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Pauwels K, Lebrun P, Tompa P. To be disordered or not to be disordered: is that still a question for proteins in the cell? Cell Mol Life Sci 2017; 74:3185-3204. [PMID: 28612216 PMCID: PMC11107661 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-017-2561-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2017] [Accepted: 06/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
There is ample evidence that many proteins or regions of proteins lack a well-defined folded structure under native-like conditions. These are called intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) or intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). Whether this intrinsic disorder is also their main structural characteristic in living cells has been a matter of intense debate. The structural analysis of IDPs became an important challenge also because of their involvement in a plethora of human diseases, which made IDPs attractive targets for therapeutic development. Therefore, biophysical approaches are increasingly being employed to probe the structural and dynamical state of proteins, not only in isolation in a test tube, but also in a complex biological environment and even within intact cells. Here, we survey direct and indirect evidence that structural disorder is in fact the physiological state of many proteins in the proteome. The paradigmatic case of α-synuclein is used to illustrate the controversial nature of this topic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kris Pauwels
- VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology (CSB), Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), Brussels, Belgium
- Structural Biology Brussels (SBB), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Pierre Lebrun
- VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology (CSB), Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), Brussels, Belgium
- Structural Biology Brussels (SBB), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Peter Tompa
- VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology (CSB), Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), Brussels, Belgium.
- Structural Biology Brussels (SBB), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.
- Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
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Allen BL, Taatjes DJ. The Mediator complex: a central integrator of transcription. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2015; 16:155-66. [PMID: 25693131 DOI: 10.1038/nrm3951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 626] [Impact Index Per Article: 69.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The RNA polymerase II (Pol II) enzyme transcribes all protein-coding and most non-coding RNA genes and is globally regulated by Mediator - a large, conformationally flexible protein complex with a variable subunit composition (for example, a four-subunit cyclin-dependent kinase 8 module can reversibly associate with it). These biochemical characteristics are fundamentally important for Mediator's ability to control various processes that are important for transcription, including the organization of chromatin architecture and the regulation of Pol II pre-initiation, initiation, re-initiation, pausing and elongation. Although Mediator exists in all eukaryotes, a variety of Mediator functions seem to be specific to metazoans, which is indicative of more diverse regulatory requirements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin L Allen
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA
| | - Dylan J Taatjes
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA
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3
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Abstract
The partitioning of intracellular space beyond membrane-bound organelles can be achieved with collections of proteins that are multivalent or contain low-complexity, intrinsically disordered regions. These proteins can undergo a physical phase change to form functional granules or other entities within the cytoplasm or nucleoplasm that collectively we term “assemblage.” Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) play an important role in forming a subset of cellular assemblages by promoting phase separation. Recent work points to an involvement of assemblages in disease states, indicating that intrinsic disorder and phase transitions should be considered in the development of therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Peter E Wright
- Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037 Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037
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4
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A million peptide motifs for the molecular biologist. Mol Cell 2014; 55:161-9. [PMID: 25038412 DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2014.05.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 366] [Impact Index Per Article: 36.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2014] [Revised: 04/24/2014] [Accepted: 05/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
A molecular description of functional modules in the cell is the focus of many high-throughput studies in the postgenomic era. A large portion of biomolecular interactions in virtually all cellular processes is mediated by compact interaction modules, referred to as peptide motifs. Such motifs are typically less than ten residues in length, occur within intrinsically disordered regions, and are recognized and/or posttranslationally modified by structured domains of the interacting partner. In this review, we suggest that there might be over a million instances of peptide motifs in the human proteome. While this staggering number suggests that peptide motifs are numerous and the most understudied functional module in the cell, it also holds great opportunities for new discoveries.
