Allosteric Signal Propagation Research Articles

Class B1 GPCR activation by an intracellular agonist

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) generally accommodate specific ligands in the orthosteric-binding pockets. Ligand binding triggers a receptor allosteric conformational change that leads to the activation of intracellular transducers, G proteins and β-arrestins. Because these signals often induce adverse effects, the selective activation mechanism for each transducer must be elucidated. Thus, many orthosteric-biased agonists have been developed, and intracellular-biased agonists have recently attracted broad interest. These agonists bind within the receptor intracellular cavity and preferentially tune the specific signalling pathway over other signalling pathways, without allosteric rearrangement of the receptor from the extracellular side1–3. However, only antagonist-bound structures are currently available1,4–6, and there is no evidence to support that biased agonist binding occurs within the intracellular cavity. This limits the comprehension of intracellular-biased agonism and potential drug development. Here we report the cryogenic electron microscopy structure of a complex of Gs and the human parathyroid hormone type 1 receptor (PTH1R) bound to a PTH1R agonist, PCO371. PCO371 binds within an intracellular pocket of PTH1R and directly interacts with Gs. The PCO371-binding mode rearranges the intracellular region towards the active conformation without extracellularly induced allosteric signal propagation. PCO371 stabilizes the significantly outward-bent conformation of transmembrane helix 6, which facilitates binding to G proteins rather than β-arrestins. Furthermore, PCO371 binds within the highly conserved intracellular pocket, activating 7 out of the 15 class B1 GPCRs. Our study identifies a new and conserved intracellular agonist-binding pocket and provides evidence of a biased signalling mechanism that targets the receptor–transducer interface.

Protein dynamics: The future is bright and complicated!

Biological life depends on motion, and this manifests itself in proteins that display motion over a formidable range of time scales spanning from femtoseconds vibrations of atoms at enzymatic transition states, all the way to slow domain motions occurring on micro to milliseconds. An outstanding challenge in contemporary biophysics and structural biology is a quantitative understanding of the linkages among protein structure, dynamics, and function. These linkages are becoming increasingly explorable due to conceptual and methodological advances. In this Perspective article, we will point toward future directions of the field of protein dynamics with an emphasis on enzymes. Research questions in the field are becoming increasingly complex such as the mechanistic understanding of high-order interaction networks in allosteric signal propagation through a protein matrix, or the connection between local and collective motions. In analogy to the solution to the "protein folding problem," we argue that the way forward to understanding these and other important questions lies in the successful integration of experiment and computation, while utilizing the present rapid expansion of sequence and structure space. Looking forward, the future is bright, and we are in a period where we are on the doorstep to, at least in part, comprehend the importance of dynamics for biological function.

Mechanism of enhanced sensitivity of mutated β-adrenergic-like octopamine receptor to amitraz in honeybee Apis mellifera: An insight from MD simulations.

Amitraz is one of the critical acaricides/insecticides for effective control of pest infestation of Varroa destructor mite, a devastating parasite of Apis mellifera, because of its low toxicity to honeybees. Previous assays verified that a typical G protein-coupled receptor, β-adrenergic-like octopamine receptor (Octβ2R), is the unique target of amitraz, but the honeybee Octβ2R resists to amitraz. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of the enhanced sensitivity or toxicity of amitraz to mutated honeybee Octβ2RE208V/I335T/I350V is not fully understood. Here, molecular dynamics simulations are employed to explore the implied mechanism of the enhanced sensitivity to amitraz in mutant honeybee Octβ2R. We found that amitraz binding stabilized the structure of Octβ2R, particularly the intracellular loop 3 associated with the Octβ2R signaling. Then, it was further demonstrated that both mutations and ligand binding resulted in a more rigid and compact amitraz binding site, as well as the outward movement of the transmembrane helix 6, which was a prerequisite for G protein coupling and activation. Moreover, mutations were found to promote the binding between Octβ2R and amitraz. Finally, community analysis illuminated that mutations and amitraz strengthened the residue-residue communication within the transmembrane domain, which might facilitate the allosteric signal propagation and activation of Octβ2R. Our results unveiled structural determinants of improved sensitivity in the Octβ2R-amitraz complex and may contribute to further structure-based drug design for safer and less toxic selective insecticides. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Molecular mechanism of allosteric modulation for the cannabinoid receptor CB1.

