat map for a protein in a given fold, allows prima facie assessment of the degree of residue-residue interaction, and facilitates a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of protein association properties. The model was used to compute thermal stability of T4 bacteriophage lysozyme mutants across seven sites. Qualitative assessment of mutational effects provides a straightforward rationale regarding whether a particular site primarily perturbs native or non-native states, or both. The presented model was found to be in good agreement with experimental mutational data (R 2 = 0.73) and suggests an approach by which to convert structure space into energy space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lawrence J Williams
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 123 Bevier Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Brian J Schendt
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 123 Bevier Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Zachary R Fritz
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 599 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Yonatan Attali
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 123 Bevier Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Robert H Lavroff
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 123 Bevier Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - Martin L Yarmush
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 599 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
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26
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Li J, Shalev-Benami M, Sando R, Jiang X, Kibrom A, Wang J, Leon K, Katanski C, Nazarko O, Lu YC, Südhof TC, Skiniotis G, Araç D. Structural Basis for Teneurin Function in Circuit-Wiring: A Toxin Motif at the Synapse. Cell 2019; 173:735-748.e15. [PMID: 29677516 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Revised: 02/14/2018] [Accepted: 03/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Teneurins (TENs) are cell-surface adhesion proteins with critical roles in tissue development and axon guidance. Here, we report the 3.1-Å cryoelectron microscopy structure of the human TEN2 extracellular region (ECR), revealing a striking similarity to bacterial Tc-toxins. The ECR includes a large β barrel that partially encapsulates a C-terminal domain, which emerges to the solvent through an opening in the mid-barrel region. An immunoglobulin (Ig)-like domain seals the bottom of the barrel while a β propeller is attached in a perpendicular orientation. We further show that an alternatively spliced region within the β propeller acts as a switch to regulate trans-cellular adhesion of TEN2 to latrophilin (LPHN), a transmembrane receptor known to mediate critical functions in the central nervous system. One splice variant activates trans-cellular signaling in a LPHN-dependent manner, whereas the other induces inhibitory postsynaptic differentiation. These results highlight the unusual structural organization of TENs giving rise to their multifarious functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingxian Li
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Moran Shalev-Benami
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Richard Sando
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Xian Jiang
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Amanuel Kibrom
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Jie Wang
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Katherine Leon
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Christopher Katanski
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Olha Nazarko
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Yue C Lu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Thomas C Südhof
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
| | - Georgios Skiniotis
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
| | - Demet Araç
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
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27
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Jumper JM, Faruk NF, Freed KF, Sosnick TR. Trajectory-based training enables protein simulations with accurate folding and Boltzmann ensembles in cpu-hours. PLoS Comput Biol 2018; 14:e1006578. [PMID: 30589834 PMCID: PMC6307714 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2017] [Accepted: 10/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
An ongoing challenge in protein chemistry is to identify the underlying interaction energies that capture protein dynamics. The traditional trade-off in biomolecular simulation between accuracy and computational efficiency is predicated on the assumption that detailed force fields are typically well-parameterized, obtaining a significant fraction of possible accuracy. We re-examine this trade-off in the more realistic regime in which parameterization is a greater source of error than the level of detail in the force field. To address parameterization of coarse-grained force fields, we use the contrastive divergence technique from machine learning to train from simulations of 450 proteins. In our procedure, the computational efficiency of the model enables high accuracy through the precise tuning of the Boltzmann ensemble. This method is applied to our recently developed Upside model, where the free energy for side chains is rapidly calculated at every time-step, allowing for a smooth energy landscape without steric rattling of the side chains. After this contrastive divergence training, the model is able to de novo fold proteins up to 100 residues on a single core in days. This improved Upside model provides a starting point both for investigation of folding dynamics and as an inexpensive Bayesian prior for protein physics that can be integrated with additional experimental or bioinformatic data.
