1
|
Seitz C, Deveci İ, McCammon JA. Glycosylation and Crowded Membrane Effects on Influenza Neuraminidase Stability and Dynamics. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:9926-9934. [PMID: 37903229 PMCID: PMC10641874 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02524] [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: 09/10/2023] [Revised: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 11/01/2023]
Abstract
All protein simulations are conducted with varying degrees of simplification, oftentimes with unknown ramifications about how these simplifications affect the interpretability of the results. In this work, we investigated how protein glycosylation and lateral crowding effects modulate an array of properties characterizing the stability and dynamics of influenza neuraminidase. We constructed three systems: (1) glycosylated neuraminidase in a whole virion (i.e., crowded membrane) environment, (2) glycosylated neuraminidase in its own lipid bilayer, and (3) unglycosylated neuraminidase in its own lipid bilayer. We saw that glycans tend to stabilize the protein structure and reduce its conformational flexibility while restricting the solvent movement. Conversely, a crowded membrane environment encouraged exploration of the free energy landscape and a large-scale conformational change, while making the protein structure more compact. Understanding these effects informs what factors one must consider in attempting to recapture the desired level of physical accuracy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christian Seitz
- Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University
of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - İlker Deveci
- Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University
of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - J. Andrew McCammon
- Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University
of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
- Department
of Pharmacology, University of California,
San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Seitz C, Deveci İ, McCammon JA. Glycosylation and Crowded Membrane Effects on Influenza Neuraminidase Stability and Dynamics. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.10.556910. [PMID: 37745347 PMCID: PMC10515755 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.10.556910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
All protein simulations are conducted with varying degrees of simplifications, oftentimes with unknown ramifications on how these simplifications affect the interpretability of the results. In this work we investigated how protein glycosylation and lateral crowding effects modulate an array of properties characterizing the stability and dynamics of influenza neuraminidase. We constructed three systems: 1) Glycosylated neuraminidase in a whole virion (i.e. crowded membrane) environment 2) Glycosylated neuraminidase in its own lipid bilayer 3) Unglycosylated neuraminidase in its own lipid bilayer. We saw that glycans tend to stabilize the protein structure and reduce its conformational flexibility while restricting solvent movement. Conversely, a crowded membrane environment encouraged exploration of the free energy landscape and a large scale conformational change while making the protein structure more compact. Understanding these effects informs what factors one must consider while attempting to recapture the desired level of physical accuracy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christian Seitz
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California
| | - İlker Deveci
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California
| | - J. Andrew McCammon
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California
- Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Brodmerkel MN, De Santis E, Caleman C, Marklund EG. Rehydration Post-orientation: Investigating Field-Induced Structural Changes via Computational Rehydration. Protein J 2023:10.1007/s10930-023-10110-y. [PMID: 37031302 DOI: 10.1007/s10930-023-10110-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 04/10/2023]
Abstract
Proteins can be oriented in the gas phase using strong electric fields, which brings advantages for structure determination using X-ray free electron lasers. Both the vacuum conditions and the electric-field exposure risk damaging the protein structures. Here, we employ molecular dynamics simulations to rehydrate and relax vacuum and electric-field exposed proteins in aqueous solution, which simulates a refinement of structure models derived from oriented gas-phase proteins. We find that the impact of the strong electric fields on the protein structures is of minor importance after rehydration, compared to that of vacuum exposure and ionization in electrospraying. The structures did not fully relax back to their native structure in solution on the simulated timescales of 200 ns, but they recover several features, including native-like intra-protein contacts, which suggests that the structures remain in a state from which the fully native structure is accessible. Our findings imply that the electric fields used in native mass spectrometry are well below a destructive level, and suggest that structures inferred from X-ray diffraction from gas-phase proteins are relevant for solution and in vivo conditions, at least after in silico rehydration.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maxim N Brodmerkel
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 75123, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Emiliano De Santis
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 75123, Uppsala, Sweden
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, 75120, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Carl Caleman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, 75120, Uppsala, Sweden
- Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Erik G Marklund
- Department of Chemistry - BMC, Uppsala University, Box 576, 75123, Uppsala, Sweden.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Honegger P, Steinhauser O. Towards capturing cellular complexity: combining encapsulation and macromolecular crowding in a reverse micelle. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2019; 21:8108-8120. [DOI: 10.1039/c9cp00053d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
This paper studies the orientational structure and dynamics of multi-protein systems under confinement and discusses the implications on biological cells.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Philipp Honegger
- University of Vienna
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Department of Computational Biological Chemistry
- A-1090 Vienna
- Austria
| | - Othmar Steinhauser
- University of Vienna
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Department of Computational Biological Chemistry
- A-1090 Vienna
- Austria
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Honegger P, Schmollngruber M, Steinhauser O. Macromolecular crowding and the importance of proper hydration for the structure and dynamics of protein solutions. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2018; 20:19581-19594. [DOI: 10.1039/c8cp02360c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Extensive computational studies of ubiquitin crowding with a special focus on protein hydration directly visible in dielectric spectra.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Philipp Honegger
- University of Vienna
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Department of Computational Biological Chemistry
- A-1090 Vienna
- Austria
| | - Michael Schmollngruber
- University of Vienna
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Department of Computational Biological Chemistry
- A-1090 Vienna
- Austria
| | - Othmar Steinhauser
- University of Vienna
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Department of Computational Biological Chemistry
- A-1090 Vienna
- Austria
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Feig M, Yu I, Wang PH, Nawrocki G, Sugita Y. Crowding in Cellular Environments at an Atomistic Level from Computer Simulations. J Phys Chem B 2017; 121:8009-8025. [PMID: 28666087 PMCID: PMC5582368 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b03570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 115] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
![]()
The
effects of crowding in biological environments on biomolecular
structure, dynamics, and function remain not well understood. Computer
simulations of atomistic models of concentrated peptide and protein
systems at different levels of complexity are beginning to provide
new insights. Crowding, weak interactions with other macromolecules
and metabolites, and altered solvent properties within cellular environments
appear to remodel the energy landscape of peptides and proteins in
significant ways including the possibility of native state destabilization.
