1
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Yin D, Xiong R, Yang Z, Feng J, Liu W, Li S, Li M, Ruan H, Li J, Li L, Lai L, Guo X. Mapping Full Conformational Transition Dynamics of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Using a Single-Molecule Nanocircuit. ACS NANO 2024. [PMID: 39276130 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c04064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/16/2024]
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are emerging therapeutic targets for human diseases. However, probing their transient conformations remains challenging because of conformational heterogeneity. To address this problem, we developed a biosensor using a point-functionalized silicon nanowire (SiNW) that allows for real-time sampling of single-molecule dynamics. A single IDP, N-terminal transactivation domain of tumor suppressor protein p53 (p53TAD1), was covalently conjugated to the SiNW through chemical engineering, and its conformational transition dynamics was characterized as current fluctuations. Furthermore, when a globular protein ligand in solution bound to the targeted p53TAD1, protein-protein interactions could be unambiguously distinguished from large-amplitude current signals. These proof-of-concept experiments enable semiquantitative, realistic characterization of the structural properties of IDPs and constitute the basis for developing a valuable tool for protein profiling and drug discovery in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongbao Yin
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
- State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, P. R. China
| | - Ruoyao Xiong
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Zhiheng Yang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
- State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, P. R. China
| | - Jianfei Feng
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Wenzhe Liu
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Shiyun Li
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Mingyao Li
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Hao Ruan
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Jie Li
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Lidong Li
- State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, P. R. China
| | - Luhua Lai
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
- Center for Quantitative Biology, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
| | - Xuefeng Guo
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
- Center of Single-Molecule Sciences, College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Nankai University, 38 Tongyan Road, Jinnan District, Tianjin 300350, P. R. China
- National Biomedical Imaging Center, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
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2
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Bastida A, Zúñiga J, Fogolari F, Soler MA. Statistical accuracy of molecular dynamics-based methods for sampling conformational ensembles of disordered proteins. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:23213-23227. [PMID: 39190324 DOI: 10.1039/d4cp02564d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/28/2024]
Abstract
The characterization of the statistical ensemble of conformations of intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) is a great challenge both from experimental and computational points of view. In this respect, a number of protocols have been developed using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to sample the huge conformational space of the molecule. In this work, we consider one of the best methods available, replica exchange solute tempering (REST), as a reference to compare the results obtained using this method with the results obtained using other methods, in terms of experimentally measurable quantities. Along with the methods assessed, we propose here a novel protocol called probabilistic MD chain growth (PMD-CG), which combines the flexible-meccano and hierarchical chain growth methods with the statistical data obtained from tripeptide MD trajectories as the starting point. The system chosen for testing is a 20-residue region from the C-terminal domain of the p53 tumor suppressor protein (p53-CTD). Our results show that PMD-CG provides an ensemble of conformations extremely quickly, after suitable computation of the conformational pool for all peptide triplets of the IDR sequence. The measurable quantities computed on the ensemble of conformations agree well with those based on the REST conformational ensemble.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adolfo Bastida
- Departamento de Química Física, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
| | - José Zúñiga
- Departamento de Química Física, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
| | - Federico Fogolari
- Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche, Informatiche e Fisiche, Università di Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy.
| | - Miguel A Soler
- Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche, Informatiche e Fisiche, Università di Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy.
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3
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Viegas RG, Martins IBS, Leite VBP. Understanding the Energy Landscape of Intrinsically Disordered Protein Ensembles. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:4149-4157. [PMID: 38713459 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
A substantial portion of various organisms' proteomes comprises intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) that lack a defined three-dimensional structure. These IDPs exhibit a diverse array of conformations, displaying remarkable spatiotemporal heterogeneity and exceptional conformational flexibility. Characterizing the structure or structural ensemble of IDPs presents significant conceptual and methodological challenges owing to the absence of a well-defined native structure. While databases such as the Protein Ensemble Database (PED) provide IDP ensembles obtained through a combination of experimental data and molecular modeling, the absence of reaction coordinates poses challenges in comprehensively understanding pertinent aspects of the system. In this study, we leverage the energy landscape visualization method (JCTC, 6482, 2019) to scrutinize four IDP ensembles sourced from PED. ELViM, a methodology that circumvents the need for a priori reaction coordinates, aids in analyzing the ensembles. The specific IDP ensembles investigated are as follows: two fragments of nucleoporin (NUL: 884-993 and NUS: 1313-1390), yeast sic 1 N-terminal (1-90), and the N-terminal SH3 domain of Drk (1-59). Utilizing ELViM enables the comprehensive validation of ensembles, facilitating the detection of potential inconsistencies in the sampling process. Additionally, it allows for identifying and characterizing the most prevalent conformations within an ensemble. Moreover, ELViM facilitates the comparative analysis of ensembles obtained under diverse conditions, thereby providing a powerful tool for investigating the functional mechanisms of IDPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafael G Viegas
- Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo (IFSP), Catanduva, São Paulo 15.808-305, Brazil
- Department of Physics, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Institute of Biosciences, Humanities and Exact Sciences, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo 15054-000, Brazil
| | - Ingrid B S Martins
- Department of Physics, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Institute of Biosciences, Humanities and Exact Sciences, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo 15054-000, Brazil
| | - Vitor B P Leite
- Department of Physics, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Institute of Biosciences, Humanities and Exact Sciences, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo 15054-000, Brazil
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4
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Taneja I, Lasker K. Machine-learning-based methods to generate conformational ensembles of disordered proteins. Biophys J 2024; 123:101-113. [PMID: 38053335 PMCID: PMC10808026 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2023.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Revised: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins are characterized by a conformational ensemble. While computational approaches such as molecular dynamics simulations have been used to generate such ensembles, their computational costs can be prohibitive. An alternative approach is to learn from data and train machine-learning models to generate conformational ensembles of disordered proteins. This has been a relatively unexplored approach, and in this work we demonstrate a proof-of-principle approach to do so. Specifically, we devised a two-stage computational pipeline: in the first stage, we employed supervised machine-learning models to predict ensemble-derived two-dimensional (2D) properties of a sequence, given the conformational ensemble of a closely related sequence. In the second stage, we used denoising diffusion models to generate three-dimensional (3D) coarse-grained conformational ensembles, given the two-dimensional predictions outputted by the first stage. We trained our models on a data set of coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of thousands of rationally designed synthetic sequences. The accuracy of our 2D and 3D predictions was validated across multiple metrics, and our work demonstrates the applicability of machine-learning techniques to predicting higher-dimensional properties of disordered proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ishan Taneja
- Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, Scripps Research, La Jolla, California
| | - Keren Lasker
- Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, Scripps Research, La Jolla, California.
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5
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Patel KN, Chavda D, Manna M. Molecular Docking of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins: Challenges and Strategies. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2780:165-201. [PMID: 38987470 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3985-6_11] [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] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are a novel class of proteins that have established a significant importance and attention within a very short period of time. These proteins are essentially characterized by their inherent structural disorder, encoded mainly by their amino acid sequences. The profound abundance of IDPs and intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in the biological world delineates their deep-rooted functionality. IDPs and IDRs convey such extensive functionality through their unique dynamic nature, which enables them to carry out huge number of multifaceted biomolecular interactions and make them "interaction hub" of the cellular systems. Additionally, with such widespread functions, their misfunctioning is also intimately associated with multiple diseases. Thus, understanding the dynamic heterogeneity of various IDPs along with their interactions with respective binding partners is an important field with immense potentials in biomolecular research. In this context, molecular docking-based computational approaches have proven to be remarkable in case of ordered proteins. Molecular docking methods essentially model the biomolecular interactions in both structural and energetic terms and use this information to characterize the putative interactions between the two participant molecules. However, direct applications of the conventional docking methods to study IDPs are largely limited by their structural heterogeneity and demands for unique IDP-centric strategies. Thus, in this chapter, we have presented an overview of current methodologies for successful docking operations involving IDPs and IDRs. These specialized methods majorly include the ensemble-based and fragment-based approaches with their own benefits and limitations. More recently, artificial intelligence and machine learning-assisted approaches are also used to significantly reduce the complexity and computational burden associated with various docking applications. Thus, this chapter aims to provide a comprehensive summary of major challenges and recent advancements of molecular docking approaches in the IDP field for their better utilization and greater applicability.Asp (D).
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Affiliation(s)
- Keyur N Patel
- Applied Phycology and Biotechnology Division, CSIR Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Dhruvil Chavda
- Applied Phycology and Biotechnology Division, CSIR Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Moutusi Manna
- Applied Phycology and Biotechnology Division, CSIR Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India.
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.
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6
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Liu W, Chen L, Yin D, Yang Z, Feng J, Sun Q, Lai L, Guo X. Visualizing single-molecule conformational transition and binding dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5203. [PMID: 37626077 PMCID: PMC10457384 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41018-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) play crucial roles in cellular processes and hold promise as drug targets. However, the dynamic nature of IDPs remains poorly understood. Here, we construct a single-molecule electrical nanocircuit based on silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (SiNW-FETs) and functionalize it with an individual disordered c-Myc bHLH-LZ domain to enable label-free, in situ, and long-term measurements at the single-molecule level. We use the device to study c-Myc interaction with Max and/or small molecule inhibitors. We observe the self-folding/unfolding process of c-Myc and reveal its interaction mechanism with Max and inhibitors through ultrasensitive real-time monitoring. We capture a relatively stable encounter intermediate ensemble of c-Myc during its transition from the unbound state to the fully folded state. The c-Myc/Max and c-Myc/inhibitor dissociation constants derived are consistent with other ensemble experiments. These proof-of-concept results provide an understanding of the IDP-binding/folding mechanism and represent a promising nanotechnology for IDP conformation/interaction studies and drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenzhe Liu
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, 100871, Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Limin Chen
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Dongbao Yin
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, 100871, Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Zhiheng Yang
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, 100871, Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Jianfei Feng
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, 100871, Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Qi Sun
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, 100871, Beijing, P. R. China.
| | - Luhua Lai
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, 100871, Beijing, P. R. China.
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, P. R. China.
- Center for Quantitative Biology, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, P. R. China.
| | - Xuefeng Guo
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 292 Chengfu Road, Haidian District, 100871, Beijing, P. R. China.
- Center of Single-Molecule Sciences, Institute of Modern Optics, Frontiers Science Center for New Organic Matter, College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Nankai University, 38 Tongyan Road, Jinnan District, 300350, Tianjin, P. R. China.
- National Biomedical Imaging Center, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P. R. China.