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van der Lee R, Buljan M, Lang B, Weatheritt RJ, Daughdrill GW, Dunker AK, Fuxreiter M, Gough J, Gsponer J, Jones D, Kim PM, Kriwacki R, Oldfield CJ, Pappu RV, Tompa P, Uversky VN, Wright P, Babu MM. Classification of intrinsically disordered regions and proteins. Chem Rev 2014; 114:6589-631. [PMID: 24773235 PMCID: PMC4095912 DOI: 10.1021/cr400525m] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1475] [Impact Index Per Article: 147.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Robin van der Lee
- MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
- Centre
for Molecular and Biomolecular Informatics, Radboud University Medical Centre, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The
Netherlands
| | - Marija Buljan
- MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
| | - Benjamin Lang
- MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
| | - Robert J. Weatheritt
- MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
| | - Gary W. Daughdrill
- Department
of Cell Biology, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology, University of South Florida, 3720 Spectrum Boulevard, Suite 321, Tampa, Florida 33612, United States
| | - A. Keith Dunker
- Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana
University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, United States
| | - Monika Fuxreiter
- MTA-DE
Momentum Laboratory of Protein Dynamics, Department of Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology, University of Debrecen, H-4032 Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt 98, Hungary
| | - Julian Gough
- Department
of Computer Science, University of Bristol, The Merchant Venturers Building, Bristol BS8 1UB, United Kingdom
| | - Joerg Gsponer
- Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Centre for High-Throughput
Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - David
T. Jones
- Bioinformatics
Group, Department of Computer Science, University
College London, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Philip M. Kim
- Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, Department of Molecular
Genetics, and Department of Computer Science, University
of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada
| | - Richard
W. Kriwacki
- Department
of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
| | - Christopher J. Oldfield
- Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana
University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, United States
| | - Rohit V. Pappu
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Biological Systems Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, United States
| | - Peter Tompa
- VIB Department
of Structural Biology, Vrije Universiteit
Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Institute
of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Vladimir N. Uversky
- Department
of Molecular Medicine and USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Research
Institute, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33612, United States
- Institute for Biological Instrumentation,
Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino,
Moscow Region, Russia
| | - Peter
E. Wright
- Department
of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and Skaggs Institute
of Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research
Institute, 10550 North
Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - M. Madan Babu
- MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
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Forman-Kay JD, Mittag T. From sequence and forces to structure, function, and evolution of intrinsically disordered proteins. Structure 2014; 21:1492-9. [PMID: 24010708 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2013.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 166] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2013] [Revised: 08/02/2013] [Accepted: 08/06/2013] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which lack persistent structure, are a challenge to structural biology due to the inapplicability of standard methods for characterization of folded proteins as well as their deviation from the dominant structure/function paradigm. Their widespread presence and involvement in biological function, however, has spurred the growing acceptance of the importance of IDPs and the development of new tools for studying their structure, dynamics, and function. The interplay of folded and disordered domains or regions for function and the existence of a continuum of protein states with respect to conformational energetics, motional timescales, and compactness are shaping a unified understanding of structure-dynamics-disorder/function relationships. In the 20(th) anniversary of Structure, we provide a historical perspective on the investigation of IDPs and summarize the sequence features and physical forces that underlie their unique structural, functional, and evolutionary properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie D Forman-Kay
- Molecular Structure and Function, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, M5G 1X8, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada.
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Skubatz H, Orellana MV, Howald WN. A NAD(P) reductase like protein is the salicylic acid receptor in the appendix of the Sauromatum guttatum inflorescence. INTRINSICALLY DISORDERED PROTEINS 2013; 1:e26372. [PMID: 28516022 PMCID: PMC5424801 DOI: 10.4161/idp.26372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2013] [Revised: 08/30/2013] [Accepted: 09/03/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The mode of action of the thermogenic inducers (salicylic acid, aspirin, and 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid) in the appendix of the Sauromatum guttatum inflorescence is poorly understood. Using ESI-MS and light scattering analysis, we have demonstrated that NAD(P) reductase like protein (RL) is the salicylic acid receptor in the Sauromatum appendix. RL was self-assembled in water into a large unit with a hydrodynamic diameter of 800 nm. In the presence of 1 pM salicylic acid, RL exhibited discontinuous and reversible volume phase transitions. The volume phase changed from 800 to 300 nm diameter and vice versa. RL stayed at each volume phase for ~4-5 min with a fast relaxation time between the 2 phases. ESI-MS analysis of RL extracted from appendices treated with salicylic acid, aspirin, and 2,6-DHBA at a micromolar range demonstrated that these compounds are capable of inducing graded conformational changes that are concentration-dependent. A strong correlation between RL conformations and heat-production induced by salicylic acid was also observed. These preliminary findings reveal structural and conformational roles for RL by which plants regulate their temperature and synchronize their time keeping mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mónica V Orellana
- Institute for Systems Biology; Polar Science Center; Applied Physics Lab; University of Washington; Seattle, WA USA
| | - William N Howald
- School of Pharmacy Mass Spectrometry Center; Department of Medicinal Chemistry; University of Washington; Seattle, WA USA
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