Crowding is also seen to affect dynamic properties, both conformational
dynamics and diffusional properties of macromolecules. Recent simulations
that address these questions are reviewed here and discussed in the
context of relevant experiments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michael Feig
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University , East Lansing, Michigan, United States.,Quantitative Biology Center, RIKEN , Kobe, Japan
| | - Isseki Yu
- Theoretical Molecular Science Laboratory, RIKEN , Wako, Japan.,iTHES Research Group, RIKEN , Wako, Japan
| | - Po-Hung Wang
- Theoretical Molecular Science Laboratory, RIKEN , Wako, Japan
| | - Grzegorz Nawrocki
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University , East Lansing, Michigan, United States
| | - Yuji Sugita
- Quantitative Biology Center, RIKEN , Kobe, Japan.,Theoretical Molecular Science Laboratory, RIKEN , Wako, Japan.,iTHES Research Group, RIKEN , Wako, Japan.,Advanced Institute for Computational Science, RIKEN , Kobe, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Abriata LA, Spiga E, Peraro MD. Molecular Effects of Concentrated Solutes on Protein Hydration, Dynamics, and Electrostatics. Biophys J 2017; 111:743-755. [PMID: 27558718 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2016.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2016] [Revised: 06/06/2016] [Accepted: 07/05/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Most studies of protein structure and function are performed in dilute conditions, but proteins typically experience high solute concentrations in their physiological scenarios and biotechnological applications. High solute concentrations have well-known effects on coarse protein traits like stability, diffusion, and shape, but likely also perturb other traits through finer effects pertinent at the residue and atomic levels. Here, NMR and molecular dynamics investigations on ubiquitin disclose variable interactions with concentrated solutes that lead to localized perturbations of the protein's surface, hydration, electrostatics, and dynamics, all dependent on solute size and chemical properties. Most strikingly, small polar uncharged molecules are sticky on the protein surface, whereas charged small molecules are not, but the latter still perturb the internal protein electrostatics as they diffuse nearby. Meanwhile, interactions with macromolecular crowders are favored mainly through hydrophobic, but not through polar, surface patches. All the tested small solutes strongly slow down water exchange at the protein surface, whereas macromolecular crowders do not exert such strong perturbation. Finally, molecular dynamics simulations predict that unspecific interactions slow down microsecond- to millisecond-timescale protein dynamics despite having only mild effects on pico- to nanosecond fluctuations as corroborated by NMR. We discuss our results in the light of recent advances in understanding proteins inside living cells, focusing on the physical chemistry of quinary structure and cellular organization, and we reinforce the idea that proteins should be studied in native-like media to achieve a faithful description of their function.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Luciano A Abriata
- Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Enrico Spiga
- Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Matteo Dal Peraro
- Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Musiani F, Giorgetti A. Protein Aggregation and Molecular Crowding: Perspectives From Multiscale Simulations. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2016; 329:49-77. [PMID: 28109331 DOI: 10.1016/bs.ircmb.2016.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Cells are extremely crowded environments, thus the use of diluted salted aqueous solutions containing a single protein is too simplistic to mimic the real situation. Macromolecular crowding might affect protein structure, folding, shape, conformational stability, binding of small molecules, enzymatic activity, interactions with cognate biomolecules, and pathological aggregation. The latter phenomenon typically leads to the formation of amyloid fibrils that are linked to several lethal neurodegenerative diseases, but that can also play a functional role in certain organisms. The majority of molecular simulations performed before the last few years were conducted in diluted solutions and were restricted both in the timescales and in the system dimensions by the available computational resources. In recent years, several computational solutions were developed to get close to physiological conditions. In this review we summarize the main computational techniques used to tackle the issue of protein aggregation both in a diluted and in a crowded environment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- F Musiani
- Laboratory of Bioinorganic Chemistry, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
| | - A Giorgetti
- Applied Bioinformatics Group, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Pérez Santero S, Favretto F, Zanzoni S, Chignola R, Assfalg M, D'Onofrio M. Effects of macromolecular crowding on a small lipid binding protein probed at the single-amino acid level. Arch Biochem Biophys 2016; 606:99-110. [DOI: 10.1016/j.abb.2016.07.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2016] [Revised: 07/16/2016] [Accepted: 07/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
10
|
