Mth10b, a unique member of the Sac10b family, does not bind nucleic acid

Biochemical and structural insights into RNA binding by Ssh10b, a member of the highly conserved Sac10b protein family in Archaea

Proteins of the Sac10b family are highly conserved in Archaea. Ssh10b, a member of the Sac10b family from the hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobus shibatae, binds to RNA in vivo. Here we show that binding by Ssh10b destabilizes RNA secondary structure. Structural analysis of Ssh10b in complex with a 25-bp RNA duplex containing local distortions reveals that Ssh10b binds the two RNA strands symmetrically as a tetramer with each dimer bound asymmetrically to a single RNA strand. Amino acid residues involved in double-stranded RNA binding are similar, but non-identical, to those in dsDNA binding. The dimer-dimer interaction mediated by the intermolecular β-sheet appears to facilitate the destabilization of base pairing in the secondary structure of RNA. Our results suggest that proteins of the Sac10b family may play important roles in RNA transactions requiring destabilization of RNA secondary structure in Sulfolobus.

Without salt, the 'thermophilic' protein Mth10b is just mesophilic

Most proteins from thermophiles or hyperthermophiles are intrinsically thermostable. However, though Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum ΔH is a thermophilic archaeon with an optimal growth temperature of 65 °C, Mth10b, an atypical member the Sac10b protein family from M. thermoautotrophicum ΔH, seems not intrinsically thermostable. In this work, to clarify the molecular mechanism of Mth10b remaining stable under its physiological conditions, the thermodynamic properties of Mth10b were studied through equilibrium unfolding experiments performed at pH 7.0 monitored by circular dichroism (CD) spectra in detail. Our work demonstrated that Mth10b is not intrinsically thermostable and that due to the masking effect upon the large numbers of destabilizing electrostatic repulsions resulting from the extremely uneven distribution of charged residues over the surface of Mth10b, salt can contribute to the thermostability of Mth10b greatly. Considering that the intracellular salt concentration is high to 0.7 M, we concluded that salt is the key extrinsic factor to Mth10b remaining stable under its physiological conditions. In other word, without salt, 'thermophilic' protein Mth10b is just a mesophilic one.

Archaeal chromatin proteins

Archaea, along with Bacteria and Eukarya, are the three domains of life. In all living cells, chromatin proteins serve a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of the structure and function of the genome. An array of small, abundant and basic DNA-binding proteins, considered candidates for chromatin proteins, has been isolated from the Euryarchaeota and the Crenarchaeota, the two major phyla in Archaea. While most euryarchaea encode proteins resembling eukaryotic histones, crenarchaea appear to synthesize a number of unique DNA-binding proteins likely involved in chromosomal organization. Several of these proteins (e.g., archaeal histones, Sac10b homologs, Sul7d, Cren7, CC1, etc.) have been extensively studied. However, whether they are chromatin proteins and how they function in vivo remain to be fully understood. Future investigation of archaeal chromatin proteins will lead to a better understanding of chromosomal organization and gene expression in Archaea and provide valuable information on the evolution of DNA packaging in cellular life.

Molecular mechanism underlying the interaction of typical Sac10b family proteins with DNA

The Sac10b protein family is regarded as a family of DNA-binding proteins that is highly conserved and widely distributed within the archaea. Sac10b family members are typically small basic dimeric proteins that bind to DNA with cooperativity and no sequence specificity and are capable of constraining DNA negative supercoils, protecting DNA from Dnase I digestion, and do not compact DNA obviously. However, a detailed understanding of the structural basis of the interaction of Sac10b family proteins with DNA is still lacking. Here, we determined the crystal structure of Mth10b, an atypical member of the Sac10b family from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum ΔH, at 2.2 Å. Unlike typical Sac10b family proteins, Mth10b is an acidic protein and binds to neither DNA nor RNA. The overall structure of Mth10b displays high similarity to its homologs, but three pairs of conserved positively charged residues located at the presumed DNA-binding surface are substituted by non-charged residues in Mth10b. Through amino acids interchanges, the DNA-binding ability of Mth10b was restored successfully, whereas the DNA-binding ability of Sso10b, a typical Sac10b family member, was weakened greatly. Based on these results, we propose a model describing the molecular mechanism underlying the interactions of typical Sac10b family proteins with DNA that explains all the characteristics of the interactions between typical Sac10b family members and DNA.