1
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Zhu S, Fan S, Tang T, Huang J, Zhou H, Huang C, Chen Y, Qian F. Polymorphic nanobody crystals as long-acting intravitreal therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration. Bioeng Transl Med 2023; 8:e10523. [PMID: 38023710 PMCID: PMC10658565 DOI: 10.1002/btm2.10523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2022] [Revised: 03/23/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) is the most common cause of blindness, and chronic intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) proteins has been the dominant therapeutic approach. Less intravitreal injection and a prolonged inter-injection interval are the main drivers behind new wet AMD drug innovations. By rationally engineering the surface residues of a model anti-VEGF nanobody, we obtained a series of anti-VEGF nanobodies with identical protein structures and VEGF binding affinities, while drastically different crystallization propensities and crystal lattice structures. Among these nanobody crystals, the P212121 lattice appeared to be denser and released protein slower than the P1 lattice, while nanobody crystals embedding zinc coordination further slowed the protein release rate. The polymorphic protein crystals could be a potentially breakthrough strategy for chronic intravitreal administration of anti-VEGF proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuqian Zhu
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structural Biology, and Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry and Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education)Tsinghua UniversityBeijingPeople's Republic of China
| | - Shilong Fan
- Beijing Frontier Research Center for Biological StructureTsinghua UniversityBeijingPeople's Republic of China
| | - Tianxin Tang
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structural Biology, and Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry and Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education)Tsinghua UniversityBeijingPeople's Republic of China
| | - Jinliang Huang
- Quaerite Biopharm ResearchBeijingPeople's Republic of China
| | - Heng Zhou
- Shuimu BioSciences Co. Ltd.BeijingPeople's Republic of China
| | - Chengnan Huang
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structural Biology, and Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry and Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education)Tsinghua UniversityBeijingPeople's Republic of China
| | - Youxin Chen
- Peking Union Medical College HospitalBeijingPeople's Republic of China
| | - Feng Qian
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structural Biology, and Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry and Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education)Tsinghua UniversityBeijingPeople's Republic of China
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2
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Zhu W, Qin L, Xu Y, Lu H, Wu Q, Li W, Zhang C, Li X. Three Molecular Modification Strategies to Improve the Thermostability of Xylanase XynA from Streptomyces rameus L2001. Foods 2023; 12:foods12040879. [PMID: 36832954 PMCID: PMC9957083 DOI: 10.3390/foods12040879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Revised: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Glycoside hydrolase family 11 (GH11) xylanases are the preferred candidates for the production of functional oligosaccharides. However, the low thermostability of natural GH11 xylanases limits their industrial applications. In this study, we investigated the following three strategies to modify the thermostability of xylanase XynA from Streptomyces rameus L2001 mutation to reduce surface entropy, intramolecular disulfide bond construction, and molecular cyclization. Changes in the thermostability of XynA mutants were analyzed using molecular simulations. All mutants showed improved thermostability and catalytic efficiency compared with XynA, except for molecular cyclization. The residual activities of high-entropy amino acid-replacement mutants Q24A and K104A increased from 18.70% to more than 41.23% when kept at 65 °C for 30 min. The catalytic efficiencies of Q24A and K143A increased to 129.99 and 92.26 mL/s/mg, respectively, compared with XynA (62.97 mL/s/mg) when using beechwood xylan as the substrate. The mutant enzyme with disulfide bonds formed between Val3 and Thr30 increased the t1/260 °C by 13.33-fold and the catalytic efficiency by 1.80-fold compared with the wild-type XynA. The high thermostabilities and hydrolytic activities of XynA mutants will be useful for enzymatic production of functional xylo-oligosaccharides.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weijia Zhu
- School of Food and Health, Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), Beijing 100048, China
| | - Liqin Qin
- School of Food and Health, Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), Beijing 100048, China
| | - Youqiang Xu
- School of Food and Health, Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), Beijing 100048, China
| | - Hongyun Lu
- School of Food and Health, Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), Beijing 100048, China
| | - Qiuhua Wu
- School of Food and Health, Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), Beijing 100048, China
| | - Weiwei Li
- Key Laboratory of Brewing Microbiome and Enzymatic Molecular Engineering, China General Chamber of Commerce, Beijing 100048, China
- Key Laboratory of Brewing Molecular Engineering of China Light Industry, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China
| | - Chengnan Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Brewing Microbiome and Enzymatic Molecular Engineering, China General Chamber of Commerce, Beijing 100048, China
- Key Laboratory of Brewing Molecular Engineering of China Light Industry, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China
| | - Xiuting Li
- School of Food and Health, Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), Beijing 100048, China
- Key Laboratory of Brewing Microbiome and Enzymatic Molecular Engineering, China General Chamber of Commerce, Beijing 100048, China
- Key Laboratory of Brewing Molecular Engineering of China Light Industry, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China
- Correspondence:
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3
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Holleman ET, Duguid E, Keefe LJ, Bowman SEJ. Polo: an open-source graphical user interface for crystallization screening. J Appl Crystallogr 2021; 54:673-679. [PMID: 33953660 PMCID: PMC8056757 DOI: 10.1107/s1600576721000108] [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: 10/18/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
A multi-platform open-source Python-based graphical user interface has been developed to provide access to automated classification and data management tools for biomolecular crystallization screening. Polo is a Python-based graphical user interface designed to streamline viewing and analysis of images to monitor crystal growth, with a specific target to enable users of the High-Throughput Crystallization Screening Center at Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI) to efficiently inspect their crystallization experiments. Polo aims to increase efficiency, reducing time spent manually reviewing crystallization images, and to improve the potential of identifying positive crystallization conditions. Polo provides a streamlined one-click graphical interface for the Machine Recognition of Crystallization Outcomes (MARCO) convolutional neural network for automated image classification, as well as powerful tools to view and score crystallization images, to compare crystallization conditions, and to facilitate collaborative review of crystallization screening results. Crystallization images need not have been captured at HWI to utilize Polo’s basic functionality. Polo is free to use and modify for both academic and commercial use under the terms of the copyleft GNU General Public License v3.0.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ethan T Holleman
- Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA
| | - Erica Duguid
- Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.,Industrial Macromolecular Crystallography Association Collaborative Access Team, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL 60439, USA
| | - Lisa J Keefe
- Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.,Industrial Macromolecular Crystallography Association Collaborative Access Team, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL 60439, USA
| | - Sarah E J Bowman
- Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.,Department of Biochemistry, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14023, USA
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4
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Abstract
The process of macromolecular crystallisation almost always begins by setting up crystallisation trials using commercial or other premade screens, followed by cycles of optimisation where the crystallisation cocktails are focused towards a particular small region of chemical space. The screening process is relatively straightforward, but still requires an understanding of the plethora of commercially available screens. Optimisation is complicated by requiring both the design and preparation of the appropriate secondary screens. Software has been developed in the C3 lab to aid the process of choosing initial screens, to analyse the results of the initial trials, and to design and describe how to prepare optimisation screens.
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5
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Abrahams GJ, Newman J. BLASTing away preconceptions in crystallization trials. ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F-STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS 2019; 75:184-192. [PMID: 30839293 DOI: 10.1107/s2053230x19000141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2018] [Accepted: 01/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Crystallization is in many cases a critical step for solving the three-dimensional structure of a protein molecule. Determining which set of chemicals to use in the initial screen is typically agnostic of the protein under investigation; however, crystallization efficiency could potentially be improved if this were not the case. Previous work has assumed that sequence similarity may provide useful information about appropriate crystallization cocktails; however, the authors are not aware of any quantitative verification of this assumption. This research investigates whether, given current information, one can detect any correlation between sequence similarity and crystallization cocktails. BLAST was used to quantitate the similarity between protein sequences in the Protein Data Bank, and this was compared with three estimations of the chemical similarities of the respective crystallization cocktails. No correlation was detected between proteins of similar (but not identical) sequence and their crystallization cocktails, suggesting that methods of determining screens based on this assumption are unlikely to result in screens that are better than those currently in use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel Jan Abrahams
- Manufacturing (Biomedical), CSIRO, 343 Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
| | - Janet Newman
- Manufacturing (Biomedical), CSIRO, 343 Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
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6
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Abstract
Anesthetics interact with a broad range of different targets, including both soluble and membrane-bound proteins. Understanding these interactions at the molecular level requires detailed structural knowledge of anesthetic-protein complexes, and one of the most productive routes to such knowledge is X-ray crystallography. In this chapter we discuss the application of this technique to the analysis of complexes of anesthetics with soluble proteins. The model protein apoferritin is highlighted, and protocols are presented for obtaining diffraction-quality crystals of this protein in complex with different general anesthetics.
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7
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Yamada KD, Kunishima N, Matsuura Y, Nakai K, Naitow H, Fukasawa Y, Tomii K. Designing better diffracting crystals of biotin carboxyl carrier protein from Pyrococcus horikoshii by a mutation based on the crystal-packing propensity of amino acids. Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol 2017; 73:757-766. [PMID: 28876239 PMCID: PMC5586248 DOI: 10.1107/s2059798317010932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2017] [Accepted: 07/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2023] Open
Abstract
An alternative rational approach to improve protein crystals by using single-site mutation of surface residues is proposed based on the results of a statistical analysis using a compiled data set of 918 independent crystal structures, thereby reflecting not only the entropic effect but also other effects upon protein crystallization. This analysis reveals a clear difference in the crystal-packing propensity of amino acids depending on the secondary-structural class. To verify this result, a systematic crystallization experiment was performed with the biotin carboxyl carrier protein from Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 (PhBCCP). Six single-site mutations were examined: Ala138 on the surface of a β-sheet was mutated to Ile, Tyr, Arg, Gln, Val and Lys. In agreement with prediction, it was observed that the two mutants (A138I and A138Y) harbouring the residues with the highest crystal-packing propensities for β-sheet at position 138 provided better crystallization scores relative to those of other constructs, including the wild type, and that the crystal-packing propensity for β-sheet provided the best correlation with the ratio of obtaining crystals. Two new crystal forms of these mutants were obtained that diffracted to high resolution, generating novel packing interfaces with the mutated residues (Ile/Tyr). The mutations introduced did not affect the overall structures, indicating that a β-sheet can accommodate a successful mutation if it is carefully selected so as to avoid intramolecular steric hindrance. A significant negative correlation between the ratio of obtaining amorphous precipitate and the crystal-packing propensity was also found.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazunori D. Yamada
- Artificial Intelligence Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 2-4-7 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan
- Graduate School of Information Sciences, Tohoku University, 6-3-09 Aramaki-Aza-Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
| | - Naoki Kunishima
- RIKEN SPring-8 Center, 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan
| | - Yoshinori Matsuura
- RIKEN SPring-8 Center, 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan