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7
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Arar S, Haque MA, Kayed R. Protein aggregation and neurodegenerative disease: Structural outlook for the novel therapeutics. Proteins 2023:10.1002/prot.26561. [PMID: 37530227 PMCID: PMC10834863 DOI: 10.1002/prot.26561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Revised: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023]
Abstract
Before the controversial approval of humanized monoclonal antibody lecanemab, which binds to the soluble amyloid-β protofibrils, all the treatments available earlier, for Alzheimer's disease (AD) were symptomatic. The researchers are still struggling to find a breakthrough in AD therapeutic medicine, which is partially attributable to lack in understanding of the structural information associated with the intrinsically disordered proteins and amyloids. One of the major challenges in this area of research is to understand the structural diversity of intrinsically disordered proteins under in vitro conditions. Therefore, in this review, we have summarized the in vitro applications of biophysical methods, which are aimed to shed some light on the heterogeneity, pathogenicity, structures and mechanisms of the intrinsically disordered protein aggregates associated with proteinopathies including AD. This review will also rationalize some of the strategies in modulating disease-relevant pathogenic protein entities by small molecules using structural biology approaches and biophysical characterization. We have also highlighted tools and techniques to simulate the in vivo conditions for native and cytotoxic tau/amyloids assemblies, urge new chemical approaches to replicate tau/amyloids assemblies similar to those in vivo conditions, in addition to designing novel potential drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharif Arar
- Mitchell Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases
- Departments of Neurology, Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, 77555, USA
- Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
| | - Md Anzarul Haque
- Mitchell Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases
- Departments of Neurology, Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, 77555, USA
| | - Rakez Kayed
- Mitchell Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases
- Departments of Neurology, Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, 77555, USA
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8
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Zhang P, Yang W. Toward a general neural network force field for protein simulations: Refining the intramolecular interaction in protein. J Chem Phys 2023; 159:024118. [PMID: 37431910 PMCID: PMC10481389 DOI: 10.1063/5.0142280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Molecular dynamics (MD) is an extremely powerful, highly effective, and widely used approach to understanding the nature of chemical processes in atomic details for proteins. The accuracy of results from MD simulations is highly dependent on force fields. Currently, molecular mechanical (MM) force fields are mainly utilized in MD simulations because of their low computational cost. Quantum mechanical (QM) calculation has high accuracy, but it is exceedingly time consuming for protein simulations. Machine learning (ML) provides the capability for generating accurate potential at the QM level without increasing much computational effort for specific systems that can be studied at the QM level. However, the construction of general machine learned force fields, needed for broad applications and large and complex systems, is still challenging. Here, general and transferable neural network (NN) force fields based on CHARMM force fields, named CHARMM-NN, are constructed for proteins by training NN models on 27 fragments partitioned from the residue-based systematic molecular fragmentation (rSMF) method. The NN for each fragment is based on atom types and uses new input features that are similar to MM inputs, including bonds, angles, dihedrals, and non-bonded terms, which enhance the compatibility of CHARMM-NN to MM MD and enable the implementation of CHARMM-NN force fields in different MD programs. While the main part of the energy of the protein is based on rSMF and NN, the nonbonded interactions between the fragments and with water are taken from the CHARMM force field through mechanical embedding. The validations of the method for dipeptides on geometric data, relative potential energies, and structural reorganization energies demonstrate that the CHARMM-NN local minima on the potential energy surface are very accurate approximations to QM, showing the success of CHARMM-NN for bonded interactions. However, the MD simulations on peptides and proteins indicate that more accurate methods to represent protein-water interactions in fragments and non-bonded interactions between fragments should be considered in the future improvement of CHARMM-NN, which can increase the accuracy of approximation beyond the current mechanical embedding QM/MM level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pan Zhang
- Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
| | - Weitao Yang
- Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
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9
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Wang Y, Yu L, Shao J, Zhu Z, Zhang L. Structure-driven protein engineering for production of valuable natural products. TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 28:460-470. [PMID: 36473772 DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2022.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Revised: 09/25/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Proteins are the most frequently used biocatalysts, and their structures determine their functions. Modifying the functions of proteins on the basis of their structures lies at the heart of protein engineering, opening a new horizon for metabolic engineering by efficiently generating stable enzymes. Many attempts at classical metabolic engineering have focused on improving specific metabolic fluxes and producing more valuable natural products by increasing gene expression levels and enzyme concentrations. However, most naturally occurring enzymes show limitations, and such limitations have hindered practical applications. Here we review recent advances in protein engineering in synthetic biology, chemoenzymatic synthesis, and plant metabolic engineering and describe opportunities for designing and constructing novel enzymes or proteins with desirable properties to obtain more active natural products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Wang
- Institute of Interdisciplinary Integrative Medicine Research, Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China; Biomedical Innovation R&D Centre, School of Medicine, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
| | - Luyao Yu
- Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Jie Shao
- Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Zhanpin Zhu
- Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Lei Zhang
- Institute of Interdisciplinary Integrative Medicine Research, Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China; Biomedical Innovation R&D Centre, School of Medicine, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China; Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China; Innovative Drug R&D Center, College of Life Sciences, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei 235000, China.
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10
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Vovk A, Zilman A. Effects of Sequence Composition, Patterning and Hydrodynamics on the Conformation and Dynamics of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:1444. [PMID: 36674958 PMCID: PMC9867189 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24021444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Revised: 12/24/2022] [Accepted: 12/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) perform diverse functions in cellular organization, transport and signaling. Unlike the well-defined structures of the classical natively folded proteins, IDPs and IDRs dynamically span large conformational and structural ensembles. This dynamic disorder impedes the study of the relationship between the amino acid sequences of the IDPs and their spatial structures and dynamics, with different experimental techniques often offering seemingly contradictory results. Although experimental and theoretical evidence indicates that some IDP properties can be understood based on their average biophysical properties and amino acid composition, other aspects of IDP function are dictated by the specifics of the amino acid sequence. We investigate the effects of several key variables on the dimensions and the dynamics of IDPs using coarse-grained polymer models. We focus on the sequence "patchiness" informed by the sequence and biophysical properties of different classes of IDPs-and in particular FG nucleoporins of the nuclear pore complex (NPC). We show that the sequence composition and patterning are well reflected in the global conformational variables such as the radius of gyration and hydrodynamic radius, while the end-to-end distance and dynamics are highly sequence-specific. We find that in good solvent conditions highly heterogeneous sequences of IDPs can be well mapped onto averaged minimal polymer models for the purpose of prediction of the IDPs dimensions and dynamic relaxation times. The coarse-grained simulations are in a good agreement with the results of atomistic MD. We discuss the implications of these results for the interpretation of the recent experimental measurements, and for the further applications of mesoscopic models of FG nucleoporins and IDPs more broadly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrei Vovk
- Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St George Street, Toronto, ON M1M 2P7, Canada
| | - Anton Zilman
- Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St George Street, Toronto, ON M1M 2P7, Canada
- Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, 164 College Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3G9, Canada
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11
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Kalayan J, Chakravorty A, Warwicker J, Henchman RH. Total free energy analysis of fully hydrated proteins. Proteins 2023; 91:74-90. [PMID: 35964252 PMCID: PMC10087023 DOI: 10.1002/prot.26411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2022] [Revised: 08/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The total free energy of a hydrated biomolecule and its corresponding decomposition of energy and entropy provides detailed information about regions of thermodynamic stability or instability. The free energies of four hydrated globular proteins with different net charges are calculated from a molecular dynamics simulation, with the energy coming from the system Hamiltonian and entropy using multiscale cell correlation. Water is found to be most stable around anionic residues, intermediate around cationic and polar residues, and least stable near hydrophobic residues, especially when more buried, with stability displaying moderate entropy-enthalpy compensation. Conversely, anionic residues in the proteins are energetically destabilized relative to singly solvated amino acids, while trends for other residues are less clear-cut. Almost all residues lose intraresidue entropy when in the protein, enthalpy changes are negative on average but may be positive or negative, and the resulting overall stability is moderate for some proteins and negligible for others. The free energy of water around single amino acids is found to closely match existing hydrophobicity scales. Regarding the effect of secondary structure, water is slightly more stable around loops, of intermediate stability around β strands and turns, and least stable around helices. An interesting asymmetry observed is that cationic residues stabilize a residue when bonded to its N-terminal side but destabilize it when on the C-terminal side, with a weaker reversed trend for anionic residues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jas Kalayan
- Division of Pharmacy and Optometry, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Arghya Chakravorty
- Department of Chemistry and Biophysics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Jim Warwicker
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Richard H Henchman
- Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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12
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Pedersen KB, Flores-Canales JC, Schiøtt B. Predicting molecular properties of α-synuclein using force fields for intrinsically disordered proteins. Proteins 2023; 91:47-61. [PMID: 35950933 PMCID: PMC10087257 DOI: 10.1002/prot.26409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Revised: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Independent force field validation is an essential practice to keep track of developments and for performing meaningful Molecular Dynamics simulations. In this work, atomistic force fields for intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP) are tested by simulating the archetypical IDP α-synuclein in solution for 2.5 μs. Four combinations of protein and water force fields were tested: ff19SB/OPC, ff19SB/TIP4P-D, ff03CMAP/TIP4P-D, and a99SB-disp/TIP4P-disp, with four independent repeat simulations for each combination. We compare our simulations to the results of a 73 μs simulation using the a99SB-disp/TIP4P-disp combination, provided by D. E. Shaw Research. From the trajectories, we predict a range of experimental observations of α-synuclein and compare them to literature data. This includes protein radius of gyration and hydration, intramolecular distances, NMR chemical shifts, and 3 J-couplings. Both ff19SB/TIP4P-D and a99SB-disp/TIP4P-disp produce extended conformational ensembles of α-synuclein that agree well with experimental radius of gyration and intramolecular distances while a99SB-disp/TIP4P-disp reproduces a balanced α-synuclein secondary structure content. It was found that ff19SB/OPC and ff03CMAP/TIP4P-D produce overly compact conformational ensembles and show discrepancies in the secondary structure content compared to the experimental data.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Birgit Schiøtt
- Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.,Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
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13
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Shulga DA, Kudryavtsev KV. Theoretical Studies of Leu-Pro-Arg-Asp-Ala Pentapeptide (LPRDA) Binding to Sortase A of Staphylococcus aureus. MOLECULES (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 27:molecules27238182. [PMID: 36500275 PMCID: PMC9890316 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27238182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Sortase A (SrtA) of Staphylococcus aureus is a well-defined molecular target to combat the virulence of these clinically important bacteria. However up to now no efficient drugs or even clinical candidates are known, hence the search for such drugs is still relevant and necessary. SrtA is a complex target, so many straight-forward techniques for modeling using the structure-based drug design (SBDD) fail to produce the results they used to bring for other, simpler, targets. In this work we conduct theoretical studies of the binding/activity of Leu-Pro-Arg-Asp-Ala (LPRDA) polypeptide, which was recently shown to possess antivirulence activity against S. aureus. Our investigation was aimed at establishing a framework for the estimation of the key interactions and subsequent modification of LPRDA, targeted at non-peptide molecules, with better drug-like properties than the original polypeptide. Firstly, the available PDB structures are critically analyzed and the criteria to evaluate the quality of the ligand-SrtA complex geometry are proposed. Secondly, the docking protocol was investigated to establish its applicability to the LPRDA-SrtA complex prediction. Thirdly, the molecular dynamics studies were carried out to refine the geometries and estimate the stability of the complexes, predicted by docking. The main finding is that the previously reported partially chaotic movement of the β6/β7 and β7/β8 loops of SrtA (being the intrinsically disordered parts related to the SrtA binding site) is exaggerated when SrtA is complexed with LPRDA, which in turn reveals all the signs of the flexible and structurally disordered molecule. As a result, a wealth of plausible LPRDA-SrtA complex conformations are hard to distinguish using simple modeling means, such as docking. The use of more elaborate modeling approaches may help to model the system reliably but at the cost of computational efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry A. Shulga
- Department of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory 1/3, 119991 Moscow, Russia
- Correspondence: (D.A.S.); (K.V.K.)
| | - Konstantin V. Kudryavtsev
- Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Ostrovityanova Street 1, 117997 Moscow, Russia
- Correspondence: (D.A.S.); (K.V.K.)
