Large Side Chains Research Articles

P-I class metalloproteinase from Bothrops moojeni venom is a post-proline cleaving peptidase with kininogenase activity: Insights into substrate selectivity and kinetic behavior

Snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) belonging to P-I class are able to hydrolyze extracellular matrix proteins and coagulation factors triggering local and systemic reactions by multiple molecular mechanisms that are not fully understood. BmooMPα-I, a P-I class SMVP from Bothrops moojeni venom, was active upon neuro- and vaso-active peptides including angiotensin I, bradykinin, neurotensin, oxytocin and substance P. Interestingly, BmooMPα-I showed a strong bias towards hydrolysis after proline residues, which is unusual for most of characterized peptidases. Moreover, the enzyme showed kininogenase activity similar to that observed in plasma and cells by kallikrein. FRET peptide assays indicated a relative promiscuity at its S2–S′2 subsites, with proline determining the scissile bond. This unusual post-proline cleaving activity was confirmed by the efficient hydrolysis of the synthetic combinatorial library MCA-GXXPXXQ-EDDnp, described as resistant for canonical peptidases, only after Pro residues. Structural analysis of the tripeptide LPL complexed with BmooMPα-I, generated by molecular dynamics simulations, assisted in defining the subsites and provided the structural basis for subsite preferences such as the restriction of basic residues at the S2 subsite due to repulsive electrostatic effects and the steric impediment for large aliphatic or aromatic side chains at the S1 subsite. These new functional and structural findings provided a further understanding of the molecular mechanisms governing the physiological effects of this important class of enzymes in envenomation process.

NMR investigations of nitrophorin 2 belt side chain effects on heme orientation and seating of native N-terminus NP2 and NP2(D1A)

Nitrophorin 2 (NP2), one of the four NO-storing and NO-releasing proteins found in the saliva of the blood-sucking bug Rhodnius prolixus, has a more ruffled heme and a high preference for a particular heme orientation (B) compared with nitrophorin1 and nitrophorin4, which show not a preference (Ato Bratio ofapproximately1:1), suggesting that it fits more tightly in the β-barrel protein. In this work we have prepared a series of "belt" mutants of NP2(D1A) and (ΔM0)NP2 aimed at reducing the size of aromatic or other residues that surround the heme, and investigated them as the high-spin aqua and low-spin N-methylimidazole complexes. The belt mutants included Y38A, Y38F, F42A, F66A, Y85A, Y85F, Y104A, I120T, and a triple mutant of NP2(D1A), the F42L, L106F, I120T mutant. Although I120 has been mainly considered to be a distal pocket residue, CδH3 of I120 lies directly above the heme 3-methyl, at 2.67Å, of heme orientationB, or the 2-vinyl of A, and it thus plays a role as a belt mutant, a role that turns out to be extremely important in creating the strong favoring of the Bheme orientation [AtoB ratio of 1:14 for NP2(D1A) or 1:12 for (ΔM0)NP2]. The results show that the 1D (1)H NMR spectra of the high-spin forms are quite sensitive to changes in the shape of the heme binding cavity. The single mutation I120T eliminates the favorability of the Bheme orientation by producing a heme A to Borientation ratio of 1:1, whereas the single mutation F42A reverses the heme orientation from an A to Bratio of1:14 seen for NP2(D1A) to 10:1 for NP2(D1A,F42A). The most extreme ratio was found for the triple mutant of NP2(D1A), NP2(D1A,F42L,L105F,I120T), in which the Ato Bratio is approximately25:1, a ΔG change of about -3.5kcal/mol or -14.1kJ/mol with respect to NP2(D1A). The seating of the heme is modified as well in that mutant and in several others, by rotations of the heme by up to 4° from the seating observed in NP2(D1A), in order to relieve steric interactions between a vinyl β-carbon and a protein side chain, or to fill a cavity created by replacing a large protein side chain by a much smaller one; the latter was observed for all tyrosine to alanine mutants. These relatively small changes in seating have a measurable effect on the NMR spectra of the mutants, but are indeed minor in terms of overall seating and reactivity of the NP2(D1A) protein. The (1)H NMR resonances of the hemin substituents of the low-spin N-methylimidazole complexes of NP2(D1A,F42L,L105F,I120T) as well as NP2(D1A,I120T), NP2(D1A,Y104A), and NP2(D1A,F42A) have been assigned using natural abundance (1)H{(13)C} heteronuclear multiple quantum correlation and (1)H-(1)H nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy spectra.