| | - Koshiro Nakai
- RIKEN SPring-8 Center, 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan
| | - Hisashi Naitow
- RIKEN SPring-8 Center, 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan
| | - Yoshinori Fukasawa
- Artificial Intelligence Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 2-4-7 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan
| | - Kentaro Tomii
- Artificial Intelligence Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 2-4-7 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan
- Biotechnology Research Institute for Drug Discovery, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 2-4-7 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan
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8
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Brader ML, Baker EN, Dunn MF, Laue TM, Carpenter JF. Using X-Ray Crystallography to Simplify and Accelerate Biologics Drug Development. J Pharm Sci 2017; 106:477-494. [DOI: 10.1016/j.xphs.2016.10.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2016] [Revised: 10/11/2016] [Accepted: 10/13/2016] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
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9
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Jin T, Chuenchor W, Jiang J, Cheng J, Li Y, Fang K, Huang M, Smith P, Xiao TS. Design of an expression system to enhance MBP-mediated crystallization. Sci Rep 2017; 7:40991. [PMID: 28112203 PMCID: PMC5256280 DOI: 10.1038/srep40991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2016] [Accepted: 12/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Crystallization chaperones have been used to facilitate the crystallization of challenging proteins. Even though the maltose-binding protein (MBP) is one of the most commonly used crystallization chaperones, the design of optimal expression constructs for crystallization of MBP fusion proteins remains a challenge. To increase the success rate of MBP-facilitated crystallization, a series of expression vectors have been designed with either a short flexible linker or a set of rigid helical linkers. Seven death domain superfamily members were tested for crystallization with this set of vectors, six of which had never been crystallized before. All of the seven targets were crystallized, and their structures were determined using at least one of the vectors. Our successful crystallization of all of the targets demonstrates the validity of our approach and expands the arsenal of the crystallization chaperone toolkit, which may be applicable to crystallization of other difficult protein targets, as well as to other crystallization chaperones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tengchuan Jin
- Laboratory of Structural Immunology, CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Diseases, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027 China.,Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
| | - Watchalee Chuenchor
- Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
| | - Jiansheng Jiang
- Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
| | - Jinbo Cheng
- Laboratory of Structural Immunology, CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Diseases, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027 China
| | - Yajuan Li
- Laboratory of Structural Immunology, CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Diseases, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027 China
| | - Kang Fang
- Laboratory of Structural Immunology, CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Diseases, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027 China
| | - Mo Huang
- Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
| | - Patrick Smith
- Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
| | - Tsan Sam Xiao
- Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106 USA
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10
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Ahlstrom LS, Vorontsov II, Shi J, Miyashita O. Effect of the Crystal Environment on Side-Chain Conformational Dynamics in Cyanovirin-N Investigated through Crystal and Solution Molecular Dynamics Simulations. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0170337. [PMID: 28107510 PMCID: PMC5249168 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2016] [Accepted: 01/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Side chains in protein crystal structures are essential for understanding biochemical processes such as catalysis and molecular recognition. However, crystal packing could influence side-chain conformation and dynamics, thus complicating functional interpretations of available experimental structures. Here we investigate the effect of crystal packing on side-chain conformational dynamics with crystal and solution molecular dynamics simulations using Cyanovirin-N as a model system. Side-chain ensembles for solvent-exposed residues obtained from simulation largely reflect the conformations observed in the X-ray structure. This agreement is most striking for crystal-contacting residues during crystal simulation. Given the high level of correspondence between our simulations and the X-ray data, we compare side-chain ensembles in solution and crystal simulations. We observe large decreases in conformational entropy in the crystal for several long, polar and contacting residues on the protein surface. Such cases agree well with the average loss in conformational entropy per residue upon protein folding and are accompanied by a change in side-chain conformation. This finding supports the application of surface engineering to facilitate crystallization. Our simulation-based approach demonstrated here with Cyanovirin-N establishes a framework for quantitatively comparing side-chain ensembles in solution and in the crystal across a larger set of proteins to elucidate the effect of the crystal environment on protein conformations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Logan S. Ahlstrom
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America
| | - Ivan I. Vorontsov
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Jun Shi
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Osamu Miyashita
- RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
- * E-mail:
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11
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Waugh DS. Crystal structures of MBP fusion proteins. Protein Sci 2016; 25:559-71. [PMID: 26682969 DOI: 10.1002/pro.2863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2015] [Accepted: 12/16/2015] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Although chaperone-assisted protein crystallization remains a comparatively rare undertaking, the number of crystal structures of polypeptides fused to maltose-binding protein (MBP) that have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) has grown dramatically during the past decade. Altogether, 102 fusion protein structures were detected by Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis. Collectively, these structures comprise a range of sizes, space groups, and resolutions that are typical of the PDB as a whole. While most of these MBP fusion proteins were equipped with short inter-domain linkers to increase their rigidity, fusion proteins with long linkers have also been crystallized. In some cases, surface entropy reduction mutations in MBP appear to have facilitated the formation of crystals. A comparison of the structures of fused and unfused proteins, where both are available, reveals that MBP-mediated structural distortions are very rare.