Given the promising clinical value of allosteric modulators of G protein-coupled-receptors (GPCRs), mechanistic understanding of how these modulators alter GPCR function is of significance. Here, we report the crystallographic and cryo-electron microscopy structures of the cannabinoid receptor CB1 bound to the positive allosteric modulator (PAM) ZCZ011. These structures show that ZCZ011 binds to an extrahelical site in the transmembrane 2 (TM2)-TM3-TM4 surface. Through (un)biased molecular dynamics simulations and mutagenesis experiments, we show that TM2 rearrangement is critical for the propagation of allosteric signals. ZCZ011 exerts a PAM effect by promoting TM2 rearrangement in favor of receptor activation and increasing the population of receptors that adopt an active conformation. In contrast, ORG27569, a negative allosteric modulator (NAM) of CB1, also binds to the TM2-TM3-TM4 surface and exerts a NAM effect by impeding the TM2 rearrangement. Our findings fill a gap in the understanding of CB1 allosteric regulation and could guide the rational design of CB1 allosteric modulators.

Unraveling the Compositional and Molecular Features Involved in Lysozyme-Benzothiazole Derivative Interactions.

In this work we present a computational analysis together with experimental studies, focusing on the interaction between a benzothiazole (BTS) and lysozyme. Results obtained from isothermal titration calorimetry, UV-vis, and fluorescence were contrasted and complemented with molecular docking and machine learning techniques. The free energy values obtained both experimentally and theoretically showed excellent similarity. Calorimetry, UV-vis, and 3D/2D-lig-plot analysis revealed that the most relevant interactions between BTS and lysozyme are based on a predominance of aromatic, hydrophobic Van der Waals interactions, mainly aromatic edge-to-face (T-shaped) π-π stacking interactions between the benzene ring belonging to the 2-(methylthio)-benzothiazole moiety of BTS and the aromatic amino acid residue TRP108 of the lysozyme receptor. Next, conventional hydrogen bonding interactions contribute to the stability of the BTS-lysozyme coupling complex. In addition, mechanistic approaches performed using elastic network models revealed that the BTS ligand theoretically induces propagation of allosteric signals, suggesting non-physiological conformational flexing in large blocks of lysozyme affecting α-helices. Likewise, the BTS ligand interacts directly with allosteric residues, inducing perturbations in the conformational dynamics expressed as a moderate conformational softening in the α-helices H1, H2, and their corresponding β-loop in the lysozyme receptor, in contrast to the unbound state of lysozyme.

Chemical and Biophysical Approaches to Allosteric Modulation

AbstractAllosteric regulation, i. e. the control exerted on an orthosteric site by an effector interacting at a distinct and distant site, represents a prime example of a precise tuning system of several key biological processes like gene transcription, cell adhesion and, most importantly, signal transduction. Since its discovery sixty years ago, the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon have been extensively investigated. The aim of this minireview is to introduce the reader to the topic of protein allostery. In particular, we briefly overview the allosteric models postulated over the years and we describe the most relevant chemical and biophysical approaches reported so far for the identification of putative allosteric sites and/or for the investigation of allosteric signal propagation throughout the protein. An outlook of the main computational and experimental methods is followed by four case studies representative of different proteins classes: enzymes, hub proteins, cell receptors, and intrinsically disordered proteins.