Properties of MHC Class I Presented Peptides That Enhance Immunogenicity

T-cells have to recognize peptides presented on MHC molecules to be activated and elicit their effector functions. Several studies demonstrate that some peptides are more immunogenic than others and therefore more likely to be T-cell epitopes. We set out to determine which properties cause such differences in immunogenicity. To this end, we collected and analyzed a large set of data describing the immunogenicity of peptides presented on various MHC-I molecules. Two main conclusions could be drawn from this analysis: First, in line with previous observations, we showed that positions P4–6 of a presented peptide are more important for immunogenicity. Second, some amino acids, especially those with large and aromatic side chains, are associated with immunogenicity. This information was combined into a simple model that was used to demonstrate that immunogenicity is, to a certain extent, predictable. This model (made available at http://tools.iedb.org/immunogenicity/) was validated with data from two independent epitope discovery studies. Interestingly, with this model we could show that T-cells are equipped to better recognize viral than human (self) peptides. After the past successful elucidation of different steps in the MHC-I presentation pathway, the identification of variables that influence immunogenicity will be an important next step in the investigation of T-cell epitopes and our understanding of cellular immune responses.

Hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds in β-sheet formation

In this study, we investigate interactions of extended conformations of homodimeric peptides made of small (glycine or alanine) and large hydrophobic (valine or leucine) sidechains using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to decipher driving forces for β-sheet formation. We make use of a periodic boundary condition setup in which individual peptides are infinitely long and stretched. Dimers adopt β-sheet conformations at short interpeptide distances (ξ ~ 0.5 nm) and at intermediate distances (~0.8 nm), valine and leucine homodimers assume cross-β-like conformations with side chains interpenetrating each other. These two states are identified as minima in the potential of mean force. While the number of interpeptide hydrogen bonds increases with decreasing interpeptide distance, the total hydrogen bond number in the system does not change significantly, suggesting that formation of β-sheet structures from extended conformations is not driven by hydrogen bonds. This is supported by an increase in electrostatic energy at short interpeptide distances. A remarkable correlation between the volume of the system and the total electrostatic energy is observed, further reinforcing the idea that excluding water in proteins comes with an enthalpic penalty. We also discuss microscopic mechanisms accounting for β-sheet formation based on computed enthalpy and entropy and we show that they are different for peptides with small and large side chains.

Insight into structure‐function relationship in phenol‐soluble modulins using an alanine screen of the phenol‐soluble modulin (PSM) α3 peptide

Phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs) are a family of peptides with multiple functions in staphylococcal pathogenesis. To gain insight into the structural features affecting PSM functions, we analyzed an alanine substitution library of PSMα3, a strongly cytolytic and proinflammatory PSM of Staphylococcus aureus with a significant contribution to S. aureus virulence. Lysine residues were essential for both receptor-dependent proinflammatory and receptor-independent cytolytic activities. Both phenotypes also required additional structural features, with the C terminus being crucial for receptor activation. Biofilm formation was affected mostly by hydrophobic amino acid positions, suggesting that the capacity to disrupt hydrophobic interactions is responsible for the effect of PSMs on biofilm structure. Antimicrobial activity, absent from natural PSMα3, could be created by the exchange of large hydrophobic side chains, indicating that PSMα3 has evolved to exhibit cytolytic rather than antimicrobial activity. In addition to gaining insight into the structure-function relationship in PSMs, our study identifies nontoxic PSMα3 derivatives for active vaccination strategies and lays the foundation for future efforts aimed to understand the biological role of PSM recognition by innate host defense.

