Secondary Structure Propensities Research Articles

Familial Parkinson Disease-associated Mutations Alter the Site-specific Microenvironment and Dynamics of α-Synuclein

Human α-synuclein (α-Syn) is a natively unstructured protein whose aggregation into amyloid fibrils is associated with Parkinson disease (PD) pathogenesis. Mutations of α-Syn, E46K, A53T, and A30P, have been linked to the familial form of PD. In vitro aggregation studies suggest that increased propensity to form non-fibrillar oligomers is the shared property of these familial PD-associated mutants. However, the structural basis of the altered aggregation propensities of these PD-associated mutants is not yet clear. To understand this, we studied the site-specific structural dynamics of wild type (WT) α-Syn and its three PD mutants (A53T, E46K, and A30P). Tryptophan (Trp) was substituted at the N terminus, central hydrophobic region, and C terminus of all α-Syns. Using various biophysical techniques including time-resolved fluorescence studies, we show that irrespective of similar secondary structure and early oligomerization propensities, familial PD-associated mutations alter the site-specific microenvironment, solvent exposure, and conformational flexibility of the protein. Our results further show that the common structural feature of the three PD-associated mutants is more compact and rigid sites at their N and C termini compared with WT α-Syn that may facilitate the formation of a partially folded intermediate that eventually leads to their increased oligomerization propensities.

The C-terminal domain of eukaryotic acidic ribosomal P2 proteins is intrinsically disordered with conserved structural propensities.

The P2 protein (equivalent of L7/L12 in prokaryotes), a member of the ribosomal stalk in eukaryotes, is highly conserved, particularly its C-terminal domain. In order to understand the sequence-structure-function relationships in eukaryotic C-terminal stretches, about which nothing is known at the moment, we have investigated here, the structural characteristics of these domains of P2 proteins from three different species, namely, human, Plasmodium falciparum, and Toxoplasma gondii; the sequence homology among these is 70% although sequence identity is only 36%. About 50 amino acids of the C-terminal domains of P2 from the three species were expressed and purified. Gel filtration studies indicated peaks for both monomer and oligomer at milimolar concentrations and also suggested monomer-multimer equilibrium. Circular Dichroism showed that this domain does not have stable secondary structures. (1)H-(15)N HSQC spectra in every case showed one set of requisite number of peaks as per the sequence. This indicated that there is rapid multimer-monomer equilibrium in solution and the observed peaks which originate from the monomer reflect average chemical shifts. The spectral dispersion in all the cases is narrow, although there are noticeable differences in the three proteins. Detailed NMR investigations revealed that this protein domain is intrinsically disordered although there are short segments with preferred secondary structural propensities at similar places along the sequence. This may suggest that the sequence is selected in evolution to impart disorder, and thereby accord conformational adaptability.

A Folding Pathway Model of Mini-Protein BBA5.

We present the folding pathway model of mini-protein BBA5, a bundle of secondary structures, α-helix and β-hairpin, by using action-derived molecular dynamics (ADMD) simulations. From ten independent ADMD simulations, we extracted common features of the folding pathway of BBA5, from which we found that the early stage chain compaction was followed by the formation of C-terminal α-helix. The N-terminal β-hairpin was observed to form only after α-helix was stabilized. This result is in good agreement with the experimental observation that BBA5 mutants were moderately cooperative folders, and their C-terminal helical fragments were of higher secondary structure propensity while the N-terminal hairpin fragments were of a random coil spectrum. We found that the most flexible part of BBA5 is the N-terminal four residues. Although both are made of the identical ββα motif, the secondary structure formation sequence of BBA5 is found to be different from that of FSD-1. Finally, a description of the folding pathway in terms of principal component analysis is presented to characterize the folding dynamics in reduced dimensions. With only three principal components, we were able to describe 83.4% of the pathway.

Long-Range Correlated Dynamics in Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are involved in a wide variety of physiological and pathological processes and are best described by ensembles of rapidly interconverting conformers. Using fast field cycling relaxation measurements we here show that the IDP α-synuclein as well as a variety of other IDPs undergoes slow reorientations at time scales comparable to folded proteins. The slow motions are not perturbed by mutations in α-synuclein, which are related to genetic forms of Parkinson's disease, and do not depend on secondary and tertiary structural propensities. Ensemble-based hydrodynamic calculations suggest that the time scale of the underlying correlated motion is largely determined by hydrodynamic coupling between locally rigid segments. Our study indicates that long-range correlated dynamics are an intrinsic property of IDPs and offers a general physical mechanism of correlated motions in highly flexible biomolecular systems.

Physicochemical properties of cells and their effects on intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs).