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Affiliation(s)
- John M. Jumper
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Department of Chemistry, and The James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Nabil F. Faruk
- Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Karl F. Freed
- Department of Chemistry, and The James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Tobin R. Sosnick
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
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28
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Riback JA, Bowman MA, Zmyslowski A, Knoverek CR, Jumper J, Kaye EB, Freed KF, Clark PL, Sosnick TR. Response to Comment on “Innovative scattering analysis shows that hydrophobic disordered proteins are expanded in water”. Science 2018; 361:361/6405/eaar7949. [PMID: 30166460 DOI: 10.1126/science.aar7949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2018] [Accepted: 07/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Best et al. claim that we provide no convincing basis to assert that a discrepancy remains between FRET and SAXS results on the dimensions of disordered proteins under physiological conditions. We maintain that a clear discrepancy is apparent in our and other recent publications, including results shown in the Best et al. comment. A plausible origin is fluorophore interactions in FRET experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua A Riback
- Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Micayla A Bowman
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - Adam Zmyslowski
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Catherine R Knoverek
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - John Jumper
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Department of Chemistry and James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Emily B Kaye
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - Karl F Freed
- Department of Chemistry and James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Patricia L Clark
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
| | - Tobin R Sosnick
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
- Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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29
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Yoo J, Aksimentiev A. New tricks for old dogs: improving the accuracy of biomolecular force fields by pair-specific corrections to non-bonded interactions. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2018; 20:8432-8449. [PMID: 29547221 DOI: 10.1039/c7cp08185e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 157] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
In contrast to ordinary polymers, the vast majority of biological macromolecules adopt highly ordered three-dimensional structures that define their functions. The key to folding of a biopolymer into a unique 3D structure or to an assembly of several biopolymers into a functional unit is a delicate balance between the attractive and repulsive forces that also makes such self-assembly reversible under physiological conditions. The all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) method has emerged as a powerful tool for studies of individual biomolecules and their functional assemblies, encompassing systems of ever increasing complexity. However, advances in parallel computing technology have outpaced the development of the underlying theoretical models-the molecular force fields, pushing the MD method into an untested territory. Recent tests of the MD method have found the most commonly used molecular force fields to be out of balance, overestimating attractive interactions between charged and hydrophobic groups, which can promote artificial aggregation in MD simulations of multi-component protein, nucleic acid, and lipid systems. One route towards improving the force fields is through the NBFIX corrections method, in which the intermolecular forces are calibrated against experimentally measured quantities such as osmotic pressure by making atom pair-specific adjustments to the non-bonded interactions. In this article, we review development of the NBFIX (Non-Bonded FIX) corrections to the AMBER and CHARMM force fields and discuss their implications for MD simulations of electrolyte solutions, dense DNA systems, Holliday junctions, protein folding, and lipid bilayer membranes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jejoong Yoo
- Center for the Physics of Living Cells, Department of Physics and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. and Center for Self-assembly and Complexity, Institute for Basic Science, Pohang, 37363, Republic of Korea
| | - Aleksei Aksimentiev
- Center for the Physics of Living Cells, Department of Physics and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
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30
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Högel P, Götz A, Kuhne F, Ebert M, Stelzer W, Rand KD, Scharnagl C, Langosch D. Glycine Perturbs Local and Global Conformational Flexibility of a Transmembrane Helix. Biochemistry 2018; 57:1326-1337. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b01197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Philipp Högel
- Center
for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) at the Lehrstuhl Chemie
der Biopolymere, Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephaner
Berg 3, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Alexander Götz
- Physics
of Synthetic Biological Systems (E14), Technical University of Munich, Maximus-von-Imhof Forum 4, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Felix Kuhne
- Center
for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) at the Lehrstuhl Chemie
der Biopolymere, Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephaner
Berg 3, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Maximilian Ebert
- Center
for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) at the Lehrstuhl Chemie
der Biopolymere, Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephaner
Berg 3, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Walter Stelzer
- Center
for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) at the Lehrstuhl Chemie
der Biopolymere, Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephaner
Berg 3, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Kasper D. Rand
- Department
of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 2, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Christina Scharnagl
- Physics
of Synthetic Biological Systems (E14), Technical University of Munich, Maximus-von-Imhof Forum 4, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Dieter Langosch
- Center
for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) at the Lehrstuhl Chemie
der Biopolymere, Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephaner
Berg 3, 85354 Freising, Germany
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31