Enzyme resistant feruloylated xylooligomer analogues from thermochemically treated corn fiber contain large side chains, ethyl glycosides and novel sites of acetylation

In order to use corn fiber as a source for bioethanol production the enzymatic hydrolysis of the complex glucuronoarabinoxylans present has to be improved. Several oligosaccharides present in the supernatant of mild acid pretreated and enzymatically saccharified corn fiber that resist the current available enzymes were (semi)purified for structural analysis by NMR or ESI-MSn. The structural features of 21 recalcitrant oligosaccharides are presented. A common feature of almost all these oligosaccharides is that they contain (part of) an α-l-galactopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1→2)-5-O-trans-feruloyl-l-arabinofuranose side chain attached to the O-3 position of the β-1–4 linked xylose backbone. Several of the identified oligosaccharides contained an ethyl group at the reducing end hypothesized to be formed during SSF. The ethyl glycosides found are far more complex than previously described structures. A new feature present in more than half of the oligosaccharides is an acetyl group attached to the O-2 position of the same xylose to which the oligomeric side chain was attached to the O-3 position. Finding enzymes attacking these large side chains and the dense substituted xylan backbone will boost the hydrolysis of corn fiber glucuronoxylan.

Conformational analysis investigation into the influence of nano-porosity of ultra-permeable ultra-selective polyimides on its diffusivity as potential membranes for use in the "green" separation of natural gases

Nano-porous polymers of intrinsic microporosity, PIM, have exhibited excellent permeability and selectivity characteristics that could be utilized in an environmentally friendly gas separation process. A full understanding of the mechanism through which these membranes effectively and selectively allow for the permeation of specific gases will lead to further development of these membranes. Three factors obviously influenced the conformational behavior of these polymers, which are the presence of electronegative atoms, the presence of non-linearity in the polymeric backbones (backbone kinks) and the presence of bulky side groups on the polymeric chains. The dipole moment increased sharply with the presence of backbone kinks more than any other factor. Replacing the fluorine atoms with bulky alkyl groups didn't influence the dipole moment greatly indicating that the size of the side chains had much less dramatic influence on the dipole moment than having a bent backbone. Similarly, the presence of the backbone kinks in the polymeric chains influenced the polymeric chains to assume less extended configuration causing the torsional angles around the interconnecting bonds unable to cross the high potential energy barriers. The presence of the bulky side groups also caused the energy barriers of the cis-configurations to increase dramatically, which prevented the polymeric segments from experiencing full rotation about the connecting bonds. For these polymers, it was clear that the fully extended configurations are the preferred configurations in the absence of strong electronegative atoms, backbones kinks or bulky side groups. The addition of any of these factors to the polymeric structures resulted in the polymeric chains being forced to assume less extended configurations. Rather interestingly, the length or bulkiness of the side groups didn't affect the end-to-end distance distribution to a great deal since the presence of quite large bulky side chain such as the pentyl group has caused the polymeric chains to revert back to the fully extended configurations possibly due to the quite high potential energy barriers that the chains have to cross to reach the less extended configurational states.

Properties and applications of phytepsins from thistle flowers

Aqueous extracts of thistle flowers from the genus Cynara-Cardueae tribe Cass. (Cynareae Less.), Asteraceae Dumortier-are traditionally used in the Mediterranean region for production of artisanal cheeses. This is because of the presence of aspartic proteases (APs) with the ability to coagulate milk. Plant APs, collectively known as phytepsins (EC 3.4.23.40), are bilobed endopeptidases present in an ample variety of plant species with activity mainly at acidic pHs, and have two aspartic residues located on each side of a catalytic cleft that are responsible for catalysis. The cleavage of the scissile peptide-bond occurs primarily between residues with large hydrophobic side-chains. Even when aspartylendopeptidase activity in plants is normally present at relatively low levels overall, the flowers of several species of the Cardueae tribe possess APs with extremely high specific activities in certain tissues. For this reason, in the last two decades, APs present in thistle flowers have been the subject of intensive study. Present here is a compilation of work that summarizes the known chemical and biological properties of these proteases, as well as their biomedical and biotechnological applications.