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Affiliation(s)
- David S Waugh
- Protein Engineering Section, Macromolecular Crystallography Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, P.O. Box B, Frederick, Maryland, 21702-1201
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12
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Pelz JP, Schindelin H, van Pee K, Kuper J, Kisker C, Diederichs K, Fischer U, Grimm C. Crystallizing the 6S and 8S spliceosomal assembly intermediates: a complex project. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015; 71:2040-53. [PMID: 26457428 DOI: 10.1107/s1399004715014832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2015] [Accepted: 08/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) U1, U2, U4/6 and U5 are major constituents of the pre-mRNA processing spliceosome. They contain a common RNP core that is formed by the ordered binding of Sm proteins onto the single-stranded Sm site of the snRNA. Although spontaneous in vitro, assembly of the Sm core requires assistance from the PRMT5 and SMN complexes in vivo. To gain insight into the key steps of the assembly process, the crystal structures of two assembly intermediates of U snRNPs termed the 6S and 8S complexes have recently been reported. These multimeric protein complexes could only be crystallized after the application of various rescue strategies. The developed strategy leading to the crystallization and solution of the 8S crystal structure was subsequently used to guide a combination of rational crystal-contact optimization with surface-entropy reduction of crystals of the related 6S complex. Conversely, the resulting high-resolution 6S crystal structure was used during the restrained refinement of the 8S crystal structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jann Patrick Pelz
- Department of Biochemistry, Theodor Boveri Institute, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Hermann Schindelin
- Rudolf-Virchow-Zentrum, DFG Research Centre for Experimental Medicine, University of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Strasse 2/Haus D15, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Katharina van Pee
- Department of Biochemistry, Theodor Boveri Institute, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Jochen Kuper
- Rudolf-Virchow-Zentrum, DFG Research Centre for Experimental Medicine, University of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Strasse 2/Haus D15, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Caroline Kisker
- Rudolf-Virchow-Zentrum, DFG Research Centre for Experimental Medicine, University of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Strasse 2/Haus D15, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Kay Diederichs
- Protein Crystallography and Molecular Bioinformatics, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Utz Fischer
- Department of Biochemistry, Theodor Boveri Institute, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Clemens Grimm
- Department of Biochemistry, Theodor Boveri Institute, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
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13
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James S, Quinn MK, McManus JJ. The self assembly of proteins; probing patchy protein interactions. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2015; 17:5413-20. [PMID: 25613833 DOI: 10.1039/c4cp05892e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
The ability to control the self-assembly of biological molecules to form defined structures, with a high degree of predictability is a central aim for soft matter science and synthetic biology. Several examples of this are known for synthetic systems, such as anisotropic colloids. However, for biomacromolecules, such as proteins, success has been more limited, since aeolotopic (or anisotropic) interactions between protein molecules are not easily predicted. We have created three double mutants of human γD-crystallin for which the phase diagrams for singly mutated proteins can be used to predict the behavior of the double mutants. These proteins provide a robust mechanism to examine the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of proteins in which competing interactions exist due to the anisotropic or patchy nature of the protein surface.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan James
- Department of Chemistry, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
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14
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Devedjiev YD. The role of flexibility and molecular shape in the crystallization of proteins by surface mutagenesis. Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun 2015; 71:157-62. [PMID: 25664789 PMCID: PMC4321469 DOI: 10.1107/s2053230x14027861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2014] [Accepted: 12/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Proteins are dynamic systems and interact with their environment. The analysis of crystal contacts in the most accurately determined protein structures (d < 1.5 Å) reveals that in contrast to current views, static disorder and high side-chain entropy are common in the crystal contact area. These observations challenge the validity of the theory that presumes that the occurrence of well ordered patches of side chains at the surface is an essential prerequisite for a successful crystallization event. The present paper provides evidence in support of the approach for understanding protein crystallization as a process dependent on multiple factors, each with its relative contribution, rather than a phenomenon driven by a few dominant physicochemical characteristics. The role of the molecular shape as a factor in the crystallization of proteins by surface mutagenesis is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yancho D. Devedjiev
- Department of Anesthesiology, University of Virginia Medical Center, 1215 Lee Street, PO Box 800634, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0634, USA
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15
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Baugh L, Phan I, Begley DW, Clifton MC, Armour B, Dranow DM, Taylor BM, Muruthi MM, Abendroth J, Fairman JW, Fox D, Dieterich SH, Staker BL, Gardberg AS, Choi R, Hewitt SN, Napuli AJ, Myers J, Barrett LK, Zhang Y, Ferrell M, Mundt E, Thompkins K, Tran N, Lyons-Abbott S, Abramov A, Sekar A, Serbzhinskiy D, Lorimer D, Buchko GW, Stacy R, Stewart LJ, Edwards TE, Van Voorhis WC, Myler PJ. Increasing the structural coverage of tuberculosis drug targets. Tuberculosis (Edinb) 2014; 95:142-8. [PMID: 25613812 DOI: 10.1016/j.tube.2014.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2014] [Accepted: 12/10/2014] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
High-resolution three-dimensional structures of essential Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) proteins provide templates for TB drug design, but are available for only a small fraction of the Mtb proteome. Here we evaluate an intra-genus "homolog-rescue" strategy to increase the structural information available for TB drug discovery by using mycobacterial homologs with conserved active sites. Of 179 potential TB drug targets selected for x-ray structure determination, only 16 yielded a crystal structure. By adding 1675 homologs from nine other mycobacterial species to the pipeline, structures representing an additional 52 otherwise intractable targets were solved. To determine whether these homolog structures would be useful surrogates in TB drug design, we compared the active sites of 106 pairs of Mtb and non-TB mycobacterial (NTM) enzyme homologs with experimentally determined structures, using three metrics of active site similarity, including superposition of continuous pharmacophoric property distributions. Pair-wise structural comparisons revealed that 19/22 pairs with >55% overall sequence identity had active site Cα RMSD <1 Å, >85% side chain identity, and ≥80% PSAPF (similarity based on pharmacophoric properties) indicating highly conserved active site shape and chemistry. Applying these results to the 52 NTM structures described above, 41 shared >55% sequence identity with the Mtb target, thus increasing the effective structural coverage of the 179 Mtb targets over three-fold (from 9% to 32%). The utility of these structures in TB drug design can be tested by designing inhibitors using the homolog structure and assaying the cognate Mtb enzyme; a promising test case, Mtb cytidylate kinase, is described. The homolog-rescue strategy evaluated here for TB is also generalizable to drug targets for other diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loren Baugh