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Huynh L, Neale C, Pomès R, Chan HS. Molecular recognition and packing frustration in a helical protein. PLoS Comput Biol 2017; 13:e1005909. [PMID: 29261665 PMCID: PMC5757960 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2017] [Revised: 01/08/2018] [Accepted: 11/28/2017] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Biomolecular recognition entails attractive forces for the functional native states and discrimination against potential nonnative interactions that favor alternate stable configurations. The challenge posed by the competition of nonnative stabilization against native-centric forces is conceptualized as frustration. Experiment indicates that frustration is often minimal in evolved biological systems although nonnative possibilities are intuitively abundant. Much of the physical basis of minimal frustration in protein folding thus remains to be elucidated. Here we make progress by studying the colicin immunity protein Im9. To assess the energetic favorability of nonnative versus native interactions, we compute free energies of association of various combinations of the four helices in Im9 (referred to as H1, H2, H3, and H4) by extensive explicit-water molecular dynamics simulations (total simulated time > 300 μs), focusing primarily on the pairs with the largest native contact surfaces, H1-H2 and H1-H4. Frustration is detected in H1-H2 packing in that a nonnative packing orientation is significantly stabilized relative to native, whereas such a prominent nonnative effect is not observed for H1-H4 packing. However, in contrast to the favored nonnative H1-H2 packing in isolation, the native H1-H2 packing orientation is stabilized by H3 and loop residues surrounding H4. Taken together, these results showcase the contextual nature of molecular recognition, and suggest further that nonnative effects in H1-H2 packing may be largely avoided by the experimentally inferred Im9 folding transition state with native packing most developed at the H1-H4 rather than the H1-H2 interface. Biomolecules need to recognize one another with high specificity: promoting “native” functional intermolecular binding events while avoiding detrimental “nonnative” bound configurations; i.e., “frustration”—the tendency for nonnative interactions—has to be minimized. Folding of globular proteins entails a similar discrimination. To gain physical insight, we computed the binding affinities of helical structures of the protein Im9 in various native or nonnative configurations by atomic simulations, discovering that partial packing of the Im9 core is frustrated. This frustration is overcome when the entire core of the protein is assembled, consistent with experiment indicating no significant kinetic trapping in Im9 folding. Our systematic analysis thus reveals a subtle, contextual aspect of biomolecular recognition and provides a general approach to characterize folding frustration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loan Huynh
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Chris Neale
- Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States of America
| | - Régis Pomès
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Molecular Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- * E-mail: (HSC); (RP)
| | - Hue Sun Chan
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- * E-mail: (HSC); (RP)
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32
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Song J, Gomes GN, Shi T, Gradinaru CC, Chan HS. Conformational Heterogeneity and FRET Data Interpretation for Dimensions of Unfolded Proteins. Biophys J 2017; 113:1012-1024. [PMID: 28877485 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2017.07.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2017] [Revised: 07/26/2017] [Accepted: 07/31/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
A mathematico-physically valid formulation is required to infer properties of disordered protein conformations from single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET). Conformational dimensions inferred by conventional approaches that presume a homogeneous conformational ensemble can be unphysical. When all possible-heterogeneous as well as homogeneous-conformational distributions are taken into account without prejudgment, a single value of average transfer efficiency 〈E〉 between dyes at two chain ends is generally consistent with highly diverse, multiple values of the average radius of gyration 〈Rg〉. Here we utilize unbiased conformational statistics from a coarse-grained explicit-chain model to establish a general logical framework to quantify this fundamental ambiguity in smFRET inference. As an application, we address the long-standing controversy regarding the denaturant dependence of 〈Rg〉 of unfolded proteins, focusing on Protein L as an example. Conventional smFRET inference concluded that 〈Rg〉 of unfolded Protein L is highly sensitive to [GuHCl], but data from SAXS suggested a near-constant 〈Rg〉 irrespective of [GuHCl]. Strikingly, our analysis indicates that although the reported 〈E〉 values for Protein L at [GuHCl] = 1 and 7 M are very different at 0.75 and 0.45, respectively, the Bayesian Rg2 distributions consistent with these two 〈E〉 values overlap by as much as 75%. Our findings suggest, in general, that the smFRET-SAXS discrepancy regarding unfolded protein dimensions likely arise from highly heterogeneous conformational ensembles at low or zero denaturant, and that additional experimental probes are needed to ascertain the nature of this heterogeneity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianhui Song
- School of Polymer Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, Shandong, China; Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Gregory-Neal Gomes
- Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Tongfei Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, China
| | - Claudiu C Gradinaru
- Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Hue Sun Chan
- Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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33
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Riback JA, Bowman MA, Zmyslowski AM, Knoverek CR, Jumper JM, Hinshaw JR, Kaye EB, Freed KF, Clark PL, Sosnick TR. Innovative scattering analysis shows that hydrophobic disordered proteins are expanded in water. Science 2017; 358:238-241. [PMID: 29026044 PMCID: PMC5959285 DOI: 10.1126/science.aan5774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 154] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2017] [Accepted: 09/07/2017] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
A substantial fraction of the proteome is intrinsically disordered, and even well-folded proteins adopt non-native geometries during synthesis, folding, transport, and turnover. Characterization of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) is challenging, in part because of a lack of accurate physical models and the difficulty of interpreting experimental results. We have developed a general method to extract the dimensions and solvent quality (self-interactions) of IDPs from a single small-angle x-ray scattering measurement. We applied this procedure to a variety of IDPs and found that even IDPs with low net charge and high hydrophobicity remain highly expanded in water, contrary to the general expectation that protein-like sequences collapse in water. Our results suggest that the unfolded state of most foldable sequences is expanded; we conjecture that this property was selected by evolution to minimize misfolding and aggregation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua A Riback
- Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Micayla A Bowman
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - Adam M Zmyslowski
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Catherine R Knoverek
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - John M Jumper
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Department of Chemistry and James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - James R Hinshaw
- Department of Chemistry and James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Emily B Kaye
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - Karl F Freed
- Department of Chemistry and James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Patricia L Clark
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
| | - Tobin R Sosnick
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
- Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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34
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Sung SS. Dielectric screening effect of electronic polarization and intramolecular hydrogen bonding. Protein Sci 2017; 26:2003-2009. [PMID: 28726339 DOI: 10.1002/pro.3238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2017] [Accepted: 07/12/2017] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Recent site-resolved hydrogen exchange measurements have uncovered significant discrepancies between simulations and experimental data during protein folding, including the excessive intramolecular hydrogen bonds in simulations. This finding indicates a possibility that intramolecular charge-charge interactions have not included sufficient dielectric screening effect of the electronic polarization. Scaling down peptide atomic charges according to the optical dielectric constant is tested in this study. As a result, the number of intramolecular hydrogen bonds is lower than using unscaled atomic charges while reaching the same levels of helical contents or β-hairpin backbone hydrogen bonds, because van der Waals interactions contribute substantially to peptide folding in water. Reducing intramolecular charge-charge interactions and hydrogen bonding increases conformational search efficiency. In particular, it reduces the equilibrium helical content in simulations using AMBER force field and the energy barrier in folding simulations using CHARMM force field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shen-Shu Sung
- Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Penn State University, Hershey, Pennsylvania, 17033
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35
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Wu HN, Jiang F, Wu YD. Significantly Improved Protein Folding Thermodynamics Using a Dispersion-Corrected Water Model and a New Residue-Specific Force Field. J Phys Chem Lett 2017; 8:3199-3205. [PMID: 28651056 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b01213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
An accurate potential energy model is crucial for biomolecular simulations. Despite many recent improvements of classical protein force fields, there are remaining key issues: much weaker temperature dependence of folding/unfolding equilibrium and overly collapsed unfolded or disordered states. For the latter problem, a new water model (TIP4P-D) has been proposed to correct the significantly underestimated water dispersion interactions. Here, using TIP4P-D, we reveal problems in current force fields through failures in folding model systems (a polyalanine peptide, Trp-cage, and the GB1 hairpin). By using residue-specific parameters to achieve better match between amino acid sequences and native structures and adding a small H-bond correction to partially compensate the missing many-body effects in α-helix formation, the new RSFF2+ force field with the TIP4P-D water model can excellently reproduce experimental melting curves of both α-helical and β-hairpin systems. The RSFF2+/TIP4P-D method also gives less collapsed unfolded structures and describes well folded proteins simultaneously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao-Nan Wu
- Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Drug Design, Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School , Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Fan Jiang
- Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Drug Design, Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School , Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Yun-Dong Wu
- Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Drug Design, Laboratory of Chemical Genomics, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School , Shenzhen 518055, China
- College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China
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36
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Riback JA, Katanski CD, Kear-Scott JL, Pilipenko EV, Rojek AE, Sosnick TR, Drummond DA. Stress-Triggered Phase Separation Is an Adaptive, Evolutionarily Tuned Response. Cell 2017; 168:1028-1040.e19. [PMID: 28283059 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.02.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 543] [Impact Index Per Article: 77.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2016] [Revised: 12/17/2016] [Accepted: 02/16/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
In eukaryotic cells, diverse stresses trigger coalescence of RNA-binding proteins into stress granules. In vitro, stress-granule-associated proteins can demix to form liquids, hydrogels, and other assemblies lacking fixed stoichiometry. Observing these phenomena has generally required conditions far removed from physiological stresses. We show that poly(A)-binding protein (Pab1 in yeast), a defining marker of stress granules, phase separates and forms hydrogels in vitro upon exposure to physiological stress conditions. Other RNA-binding proteins depend upon low-complexity regions (LCRs) or RNA for phase separation, whereas Pab1's LCR is not required for demixing, and RNA inhibits it. Based on unique evolutionary patterns, we create LCR mutations, which systematically tune its biophysical properties and Pab1 phase separation in vitro and in vivo. Mutations that impede phase separation reduce organism fitness during prolonged stress. Poly(A)-binding protein thus acts as a physiological stress sensor, exploiting phase separation to precisely mark stress onset, a broadly generalizable mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua A Riback
- Graduate Program in the Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60673, USA
| | - Christopher D Katanski
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60673, USA
| | - Jamie L Kear-Scott
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60673, USA
| | - Evgeny V Pilipenko
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60673, USA
| | - Alexandra E Rojek
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60673, USA
| | - Tobin R Sosnick
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60673, USA; Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60673, USA; Institute of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60673, USA
| | - D Allan Drummond
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60673, USA; Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60673, USA.