A Tryptophanyl‐tRNA Synthetase/tRNA Pair for Unnatural Amino Acid Mutagenesis in E. coli

Selected: A tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase(TrpRS)/tRNA pair was evolved to genetically encode tryptophan analogues and other unnatural amino acids with large side chains in E. coli. A selection scheme was employed to identify TrpRS variants able to selectively charge tRNACUATrp with Trp analogues (see picture). Substitution of Trp66 in enhanced cyan fluorescent protein (ECFP) with these Trp analogues afforded ECFP variants with novel spectral properties. As a service to our authors and readers, this journal provides supporting information supplied by the authors. Such materials are peer reviewed and may be re-organized for online delivery, but are not copy-edited or typeset. Technical support issues arising from supporting information (other than missing files) should be addressed to the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.

Cryo-EM Structure of a Molluscan Hemocyanin Suggests Its Allosteric Mechanism

Hemocyanins are responsible for transporting O2 in the arthropod and molluscan hemolymph. Haliotis diversicolor molluscan hemocyanin isoform 1 (HdH1) is an 8 MDa oligomer. Each subunit is made up of eight functional units (FUs). Each FU contains two Cu ions, which can reversibly bind an oxygen molecule. Here, we report a 4.5 A° cryo-EM structure of HdH1. The structure clearly shows ten asymmetric units arranged with D5 symmetry. Each asymmetric unit contains two structurally distinct but chemically identical subunits. The map is sufficiently resolved to trace the entire subunit Ca backbone and to visualize densities corresponding to some large side chains, Cu ion pairs, and interaction networks of adjacent subunits. A FU topology path intertwining between the two subunits of the asymmetric unit is unambiguously determined. Our observations suggest a structural mechanism for the stability of the entire hemocyanin didecamer and 20 ‘‘communication clusters’’ across asymmetric units responsible for its allosteric property upon oxygen binding.

A double mutant of highly purified Geobacillus stearothermophilus lactate dehydrogenase recognises l-mandelic acid as a substrate

Lactate dehydrogenase from the thermophilic organism Geobacillus stearothermophilus (formerly Bacillus stearothermophilus) (bsLDH) has a crucial role in producing chirally pure hydroxyl compounds. α-Hydroxy acids are used in many industrial situations, ranging from pharmaceutical to cosmetic dermatology products. One drawback of this enzyme is its limited substrate specificity. For instance, l-lactate dehydrogenase exhibits no detectable activity towards the large side chain of 2-hydroxy acid l-mandelic acid, an α-hydroxy acid with anti-bacterial activity. Despite many attempts to engineer bsLDH to accept α-hydroxy acid substrates, there have been no attempts to introduce the industrially important l-mandelic acid to bsLDH. Herein, we describe attempts to change the reactivity of bsLDH towards l-mandelic acid. Using the Insight II molecular modelling programme (except ‘program’ in computers) and protein engineering techniques, we have successfully introduced substantial mandelate dehydrogenase activity to the enzyme. Energy minimisation modelling studies suggested that two mutations, T246G and I240A, would allow the enzyme to utilise l-mandelic acid as a substrate. Genes encoding for the wild-type and mutant enzymes were constructed, and the resulting bsLDH proteins were overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified using the TAGZyme system. Enzyme assays showed that insertion of this double mutation into highly purified bsLDH switched the substrate specificity from lactate to l-mandelic acid.

Probing Arginine Side‐Chains and Their Dynamics with Carbon‐Detected NMR Spectroscopy: Application to the 42 kDa Human Histone Deacetylase 8 at High pH

Arginine side-chains play a distinct role because of their high pKa and perpetual positive charge. An NMR method is presented, based on carbon-detected 13Cζ–15Ne correlation spectra, which allows probing the arginine side-chains and their dynamics at neutral-to-high pH. The methodology is demonstrated on human histone deacetylase 8.