Unravelling Allosteric Cross-Talk between Co-Activator Peptide and Ligand Binding Site in Glucocorticoid Receptor

Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is a nuclear receptor that controls critical biological processes by regulating the transcription of specific genes. There is a known interconnection between the ligand and co-regulator binding sites of the GR ligand binding domain that is crucial for the functional differentiation of the downstream gene transcription. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying such an allosteric control remain elusive. The integration of molecular dynamics simulations, bioinformatic analysis and biophysical measurements led us to detect a network of dynamically interconnected evolutionary conserved residues that mediates the allosteric signal propagation between the co-regulator docking site and the ligand binding pocket. Co-regulator peptides alter the functionality of this network, explaining why the allosteric response depends on the peptide sequence. These findings provide useful insights for the comprehension of GR allosteric regulation that should help the design of novel drugs.

Exploring the conformational binding mechanism of fibrinogen induced by interactions with penicillin β-lactam antibiotic drugs

Herein, we present an integrated computational and experimental study to tackle the interactions between recognized β-lactam antibiotics (cloxacillin and dicloxacillin) with the fibrinogen blood plasma protein. For this purpose, molecular docking simulation with elastic network based on collective low-frequency normal modes and perturbation response scanning maps were proposed to evaluate the conformational binding mechanism of fibrinogen under the unbound and bound states with the cited β-lactam antibiotics. Aiming to theoretically explore the hidden biochemical mechanisms and structural attributes leading failures in therapy success with β-lactam antibiotics. The computational results pointing that despite these conformational differences, both antibiotics exhibit very similar affinity-based free energies of binding as FEB (cloxacillin/E-region) = − 8.7 kcal/mol and FEB (dicloxacillin/E-region) = −7.7 kcal/mol. We theoretically suggest that the semi-synthetic incorporation of an additional halogen CL-atom in the dicloxacillin, respect to cloxacillin molecule, and its relative docking-pose orientation in the fibrinogen E-region could significantly reduce the appearance of potential fibrinolytic off-target effects usually associated to parenterally administered β-lactam antibiotics. Besides, the performed interactions diagrams revealed that the most relevant antibiotic binding interactions with the fibrinogen E-region (pocket 1) are mainly based on hydrophobic (C···C)-backbone-side-chain non-covalent interactions, acceptor/donor interactions with critical regulatory E-region residues SER50:Q > SER50:N associated to allosteric modulation based long-distance-based perturbations (dicloxacillin > > cloxacillin) in the E-region (Q-chain > N-chain) with remarkable conformational rigidification by decreasing the intrinsic collectivity, and leading different pattern of perturbations as allosteric signal propagation in the intrinsic conformational dynamics under bound state from both β-lactam antibiotics. An experimental validation was carried out by using calorimetric (ITC and DSC) and spectroscopic (Raman and fluorescence) methods. These methods corroborated the computational results, adding quantitative information to explain the binding process. Finally, the obtained results open new perspectives for the “de novo rational drug-design” of new derivatives of β-lactam antibiotics with high pharmacodynamic selectivity/specificity to avoid side-effects toward to achieve optimal benefit/risk rates beyond the antibiotic drug resistance phenomena, favoring the implementation of rigorous criteria for a more personalized antibiotic therapy.

Revisiting allostery in CREB-binding protein (CBP) using residue-based interaction energy.

CREB-binding protein (CBP) is a multi-subunit scaffold protein complex in transcription regulation process, binding and interacting with ligands such as mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) and c-Myb allosterically. Here in this study, we have revisited the concept of allostery in CBP via residue-based interaction energy calculation based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. To this end, we conducted MD simulations of KIX:MLL:c-Myb ternary complex, its binary components and kinase-inducible domain (KID) interacting domain (KIX) backbone. Interaction energy profiles and cross correlation analysis were performed and the results indicated that KIX:MLL and KIX:c-Myb:MLL complexes demonstrate significant similarities according to both analysis methods. Two regions in the KIX backbone were apparent from the interaction energy and cross correlation maps that hold a key to allostery phenomena observed in CBP. While one of these regions are related to the ligand binding residues, the other comprises of L12-G2 loop and α3 helix regions that have been found to have a significant role in allosteric signal propagation. All in all, residue-based interaction energy calculation method is demonstrated to be a valuable calculation technique for the detection of allosteric signal propagation and ligand interaction regions.