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37
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Pandey RB, Jacobs DJ, Farmer BL. Preferential binding effects on protein structure and dynamics revealed by coarse-grained Monte Carlo simulation. J Chem Phys 2017; 146:195101. [PMID: 28527439 PMCID: PMC5438306 DOI: 10.1063/1.4983222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2017] [Accepted: 04/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The effect of preferential binding of solute molecules within an aqueous solution on the structure and dynamics of the histone H3.1 protein is examined by a coarse-grained Monte Carlo simulation. The knowledge-based residue-residue and hydropathy-index-based residue-solvent interactions are used as input to analyze a number of local and global physical quantities as a function of the residue-solvent interaction strength (f). Results from simulations that treat the aqueous solution as a homogeneous effective solvent medium are compared to when positional fluctuations of the solute molecules are explicitly considered. While the radius of gyration (Rg) of the protein exhibits a non-monotonic dependence on solvent interaction over a wide range of f within an effective medium, an abrupt collapse in Rg occurs in a narrow range of f when solute molecules rapidly bind to a preferential set of sites on the protein. The structure factor S(q) of the protein with wave vector (q) becomes oscillatory in the collapsed state, which reflects segmental correlations caused by spatial fluctuations in solute-protein binding. Spatial fluctuations in solute binding also modify the effective dimension (D) of the protein in fibrous (D ∼ 1.3), random-coil (D ∼ 1.75), and globular (D ∼ 3) conformational ensembles as the interaction strength increases, which differ from an effective medium with respect to the magnitude of D and the length scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- R B Pandey
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi 39406, USA
| | - D J Jacobs
- Department of Physics and Optical Science, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina 28223, USA
| | - B L Farmer
- Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433, USA and Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27606, USA
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38
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Wang LP, McKiernan KA, Gomes J, Beauchamp KA, Head-Gordon T, Rice JE, Swope WC, Martínez TJ, Pande VS. Building a More Predictive Protein Force Field: A Systematic and Reproducible Route to AMBER-FB15. J Phys Chem B 2017; 121:4023-4039. [PMID: 28306259 PMCID: PMC9724927 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b02320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 166] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
The increasing availability of high-quality experimental data and first-principles calculations creates opportunities for developing more accurate empirical force fields for simulation of proteins. We developed the AMBER-FB15 protein force field by building a high-quality quantum chemical data set consisting of comprehensive potential energy scans and employing the ForceBalance software package for parameter optimization. The optimized potential surface allows for more significant thermodynamic fluctuations away from local minima. In validation studies where simulation results are compared to experimental measurements, AMBER-FB15 in combination with the updated TIP3P-FB water model predicts equilibrium properties with equivalent accuracy, and temperature dependent properties with significantly improved accuracy, in comparison with published models. We also discuss the effect of changing the protein force field and water model on the simulation results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lee-Ping Wang
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis , Davis, California 95616, United States
| | - Keri A McKiernan
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Joseph Gomes
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Kyle A Beauchamp
- Counsyl, Inc. , South San Francisco, California 94080, United States
| | - Teresa Head-Gordon
- Departments of Chemistry, Bioengineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Kenneth S. Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley , Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Chemical Sciences Division, Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Julia E Rice
- IBM Almaden Research Center, IBM Research , San Jose, California 95120, United States
| | - William C Swope
- IBM Almaden Research Center, IBM Research , San Jose, California 95120, United States
| | - Todd J Martínez
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States
- PULSE Institute, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , Menlo Park, California 94025, United States
| | - Vijay S Pande
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States
- Departments of Computer Science, Structural Biology, and Program in Biophysics, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States
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39
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Lee KH, Chen J. Optimization of the GBMV2 implicit solvent force field for accurate simulation of protein conformational equilibria. J Comput Chem 2017; 38:1332-1341. [PMID: 28397268 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.24734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2016] [Revised: 11/16/2016] [Accepted: 12/14/2016] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Accurate treatment of solvent environment is critical for reliable simulations of protein conformational equilibria. Implicit treatment of solvation, such as using the generalized Born (GB) class of models arguably provides an optimal balance between computational efficiency and physical accuracy. Yet, GB models are frequently plagued by a tendency to generate overly compact structures. The physical origins of this drawback are relatively well understood, and the key to a balanced implicit solvent protein force field is careful optimization of physical parameters to achieve a sufficient level of cancellation of errors. The latter has been hampered by the difficulty of generating converged conformational ensembles of non-trivial model proteins using the popular replica exchange sampling technique. Here, we leverage improved sampling efficiency of a newly developed multi-scale enhanced sampling technique to re-optimize the generalized-Born with molecular volume (GBMV2) implicit solvent model with the CHARMM36 protein force field. Recursive optimization of key GBMV2 parameters (such as input radii) and protein torsion profiles (via the CMAP torsion cross terms) has led to a more balanced GBMV2 protein force field that recapitulates the structures and stabilities of both helical and β-hairpin model peptides. Importantly, this force field appears to be free of the over-compaction bias, and can generate structural ensembles of several intrinsically disordered proteins of various lengths that seem highly consistent with available experimental data. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kuo Hao Lee
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, 66506
| | - Jianhan Chen
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, 66506
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40