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14
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Maity H, Baidya L, Reddy G. Salt-Induced Transitions in the Conformational Ensembles of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:5959-5971. [PMID: 35944496 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c03476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Salts modulate the behavior of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and influence the formation of membraneless organelles through liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). In low ionic strength solutions, IDP conformations are perturbed by the screening of electrostatic interactions, independent of the salt identity. In this regime, insight into the IDP behavior can be obtained using the theory for salt-induced transitions in charged polymers. However, salt-specific interactions with the charged and uncharged residues, known as the Hofmeister effect, influence IDP behavior in high ionic strength solutions. There is a lack of reliable theoretical models in high salt concentration regimes to predict the salt effect on IDPs. We propose a simulation methodology using a coarse-grained IDP model and experimentally measured water to salt solution transfer free energies of various chemical groups that allowed us to study the salt-specific transitions induced in the IDPs conformational ensemble. We probed the effect of three different monovalent salts on five IDPs belonging to various polymer classes based on charged residue content. We demonstrate that all of the IDPs of different polymer classes behave as self-avoiding walks (SAWs) at physiological salt concentration. In high salt concentrations, the transitions observed in the IDP conformational ensembles are dependent on the salt used and the IDP sequence and composition. Changing the anion with the cation fixed can result in the IDP transition from a SAW-like behavior to a collapsed globule. An important implication of these results is that a suitable salt can be identified to induce condensation of an IDP through LLPS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiranmay Maity
- Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India 560012
| | - Lipika Baidya
- Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India 560012
| | - Govardhan Reddy
- Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India 560012
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15
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Xu H. Non-Equilibrium Protein Folding and Activation by ATP-Driven Chaperones. Biomolecules 2022; 12:832. [PMID: 35740957 PMCID: PMC9221429 DOI: 10.3390/biom12060832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent experimental studies suggest that ATP-driven molecular chaperones can stabilize protein substrates in their native structures out of thermal equilibrium. The mechanism of such non-equilibrium protein folding is an open question. Based on available structural and biochemical evidence, I propose here a unifying principle that underlies the conversion of chemical energy from ATP hydrolysis to the conformational free energy associated with protein folding and activation. I demonstrate that non-equilibrium folding requires the chaperones to break at least one of four symmetry conditions. The Hsp70 and Hsp90 chaperones each break a different subset of these symmetries and thus they use different mechanisms for non-equilibrium protein folding. I derive an upper bound on the non-equilibrium elevation of the native concentration, which implies that non-equilibrium folding only occurs in slow-folding proteins that adopt an unstable intermediate conformation in binding to ATP-driven chaperones. Contrary to the long-held view of Anfinsen's hypothesis that proteins fold to their conformational free energy minima, my results predict that some proteins may fold into thermodynamically unstable native structures with the assistance of ATP-driven chaperones, and that the native structures of some chaperone-dependent proteins may be shaped by their chaperone-mediated folding pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huafeng Xu
- Roivant Sciences, New York, NY 10036, USA
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16
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Li L, Casalini T, Arosio P, Salvalaglio M. Modeling the Structure and Interactions of Intrinsically Disordered Peptides with Multiple Replica, Metadynamics-Based Sampling Methods and Force-Field Combinations. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:1915-1928. [PMID: 35174713 PMCID: PMC9097291 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins play a key role in many biological processes, including the formation of biomolecular condensates within cells. A detailed characterization of their configurational ensemble and structure-function paradigm is crucial for understanding their biological activity and for exploiting them as building blocks in material sciences. In this work, we incorporate bias-exchange metadynamics and parallel-tempering well-tempered metadynamics with CHARMM36m and CHARMM22* to explore the structural and thermodynamic characteristics of a short archetypal disordered sequence derived from a DEAD-box protein. The conformational landscapes emerging from our simulations are largely congruent across methods and force fields. Nevertheless, differences in fine details emerge from varying combinations of force-fields and sampling methods. For this protein, our analysis identifies features that help to explain the low propensity of this sequence to undergo self-association in vitro, which are common to all force-field/sampling method combinations. Overall, our work demonstrates the importance of using multiple force-field and sampling method combinations for accurate structural and thermodynamic information in the study of disordered proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lunna Li
- Thomas
Young Centre and Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, U.K.
| | - Tommaso Casalini
- Department
of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH
Zurich, Zurich 8093, Switzerland
| | - Paolo Arosio
- Department
of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH
Zurich, Zurich 8093, Switzerland
| | - Matteo Salvalaglio
- Thomas
Young Centre and Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, U.K.
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17
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Reid KM, Singh AK, Bikash CR, Wei J, Tal-Gan Y, Vinh NQ, Leitner DM. The origin and impact of bound water around intrinsically disordered proteins. Biophys J 2022; 121:540-551. [PMID: 35074392 PMCID: PMC8874019 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2022.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2021] [Revised: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Proteins and water couple dynamically over a wide range of time scales. Motivated by their central role in protein function, protein-water dynamics and thermodynamics have been extensively studied for structured proteins, where correspondence to structural features has been made. However, properties controlling intrinsically disordered protein (IDP)-water dynamics are not yet known. We report results of megahertz-to-terahertz dielectric spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations of a group of IDPs with varying charge content along with structured proteins of similar size. Hydration water around IDPs is found to exhibit more heterogeneous rotational and translational dynamics compared with water around structured proteins of similar size, yielding on average more restricted dynamics around individual residues of IDPs, charged or neutral, compared with structured proteins. The on-average slower water dynamics is found to arise from excess tightly bound water in the first hydration layer, which is related to greater exposure to charged groups. The more tightly bound water to IDPs correlates with the smaller hydration shell found experimentally, and affects entropy associated with protein-water interactions, the contribution of which we estimate based on the dielectric measurements and simulations. Water-IDP dynamic coupling at terahertz frequencies is characterized by the dielectric measurements and simulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Korey M. Reid
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada
| | - Abhishek K. Singh
- Department of Physics and Center for Soft Matter and Biological Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
| | | | - Jessica Wei
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada
| | - Yftah Tal-Gan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada
| | - Nguyen Q. Vinh
- Department of Physics and Center for Soft Matter and Biological Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia,Corresponding author
| | - David M. Leitner
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada,Corresponding author
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18
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Latham AP, Zhang B. Unifying coarse-grained force fields for folded and disordered proteins. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2022; 72:63-70. [PMID: 34536913 PMCID: PMC9057422 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2021.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Revised: 08/08/2021] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Liquid-liquid phase separation drives the formation of biological condensates that play essential roles in transcriptional regulation and signal sensing. Computational modeling could provide high-resolution structural characterizations of these condensates and help uncover physicochemical interactions that dictate their stability. However, many protein molecules involved in phase separation often contain multiple ordered domains connected with flexible, structureless linkers. Simulating such proteins necessitates force fields with consistent accuracy for both folded and disordered proteins. We provide a critical review of existing coarse-grained force fields for disordered proteins and highlight the challenges in their application to folded proteins. After discussing existing algorithms for force field parameterization, we propose an optimization strategy that should lead to computer models with improved transferability across protein types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew P Latham
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Bin Zhang
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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19
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Montepietra D, Cecconi C, Brancolini G. Combining enhanced sampling and deep learning dimensionality reduction for the study of the heat shock protein B8 and its pathological mutant K141E. RSC Adv 2022; 12:31996-32011. [PMID: 36380940 PMCID: PMC9641792 DOI: 10.1039/d2ra04913a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The biological functions of proteins closely depend on their conformational dynamics. This aspect is especially relevant for intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP) for which structural ensembles often offer more useful representations than individual conformations. Here we employ extensive enhanced sampling temperature replica-exchange atomistic simulations (TREMD) and deep learning dimensionality reduction to study the conformational ensembles of the human heat shock protein B8 and its pathological mutant K141E, for which no experimental 3D structures are available. First, we combined homology modelling with TREMD to generate high-dimensional data sets of 3D structures. Then, we employed a recently developed machine learning based post-processing algorithm, EncoderMap, to project the large conformational data sets into meaningful two-dimensional maps that helped us interpret the data and extract the most significant conformations adopted by both proteins during TREMD. These studies provide the first 3D structural characterization of HSPB8 and reveal the effects of the pathogenic K141E mutation on its conformational ensembles. In particular, this missense mutation appears to increase the compactness of the protein and its structural variability, at the same time rearranging the hydrophobic patches exposed on the protein surface. These results offer the possibility of rationalizing the pathogenic effects of the K141E mutation in terms of conformational changes. The study provides the first 3D structural characterization of HSPB8 and its K141E mutant: extensive TREMD are combined with a deep learning algorithm to rationalize the disordered ensemble of structures adopted by each variant.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniele Montepietra
- Department of Physics, Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 213/A, 41100 Modena, Italy
- Istituto Nanoscienze – CNR-NANO, Center S3, Via G. Campi 213/A, 41100 Modena, Italy
| | - Ciro Cecconi
- Department of Physics, Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 213/A, 41100 Modena, Italy
- Istituto Nanoscienze – CNR-NANO, Center S3, Via G. Campi 213/A, 41100 Modena, Italy
| | - Giorgia Brancolini
- Istituto Nanoscienze – CNR-NANO, Center S3, Via G. Campi 213/A, 41100 Modena, Italy
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20