PPerturb: A Server for Predicting Long-Distance Energetic Couplings and Mutation-Induced Stability Changes in Proteins via Perturbations.

The strength of intraprotein interactions or contact network is one of the dominant factors determining the thermodynamic stabilities of proteins. The nature and the extent of connectivity of this network also play a role in allosteric signal propagation characteristics upon ligand binding to a protein domain. Here, we develop a server for rapid quantification of the strength of an interaction network by employing an experimentally consistent perturbation approach previously validated against a large data set of 375 mutations in 19 different proteins. The web server can be employed to predict the extent of destabilization of proteins arising from mutations in the protein interior in experimentally relevant units. Moreover, coupling distances—a measure of the extent of percolation on perturbation—and overall perturbation magnitudes are predicted in a residue-specific manner, enabling a first look at the distribution of energetic couplings in a protein or its changes upon ligand binding. We show specific examples of how the server can be employed to probe for the distribution of local stabilities in a protein, to examine changes in side chain orientations or packing before and after ligand binding, and to predict changes in stabilities of proteins upon mutations of buried residues. The web server is freely available at http://pbl.biotech.iitm.ac.in/pPerturb and supports recent versions of all major browsers.

The mechanism of high affinity pentasaccharide binding to antithrombin, insights from Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics simulations

The activity of antithrombin (AT), a serpin protease inhibitor, is enhanced by heparin and heparin analogs against its target proteases, mainly thrombin, factors Xa and IXa. Considerable amount of information is available on the multistep mechanism of the heparin pentasaccharide binding and conformational activation. However, much of the details were inferred from ‘static’ structures obtained by X-ray diffraction. Moreover, limited information is available for the early steps of binding mechanism other than kinetic studies with various ligands. To gain insights into these processes, we performed enhanced sampling molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the Gaussian Accelerated Molecular Dynamics (GAMD) method, applied previously in drug binding studies. We were able to observe the binding of the pentasaccharide idraparinux to a ‘non-activated’ AT conformation in two separate trajectories with low root mean square deviation (RMSD) values compared to X-ray structures of the bound state. These trajectories along with further simulations of the AT-pentasaccharide complex provided insights into the mechanisms of multiple conformational transitions, including the expulsion of the hinge region, the extension of helix D and the conformational behavior of the reactive center loop (RCL). We could also confirm the high stability of helix P in non-activated AT conformations, such states might play an important role in heparin binding. ‘Generalized correlation’ matrices revealed possible paths of allosteric signal propagation to the binding sites for the target proteases, factors Xa and IXa. Enhanced MD simulations of ligand binding to AT may assist the design of new anticoagulant drugs.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Substrate Binding Switches the Conformation at the Lynchpin Site in the Substrate-Binding Domain of Human Hsp70 to Enable Allosteric Interdomain Communication.

The stress-induced 70 kDa heat shock protein (Hsp70) functions as a molecular chaperone to maintain protein homeostasis. Hsp70 contains an N-terminal ATPase domain (NBD) and a C-terminal substrate-binding domain (SBD). The SBD is divided into the β subdomain containing the substrate-binding site (βSBD) and the α-helical subdomain (αLid) that covers the βSBD. In this report, the solution structures of two different forms of the SBD from human Hsp70 were solved. One structure shows the αLid bound to the substrate-binding site intramolecularly, whereas this intramolecular binding mode is absent in the other structure solved. Structural comparison of the two SBDs from Hsp70 revealed that client-peptide binding rearranges residues at the interdomain contact site, which impairs interdomain contact between the SBD and the NBD. Peptide binding also disrupted the inter-subdomain interaction connecting the αLid to the βSBD, which allows the binding of the αLid to the NBD. The results provide a mechanism for interdomain communication upon substrate binding from the SBD to the NBD via the lynchpin site in the βSBD of human Hsp70. In comparison to the bacterial ortholog, DnaK, some remarkable differences in the allosteric signal propagation among residues within the Hsp70 SBD exist.