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Computational and theoretical advances in studies of intrinsically disordered proteins. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2017; 42:147-154. [PMID: 28259050 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2017.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 154] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2016] [Revised: 01/16/2017] [Accepted: 01/21/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are increasingly realized to play diverse biological roles, ranging from molecular signaling to the formation of membraneless organelles. Their high degree of disorder makes them more challenging to study using the techniques of conventional structural biology, because any observable will be averaged over a heterogeneous ensemble of structures. Molecular simulations and theory are therefore a natural complement to experiment for studying the structure, dynamics and function of IDPs. The diverse time and length scales relevant to the roles played by IDPs require flexibility in the techniques applied. Here, I summarize some of the developments in simulation and theory in recent years, which have been driven by the desire to better capture IDP properties at different time- and length-scales. I also provide an outlook for how methods can be improved in the future and emerging problems which may be addressed by theory and simulation.
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41
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Evidence for the principle of minimal frustration in the evolution of protein folding landscapes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:E1627-E1632. [PMID: 28196883 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1613892114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Theoretical and experimental studies have firmly established that protein folding can be described by a funneled energy landscape. This funneled energy landscape is the result of foldable protein sequences evolving following the principle of minimal frustration, which allows proteins to rapidly fold to their native biologically functional conformations. For a protein family with a given functional fold, the principle of minimal frustration suggests that, independent of sequence, all proteins within this family should fold with similar rates. However, depending on the optimal living temperature of the organism, proteins also need to modulate their thermodynamic stability. Consequently, the difference in thermodynamic stability should be primarily caused by differences in the unfolding rates. To test this hypothesis experimentally, we performed comprehensive thermodynamic and kinetic analyses of 15 different proteins from the thioredoxin family. Eight of these thioredoxins were extant proteins from psychrophilic, mesophilic, or thermophilic organisms. The other seven protein sequences were obtained using ancestral sequence reconstruction and can be dated back over 4 billion years. We found that all studied proteins fold with very similar rates but unfold with rates that differ up to three orders of magnitude. The unfolding rates correlate well with the thermodynamic stability of the proteins. Moreover, proteins that unfold slower are more resistant to proteolysis. These results provide direct experimental support to the principle of minimal frustration hypothesis.
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42
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Abstract
The investigation of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) is a new frontier in structural and molecular biology that requires a new paradigm to connect structural disorder to function. Molecular dynamics simulations and statistical thermodynamics potentially offer ideal tools for atomic-level characterizations and thermodynamic descriptions of this fascinating class of proteins that will complement experimental studies. However, IDPs display sensitivity to inaccuracies in the underlying molecular mechanics force fields. Thus, achieving an accurate structural characterization of IDPs via simulations is a challenge. It is also daunting to perform a configuration-space integration over heterogeneous structural ensembles sampled by IDPs to extract, in particular, protein configurational entropy. In this review, we summarize recent efforts devoted to the development of force fields and the critical evaluations of their performance when applied to IDPs. We also survey recent advances in computational methods for protein configurational entropy that aim to provide a thermodynamic link between structural disorder and protein activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Song-Ho Chong
- Department of Chemistry, Sookmyung Women's University, Yongsan-Ku, Seoul 04310, Korea;
| | - Prathit Chatterjee
- Department of Chemistry, Sookmyung Women's University, Yongsan-Ku, Seoul 04310, Korea;
| | - Sihyun Ham
- Department of Chemistry, Sookmyung Women's University, Yongsan-Ku, Seoul 04310, Korea;
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43
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Yoo J, Aksimentiev A. Refined Parameterization of Nonbonded Interactions Improves Conformational Sampling and Kinetics of Protein Folding Simulations. J Phys Chem Lett 2016; 7:3812-3818. [PMID: 27617340 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b01747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
Recent advances in computational technology have enabled brute-force molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of protein folding using physics-based molecular force fields. The extensive sampling of protein conformations afforded by such simulations revealed, however, considerable compaction of the protein conformations in the unfolded state, which is inconsistent with experiment. Here, we show that a set of surgical corrections to nonbonded interactions between amine nitrogen-carboxylate oxygen and aliphatic carbon-carbon atom pairs can considerably improve the realism of protein folding simulations. Specifically, we show that employing our corrections in ∼500 μs all-atom replica-exchange MD simulations of the WW domain and villin head piece proteins increases the size of the denatured proteins' conformations and does not destabilize the native conformations of the proteins. In addition to making the folded conformations a global minimum of the respective free energy landscapes at room temperature, our corrections also make the free energy landscape smoother, considerably accelerating the folding kinetics and, hence, reducing the computational expense of a protein folding simulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jejoong Yoo
- Center for the Physics of Living Cells, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Aleksei Aksimentiev
- Center for the Physics of Living Cells, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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44