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Co NT, Li MS, Krupa P. Computational Models for the Study of Protein Aggregation. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2340:51-78. [PMID: 35167070 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1546-1_4] [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] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Protein aggregation has been studied by many groups around the world for many years because it can be the cause of a number of neurodegenerative diseases that have no effective treatment. Obtaining the structure of related fibrils and toxic oligomers, as well as describing the pathways and main factors that govern the self-organization process, is of paramount importance, but it is also very difficult. To solve this problem, experimental and computational methods are often combined to get the most out of each method. The effectiveness of the computational approach largely depends on the construction of a reasonable molecular model. Here we discussed different versions of the four most popular all-atom force fields AMBER, CHARMM, GROMOS, and OPLS, which have been developed for folded and intrinsically disordered proteins, or both. Continuous and discrete coarse-grained models, which were mainly used to study the kinetics of aggregation, are also summarized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nguyen Truong Co
- Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Mai Suan Li
- Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
- Institute for Computational Science and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
| | - Pawel Krupa
- Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
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21
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Rieloff E, Skepö M. The Effect of Multisite Phosphorylation on the Conformational Properties of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:11058. [PMID: 34681718 PMCID: PMC8541499 DOI: 10.3390/ijms222011058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Revised: 10/07/2021] [Accepted: 10/08/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins are involved in many biological processes such as signaling, regulation, and recognition. A common strategy to regulate their function is through phosphorylation, as it can induce changes in conformation, dynamics, and interactions with binding partners. Although phosphorylated intrinsically disordered proteins have received increased attention in recent years, a full understanding of the conformational and structural implications of phosphorylation has not yet been achieved. Here, we present all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of five disordered peptides originated from tau, statherin, and β-casein, in both phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated state, to compare changes in global dimensions and structural elements, in an attempt to gain more insight into the controlling factors. The changes are in qualitative agreement with experimental data, and we observe that the net charge is not enough to predict the impact of phosphorylation on the global dimensions. Instead, the distribution of phosphorylated and positively charged residues throughout the sequence has great impact due to the formation of salt bridges. In statherin, a preference for arginine-phosphoserine interaction over arginine-tyrosine accounts for a global expansion, despite a local contraction of the phosphorylated region, which implies that also non-charged residues can influence the effect of phosphorylation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ellen Rieloff
- Division of Theoretical Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden;
| | - Marie Skepö
- Division of Theoretical Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden;
- LINXS—Lund Institute of Advanced Neutron and X-ray Science, Scheelevägen 19, SE-223 70 Lund, Sweden
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22
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Jephthah S, Pesce F, Lindorff-Larsen K, Skepö M. Force Field Effects in Simulations of Flexible Peptides with Varying Polyproline II Propensity. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:6634-6646. [PMID: 34524800 PMCID: PMC8515809 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Five peptides previously suggested to possess polyproline II (PPII) structure have here been investigated by using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to compare how well four different force fields known for simulating intrinsically disordered proteins relatively well (Amber ff99SB-disp, Amber ff99SB-ILDN, CHARM36IDPSFF, and CHARMM36m) can capture this secondary structure element. The results revealed that all force fields sample PPII structures but to different extents and with different propensities toward other secondary structure elements, in particular, the β-sheet and "random coils". A cluster analysis of the simulations of histatin 5 also revealed that the conformational ensembles of the force fields are quite different. We compared the simulations to circular dichroism and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiments and conclude that further experiments and methods for interpreting them are needed to assess the accuracy of force fields in determining PPII structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stéphanie Jephthah
- Division of Theoretical Chemistry, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
| | - Francesco Pesce
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory & the Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kresten Lindorff-Larsen
- Structural Biology and NMR Laboratory & the Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Marie Skepö
- Division of Theoretical Chemistry, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
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23
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Boopathi S, Poma AB, Garduño-Juárez R. An Overview of Several Inhibitors for Alzheimer's Disease: Characterization and Failure. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:10798. [PMID: 34639140 PMCID: PMC8509255 DOI: 10.3390/ijms221910798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2021] [Revised: 10/01/2021] [Accepted: 10/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Amyloid beta (Aβ) oligomers are the most neurotoxic aggregates causing neuronal death and cognitive damage. A detailed elucidation of the aggregation pathways from oligomers to fibril formation is crucial to develop therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although experimental techniques rely on the measure of time- and space-average properties, they face severe difficulties in the investigation of Aβ peptide aggregation due to their intrinsically disorder character. Computer simulation is a tool that allows tracing the molecular motion of molecules; hence it complements Aβ experiments, as it allows to explore the binding mechanism between metal ions and Aβ oligomers close to the cellular membrane at the atomic resolution. In this context, integrated studies of experiments and computer simulations can assist in mapping the complete pathways of aggregation and toxicity of Aβ peptides. Aβ oligomers are disordered proteins, and due to a rapid exploration of their intrinsic conformational space in real-time, they are challenging therapeutic targets. Therefore, no good drug candidate could have been identified for clinical use. Our previous investigations identified two small molecules, M30 (2-Octahydroisoquinolin-2(1H)-ylethanamine) and Gabapentin, capable of Aβ binding and inhibiting molecular aggregation, synaptotoxicity, intracellular calcium signaling, cellular toxicity and memory losses induced by Aβ. Thus, we recommend these molecules as novel candidates to assist anti-AD drug discovery in the near future. This review discusses the most recent research investigations about the Aβ dynamics in water, close contact with cell membranes, and several therapeutic strategies to remove plaque formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Subramanian Boopathi
- Instituto de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca 62210, Mexico;
| | - Adolfo B. Poma
- Department of Biosystems and Soft Matter, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research Polish Academy of Science, Pawińskiego 5B, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
- International Center for Research on Innovative Biobased Materials (ICRI-BioM)—International Research Agenda, Lodz University of Technology, Zeromskiego 116, 90-924 Lodz, Poland;
| | - Ramón Garduño-Juárez
- Instituto de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca 62210, Mexico;
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24
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Konovalov K, Unarta IC, Cao S, Goonetilleke EC, Huang X. Markov State Models to Study the Functional Dynamics of Proteins in the Wake of Machine Learning. JACS AU 2021; 1:1330-1341. [PMID: 34604842 PMCID: PMC8479766 DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.1c00254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Markov state models (MSMs) based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are routinely employed to study protein folding, however, their application to functional conformational changes of biomolecules is still limited. In the past few years, the field of computational chemistry has experienced a surge of advancements stemming from machine learning algorithms, and MSMs have not been left out. Unlike global processes, such as protein folding, the application of MSMs to functional conformational changes is challenging because they mostly consist of localized structural transitions. Therefore, it is critical to properly select a subset of structural features that can describe the slowest dynamics of these functional conformational changes. To address this challenge, we recommend several automatic feature selection methods such as Spectral-OASIS. To identify states in MSMs, the chosen features can be subject to dimensionality reduction methods such as TICA or deep learning based VAMPNets to project MD conformations onto a few collective variables for subsequent clustering. Another challenge for the application of MSMs to the study of functional conformational changes is the ability to comprehend their biophysical mechanisms, as MSMs built for these processes often require a large number of states. We recommend the recently developed quasi-MSMs (qMSMs) to address this issue. Compared to MSMs, qMSMs encode the non-Markovian dynamics via the generalized master equation and can significantly reduce the number of states. As a result, qMSMs can be built with a handful of states to facilitate the interpretation of functional conformational changes. In the wake of machine learning, we believe that the rapid advancement in the MSM methodology will lead to their wider application in studying functional conformational changes of biomolecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kirill
A. Konovalov
- Department
of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong
- Hong
Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hong Kong Science Park, Hong Kong
| | - Ilona Christy Unarta
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong
- Hong
Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hong Kong Science Park, Hong Kong
| | - Siqin Cao
- Department
of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong
- Hong
Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hong Kong Science Park, Hong Kong
| | - Eshani C. Goonetilleke
- Department
of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong
- Hong
Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hong Kong Science Park, Hong Kong
| | - Xuhui Huang
- Department
of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong
- Hong
Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hong Kong Science Park, Hong Kong
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25
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Rieloff E, Skepö M. Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Phosphorylated Intrinsically Disordered Proteins: A Force Field Comparison. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:10174. [PMID: 34576338 PMCID: PMC8470740 DOI: 10.3390/ijms221810174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2021] [Revised: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Phosphorylation is a common post-translational modification among intrinsically disordered proteins and regions, which helps regulate function by changing the protein conformations, dynamics, and interactions with binding partners. To fully comprehend the effects of phosphorylation, computer simulations are a helpful tool, although they are dependent on the accuracy of the force field used. Here, we compared the conformational ensembles produced by Amber ff99SB-ILDN+TIP4P-D and CHARMM36m, for four phosphorylated disordered peptides ranging in length from 14-43 residues. CHARMM36m consistently produced more compact conformations with a higher content of bends, mainly due to more stable salt bridges. Based on comparisons with experimental size estimates for the shortest and longest peptide, CHARMM36m appeared to overestimate the compactness. The difference between the force fields was largest for the peptide showing the greatest separation between positively charged and phosphorylated residues, in line with the importance of charge distribution. For this peptide, the conformational ensemble did not change significantly upon increasing the ionic strength from 0 mM to 150 mM, despite a reduction of the salt-bridging probability in the CHARMM36m simulations, implying that salt concentration has negligible effects in this study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ellen Rieloff
- Division of Theoretical Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden;
| | - Marie Skepö
- Division of Theoretical Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden;
- LINXS—Lund Institute of Advanced Neutron and X-ray Science, Scheelevägen 19, SE-223 70 Lund, Sweden
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26