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Isabelle Phan
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Darren W Begley
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - Matthew C Clifton
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - Brianna Armour
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - David M Dranow
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - Brandy M Taylor
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - Marvin M Muruthi
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - Jan Abendroth
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - James W Fairman
- Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - David Fox
- Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - Shellie H Dieterich
- Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - Bart L Staker
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Anna S Gardberg
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States; EMD Serono Research & Development Institute, Inc., 45A Middlesex Turnpike, Billerica, MA 01821, United States
| | - Ryan Choi
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease, University of Washington, 750 Republican Street, E-701, Box 358061, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Stephen N Hewitt
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease, University of Washington, 750 Republican Street, E-701, Box 358061, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Alberto J Napuli
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease, University of Washington, 750 Republican Street, E-701, Box 358061, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Janette Myers
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease, University of Washington, 750 Republican Street, E-701, Box 358061, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Lynn K Barrett
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease, University of Washington, 750 Republican Street, E-701, Box 358061, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Yang Zhang
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Micah Ferrell
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Elizabeth Mundt
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Katie Thompkins
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Ngoc Tran
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Sally Lyons-Abbott
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Ariel Abramov
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Aarthi Sekar
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Dmitri Serbzhinskiy
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Don Lorimer
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - Garry W Buchko
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, United States
| | - Robin Stacy
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States
| | - Lance J Stewart
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States; Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, Box 357350, Seattle, WA 98195, United States
| | - Thomas E Edwards
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Beryllium, 7869 NE Day Road West, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, United States
| | - Wesley C Van Voorhis
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease, University of Washington, 750 Republican Street, E-701, Box 358061, Seattle, WA 98109, United States; Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Box 359931, Seattle, WA, 98195, United States; Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Box 357735, Seattle, WA 98195, United States
| | - Peter J Myler
- Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease, United States; Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, 307 Westlake Ave N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, United States; Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Box 359931, Seattle, WA, 98195, United States; Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education, University of Washington, Box 358047, Seattle, WA 98195, United States.
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16
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Fazio VJ, Peat TS, Newman J. A drunken search in crystallization space. Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun 2014; 70:1303-11. [PMID: 25286930 PMCID: PMC4188070 DOI: 10.1107/s2053230x1401841x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2014] [Accepted: 08/12/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The REMARK280 field of the Protein Data Bank is the richest open source of successful crystallization information. The REMARK280 field is optional and currently uncurated, so significant effort needs to be applied to extract reliable data. There are well over 15 000 crystallization conditions available commercially from 12 different vendors. After putting the PDB crystallization information and the commercial cocktail data into a consistent format, these data are used to extract information about the overlap between the two sets of crystallization conditions. An estimation is made as to which commercially available conditions are most appropriate for producing well diffracting crystals by looking at which commercial conditions are found unchanged (or almost unchanged) in the PDB. Further analyses include which commercial kits are the most appropriate for shotgun or more traditional approaches to crystallization screening. This analysis suggests that almost 40% of the crystallization conditions found currently in the PDB are identical or very similar to a commercial condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent J. Fazio
- Manufacturing Flagship, CSIRO, 343 Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
| | - Thomas S. Peat
- Manufacturing Flagship, CSIRO, 343 Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
| | - Janet Newman
- Manufacturing Flagship, CSIRO, 343 Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
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17
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Loll PJ, Xu P, Schmidt JT, Melideo SL. Enhancing ubiquitin crystallization through surface-entropy reduction. Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun 2014; 70:1434-42. [PMID: 25286958 PMCID: PMC4188098 DOI: 10.1107/s2053230x14019244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2014] [Accepted: 08/26/2014] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Ubiquitin has many attributes suitable for a crystallization chaperone, including high stability and ease of expression. However, ubiquitin contains a high surface density of lysine residues and the doctrine of surface-entropy reduction suggests that these lysines will resist participating in packing interactions and thereby impede crystallization. To assess the contributions of these residues to crystallization behavior, each of the seven lysines of ubiquitin was mutated to serine and the corresponding single-site mutant proteins were expressed and purified. The behavior of these seven mutants was then compared with that of the wild-type protein in a 384-condition crystallization screen. The likelihood of obtaining crystals varied by two orders of magnitude within this set of eight proteins. Some mutants crystallized much more readily than the wild type, while others crystallized less readily. X-ray crystal structures were determined for three readily crystallized variants: K11S, K33S and the K11S/K63S double mutant. These structures revealed that the mutant serine residues can directly promote crystallization by participating in favorable packing interactions; the mutations can also exert permissive effects, wherein crystallization appears to be driven by removal of the lysine rather than by addition of a serine. Presumably, such permissive effects reflect the elimination of steric and electrostatic barriers to crystallization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick J. Loll