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Sikosek T, Krobath H, Chan HS. Theoretical Insights into the Biophysics of Protein Bi-stability and Evolutionary Switches. PLoS Comput Biol 2016; 12:e1004960. [PMID: 27253392 PMCID: PMC4890782 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2016] [Accepted: 05/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Deciphering the effects of nonsynonymous mutations on protein structure is central to many areas of biomedical research and is of fundamental importance to the study of molecular evolution. Much of the investigation of protein evolution has focused on mutations that leave a protein’s folded structure essentially unchanged. However, to evolve novel folds of proteins, mutations that lead to large conformational modifications have to be involved. Unraveling the basic biophysics of such mutations is a challenge to theory, especially when only one or two amino acid substitutions cause a large-scale conformational switch. Among the few such mutational switches identified experimentally, the one between the GA all-α and GB α+β folds is extensively characterized; but all-atom simulations using fully transferrable potentials have not been able to account for this striking switching behavior. Here we introduce an explicit-chain model that combines structure-based native biases for multiple alternative structures with a general physical atomic force field, and apply this construct to twelve mutants spanning the sequence variation between GA and GB. In agreement with experiment, we observe conformational switching from GA to GB upon a single L45Y substitution in the GA98 mutant. In line with the latent evolutionary potential concept, our model shows a gradual sequence-dependent change in fold preference in the mutants before this switch. Our analysis also indicates that a sharp GA/GB switch may arise from the orientation dependence of aromatic π-interactions. These findings provide physical insights toward rationalizing, predicting and designing evolutionary conformational switches. The biological functions of globular proteins are intimately related to their folded structures and their associated conformational fluctuations. Evolution of new structures is an important avenue to new functions. Although many mutations do not change the folded state, experiments indicate that a single amino acid substitution can lead to a drastic change in the folded structure. The physics of this switch-like behavior remains to be elucidated. Here we develop a computational model for the relevant physical forces, showing that mutations can lead to new folds by passing through intermediate sequences where the old and new folds occur with varying probabilities. Our approach helps provide a general physical account of conformational switching in evolution and mutational effects on conformational dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Sikosek
- Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Heinrich Krobath
- Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Hue Sun Chan
- Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- * E-mail:
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45
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Sukenik S, Pogorelov TV, Gruebele M. Can Local Probes Go Global? A Joint Experiment-Simulation Analysis of λ(6-85) Folding. J Phys Chem Lett 2016; 7:1960-1965. [PMID: 27101436 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b00582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The process of protein folding is known to involve global motions in a cooperative affair; the structure of most of the protein sequences is gained or lost over a narrow range of temperature, denaturant, or pressure perturbations. At the same time, recent simulations and experiments reveal a complex structural landscape with a rich set of local motions and conformational changes. We couple experimental kinetic and thermodynamic measurements with specifically tailored analysis of simulation data to isolate local versus global folding probes. We find that local probes exhibit lower melting temperatures, smaller surface area changes, and faster kinetics compared to global ones. We also see that certain local probes of folding match the global behavior more closely than others. Our work highlights the importance of using multiple probes to fully characterize protein folding dynamics by theory and experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shahar Sukenik
- Department of Chemistry, School of Chemical Sciences, and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, #National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and ‡Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Champaign, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Taras V Pogorelov
- Department of Chemistry, School of Chemical Sciences, and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, #National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and ‡Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Champaign, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Martin Gruebele
- Department of Chemistry, School of Chemical Sciences, and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, #National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and ‡Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Champaign, Illinois 61801, United States
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46
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Reppert M, Tokmakoff A. Computational Amide I 2D IR Spectroscopy as a Probe of Protein Structure and Dynamics. Annu Rev Phys Chem 2016; 67:359-86. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-physchem-040215-112055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mike Reppert
- Department of Chemistry, James Franck Institute, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637;
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
| | - Andrei Tokmakoff
- Department of Chemistry, James Franck Institute, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637;
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47
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Cooperative folding near the downhill limit determined with amino acid resolution by hydrogen exchange. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:4747-52. [PMID: 27078098 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1522500113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The relationship between folding cooperativity and downhill, or barrier-free, folding of proteins under highly stabilizing conditions remains an unresolved topic, especially for proteins such as λ-repressor that fold on the microsecond timescale. Under aqueous conditions where downhill folding is most likely to occur, we measure the stability of multiple H bonds, using hydrogen exchange (HX) in a λYA variant that is suggested to be an incipient downhill folder having an extrapolated folding rate constant of 2 × 10(5) s(-1) and a stability of 7.4 kcal·mol(-1) at 298 K. At least one H bond on each of the three largest helices (α1, α3, and α4) breaks during a common unfolding event that reflects global denaturation. The use of HX enables us to both examine folding under highly stabilizing, native-like conditions and probe the pretransition state region for stable species without the need to initiate the folding reaction. The equivalence of the stability determined at zero and high denaturant indicates that any residual denatured state structure minimally affects the stability even under native conditions. Using our ψ analysis method along with mutational ϕ analysis, we find that the three aforementioned helices are all present in the folding transition state. Hence, the free energy surface has a sufficiently high barrier separating the denatured and native states that folding appears cooperative even under extremely stable and fast folding conditions.