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Kozak F, Kurzbach D. How to assess the structural dynamics of transcription factors by integrating sparse NMR and EPR constraints with molecular dynamics simulations. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2021; 19:2097-2105. [PMID: 33995905 PMCID: PMC8085671 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2021.04.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Revised: 04/07/2021] [Accepted: 04/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We review recent advances in modeling structural ensembles of transcription factors from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopic data, integrated with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We focus on approaches that confirm computed conformational ensembles by sparse constraints obtained from magnetic resonance. This combination enables the deduction of functional and structural protein models even if nuclear Overhauser effects (NOEs) are too scarce for conventional structure determination. We highlight recent insights into the folding-upon-DNA binding transitions of intrinsically disordered transcription factors that could be assessed using such integrative approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fanny Kozak
- University Vienna, Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Waehringer Str. 38, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Dennis Kurzbach
- University Vienna, Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Waehringer Str. 38, 1090 Vienna, Austria
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27
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Argudo PG, Giner-Casares JJ. Folding and self-assembly of short intrinsically disordered peptides and protein regions. NANOSCALE ADVANCES 2021; 3:1789-1812. [PMID: 36133101 PMCID: PMC9417027 DOI: 10.1039/d0na00941e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2020] [Accepted: 01/17/2021] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Proteins and peptide fragments are highly relevant building blocks in self-assembly for nanostructures with plenty of applications. Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and protein regions (IDRs) are defined by the absence of a well-defined secondary structure, yet IDPs/IDRs show a significant biological activity. Experimental techniques and computational modelling procedures for the characterization of IDPs/IDRs are discussed. Directed self-assembly of IDPs/IDRs allows reaching a large variety of nanostructures. Hybrid materials based on the derivatives of IDPs/IDRs show a promising performance as alternative biocides and nanodrugs. Cell mimicking, in vivo compartmentalization, and bone regeneration are demonstrated for IDPs/IDRs in biotechnological applications. The exciting possibilities of IDPs/IDRs in nanotechnology with relevant biological applications are shown.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo G Argudo
- Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, LCPO 16 Avenue Pey-Berland 33600 Pessac France
| | - Juan J Giner-Casares
- Departamento de Química Física y T. Aplicada, Instituto Universitario de Nanoquímica IUNAN, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Córdoba (UCO) Campus de Rabanales, Ed. Marie Curie E-14071 Córdoba Spain
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28
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Kumar A, Kumar A, Kumar P, Garg N, Giri R. SARS-CoV-2 NSP1 C-terminal (residues 131-180) is an intrinsically disordered region in isolation. CURRENT RESEARCH IN VIROLOGICAL SCIENCE 2021; 2:100007. [PMID: 34189489 PMCID: PMC8020630 DOI: 10.1016/j.crviro.2021.100007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Revised: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/31/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The NSP1- C terminal structure in complex with ribosome using cryo-EM is available now, and the N-terminal region structure in isolation is also deciphered in literature. However, as a reductionist approach, the conformation of NSP1- C terminal region (NSP1-CTR; amino acids 131-180) has not been studied in isolation. We found that NSP1-CTR conformation is disordered in an aqueous solution. Further, we examined the conformational propensity towards alpha-helical structure using trifluoroethanol, we observed induction of helical structure conformation using CD spectroscopy. Additionally, in SDS, NSP1-CTR shows a conformational change from disordered to ordered, possibly gaining alpha-helix in part. But in the presence of neutral lipid DOPC, a slight change in conformation is observed, which implies the possible role of hydrophobic interaction and electrostatic interaction on the conformational changes of NSP1. Fluorescence-based studies have shown a blue shift and fluorescence quenching in the presence of SDS, TFE, and lipid vesicles. In agreement with these results, fluorescence lifetime and fluorescence anisotropy decay suggest a change in conformational dynamics. The zeta potential studies further validated that the conformational dynamics are primarily because of hydrophobic interaction. These experimental studies were complemented through Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, which have shown a good correlation and testifies our experiments. We believe that the intrinsically disordered nature of the NSP1-CTR will have implications for enhanced molecular recognition feature properties of this IDR, which may add disorder to order transition and disorder-based binding promiscuity with its interacting proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amit Kumar
- School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, VPO Kamand, Himachal Pradesh, 175005, India
| | - Ankur Kumar
- School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, VPO Kamand, Himachal Pradesh, 175005, India
| | - Prateek Kumar
- School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, VPO Kamand, Himachal Pradesh, 175005, India
| | - Neha Garg
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Ayurveda, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221005, India
| | - Rajanish Giri
- School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, VPO Kamand, Himachal Pradesh, 175005, India
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29
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Lindsay RJ, Mansbach RA, Gnanakaran S, Shen T. Effects of pH on an IDP conformational ensemble explored by molecular dynamics simulation. Biophys Chem 2021; 271:106552. [PMID: 33581430 PMCID: PMC8024028 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpc.2021.106552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Revised: 01/15/2021] [Accepted: 01/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
The conformational ensemble of intrinsically disordered proteins, such as α-synuclein, are responsible for their function and malfunction. Misfolding of α-synuclein can lead to neurodegenerative diseases, and the ability to study their conformations and those of other intrinsically disordered proteins under varying physiological conditions can be crucial to understanding and preventing pathologies. In contrast to well-folded peptides, a consensus feature of IDPs is their low hydropathy and high charge, which makes their conformations sensitive to pH perturbation. We examine a prominent member of this subset of IDPs, α-synuclein, using a divide-and-conquer scheme that provides enhanced sampling of IDP structural ensembles. We constructed conformational ensembles of α-synuclein under neutral (pH ~ 7) and low (pH ~ 3) pH conditions and compared our results with available information obtained from smFRET, SAXS, and NMR studies. Specifically, α-synuclein has been found to in a more compact state at low pH conditions and the structural changes observed are consistent with those from experiments. We also characterize the conformational and dynamic differences between these ensembles and discussed the implication on promoting pathogenic fibril formation. We find that under low pH conditions, neutralization of negatively charged residues leads to compaction of the C-terminal portion of α-synuclein while internal reorganization allows α-synuclein to maintain its overall end-to-end distance. We also observe different levels of intra-protein interaction between three regions of α-synuclein at varying pH and a shift towards more hydrophilic interactions with decreasing pH.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard J Lindsay
- UT- ORNL Graduate School of Genome Science and Technology, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA.
| | - Rachael A Mansbach
- Theoretical Biology and Biophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87544, USA; Department of Physics, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
| | - S Gnanakaran
- Theoretical Biology and Biophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87544, USA.
| | - Tongye Shen
- Department of Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA.
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30
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Liu M, Das AK, Lincoff J, Sasmal S, Cheng SY, Vernon RM, Forman-Kay JD, Head-Gordon T. Configurational Entropy of Folded Proteins and Its Importance for Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22073420. [PMID: 33810353 PMCID: PMC8037987 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22073420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2021] [Revised: 03/24/2021] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Many pairwise additive force fields are in active use for intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and regions (IDRs), some of which modify energetic terms to improve the description of IDPs/IDRs but are largely in disagreement with solution experiments for the disordered states. This work considers a new direction-the connection to configurational entropy-and how it might change the nature of our understanding of protein force field development to equally well encompass globular proteins, IDRs/IDPs, and disorder-to-order transitions. We have evaluated representative pairwise and many-body protein and water force fields against experimental data on representative IDPs and IDRs, a peptide that undergoes a disorder-to-order transition, for seven globular proteins ranging in size from 130 to 266 amino acids. We find that force fields with the largest statistical fluctuations consistent with the radius of gyration and universal Lindemann values for folded states simultaneously better describe IDPs and IDRs and disorder-to-order transitions. Hence, the crux of what a force field should exhibit to well describe IDRs/IDPs is not just the balance between protein and water energetics but the balance between energetic effects and configurational entropy of folded states of globular proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meili Liu
- Department of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
- Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; (A.K.D.); (J.L.); (S.S.); (S.Y.C.)
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Akshaya K. Das
- Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; (A.K.D.); (J.L.); (S.S.); (S.Y.C.)
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - James Lincoff
- Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; (A.K.D.); (J.L.); (S.S.); (S.Y.C.)
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Sukanya Sasmal
- Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; (A.K.D.); (J.L.); (S.S.); (S.Y.C.)
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Sara Y. Cheng
- Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; (A.K.D.); (J.L.); (S.S.); (S.Y.C.)
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Robert M. Vernon
- Molecular Medicine Program, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada; (R.M.V.); (J.D.F.-K.)
| | - Julie D. Forman-Kay
- Molecular Medicine Program, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada; (R.M.V.); (J.D.F.-K.)
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada
| | - Teresa Head-Gordon
- Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; (A.K.D.); (J.L.); (S.S.); (S.Y.C.)
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Correspondence:
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31
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Shrestha UR, Smith JC, Petridis L. Full structural ensembles of intrinsically disordered proteins from unbiased molecular dynamics simulations. Commun Biol 2021; 4:243. [PMID: 33623120 PMCID: PMC7902620 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-01759-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is widely used to complement ensemble-averaged experiments of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). However, MD often suffers from limitations of inaccuracy. Here, we show that enhancing the sampling using Hamiltonian replica-exchange MD (HREMD) led to unbiased and accurate ensembles, reproducing small-angle scattering and NMR chemical shift experiments, for three IDPs of varying sequence properties using two recently optimized force fields, indicating the general applicability of HREMD for IDPs. We further demonstrate that, unlike HREMD, standard MD can reproduce experimental NMR chemical shifts, but not small-angle scattering data, suggesting chemical shifts are insufficient for testing the validity of IDP ensembles. Surprisingly, we reveal that despite differences in their sequence, the inter-chain statistics of all three IDPs are similar for short contour lengths (< 10 residues). The results suggest that the major hurdle of generating an accurate unbiased ensemble for IDPs has now been largely overcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Utsab R Shrestha
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Biosciences Division, UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
| | - Jeremy C Smith
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Biosciences Division, UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
| | - Loukas Petridis
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Biosciences Division, UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics, Oak Ridge, TN, USA.
- Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.