Calcium-Mediated Control of S100 Proteins: Allosteric Communication via an Agitator/Signal Blocking Mechanism.

Allosteric proteins possess dynamically coupled residues for the propagation of input signals to distant target binding sites. The input signals usually correspond to "effector is present" or "effector is not present". Many aspects of allosteric regulation remain incompletely understood. This work focused on S100A11, a dimeric EF-hand protein with two hydrophobic target binding sites. An annexin peptide (Ax) served as the target. Target binding is allosterically controlled by Ca2+ over a distance of ∼26 Å. Ca2+ promotes formation of a [Ca4 S100 Ax2] complex, where the Ax peptides are accommodated between helices III/IV and III'/IV'. Without Ca2+ these binding sites are closed, precluding interactions with Ax. The allosteric mechanism was probed by microsecond MD simulations in explicit water, complemented by hydrogen exchange mass spectrometry (HDX/MS). Consistent with experimental data, MD runs in the absence of Ca2+ and Ax culminated in target binding site closure. In simulations on [Ca4 S100] the target binding sites remained open. These results capture the essence of allosteric control, revealing how Ca2+ prevents binding site closure. Both HDX/MS and MD data showed that the metalation sites become more dynamic after Ca2+ loss. However, these enhanced dynamics do not represent the primary trigger of the allosteric cascade. Instead, a labile salt bridge acts as an incessantly active "agitator" that destabilizes the packing of adjacent residues, causing a domino chain of events that culminates in target binding site closure. This agitator represents the starting point of the allosteric signal propagation pathway. Ca2+ binding rigidifies elements along this pathway, thereby blocking signal transmission. This blocking mechanism does not conform to the commonly held view that allosteric communication pathways generally originate at the sites where effectors interact with the protein.

Microsecond molecular dynamics simulations provide insight into the ATP-competitive inhibitor-induced allosteric protection of Akt kinase phosphorylation.

Akt is a serine/threonine protein kinase, a critical mediator of growth factor-induced survival in key cellular pathways. Allosteric signaling between protein intramolecular domains requires long-range communication mediated by hotspot residues, often triggered by ligand binding. Here, based on extensive 3μs explicit solvent molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of Akt1 kinase domain in the unbound (apo) and ATP-competitive inhibitor, GDC-0068-bound states, we propose a molecular mechanism for allosteric regulation of Akt1 kinase phosphorylation by GDC-0068 binding to the ATP-binding site. MD simulations revealed that the apo Akt1 is flexible with two disengaged N- and C-lobes, equilibrated between the open and closed conformations. GDC-0068 occupancy of the ATP-binding site shifts the conformational equilibrium of Akt1 from the open conformation toward the closed conformation and stabilizes the closed state. This effect enables allosteric signal propagation from the GDC-0068 to the phosphorylated T308 (pT308) in the activation loop and restrains phosphatase access to pT308, thereby protecting the pT308 in the GDC-0068-bound Akt1. Importantly, functional hotspots involved in the allosteric communication from the GDC-0068 to the pT308 are identified. Our analysis of GDC-0068-induced allosteric protection of Akt kinase phosphorylation yields important new insights into the molecular mechanism of allosteric regulation of Akt kinase activity.