Site selectivity for protein tyrosine nitration: insights from features of structure and topological network

Tyrosine nitration is a covalent post-translational modification, which regulates protein functions such as hindering tyrosine phosphorylation and affecting essential signal transductions in cells. Based on up-to-date proteomics data, tyrosine nitration appears to be a highly selective process since not all tyrosine residues in proteins or all proteins are nitrated in vivo. Quite a few investigations included the protein structural information from the RCSB PDB database, where near 100,000 high-quality three-dimensional structures are available. In this work, we analyzed the local protein structures and amino acid topological networks of the nitrated and non-nitrated tyrosine sites in nitrated proteins, including neighboring atomic distribution, amino acid pair (AAP) and amino acid triangle (AAT). It has been found that aromatic and aliphatic residues, particularly with large volume, aromatic, aliphatic, or acidic side chains, are disfavored for the nitration. After integrating these structural features and topological network features with traditional sequence features, the predictive model achieves a sensitivity of 63.30% and a specificity of 92.24%, resulting in a much better accuracy compared to the previous models with only protein sequence information. Our investigation implies that the site selectivity may stem from a more open, hydrophilic and high-pH chemical environment around the tyrosine residue.

Structure Analysis and Comparative Characterization of the Cytochrome c′ and Flavocytochrome c from Thermophilic Purple Photosynthetic Bacterium Thermochromatium tepidum

The thermodynamic and spectroscopic properties of two soluble electron transport proteins, cytochrome (Cyt) c' and flavocytochrome c, isolated from thermophilic purple sulfur bacterium Thermochromatium (Tch.) tepidum were examined and compared with those of the corresponding proteins from a closely related mesophilic bacterium Allochromatium (Alc.) vinosum. These proteins share sequence identities of 82% for the cytochromes c' and 86% for the flavocytochromes c. Crystal structures of the two proteins have been determined at high resolutions. Differential scanning calorimetry and denaturing experiments show that both proteins from Tch. tepidum are thermally and structurally much more stable than their mesophilic counterparts. The denaturation temperature of Tch. tepidum Cyt c' was 22 °C higher than that of Alc. vinosum Cyt c', and the midpoints of denaturation using guanidine hydrochloride were 2.0 and 1.2 M for the Tch. tepidum and Alc. vinosum flavocytochromes c, respectively. The enhanced stabilities can be interpreted on the basis of the structural and sequence information obtained in this study: increased number of hydrogen bonds formed between main chain nitrogen and oxygen atoms, more compact structures and reduced number of glycine residues. Many residues with large side chains in Alc. vinosum Cyt c' are substituted by alanines in Tch. tepidum Cyt c'. Both proteins from Tch. tepidum exhibit high structural similarities to their counterparts from Alc. vinosum, and the different residues between the corresponding proteins are mainly located on the surface and exposed to the solvent. Water molecules are found in the heme vicinity of Tch. tepidum Cyt c' and form hydrogen bonds with the heme ligand and C-terminal charged residues. Similar bound waters are also found in the vicinity of one heme group in the diheme subunit of Tch. tepidum flavocytochrome c. Electron density map of the Tch. tepidum flavocytochrome c clearly revealed the presence of disulfur atoms positioned between two cysteine residues at the active site near the FAD prosthetic group. The result strongly suggests that flavocytochrome c is involved in the sulfide oxidation in vivo. Detailed discussion is given on the relationships between the crystal structures and the spectroscopic properties observed for these proteins.

Alternative Pathways for Association and Dissociation of the Calmodulin-binding Domain of Plasma Membrane Ca2+-ATPase Isoform 4b (PMCA4b)

The calmodulin (CaM)-binding domain of isoform 4b of the plasma membrane Ca(2+) -ATPase (PMCA) pump is represented by peptide C28. CaM binds to either PMCA or C28 by a mechanism in which the primary anchor residue Trp-1093 binds to the C-terminal lobe of the extended CaM molecule, followed by collapse of CaM with the N-terminal lobe binding to the secondary anchor Phe-1110 (Juranic, N., Atanasova, E., Filoteo, A. G., Macura, S., Prendergast, F. G., Penniston, J. T., and Strehler, E. E. (2010) J. Biol. Chem. 285, 4015-4024). This is a relatively rapid reaction, with an apparent half-time of ~1 s. The dissociation of CaM from PMCA4b or C28 is much slower, with an overall half-time of ~10 min. Using targeted molecular dynamics, we now show that dissociation of Ca(2+)-CaM from C28 may occur by a pathway in which Trp-1093, although deeply embedded in a pocket in the C-terminal lobe of CaM, leaves first. The dissociation begins by relatively rapid release of Trp-1093, followed by very slow release of Phe-1110, removal of C28, and return of CaM to its conformation in the free state. Fluorescence measurements and molecular dynamics calculations concur in showing that this alternative path of release of the PMCA4b CaM-binding domain is quite different from that of binding. The intermediate of dissociation with exposed Trp-1093 has a long lifetime (minutes) and may keep the PMCA primed for activation.