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32
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Lazar T, Martínez-Pérez E, Quaglia F, Hatos A, Chemes L, Iserte JA, Méndez NA, Garrone NA, Saldaño T, Marchetti J, Rueda A, Bernadó P, Blackledge M, Cordeiro TN, Fagerberg E, Forman-Kay JD, Fornasari M, Gibson TJ, Gomes GNW, Gradinaru C, Head-Gordon T, Jensen MR, Lemke E, Longhi S, Marino-Buslje C, Minervini G, Mittag T, Monzon A, Pappu RV, Parisi G, Ricard-Blum S, Ruff KM, Salladini E, Skepö M, Svergun D, Vallet S, Varadi M, Tompa P, Tosatto SCE, Piovesan D. PED in 2021: a major update of the protein ensemble database for intrinsically disordered proteins. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:D404-D411. [PMID: 33305318 PMCID: PMC7778965 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaa1021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Revised: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The Protein Ensemble Database (PED) (https://proteinensemble.org), which holds structural ensembles of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), has been significantly updated and upgraded since its last release in 2016. The new version, PED 4.0, has been completely redesigned and reimplemented with cutting-edge technology and now holds about six times more data (162 versus 24 entries and 242 versus 60 structural ensembles) and a broader representation of state of the art ensemble generation methods than the previous version. The database has a completely renewed graphical interface with an interactive feature viewer for region-based annotations, and provides a series of descriptors of the qualitative and quantitative properties of the ensembles. High quality of the data is guaranteed by a new submission process, which combines both automatic and manual evaluation steps. A team of biocurators integrate structured metadata describing the ensemble generation methodology, experimental constraints and conditions. A new search engine allows the user to build advanced queries and search all entry fields including cross-references to IDP-related resources such as DisProt, MobiDB, BMRB and SASBDB. We expect that the renewed PED will be useful for researchers interested in the atomic-level understanding of IDP function, and promote the rational, structure-based design of IDP-targeting drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamas Lazar
- VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, Brussels 1050, Belgium
- Structural Biology Brussels, Bioengineering Sciences Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels 1050, Belgium
| | - Elizabeth Martínez-Pérez
- Bioinformatics Unit, Fundación Instituto Leloir, Buenos Aires, C1405BWE, Argentina
- Structural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg 69117, Germany
| | - Federica Quaglia
- Dept. of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, Padova 35131, Italy
| | - András Hatos
- Dept. of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, Padova 35131, Italy
| | - Lucía B Chemes
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas “Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde’’, IIB-UNSAM, IIBIO-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de SanMartín, CP1650 San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Javier A Iserte
- Bioinformatics Unit, Fundación Instituto Leloir, Buenos Aires, C1405BWE, Argentina
| | - Nicolás A Méndez
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas “Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde’’, IIB-UNSAM, IIBIO-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de SanMartín, CP1650 San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Nicolás A Garrone
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas “Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde’’, IIB-UNSAM, IIBIO-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de SanMartín, CP1650 San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Tadeo E Saldaño
- Laboratorio de Química y Biología Computacional, Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Bernal B1876BXD, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Julia Marchetti
- Laboratorio de Química y Biología Computacional, Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Bernal B1876BXD, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Ana Julia Velez Rueda
- Laboratorio de Química y Biología Computacional, Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Bernal B1876BXD, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Pau Bernadó
- Centre de Biochimie Structurale (CBS), CNRS, INSERM, University of Montpellier, Montpellier 34090, France
| | | | - Tiago N Cordeiro
- Centre de Biochimie Structurale (CBS), CNRS, INSERM, University of Montpellier, Montpellier 34090, France
- Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da República, Oeiras 2780-157, Portugal
| | - Eric Fagerberg
- Theoretical Chemistry, Lund University, Lund, POB 124, SE-221 00, Sweden
| | - Julie D Forman-Kay
- Molecular Medicine Program, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, M5G 1X8, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A8, Ontario, Canada
| | - Maria S Fornasari
- Laboratorio de Química y Biología Computacional, Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Bernal B1876BXD, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Toby J Gibson
- Structural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg 69117, Germany
| | - Gregory-Neal W Gomes
- Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A7, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, L5L 1C6, Ontario, Canada
| | - Claudiu C Gradinaru
- Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A7, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, L5L 1C6, Ontario, Canada
| | - Teresa Head-Gordon
- Departments of Chemistry, Bioengineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | | | - Edward A Lemke
- Biocentre, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz 55128, Germany
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz 55128, Germany
| | - Sonia Longhi
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques (AFMB), Marseille 13288, France
| | | | | | - Tanja Mittag
- Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | | | - Rohit V Pappu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Science & Engineering of Living Systems (CSELS), Washington University in St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Gustavo Parisi
- Laboratorio de Química y Biología Computacional, Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Bernal B1876BXD, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Sylvie Ricard-Blum
- Univ Lyon, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSA Lyon, CPE, Institute of Molecular and Supramolecular Chemistry and Biochemistry (ICBMS), UMR 5246, Villeurbanne, 69629 Lyon Cedex 07, France
| | - Kiersten M Ruff
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Science & Engineering of Living Systems (CSELS), Washington University in St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Edoardo Salladini
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques (AFMB), Marseille 13288, France
| | - Marie Skepö
- Theoretical Chemistry, Lund University, Lund, POB 124, SE-221 00, Sweden
- LINXS - Lund Institute of Advanced Neutron and X-ray Science, Lund 223 70, Sweden
| | - Dmitri Svergun
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Unit, Hamburg 22607, Germany
| | - Sylvain D Vallet
- Univ Lyon, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSA Lyon, CPE, Institute of Molecular and Supramolecular Chemistry and Biochemistry (ICBMS), UMR 5246, Villeurbanne, 69629 Lyon Cedex 07, France
| | - Mihaly Varadi
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Peter Tompa
- To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel +32 473 785386;
| | - Silvio C E Tosatto
- Correspondence may also be addressed to Silvio C. E. Tosatto. Tel: +39 049 827 6269;
| | - Damiano Piovesan
- Dept. of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, Padova 35131, Italy
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33
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Structure-based peptide design targeting intrinsically disordered proteins: Novel histone H4 and H2A peptidic inhibitors. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2021; 19:934-948. [PMID: 33598107 PMCID: PMC7856395 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2021.01.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2020] [Revised: 01/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins/protein regions (IDPs/IDPRs) are emerging drug targets. Lack of fast methods hinders the discovery of inhibitors for IDPs/ IDPRs. Fast and inexpensive structure-based approaches have been developed. The developed methods were applied to succesfully design inhibitors targeting the disordered tail of histone H4 and H2A. The presented methods can be widely used to identify inhibitors for other IDPs/IDPRs.
A growing body of research has demonstrated that targeting intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDPRs) is feasible and represents a new trending strategy in drug discovery. However, the number of inhibitors targeting IDPs/IDPRs is increasing slowly due to limitations of the methods that can be used to accelerate the discovery process. We have applied structure-based methods to successfully develop the first peptidic inhibitor (HIPe - Histone Inhibitory Peptide) that targets histone H4 that are released from NETs (Neutrophil Extracellular Traps). HIPe binds stably to the disordered N-terminal tail of histone H4, thereby preventing histone H4-induced cell death. Recently, by utilisation of the same state-of-the-art approaches, we have developed a novel peptidic inhibitor (CHIP - Cyclical Histone H2A Interference Peptide) that binds to NET-resident histone H2A, which results in a blockade of monocyte adhesion and consequently reduction in atheroprogression. Here, we present comprehensive details on the computational methods utilised to design and develop HIPe and CHIP. We have exploited protein–protein complexes as starting structures for rational peptide design and then applied binding free energy methods to predict and prioritise binding strength of the designed peptides with histone H4 and H2A. By doing this way, we have modelled only around 20 peptides and from these were able to select 4–5 peptides, from a total of more than a trillion candidate peptides, for functional characterisation in different experiments. The developed computational protocols are generic and can be widely used to design and develop novel inhibitors for other disordered proteins.
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Key Words
- ARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome
- BFE, binding free energy
- BRCA-1, breast cancer type1 susceptibility protein
- CCL5, chemokine ligand 5
- CHIP, cyclical histone H2A interference peptide
- Computer-aided molecular design (CAMD)
- DC, decomposition
- Disordered proteins
- H2A, histone H2A
- H2B, histone H2B
- H3, histone H3
- H4, histone H4
- HIPe, histone inhibitory peptide
- HNP1, human neutrophil peptide 1
- Histones
- IDPRs, intrinsically disordered protein regions
- IDPs, intrinsically disordered proteins
- MD, molecular dynamics
- MM/GBSA, molecular mechanics/generalised born surface area
- NETs, neutrophil extracellular traps
- Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)
- PDB, protein data bank
- PPIs, protein-protein interactions
- PTP1B, protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B
- Peptides
- Protein-protein interactions (PPIs)
- SMCs, smooth muscle cells
- aMD, accelerated molecular dynamics
- p53, tumor protein 53
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34
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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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35
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Fatafta H, Samantray S, Sayyed-Ahmad A, Coskuner-Weber O, Strodel B. Molecular simulations of IDPs: From ensemble generation to IDP interactions leading to disorder-to-order transitions. PROGRESS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE 2021; 183:135-185. [PMID: 34656328 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2021.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/26/2023]
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) lack a well-defined three-dimensional structure but do exhibit some dynamical and structural ordering. The structural plasticity of IDPs indicates that entropy-driven motions are crucial for their function. Many IDPs undergo function-related disorder-to-order transitions upon by their interaction with specific binding partners. Approaches that are based on both experimental and theoretical tools enable the biophysical characterization of IDPs. Molecular simulations provide insights into IDP structural ensembles and disorder-to-order transition mechanisms. However, such studies depend strongly on the chosen force field parameters and simulation techniques. In this chapter, we provide an overview of IDP characteristics, review all-atom force fields recently developed for IDPs, and present molecular dynamics-based simulation methods that allow IDP ensemble generation as well as the characterization of disorder-to-order transitions. In particular, we introduce metadynamics, replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations, and also kinetic models resulting from Markov State modeling, and provide various examples for the successful application of these simulation methods to IDPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hebah Fatafta
- Institute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Suman Samantray
- Institute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany; AICES Graduate School, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Orkid Coskuner-Weber
- Molecular Biotechnology, Turkish-German University, Sahinkaya Caddesi, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Birgit Strodel
- Institute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
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36
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Ruan H, Yu C, Niu X, Zhang W, Liu H, Chen L, Xiong R, Sun Q, Jin C, Liu Y, Lai L. Computational strategy for intrinsically disordered protein ligand design leads to the discovery of p53 transactivation domain I binding compounds that activate the p53 pathway. Chem Sci 2020; 12:3004-3016. [PMID: 34164069 PMCID: PMC8179352 DOI: 10.1039/d0sc04670a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins or intrinsically disordered regions (IDPs) have gained much attention in recent years due to their vital roles in biology and prevalence in various human diseases. Although IDPs are perceived as attractive therapeutic targets, rational drug design targeting IDPs remains challenging because of their conformational heterogeneity. Here, we propose a hierarchical computational strategy for IDP drug virtual screening (IDPDVS) and applied it in the discovery of p53 transactivation domain I (TAD1) binding compounds. IDPDVS starts from conformation sampling of the IDP target, then it combines stepwise conformational clustering with druggability evaluation to identify potential ligand binding pockets, followed by multiple docking screening runs and selection of compounds that can bind multi-conformations. p53 is an important tumor suppressor and restoration of its function provides an opportunity to inhibit cancer cell growth. TAD1 locates at the N-terminus of p53 and plays key roles in regulating p53 function. No compounds that directly bind to TAD1 have been reported due to its highly disordered structure. We successfully used IDPDVS to identify two compounds that bind p53 TAD1 and restore wild-type p53 function in cancer cells. Our study demonstrates that IDPDVS is an efficient strategy for IDP drug discovery and p53 TAD1 can be directly targeted by small molecules. A hierarchical computational strategy for IDP drug virtual screening (IDPDVS) was proposed and successfully applied to identify compounds that bind p53 TAD1 and restore wild-type p53 function in cancer cells.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Ruan
- BNLMS, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University Beijing 100871 China +861062757486