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA
| | - Peining Xu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA
| | - John T. Schmidt
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA
| | - Scott L. Melideo
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA
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18
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Kalyoncu S, Hyun J, Pai JC, Johnson JL, Entzminger K, Jain A, Heaner DP, Morales IA, Truskett TM, Maynard JA, Lieberman RL. Effects of protein engineering and rational mutagenesis on crystal lattice of single chain antibody fragments. Proteins 2014; 82:1884-95. [PMID: 24615866 PMCID: PMC4142072 DOI: 10.1002/prot.24542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2014] [Revised: 02/12/2014] [Accepted: 02/20/2014] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Protein crystallization is dependent upon, and sensitive to, the intermolecular contacts that assist in ordering proteins into a three-dimensional lattice. Here we used protein engineering and mutagenesis to affect the crystallization of single chain antibody fragments (scFvs) that recognize the EE epitope (EYMPME) with high affinity. These hypercrystallizable scFvs are under development to assist difficult proteins, such as membrane proteins, in forming crystals, by acting as crystallization chaperones. Guided by analyses of intermolecular crystal lattice contacts, two second-generation anti-EE scFvs were produced, which bind to proteins with installed EE tags. Surprisingly, although noncomplementarity determining region (CDR) lattice residues from the parent scFv framework remained unchanged through the processes of protein engineering and rational design, crystal lattices of the derivative scFvs differ. Comparison of energy calculations and the experimentally-determined lattice interactions for this basis set provides insight into the complexity of the forces driving crystal lattice choice and demonstrates the availability of multiple well-ordered surface features in our scFvs capable of forming versatile crystal contacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sibel Kalyoncu
- School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 901 Atlantic Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400
| | - Jeongmin Hyun
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, MC0400, 1 University Station, Austin, TX 78712
| | - Jennifer C. Pai
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, MC0400, 1 University Station, Austin, TX 78712
| | - Jennifer L. Johnson
- School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 901 Atlantic Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400
| | - Kevin Entzminger
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, MC0400, 1 University Station, Austin, TX 78712
| | - Avni Jain
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, MC0400, 1 University Station, Austin, TX 78712
| | - David P. Heaner
- School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 901 Atlantic Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400
| | - Ivan A. Morales
- School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 901 Atlantic Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400
| | - Thomas M. Truskett
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, MC0400, 1 University Station, Austin, TX 78712
| | - Jennifer A. Maynard
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, MC0400, 1 University Station, Austin, TX 78712
| | - Raquel L. Lieberman
- School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 901 Atlantic Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400
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19
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Jahandideh S, Jaroszewski L, Godzik A. Improving the chances of successful protein structure determination with a random forest classifier. ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA. SECTION D, BIOLOGICAL CRYSTALLOGRAPHY 2014; 70:627-35. [PMID: 24598732 PMCID: PMC3949519 DOI: 10.1107/s1399004713032070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2013] [Accepted: 11/25/2013] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Obtaining diffraction quality crystals remains one of the major bottlenecks in structural biology. The ability to predict the chances of crystallization from the amino-acid sequence of the protein can, at least partly, address this problem by allowing a crystallographer to select homologs that are more likely to succeed and/or to modify the sequence of the target to avoid features that are detrimental to successful crystallization. In 2007, the now widely used XtalPred algorithm [Slabinski et al. (2007), Protein Sci. 16, 2472-2482] was developed. XtalPred classifies proteins into five `crystallization classes' based on a simple statistical analysis of the physicochemical features of a protein. Here, towards the same goal, advanced machine-learning methods are applied and, in addition, the predictive potential of additional protein features such as predicted surface ruggedness, hydrophobicity, side-chain entropy of surface residues and amino-acid composition of the predicted protein surface are tested. The new XtalPred-RF (random forest) achieves significant improvement of the prediction of crystallization success over the original XtalPred. To illustrate this, XtalPred-RF was tested by revisiting target selection from 271 Pfam families targeted by the Joint Center for Structural Genomics (JCSG) in PSI-2, and it was estimated that the number of targets entered into the protein-production and crystallization pipeline could have been reduced by 30% without lowering the number of families for which the first structures were solved. The prediction improvement depends on the subset of targets used as a testing set and reaches 100% (i.e. twofold) for the top class of predicted targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samad Jahandideh
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Program, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, 10901 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92307, USA
- Joint Center for Structural Genomics, http://www.jcsg.org/, USA
| | - Lukasz Jaroszewski
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Program, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, 10901 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92307, USA
- Joint Center for Structural Genomics, http://www.jcsg.org/, USA
- Center for Research in Biological Systems (CRBS), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California USA
| | - Adam Godzik
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Program, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, 10901 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92307, USA
- Joint Center for Structural Genomics, http://www.jcsg.org/, USA
- Center for Research in Biological Systems (CRBS), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California USA
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20
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Ahmed MH, Habtemariam M, Safo MK, Scarsdale JN, Spyrakis F, Cozzini P, Mozzarelli A, Kellogg GE. Unintended consequences? Water molecules at biological and crystallographic protein–protein interfaces. Comput Biol Chem 2013; 47:126-41. [DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2013.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2013] [Revised: 08/27/2013] [Accepted: 08/27/2013] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
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21