The N-Terminal Half of the Connexin Protein Contains the Core Elements of the Pore and Voltage Gates

Connexins form channels with large aqueous pores that mediate fluxes of inorganic ions and biological signaling molecules. Studies aimed at identifying the connexin pore now include a crystal structure that provides details of putative pore-lining residues that need to be verified using independent biophysical approaches. Here we extended our initial cysteine-scanning studies of the TM1/E1 region of Cx46 hemichannels to include TM2 and TM3 transmembrane segments. No evidence of reactivity was observed in either TM2 or TM3 probed with small or large thiol-modifying reagents. Several identified pore residues in E1 of Cx46 have been verified in different Cx isoforms. Use of variety of thiol reagents indicates that the connexin hemichannel pore is large and flexible enough, at least in the extracellular part of the pore funnel, to accommodate uncommonly large side chains. We also find that that gating characteristics are largely determined by the same domains that constitute the pore. These data indicate that biophysical and structural studies are converging towards a view that the N-terminal half of the Cx protein contains the principal components of the pore and gating elements, with NT, TM1 and E1 forming the pore funnel.

The narrow active-site cleft ofO-acetylserine sulfhydrylase fromLeishmania donovaniallows complex formation with serine acetyltransferases with a range of C-terminal sequences

Cysteine is a crucial substrate for the synthesis of glutathione and trypanothione, which in turn maintain intracellular redox homeostasis and defend against oxidative stress in the pathogen Leishmania donovani. Here, the identification, sequencing, characterization and crystal structure at 1.79 Å resolution of O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase (OASS), a cysteine-biosynthetic pathway enzyme from L. donovani (LdOASS), are reported. It shows binding to the serine acetyltransferase (SAT) C-terminal peptide, indicating that OASS and SAT interact with each other to form a cysteine synthase complex, further confirmed by the structure of LdOASS in complex with SAT C-terminal octapeptide at 1.68 Å resolution. Docking and fluorescence binding studies show that almost all SAT C-terminus mimicking tetrapeptides can bind to LdOASS. Some peptides had a higher binding affinity than the native peptide, indicating that SAT-OASS interactions are not sequence-specific. The structure of LdOASS with a designed peptide (DWSI) revealed that LdOASS makes more interactions with the designed peptide than with the native peptide. In almost all known SAT-OASS interactions the SAT C-terminal sequence was shown to contain amino acids with large side chains. Structural comparison with other OASSs revealed that LdOASS has a relatively less open active-site cleft, which may be responsible for its interaction with the smaller-amino-acid-containing C-terminal LdSAT peptide. Biochemical studies confirmed that LdOASS interacts with SATs from Entamoeba histolytica and Brucella abortus, further displaying its sequence-independent and versatile mode of interaction with SATs. This implicates a critical role of the size of the active-site cleft opening in OASS for SAT-OASS interaction and thus cysteine synthase complex formation.

HIV-1 Protease with 20 Mutations Exhibits Extreme Resistance to Clinical Inhibitors through Coordinated Structural Rearrangements