| | - Chen Yu
- BNLMS, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University Beijing 100871 China +861062757486
| | - Xiaogang Niu
- College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University Beijing 100871 China.,Beijing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Center, Peking University Beijing 100871 China
| | - Weilin Zhang
- BNLMS, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University Beijing 100871 China +861062757486
| | - Hanzhong Liu
- Center for Quantitative Biology, Academy of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University Beijing 100871 China +861062751490
| | - Limin Chen
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University Beijing 100871 China
| | - Ruoyao Xiong
- BNLMS, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University Beijing 100871 China +861062757486
| | - Qi Sun
- BNLMS, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University Beijing 100871 China +861062757486
| | - Changwen Jin
- College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University Beijing 100871 China.,Beijing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Center, Peking University Beijing 100871 China
| | - Ying Liu
- BNLMS, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University Beijing 100871 China +861062757486.,Center for Quantitative Biology, Academy of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University Beijing 100871 China +861062751490
| | - Luhua Lai
- BNLMS, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University Beijing 100871 China +861062757486.,Center for Quantitative Biology, Academy of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University Beijing 100871 China +861062751490.,Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University Beijing 100871 China
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37
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Ruan H, Kiselar J, Zhang W, Li S, Xiong R, Liu Y, Yang S, Lai L. Integrative structural modeling of a multidomain polo-like kinase. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2020; 22:27581-27589. [PMID: 33236741 DOI: 10.1039/d0cp05030j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) is a key regulator and coordinator for mitotic signaling that contains two major functional units of a kinase domain (KD) and a polo-box domain (PBD). While individual domain structures of the KD and the PBD are known, how they interact and assemble into a functional complex remains an open question. The structural model from the KD-PBD-Map205PBM heterotrimeric crystal structure of zebrafish PLK1 represents a major step in understanding the KD and the PBD interactions. However, how these two domains interact when connected by a linker in the full length PLK1 needs further investigation. By integrating different sources of structural data from small-angle X-ray scattering, hydroxyl radical protein footprinting, and computational sampling, here we report an overall architecture for PLK1 multidomain assembly between the KD and the PBD. Our model revealed that the KD uses its C-lobe to interact with the PBD via the site near the phosphopeptide binding site in its auto-inhibitory state in solution. Disruption of this auto-inhibition via site-directed mutagenesis at the KD-PBD interface increases its kinase activity, supporting the functional role of KD-PBD interactions predicted for regulating the PLK1 kinase function. Our results indicate that the full length human PLK1 takes dynamic structures with a variety of domain-domain interfaces in solution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Ruan
- BNLMS, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
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38
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Kumar A, Kumar P, Giri R. Zika virus NS4A cytosolic region (residues 1–48) is an intrinsically disordered domain and folds upon binding to lipids. Virology 2020; 550:27-36. [DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2020.07.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2020] [Revised: 07/19/2020] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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Chakravorty A, Higham J, Henchman RH. Entropy of Proteins Using Multiscale Cell Correlation. J Chem Inf Model 2020; 60:5540-5551. [PMID: 32955869 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.0c00611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
A new multiscale method is presented to calculate the entropy of proteins from molecular dynamics simulations. Termed Multiscale Cell Correlation (MCC), the method decomposes the protein into sets of rigid-body units based on their covalent-bond connectivity at three levels of hierarchy: molecule, residue, and united atom. It evaluates the vibrational and topographical entropy from forces, torques, and dihedrals at each level, taking into account correlations between sets of constituent units that together make up a larger unit at the coarser length scale. MCC gives entropies in close agreement with normal-mode analysis and smaller than those using quasiharmonic analysis as well as providing much faster convergence. Moreover, MCC provides an insightful decomposition of entropy at each length scale and for each type of amino acid according to their solvent exposure and whether they are terminal residues. While the residue entropy depends weakly on solvent exposure, there is greater variation in entropy components for larger, more polar amino acids, which have increased conformational entropy but reduced vibrational entropy with greater solvent exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arghya Chakravorty
- Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Jonathan Higham
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road South, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom
| | - Richard H Henchman
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, The University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, United Kingdom.,Department of Chemistry, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
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40
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Hernández-Segura T, Pastor N. Identification of an α-MoRF in the Intrinsically Disordered Region of the Escargot Transcription Factor. ACS OMEGA 2020; 5:18331-18341. [PMID: 32743208 PMCID: PMC7392517 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c02051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2020] [Accepted: 07/02/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Molecular recognition features (MoRFs) are common in intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). MoRFs are in constant order-disorder structural transitions and adopt well-defined structures once they are bound to their targets. Here, we study Escargot (Esg), a transcription factor in Drosophila melanogaster that regulates multiple cellular functions, and consists of a disordered N-terminal domain and a group of zinc fingers at its C-terminal domain. We analyzed the N-terminal domain of Esg with disorder predictors and identified a region of 45 amino acids with high probability to form ordered structures, which we named S2. Through 54 μs of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using CHARMM36 and implicit solvent (generalized Born/surface area (GBSA)), we characterized the conformational landscape of S2 and found an α-MoRF of ∼16 amino acids stabilized by key contacts within the helix. To test the importance of these contacts in the stability of the α-MoRF, we evaluated the effect of point mutations that would impair these interactions, running 24 μs of MD for each mutation. The mutations had mild effects on the MoRF, and in some cases, led to gain of residual structure through long-range contacts of the α-MoRF and the rest of the S2 region. As this could be an effect of the force field and solvent model we used, we benchmarked our simulation protocol by carrying out 32 μs of MD for the (AAQAA)3 peptide. The results of the benchmark indicate that the global amount of helix in shorter peptides like (AAQAA)3 is reasonably predicted. Careful analysis of the runs of S2 and its mutants suggests that the mutation to hydrophobic residues may have nucleated long-range hydrophobic and aromatic interactions that stabilize the MoRF. Finally, we have identified a set of residues that stabilize an α-MoRF in a region still without functional annotations in Esg.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Hernández-Segura
- Laboratorio
de Dinámica de Proteínas, Centro de Investigación
en Dinámica Celular-IICBA, Universidad
Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Chamilpa, 62209 Cuernavaca, México
- Doctorado
en Ciencias CIDC-IICBA, Universidad Autónoma
del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca 62209, Morelos, México
| | - Nina Pastor
- Laboratorio
de Dinámica de Proteínas, Centro de Investigación
en Dinámica Celular-IICBA, Universidad
Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Av. Universidad 1001, Chamilpa, 62209 Cuernavaca, México
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41
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Optimization of Molecular Dynamics Simulations of c-MYC 1-88-An Intrinsically Disordered System. Life (Basel) 2020; 10:life10070109. [PMID: 32664335 PMCID: PMC7400636 DOI: 10.3390/life10070109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 07/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Many of the proteins involved in key cellular regulatory events contain extensive intrinsically disordered regions that are not readily amenable to conventional structure/function dissection. The oncoprotein c-MYC plays a key role in controlling cell proliferation and apoptosis and more than 70% of the primary sequence is disordered. Computational approaches that shed light on the range of secondary and tertiary structural conformations therefore provide the only realistic chance to study such proteins. Here, we describe the results of several tests of force fields and water models employed in molecular dynamics simulations for the N-terminal 88 amino acids of c-MYC. Comparisons of the simulation data with experimental secondary structure assignments obtained by NMR establish a particular implicit solvation approach as highly congruent. The results provide insights into the structural dynamics of c-MYC1-88, which will be useful for guiding future experimental approaches. The protocols for trajectory analysis described here will be applicable for the analysis of a variety of computational simulations of intrinsically disordered proteins.
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42
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Drake JA, Pettitt BM. Physical Chemistry of the Protein Backbone: Enabling the Mechanisms of Intrinsic Protein Disorder. J Phys Chem B 2020; 124:4379-4390. [PMID: 32349480 PMCID: PMC7384255 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c02489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Over the last two decades it has become clear that well-defined structure is not a requisite for proteins to properly function. Rather, spectra of functionally competent, structurally disordered states have been uncovered requiring canonical paradigms in molecular biology to be revisited or reimagined. It is enticing and oftentimes practical to divide the proteome into structured and unstructured, or disordered, proteins. While function, composition, and structural properties largely differ, these two classes of protein are built upon the same scaffold, namely, the protein backbone. The versatile physicochemical properties of the protein backbone must accommodate structural disorder, order, and transitions between these states. In this review, we survey these properties through the conceptual lenses of solubility and conformational populations and in the context of protein-disorder mediated phenomena (e.g., phase separation, order-disorder transitions, allostery). Particular attention is paid to the results of computational studies, which, through thermodynamic decomposition and dissection of molecular interactions, can provide valuable mechanistic insight and testable hypotheses to guide further solution experiments. Lastly, we discuss changes in the dynamics of side chains and order-disorder transitions of the protein backbone as two modes or realizations of "entropic reservoirs" capable of tuning coupled thermodynamic processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin A Drake
- Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555, Texas, United States
- Texas Advanced Computing Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin 78712, Texas, United States
| | - B Montgomery Pettitt
- Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555, Texas, United States
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43
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Dynamic conformational flexibility and molecular interactions of intrinsically disordered proteins. J Biosci 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s12038-020-0010-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
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44
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Wille H, Dorosh L, Amidian S, Schmitt-Ulms G, Stepanova M. Combining molecular dynamics simulations and experimental analyses in protein misfolding. ADVANCES IN PROTEIN CHEMISTRY AND STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY 2020; 118:33-110. [PMID: 31928730 DOI: 10.1016/bs.apcsb.2019.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The fold of a protein determines its function and its misfolding can result in loss-of-function defects. In addition, for certain proteins their misfolding can lead to gain-of-function toxicities resulting in protein misfolding diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or the prion diseases. In all of these diseases one or more proteins misfold and aggregate into disease-specific assemblies, often in the form of fibrillar amyloid deposits. Most, if not all, protein misfolding diseases share a fundamental molecular mechanism that governs the misfolding and subsequent aggregation. A wide variety of experimental methods have contributed to our knowledge about misfolded protein aggregates, some of which are briefly described in this review. The misfolding mechanism itself is difficult to investigate, as the necessary timescale and resolution of the misfolding events often lie outside of the observable parameter space. Molecular dynamics simulations fill this gap by virtue of their intrinsic, molecular perspective and the step-by-step iterative process that forms the basis of the simulations. This review focuses on molecular dynamics simulations and how they combine with experimental analyses to provide detailed insights into protein misfolding and the ensuing diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Holger Wille
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Lyudmyla Dorosh
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Sara Amidian
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Gerold Schmitt-Ulms
- Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Maria Stepanova
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
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45
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Yang J, Gao M, Xiong J, Su Z, Huang Y. Features of molecular recognition of intrinsically disordered proteins via coupled folding and binding. Protein Sci 2019; 28:1952-1965. [PMID: 31441158 PMCID: PMC6798136 DOI: 10.1002/pro.3718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2019] [Revised: 08/16/2019] [Accepted: 08/20/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The sequence-structure-function paradigm of proteins has been revolutionized by the discovery of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) or intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). In contrast to traditional ordered proteins, IDPs/IDRs are unstructured under physiological conditions. The absence of well-defined three-dimensional structures in the free state of IDPs/IDRs is fundamental to their function. Folding upon binding is an important mode of molecular recognition for IDPs/IDRs. While great efforts have been devoted to investigating the complex structures and binding kinetics and affinities, our knowledge on the binding mechanisms of IDPs/IDRs remains very limited. Here, we review recent advances on the binding mechanisms of IDPs/IDRs. The structures and kinetic parameters of IDPs/IDRs can vary greatly, and the binding mechanisms can be highly dependent on the structural properties of IDPs/IDRs. IDPs/IDRs can employ various combinations of conformational selection and induced fit in a binding process, which can be templated by the target and/or encoded by the IDP/IDR. Further studies should provide deeper insights into the molecular recognition of IDPs/IDRs and enable the rational design of IDP/IDR binding mechanisms in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Yang