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Ahlstrom LS, Miyashita O. Packing interface energetics in different crystal forms of the λ Cro dimer. Proteins 2013; 82:1128-41. [PMID: 24218107 DOI: 10.1002/prot.24478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2013] [Revised: 10/27/2013] [Accepted: 11/04/2013] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Variation among crystal structures of the λ Cro dimer highlights conformational flexibility. The structures range from a wild type closed to a mutant fully open conformation, but it is unclear if each represents a stable solution state or if one may be the result of crystal packing. Here we use molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to investigate the energetics of crystal packing interfaces and the influence of site-directed mutagenesis on them in order to examine the effect of crystal packing on wild type and mutant Cro dimer conformation. Replica exchange MD of mutant Cro in solution shows that the observed conformational differences between the wild type and mutant protein are not the direct consequence of mutation. Instead, simulation of Cro in different crystal environments reveals that mutation affects the stability of crystal forms. Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area binding energy calculations reveal the detailed energetics of packing interfaces. Packing interfaces can have diverse properties in strength, energetic components, and some are stronger than the biological dimer interface. Further analysis shows that mutation can strengthen packing interfaces by as much as ∼5 kcal/mol in either crystal environment. Thus, in the case of Cro, mutation provides an additional energetic contribution during crystal formation that may stabilize a fully open higher energy state. Moreover, the effect of mutation in the lattice can extend to packing interfaces not involving mutation sites. Our results provide insight into possible models for the effect of crystallization on Cro conformational dynamics and emphasize careful consideration of protein crystal structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Logan S Ahlstrom
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721
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22
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Feldkamp MD, Frank AO, Kennedy JP, Patrone JD, Vangamudi B, Waterson AG, Fesik SW, Chazin WJ. Surface reengineering of RPA70N enables cocrystallization with an inhibitor of the replication protein A interaction motif of ATR interacting protein. Biochemistry 2013; 52:6515-24. [PMID: 23962067 DOI: 10.1021/bi400542z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Replication protein A (RPA) is the primary single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) binding protein in eukaryotes. The N-terminal domain of the RPA70 subunit (RPA70N) interacts via a basic cleft with a wide range of DNA processing proteins, including several that regulate DNA damage response and repair. Small molecule inhibitors that disrupt these protein-protein interactions are therefore of interest as chemical probes of these critical DNA processing pathways and as inhibitors to counter the upregulation of DNA damage response and repair associated with treatment of cancer patients with radiation or DNA-damaging agents. Determination of three-dimensional structures of protein-ligand complexes is an important step for elaboration of small molecule inhibitors. However, although crystal structures of free RPA70N and an RPA70N-peptide fusion construct have been reported, RPA70N-inhibitor complexes have been recalcitrant to crystallization. Analysis of the P61 lattice of RPA70N crystals led us to hypothesize that the ligand-binding surface was occluded. Surface reengineering to alter key crystal lattice contacts led to the design of RPA70N E7R, E100R, and E7R/E100R mutants. These mutants crystallized in a P212121 lattice that clearly had significant solvent channels open to the critical basic cleft. Analysis of X-ray crystal structures, target peptide binding affinities, and (15)N-(1)H heteronuclear single-quantum coherence nuclear magnetic resonance spectra showed that the mutations do not result in perturbations of the RPA70N ligand-binding surface. The success of the design was demonstrated by determining the structure of RPA70N E7R soaked with a ligand discovered in a previously reported molecular fragment screen. A fluorescence anisotropy competition binding assay revealed this compound can inhibit the interaction of RPA70N with the peptide binding motif from the DNA damage response protein ATRIP. The implications of the results are discussed in the context of ongoing efforts to design RPA70N inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael D Feldkamp
- Department of Biochemistry, ‡Department of Chemistry, §Department of Pharmacology, and ∥Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee 37232, United States
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23
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Anil B, Riedinger C, Endicott JA, Noble MEM. The structure of an MDM2–Nutlin-3a complex solved by the use of a validated MDM2 surface-entropy reduction mutant. ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D: BIOLOGICAL CRYSTALLOGRAPHY 2013; 69:1358-66. [DOI: 10.1107/s0907444913004459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2012] [Accepted: 02/14/2013] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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24
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The crystallization and structural analysis of cellulases (and other glycoside hydrolases): strategies and tactics. Methods Enzymol 2012; 510:141-68. [PMID: 22608725 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-415931-0.00008-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
The three-dimensional (3-D) structures of cellulases, and other glycoside hydrolases, are a central feature of research in carbohydrate chemistry and biochemistry. 3-D structure is used to inform protein engineering campaigns, both academic and industrial, which are typically used to improve the stability or activity of an enzyme. Examples of classical protein engineering goals include higher thermal stability, reduced metal-ion dependency, detergent and protease resistance, decreased product inhibition, and altered specificity. 3-D structure may also be used to interpret the behavior of enzyme variants that are derived from screening or random mutagenesis approaches, with a view to establishing an iterative design process. In other areas, 3-D structure is used as one of the many tools to probe enzymatic catalysis, typically dovetailing with physical organic chemistry approaches to provide complete reaction mechanisms for enzymes by visualizing catalytic site interactions at different stages of the reaction. Such mechanistic insight is not only fundamentally important, impacting on inhibitor and drug design approaches with ramifications way beyond cellulose hydrolysis, but also provides the framework for the design of enzyme variants to use as biocatalysts for the synthesis of bespoke oligosaccharides. Here we review some of the strategies and tactics that may be applied to the X-ray structure solution of cellulases (and other carbohydrate-active enzymes). The general approach is first to decide why you are doing the work, then to establish correct domain boundaries for truncated constructs (typically the catalytic domain only), and finally to pursue crystallization of pure, homogeneous, and monodisperse protein with appropriate ligand and additive combinations. Cellulase-specific strategies are important for the delineation of domain boundaries, while glycoside hydrolases generally also present challenges and opportunities for the selection and optimization of ligands to both aid crystallization, and also provide structural and mechanistic insight. As the many roles for plant cell wall degrading enzymes increase, so does the need for rapid high-quality structure determination to provide a sound structural foundation for understanding mechanism and specificity, and for future protein engineering strategies.