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48
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Yuwen T, Xue Y, Skrynnikov NR. Role of Electrostatic Interactions in Binding of Peptides and Intrinsically Disordered Proteins to Their Folded Targets: 2. The Model of Encounter Complex Involving the Double Mutant of the c-Crk N-SH3 Domain and Peptide Sos. Biochemistry 2016; 55:1784-800. [PMID: 26910732 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.5b01283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tairan Yuwen
- Department
of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette Indiana 47907, United States
| | - Yi Xue
- Department
of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette Indiana 47907, United States
| | - Nikolai R. Skrynnikov
- Department
of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette Indiana 47907, United States
- Laboratory
of Biomolecular NMR, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia
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49
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Reppert M, Roy AR, Tokmakoff A. Isotope-enriched protein standards for computational amide I spectroscopy. J Chem Phys 2016; 142:125104. [PMID: 25833611 DOI: 10.1063/1.4915271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a systematic isotope labeling study of the protein G mutant NuG2b as a step toward the production of reliable, structurally stable, experimental standards for amide I infrared spectroscopic simulations. By introducing isotope enriched amino acids into a minimal growth medium during bacterial expression, we induce uniform labeling of the amide bonds following specific amino acids, avoiding the need for chemical peptide synthesis. We use experimental data to test several common amide I frequency maps and explore the influence of various factors on map performance. Comparison of the predicted absorption frequencies for the four maps tested with empirical assignments to our experimental spectra yields a root-mean-square error of 6-12 cm(-1), with outliers of at least 12 cm(-1) in all models. This means that the predictions may be useful for predicting general trends such as changes in hydrogen bonding configuration; however, for finer structural constraints or absolute frequency assignments, the models are unreliable. The results indicate the need for careful testing of existing literature maps and shed light on possible next steps for the development of quantitative spectral maps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mike Reppert
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Anish R Roy
- Department of Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
| | - Andrei Tokmakoff
- Department of Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
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50
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Best RB, Hofmann H, Nettels D, Schuler B. Quantitative interpretation of FRET experiments via molecular simulation: force field and validation. Biophys J 2016; 108:2721-31. [PMID: 26039173 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2015.04.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2015] [Revised: 04/23/2015] [Accepted: 04/27/2015] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Molecular simulation is a valuable and complementary tool that may assist with the interpretation of single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) experiments, if the energy function is of sufficiently high quality. Here we present force-field parameters for one of the most common pairs of chromophores used in experiments, AlexaFluor 488 and 594. From microsecond molecular-dynamics simulations, we are able to recover both experimentally determined equilibrium constants and association/dissociation rates of the chromophores with free tryptophan, as well as the decay of fluorescence anisotropy of a labeled protein. We find that it is particularly important to obtain a correct balance of solute-water interactions in the simulations in order to faithfully capture the experimental anisotropy decays, which provide a sensitive benchmark for fluorophore mobility. Lastly, by a combination of experiment and simulation, we address a potential complication in the interpretation of experiments on polyproline, used as a molecular ruler for FRET experiments, namely the potential association of one of the chromophores with the polyproline helix. Under conditions where simulations accurately capture the fluorescence anisotropy decay, we find at most a modest, transient population of conformations in which the chromophores associate with the polyproline. Explicit calculation of FRET transfer efficiencies for short polyprolines yields results in good agreement with experiment. These results illustrate the potential power of a combination of molecular simulation and experiment in quantifying biomolecular dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert B Best
- Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
| | - Hagen Hofmann
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Nettels
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Benjamin Schuler
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
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