- Department of Biological Engineering and Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation (Ministry of Education)Hubei University of TechnologyWuhanHubeiChina
- Institute of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical SciencesHubei University of TechnologyWuhanHubeiChina
| | - Meng Gao
- Department of Biological Engineering and Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation (Ministry of Education)Hubei University of TechnologyWuhanHubeiChina
- Institute of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical SciencesHubei University of TechnologyWuhanHubeiChina
| | - Junwen Xiong
- Department of Biological Engineering and Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation (Ministry of Education)Hubei University of TechnologyWuhanHubeiChina
- Institute of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical SciencesHubei University of TechnologyWuhanHubeiChina
| | - Zhengding Su
- Department of Biological Engineering and Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation (Ministry of Education)Hubei University of TechnologyWuhanHubeiChina
- Institute of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical SciencesHubei University of TechnologyWuhanHubeiChina
| | - Yongqi Huang
- Department of Biological Engineering and Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation (Ministry of Education)Hubei University of TechnologyWuhanHubeiChina
- Institute of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical SciencesHubei University of TechnologyWuhanHubeiChina
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46
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Davey NE, Babu MM, Blackledge M, Bridge A, Capella-Gutierrez S, Dosztanyi Z, Drysdale R, Edwards RJ, Elofsson A, Felli IC, Gibson TJ, Gutmanas A, Hancock JM, Harrow J, Higgins D, Jeffries CM, Le Mercier P, Mészáros B, Necci M, Notredame C, Orchard S, Ouzounis CA, Pancsa R, Papaleo E, Pierattelli R, Piovesan D, Promponas VJ, Ruch P, Rustici G, Romero P, Sarntivijai S, Saunders G, Schuler B, Sharan M, Shields DC, Sussman JL, Tedds JA, Tompa P, Turewicz M, Vondrasek J, Vranken WF, Wallace BA, Wichapong K, Tosatto SCE. An intrinsically disordered proteins community for ELIXIR. F1000Res 2019; 8. [PMID: 31824649 PMCID: PMC6880265 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.20136.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) are now recognised as major determinants in cellular regulation. This white paper presents a roadmap for future e-infrastructure developments in the field of IDP research within the ELIXIR framework. The goal of these developments is to drive the creation of high-quality tools and resources to support the identification, analysis and functional characterisation of IDPs. The roadmap is the result of a workshop titled “An intrinsically disordered protein user community proposal for ELIXIR” held at the University of Padua. The workshop, and further consultation with the members of the wider IDP community, identified the key priority areas for the roadmap including the development of standards for data annotation, storage and dissemination; integration of IDP data into the ELIXIR Core Data Resources; and the creation of benchmarking criteria for IDP-related software. Here, we discuss these areas of priority, how they can be implemented in cooperation with the ELIXIR platforms, and their connections to existing ELIXIR Communities and international consortia. The article provides a preliminary blueprint for an IDP Community in ELIXIR and is an appeal to identify and involve new stakeholders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Norman E Davey
- Division of Cancer Biology, Institute of Cancer Research, UK, London, SW3 6JB, UK
| | - M Madan Babu
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology,, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, UK
| | - Martin Blackledge
- Institut de Biologie Structurale, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, 38000, France
| | - Alan Bridge
- Swiss-Prot Group, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Zsuzsanna Dosztanyi
- Department of Biochemistry, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary
| | | | - Richard J Edwards
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Arne Elofsson
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Isabella C Felli
- Department of Chemistry and CERM "Ugo Schiff", University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Toby J Gibson
- Structural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Aleksandras Gutmanas
- Protein Data Bank in Europe, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - John M Hancock
- ELIXIR Hub, Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Jen Harrow
- ELIXIR Hub, Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Desmond Higgins
- Conway Institute of Biomolecular & Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, D4, Ireland
| | - Cy M Jeffries
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Philippe Le Mercier
- Swiss-Prot Group, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Balint Mészáros
- Department of Biochemistry, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary
| | - Marco Necci
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Cedric Notredame
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, 08003, Spain.,Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sandra Orchard
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Christos A Ouzounis
- BCPL-CPERI, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), Thessalonica, 57001, Greece
| | - Rita Pancsa
- Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary
| | - Elena Papaleo
- Computational Biology Laboratory, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, 2100, Denmark
| | - Roberta Pierattelli
- Department of Chemistry and CERM "Ugo Schiff", University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Damiano Piovesan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Vasilis J Promponas
- Bioinformatics Research Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, CY-1678, Cyprus
| | - Patrick Ruch
- HES-SO/HEG and SIB Text Mining, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Gabriella Rustici
- Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EH, UK
| | - Pedro Romero
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706-1544, USA
| | | | - Gary Saunders
- ELIXIR Hub, Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Benjamin Schuler
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Malvika Sharan
- Structural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Denis C Shields
- Conway Institute of Biomolecular & Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, D4, Ireland
| | - Joel L Sussman
- Department of Structural Biology and the Israel Structural Proteomics, Center (ISPC), Weizmann Institute of Science, Reḥovot, 7610001, Israel
| | | | - Peter Tompa
- VIB Center for Structural Biology (CSB), VIB Flemish Institute for Biotechnology, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
| | - Michael Turewicz
- Faculty of Medicine, Medizinisches Proteom-Center, Ruhr University Bochum, GesundheitsCampus 4, Bochum, 44801, Germany
| | - Jiri Vondrasek
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, CAS, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Wim F Vranken
- VUB/ULB Interuniversity Institute of Bioinformatics in Brussels and Structural Biology Brussels, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, B-1050, Belgium
| | - Bonnie Ann Wallace
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, WC1H 0HA, UK
| | - Kanin Wichapong
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
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Generation of the configurational ensemble of an intrinsically disordered protein from unbiased molecular dynamics simulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:20446-20452. [PMID: 31548393 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1907251116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are abundant in eukaryotic proteomes, play a major role in cell signaling, and are associated with human diseases. To understand IDP function it is critical to determine their configurational ensemble, i.e., the collection of 3-dimensional structures they adopt, and this remains an immense challenge in structural biology. Attempts to determine this ensemble computationally have been hitherto hampered by the necessity of reweighting molecular dynamics (MD) results or biasing simulation in order to match ensemble-averaged experimental observables, operations that reduce the precision of the generated model because different structural ensembles may yield the same experimental observable. Here, by employing enhanced sampling MD we reproduce the experimental small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering profiles and the NMR chemical shifts of the disordered N terminal (SH4UD) of c-Src kinase without reweighting or constraining the simulations. The unbiased simulation results reveal a weakly funneled and rugged free energy landscape of SH4UD, which gives rise to a heterogeneous ensemble of structures that cannot be described by simple polymer theory. SH4UD adopts transient helices, which are found away from known phosphorylation sites and could play a key role in the stabilization of structural regions necessary for phosphorylation. Our findings indicate that adequately sampled molecular simulations can be performed to provide accurate physical models of flexible biosystems, thus rationalizing their biological function.
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48
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Ali HS, Higham J, Henchman RH. Entropy of Simulated Liquids Using Multiscale Cell Correlation. ENTROPY 2019; 21:e21080750. [PMID: 33267464 PMCID: PMC7515279 DOI: 10.3390/e21080750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2019] [Revised: 07/22/2019] [Accepted: 07/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Accurately calculating the entropy of liquids is an important goal, given that many processes take place in the liquid phase. Of almost equal importance is understanding the values obtained. However, there are few methods that can calculate the entropy of such systems, and fewer still to make sense of the values obtained. We present our multiscale cell correlation (MCC) method to calculate the entropy of liquids from molecular dynamics simulations. The method uses forces and torques at the molecule and united-atom levels and probability distributions of molecular coordinations and conformations. The main differences with previous work are the consistent treatment of the mean-field cell approximation to the approriate degrees of freedom, the separation of the force and torque covariance matrices, and the inclusion of conformation correlation for molecules with multiple dihedrals. MCC is applied to a broader set of 56 important industrial liquids modeled using the Generalized AMBER Force Field (GAFF) and Optimized Potentials for Liquid Simulations (OPLS) force fields with 1.14*CM1A charges. Unsigned errors versus experimental entropies are 8.7 J K - 1 mol - 1 for GAFF and 9.8 J K - 1 mol - 1 for OPLS. This is significantly better than the 2-Phase Thermodynamics method for the subset of molecules in common, which is the only other method that has been applied to such systems. MCC makes clear why the entropy has the value it does by providing a decomposition in terms of translational and rotational vibrational entropy and topographical entropy at the molecular and united-atom levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hafiz Saqib Ali
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, The University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK
- School of Chemistry, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Jonathan Higham
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, The University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK
- School of Chemistry, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Richard H. Henchman
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, The University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK
- School of Chemistry, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +44-161-306-5194
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49
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Bacterial functional amyloids: Order from disorder. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-PROTEINS AND PROTEOMICS 2019; 1867:954-960. [PMID: 31195143 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbapap.2019.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2019] [Revised: 05/24/2019] [Accepted: 05/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The discovery of intrinsic disorderness in proteins and peptide regions has given a new and useful insight into the working of biological systems. Due to enormous plasticity and heterogeneity, intrinsically disordered proteins or regions in proteins can perform myriad of functions. The flexibility in disordered proteins allows them to undergo conformation transition to form homopolymers of proteins called amyloids. Amyloids are highly structured protein aggregates associated with many neurodegenerative diseases. However, amyloids have gained much appreciation in recent years due to their functional roles. A functional amyloid fiber called curli is assembled on the bacterial cell surface as a part of the extracellular matrix during biofilm formation. The extracellular matrix that encases cells in a biofilm protects the cells and provides resistance against many environmental stresses. Several of the Csg (curli specific genes) proteins that are required for curli amyloid assembly are predicted to be intrinsically disordered. Therefore, curli amyloid formation is highly orchestrated so that these intrinsically disordered proteins do not inappropriately aggregate at the wrong time or place. The curli proteins are compartmentalized and there are chaperone-like proteins that prevent inappropriate aggregation and allow the controlled assembly of curli amyloids. Here we review the biogenesis of curli amyloids and the role that intrinsically disordered proteins play in the process.
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50
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Rational modulator design by exploitation of protein-protein complex structures. Future Med Chem 2019; 11:1015-1033. [PMID: 31141413 DOI: 10.4155/fmc-2018-0433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The horizon of drug discovery is currently expanding to target and modulate protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in globular proteins and intrinsically disordered proteins that are involved in various diseases. To either interrupt or stabilize PPIs, the 3D structure of target protein-protein (or protein-peptide) complexes can be exploited to rationally design PPI modulators (inhibitors or stabilizers) through structure-based molecular design. In this review, we present an overview of experimental and computational methods that can be used to determine 3D structures of protein-protein complexes. Several approaches including rational and in silico methods that can be applied to design peptides, peptidomimetics and small compounds by utilization of determined 3D protein-protein/peptide complexes are summarized and illustrated.
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