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25
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Agromayor M, Soler N, Caballe A, Kueck T, Freund SM, Allen MD, Bycroft M, Perisic O, Ye Y, McDonald B, Scheel H, Hofmann K, Neil SJD, Martin-Serrano J, Williams RL. The UBAP1 subunit of ESCRT-I interacts with ubiquitin via a SOUBA domain. Structure 2012; 20:414-28. [PMID: 22405001 PMCID: PMC3314968 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2011.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2011] [Revised: 12/13/2011] [Accepted: 12/30/2011] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRTs) facilitate endosomal sorting of ubiquitinated cargo, MVB biogenesis, late stages of cytokinesis, and retroviral budding. Here we show that ubiquitin associated protein 1 (UBAP1), a subunit of human ESCRT-I, coassembles in a stable 1:1:1:1 complex with Vps23/TSG101, VPS28, and VPS37. The X-ray crystal structure of the C-terminal region of UBAP1 reveals a domain that we describe as a solenoid of overlapping UBAs (SOUBA). NMR analysis shows that each of the three rigidly arranged overlapping UBAs making up the SOUBA interact with ubiquitin. We demonstrate that UBAP1-containing ESCRT-I is essential for degradation of antiviral cell-surface proteins, such as tetherin (BST-2/CD317), by viral countermeasures, namely, the HIV-1 accessory protein Vpu and the Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) ubiquitin ligase K5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monica Agromayor
- Department of Infectious Diseases, King's College London School of Medicine, London SE1 9RT, UK
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26
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Yan S, Wu G. Correlating dynamic amino acid properties with success rate of crystallization of proteins from Bacteroides vulgatus. CRYSTAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1002/crat.201200007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Lieberman RL, Culver JA, Entzminger KC, Pai JC, Maynard JA. Crystallization chaperone strategies for membrane proteins. Methods 2011; 55:293-302. [PMID: 21854852 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2011.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2011] [Revised: 08/03/2011] [Accepted: 08/05/2011] [Indexed: 10/17/2022] Open
Abstract
From G protein-coupled receptors to ion channels, membrane proteins represent over half of known drug targets. Yet, structure-based drug discovery is hampered by the dearth of available three-dimensional models for this large category of proteins. Other than efforts to improve membrane protein expression and stability, current strategies to improve the ability of membrane proteins to crystallize involve examining many orthologs and DNA constructs, testing the effects of different detergents for purification and crystallization, creating a lipidic environment during crystallization, and cocrystallizing with covalent or non-covalent soluble protein chaperones with an intrinsic high propensity to crystallize. In this review, we focus on this last category, highlighting successes of crystallization chaperones in membrane protein structure determination and recent developments in crystal chaperone engineering, including molecular display to enhance chaperone crystallizability, and end with a novel generic approach in development to target any membrane protein of interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raquel L Lieberman
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Institute for Bioscience and Bioengineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 901 Atlantic Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
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Ravindran PP, Héroux A, Ye JD. Improvement of the crystallizability and expression of an RNA crystallization chaperone. J Biochem 2011; 150:535-43. [PMID: 21785128 DOI: 10.1093/jb/mvr093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Crystallizing RNA has been an imperative and challenging task in the world of RNA research. Assistive methods such as chaperone-assisted RNA crystallography (CARC), employing monoclonal antibody fragments (Fabs) as crystallization chaperones have enabled us to obtain RNA crystal structures by forming crystal contacts and providing initial phasing information. Despite the early successes, the crystallization of large RNA-Fab complex remains a challenge in practice. The possible reason for this difficulty is that the Fab scaffold has not been optimized for crystallization in complex with RNA. Here, we have used the surface entropy reduction (SER) technique for the optimization of ΔC209 P4-P6/Fab2 model system. Protruding lysine and glutamate residues were mutated to a set of alanines or serines to construct Fab2SMA or Fab2SMS. Expression with the shake flask approach was optimized to allow large scale production for crystallization. Crystal screening shows that significantly higher crystal-forming ratio was observed for the mutant complexes. As the chosen SER residues are far away from the CDR regions of the Fab, the same set of mutations can now be directly applied to other Fabs binding to a variety of ribozymes and riboswitches to improve the crystallizability of Fab-RNA complex.
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