Structure-Dynamic Determinants Governing a Mode of Regulatory Response and Propagation of Allosteric Signal in Splice Variants of Na+/Ca2+ Exchange (NCX) Proteins

The Ca 2+ -dependent allosteric regulation of Na + /Ca 2+ exchanger (NCX) proteins represents Ca 2+ interaction with the cytosolic domains, CBD1 (calcium-binding domain 1) and CBD2, which is associated either with activation, inhibition or no response to regulatory Ca 2+ in a given splice variant. CBD1 contains a high affinity Ca 2+ -sensor (which is highly conserved among splice variants), whereas primary information upon Ca 2+ binding to CBD1 is modified by alternative splicing of CBD2, yielding the diverse regulatory responses to Ca 2+ . To resolve the structure-dynamic determinants of splicing-dependent regulation, we tested two-domain tandem (CBD12) constructs possessing either positive, negative or no response to Ca 2+ using hydrogen–deuterium exchange MS (HDX–MS), SAXS, equilibrium 45 Ca 2+ binding and stopped-flow kinetics. Taken together with previously resolved crystallographic structures of CBD12, the data revealed that Ca 2+ binding to CBD1 rigidifies the main-chain flexibility of CBD2 (but not of CBD1), whereas CBD2 stabilizes the apo-CBD1. Strikingly, the extent and strength of Ca 2+ -dependent rigidification of CBD2 is splice-variant dependent, where the main-chain rigidification spans from the Ca 2+ -binding sites of CBD1, through a helix of CBD2 (positioned at the domains’ interface) up to the tip of CBD2 [>50 A (1 A=0.1 nm)] or alternatively, it stops at the CBD2 helix in the splice variant exhibiting an inhibitory response to regulatory Ca 2+ . These results provide a structure-dynamic basis by which alternative splicing diversifies the regulatory responses to Ca 2+ as well as controls the extent and strength of allosteric signal propagation over long distance.

Structure-dynamic determinants governing a mode of regulatory response and propagation of allosteric signal in splice variants of Na+/Ca2+ exchange (NCX) proteins

The Ca(2+)-dependent allosteric regulation of Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger (NCX) proteins represents Ca(2+) interaction with the cytosolic domains, CBD1 (calcium-binding domain 1) and CBD2, which is associated either with activation, inhibition or no response to regulatory Ca(2+) in a given splice variant. CBD1 contains a high affinity Ca(2+)-sensor (which is highly conserved among splice variants), whereas primary information upon Ca(2+) binding to CBD1 is modified by alternative splicing of CBD2, yielding the diverse regulatory responses to Ca(2+). To resolve the structure-dynamic determinants of splicing-dependent regulation, we tested two-domain tandem (CBD12) constructs possessing either positive, negative or no response to Ca(2+) using hydrogen-deuterium exchange MS (HDX-MS), SAXS, equilibrium 45Ca(2+) binding and stopped-flow kinetics. Taken together with previously resolved crystallographic structures of CBD12, the data revealed that Ca(2+) binding to CBD1 rigidifies the main-chain flexibility of CBD2 (but not of CBD1), whereas CBD2 stabilizes the apo-CBD1. Strikingly, the extent and strength of Ca(2+)-dependent rigidification of CBD2 is splice-variant dependent, where the main-chain rigidification spans from the Ca(2+)-binding sites of CBD1, through a helix of CBD2 (positioned at the domains' interface) up to the tip of CBD2 [>50 Å (1 Å = 0.1 nm)] or alternatively, it stops at the CBD2 helix in the splice variant exhibiting an inhibitory response to regulatory Ca(2+). These results provide a structure-dynamic basis by which alternative splicing diversifies the regulatory responses to Ca(2+) as well as controls the extent and strength of allosteric signal propagation over long distance.

The mechanism of allosteric inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B.