Assessing the potential of atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to probe reversible protein-protein recognition and binding. Sci Rep 2015; 5:10549. [PMID: 26023027 PMCID: PMC4448524 DOI: 10.1038/srep10549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2015] [Accepted: 04/17/2015] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Protein-protein recognition and binding are governed by diffusion, noncovalent forces and conformational flexibility, entangled in a way that only molecular dynamics simulations can dissect at high resolution. Here we exploited ubiquitin's noncovalent dimerization equilibrium to assess the potential of atomistic simulations to reproduce reversible protein-protein binding, by running submicrosecond simulations of systems with multiple copies of the protein at millimolar concentrations. The simulations essentially fail because they lead to aggregates, yet they reproduce some specificity in the binding interfaces as observed in known covalent and noncovalent ubiquitin dimers. Following similar observations in literature we hint at electrostatics and water descriptions as the main liable force field elements, and propose that their optimization should consider observables relevant to multi-protein systems and unfolded proteins. Within limitations, analysis of binding events suggests salient features of protein-protein recognition and binding, to be retested with improved force fields. Among them, that specific configurations of relative direction and orientation seem to trigger fast binding of two molecules, even over 50 Å distances; that conformational selection can take place within surface-to-surface distances of 10 to 40 Å i.e. well before actual intermolecular contact; and that establishment of contacts between molecules further locks their conformations and relative orientations.
Collapse
|
11
|
Kondrat S, Zimmermann O, Wiechert W, Lieres EV. The effect of composition on diffusion of macromolecules in a crowded environment. Phys Biol 2015; 12:046003. [DOI: 10.1088/1478-3975/12/4/046003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
|
12
|
The effect of macromolecular crowding on the electrostatic component of barnase-barstar binding: a computational, implicit solvent-based study. PLoS One 2014; 9:e98618. [PMID: 24915485 PMCID: PMC4051634 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0098618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2014] [Accepted: 05/05/2014] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Macromolecular crowding within the cell can impact both protein folding and binding. Earlier models of cellular crowding focused on the excluded volume, entropic effect of crowding agents, which generally favors compact protein states. Recently, other effects of crowding have been explored, including enthalpically-related crowder–protein interactions and changes in solvation properties. In this work, we explore the effects of macromolecular crowding on the electrostatic desolvation and solvent-screened interaction components of protein–protein binding. Our simple model enables us to focus exclusively on the electrostatic effects of water depletion on protein binding due to crowding, providing us with the ability to systematically analyze and quantify these potentially intuitive effects. We use the barnase–barstar complex as a model system and randomly placed, uncharged spheres within implicit solvent to model crowding in an aqueous environment. On average, we find that the desolvation free energy penalties incurred by partners upon binding are lowered in a crowded environment and solvent-screened interactions are amplified. At a constant crowder density (fraction of total available volume occupied by crowders), this effect generally increases as the radius of model crowders decreases, but the strength and nature of this trend can depend on the water probe radius used to generate the molecular surface in the continuum model. In general, there is huge variation in desolvation penalties as a function of the random crowder positions. Results with explicit model crowders can be qualitatively similar to those using a lowered “effective” solvent dielectric to account for crowding, although the “best” effective dielectric constant will likely depend on multiple system properties. Taken together, this work systematically demonstrates, quantifies, and analyzes qualitative intuition-based insights into the effects of water depletion due to crowding on the electrostatic component of protein binding, and it provides an initial framework for future analyses.
Collapse
|
13
|
Spiga E, Abriata LA, Piazza F, Dal Peraro M. Dissecting the effects of concentrated carbohydrate solutions on protein diffusion, hydration, and internal dynamics. J Phys Chem B 2014; 118:5310-21. [PMID: 24773474 DOI: 10.1021/jp4126705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
We present herein a thorough description of the effects of high glucose concentrations on the diffusion, hydration and internal dynamics of ubiquitin, as predicted from extensive molecular dynamics simulations on several systems described at fully atomistic level. We observe that the protein acts as a seed that speeds up the natural propensity of glucose to cluster at high concentration; the sugar molecules thus aggregate around the protein trapping it inside a dynamic cage. This process extensively dehydrates the protein surface, restricts the motions of the remaining water molecules, and drags the large-scale, collective motions of protein atoms slowing down the rate of exploration of the conformational space despite only a slight dampening of fast, local dynamics. We discuss how these effects could be relevant to the function of sugars as preservation agents in biological materials, and how crowding by small sticky molecules could modulate proteins across different reaction coordinates inside the cellular cytosol.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Enrico Spiga
- Laboratory for Biomolecular Modeling, Institute of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|