The escape mutant of HIV-1 protease (PR) containing 20 mutations (PR20) undergoes efficient polyprotein processing even in the presence of clinical protease inhibitors (PIs). PR20 shows >3 orders of magnitude decreased affinity for PIs darunavir (DRV) and saquinavir (SQV) relative to PR. Crystal structures of PR20 crystallized with yttrium, substrate analogue p2-NC, DRV, and SQV reveal three distinct conformations of the flexible flaps and diminished interactions with inhibitors through the combination of multiple mutations. PR20 with yttrium at the active site exhibits widely separated flaps lacking the usual intersubunit contacts seen in other inhibitor-free dimers. Mutations of residues 35-37 in the hinge loop eliminate interactions and perturb the flap conformation. Crystals of PR20/p2-NC contain one uninhibited dimer with one very open flap and one closed flap and a second inhibitor-bound dimer in the closed form showing six fewer hydrogen bonds with the substrate analogue relative to wild-type PR. PR20 complexes with PIs exhibit expanded S2/S2' pockets and fewer PI interactions arising from coordinated effects of mutations throughout the structure, in agreement with the strikingly reduced affinity. In particular, insertion of the large aromatic side chains of L10F and L33F alters intersubunit interactions and widens the PI binding site through a network of hydrophobic contacts. The two very open conformations of PR20 as well as the expanded binding site of the inhibitor-bound closed form suggest possible approaches for modifying inhibitors to target extreme drug-resistant HIV.

The α-defensin salt-bridge induces backbone stability to facilitate folding and confer proteolytic resistance

Salt-bridge interactions between acidic and basic amino acids contribute to the structural stability of proteins and to protein-protein interactions. A conserved salt-bridge is a canonical feature of the α-defensin antimicrobial peptide family, but the role of this common structural element has not been fully elucidated. We have investigated mouse Paneth cell α-defensincryptdin-4 (Crp4) and peptide variants with mutations at Arg7 or Glu15 residue positions to disrupt the salt-bridge and assess the consequences on Crp4 structure, function, and stability. NMR analyses showed that both (R7G)-Crp4 and (E15G)-Crp4 adopt native-like structures, evidence of fold plasticity that allows peptides to reshuffle side chains and stabilize the structure in the absence of the salt-bridge. In contrast, introduction of a large hydrophobic side chain at position 15, as in (E15L)-Crp4 cannot be accommodated in the context of the Crp4 primary structure. Regardless of which side of the salt-bridge was mutated, salt-bridge variants retained bactericidal peptide activity with differential microbicidal effects against certain bacterial cell targets, confirming that the salt-bridge does not determine bactericidal activity per se. The increased structural flexibility induced by salt-bridge disruption enhanced peptide sensitivity to proteolysis. Although sensitivity to proteolysis by MMP7 was unaffected by most Arg(7) and Glu(150 substitutions, every salt-bridge variant was degraded extensively by trypsin. Moreover, the salt-bridge facilitates adoption of the characteristic α-defensin fold as shown by the impaired in vitro refolding of (E15D)-proCrp4, the most conservative salt-bridge disrupting replacement. In Crp4, therefore, the canonical α-defensin salt-bridge facilitates adoption of the characteristic α-defensin fold, which decreases structural flexibility and confers resistance todegradation by proteinases.

Cavities in the Hydrophobic Core Govern Pressure Unfolding of Proteins

Since Bridgman's seminal experiments on high-pressure denaturation of albumen in 19141, the origin of pressure unfolding of proteins has remained unresolved. We report here a systematic study of the contribution of cavities to the volume difference between unfolded and folded states (ΔVu), using 10 single point variants of staphylococcus nuclease (SNase). Each mutation is localised in a strategic position and was designed to change a large buried hydrophobic side chain into alanine, thus opening tunable cavities in the SNase structure. For every variant, a crystal structure confirmed the presence of the designed cavity with no detectable presence of water molecules. High-pressure fluorescence experiments show significantly larger ΔVu values for the cavity mutants in comparison to the reference protein. This demonstrates that solvent-excluded cavities make a major contribution to ΔVu. Thus, pressure effects have their origin in a property of the folded states of proteins, unlike temperature and chemical denaturants, whose effects are governed by exposed surface area in the unfolded state. High-pressure NMR experiments on 4 cavity mutants, recording HSQCs peak intensities up to 2500 bar, allowed precise estimations of the apparent ΔVu monitored by more than two-thirds of the residues. An innovative combination of the site-specific NMR data and Go-model simulations revealed significant departures from the apparent two-state folding process for the SNase reference protein and the cavity mutants. This study opens up highly promising perspectives on the use of high pressure for characterization of folding landscapes inaccessible by other methods.1. Bridgman, P. W. J. Biol. Chem. 1914.19, 511–512.