As the prototypical member of the PTP family, protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) is an attractive target for therapeutic interventions in type 2 diabetes. The extremely conserved catalytic site of PTP1B renders the design of selective PTP1B inhibitors intractable. Although discovered allosteric inhibitors containing a benzofuran sulfonamide scaffold offer fascinating opportunities to overcome selectivity issues, the allosteric inhibitory mechanism of PTP1B has remained elusive. Here, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, coupled with a dynamic weighted community analysis, were performed to unveil the potential allosteric signal propagation pathway from the allosteric site to the catalytic site in PTP1B. This result revealed that the allosteric inhibitor compound-3 induces a conformational rearrangement in helix α7, disrupting the triangular interaction among helix α7, helix α3, and loop11. Helix α7 then produces a force, pulling helix α3 outward, and promotes Ser190 to interact with Tyr176. As a result, the deviation of Tyr176 abrogates the hydrophobic interactions with Trp179 and leads to the downward movement of the WPD loop, which forms an H-bond between Asp181 and Glu115. The formation of this H-bond constrains the WPD loop to its open conformation and thus inactivates PTP1B. The discovery of this allosteric mechanism provides an overall view of the regulation of PTP1B, which is an important insight for the design of potent allosteric PTP1B inhibitors.

Computational approaches to mapping allosteric pathways

Allosteric signaling occurs when chemical and/or physical changes at an allosteric site alter the activity of a primary orthosteric site often many Ångströms distant. A number of recently developed computational techniques, including dynamical network analysis, novel topological and molecular dynamics methods, and hybrids of these methods, are useful for elucidating allosteric signaling pathways at the atomistic level. No single method prevails as best to identify allosteric signal propagation path(s), rather each has particular strengths in characterizing signals that occur over specific timescale ranges and magnitudes of conformational fluctuation. With continued improvement in accuracy and predictive power, these computational techniques aim to become useful drug discovery tools that will allow researchers to identify allostery critical residues for subsequent pharmacological targeting.

Nanoscale Protein Dynamics and Long-Range Allostery in Cell Signaling

An emerging point of view in protein chemistry is that proteins are not the static objects that are displayed in textbooks but are instead dynamic actors. Protein dynamics plays a fundamental role in many diseases, and spans a large hierarchy of timescales, from picoseconds to milliseconds or even longer. Nanoscale protein domain motion on length scales comparable to protein dimensions is key to understanding how signals are relayed through multiple protein-protein interactions. A canonical example is how the scaffolding proteins NHERF1 and ezrin work in coordination to assemble crucial membrane complexes. As membrane-cytoskeleton scaffolding proteins, these provide excellent prototypes for understanding how regulatory signals are relayed through protein-protein interactions between the membrane and the cytoskeleton. Here, we review recent progress in understanding the structure and dynamics of the interaction. We describe recent novel applications of neutron spin echo spectroscopy (NSE) to reveal the dynamic propagation of allosteric signals by nanoscale protein motion, and present a framework to analyze the NSE data.

Molecular Mechanism of Allosteric Communication in Hsp70 Revealed by Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Investigating ligand-regulated allosteric coupling between protein domains is fundamental to understand cell-life regulation. The Hsp70 family of chaperones represents an example of proteins in which ATP binding and hydrolysis at the Nucleotide Binding Domain (NBD) modulate substrate recognition at the Substrate Binding Domain (SBD). Herein, a comparative analysis of an allosteric (Hsp70-DnaK) and a non-allosteric structural homolog (Hsp110-Sse1) of the Hsp70 family is carried out through molecular dynamics simulations, starting from different conformations and ligand-states. Analysis of ligand-dependent modulation of internal fluctuations and local deformation patterns highlights the structural and dynamical changes occurring at residue level upon ATP-ADP exchange, which are connected to the conformational transition between closed and open structures. By identifying the dynamically responsive protein regions and specific cross-domain hydrogen-bonding patterns that differentiate Hsp70 from Hsp110 as a function of the nucleotide, we propose a molecular mechanism for the allosteric signal propagation of the ATP-encoded conformational signal. This study opens up the way to introducing rational mutations able to control the chaperone functional dynamics. Moreover, the residue based insight into the intra molecular communication mechanism can be exploited for designing new allosteric drugs.