It has long been axiomatic that a protein’s structure determines its function. Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and disordered protein regions (IDRs) defy this structure–function paradigm. They do not exhibit stable secondary and/or tertiary structures and exist as dynamic ensembles of interconverting conformers with preferred, nonrandom orientations.1-4 The concept of IDPs and IDRs as functional biological units was initially met with skepticism. For a long time, disorder, intuitively implying chaos, had no place in our perception of orchestrated molecular events controlling cell biology. Over the past years, however, this notion has changed. Aided by findings that structural disorder constitutes an ubiquitous and abundant biological phenomenon in organisms of all phyla,5-7 and that it is often synonymous with function,8-11 disorder has become an integral part of modern protein biochemistry. Disorder thrives in eukaryotic signaling pathways12 and functions as a prominent player in many regulatory processes.13-15 Disordered proteins and protein regions determine the underlying causes of many neurodegenerative disorders and constitute the main components of amyloid fibrils.16 They further contribute to many forms of cancer, diabetes and to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.17,18 Research into disordered proteins produced significant findings and established important new concepts. On the structural side, novel experimental and computational approaches identified and described disordered protein ensembles3,19,20 and led to terms such as secondary structure propensities, residual structural features, and transient long-range contacts.1,21 The discovery of coupled folding-and-binding reactions defined the paradigm of disorder-to-order transitions22 and high-resolution insights into the architectures of amyloid fibrils were obtained.23,24 On the biological side, we learned about the unexpected intracellular stability of disordered proteins, their roles in integrating post-translational protein modifications in cell signaling and about their functions in regulatory processes ranging from transcription to cell fate decisions.15,25,26 One open question remaining to be addressed is how these in vitro structural insights relate to biological in vivo effects. How do complex intracellular environments modulate the in vivo properties of disordered proteins and what are the implications for their biological functions (Figure 1)?27-29 Figure 1 Intracellular complexity. (A) Left: Cryo-electron tomography slice of a mammalian cell. Middle: Close-up view of cellular structures colored according to their identities: Right: Three-dimensional surface representation of the same region. Yellow, endoplasmic ... Here, we attempt to answer these questions by reviewing the physical and biological properties of intracellular environments in relation to structural and functional parameters of disordered proteins. Specifically, we discuss how IDPs may experience in vivo environments differently to ordered proteins. To this end, we provide a description of the compositional and physical parameters of the cellular milieu and their effects on ordered and disordered proteins (section 2). We evaluate how biological processes may act differently on ordered and disordered proteins (section 3) and discuss how combined physical and biological contributions modulate the intracellular aggregation behavior of IDPs (section 4). Finally, we review theoretical and experimental approaches to study the structural and functional properties of disordered proteins in cells (section 5).

Tyrosine phosphorylation within the intrinsically disordered cytosolic domains of the B-cell receptor: an NMR-based structural analysis.

Intrinsically disordered proteins are found extensively in cell signaling pathways where they often are targets of posttranslational modifications e.g. phosphorylation. Such modifications can sometimes induce or disrupt secondary structure elements present in the modified protein. CD79a and CD79b are membrane-spanning, signal-transducing components of the B-cell receptor. The cytosolic domains of these proteins are intrinsically disordered and each has an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM). When an antigen binds to the receptor, conserved tyrosines located in the ITAMs are phosphorylated which initiate further downstream signaling. Here we use NMR spectroscopy to examine the secondary structure propensity of the cytosolic domains of CD79a and CD79b in vitro before and after phosphorylation. The phosphorylation patterns are identified through analysis of changes of backbone chemical shifts found for the affected tyrosines and neighboring residues. The number of the phosphorylated sites is confirmed by mass spectrometry. The secondary structure propensities are calculated using the method of intrinsic referencing, where the reference random coil chemical shifts are measured for the same protein under denaturing conditions. Our analysis revealed that CD79a and CD79b both have an overall propensity for α-helical structure that is greatest in the C-terminal region of the ITAM. Phosphorylation of CD79a caused a decrease in helical propensity in the C-terminal ITAM region. For CD79b, the opposite was observed and phosphorylation resulted in an increase of helical propensity in the C-terminal part.

Discrete molecular dynamics can predict helical prestructured motifs in disordered proteins.

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) lack a stable tertiary structure, but their short binding regions termed Pre-Structured Motifs (PreSMo) can form transient secondary structure elements in solution. Although disordered proteins are crucial in many biological processes and designing strategies to modulate their function is highly important, both experimental and computational tools to describe their conformational ensembles and the initial steps of folding are sparse. Here we report that discrete molecular dynamics (DMD) simulations combined with replica exchange (RX) method efficiently samples the conformational space and detects regions populating α-helical conformational states in disordered protein regions. While the available computational methods predict secondary structural propensities in IDPs based on the observation of protein-protein interactions, our ab initio method rests on physical principles of protein folding and dynamics. We show that RX-DMD predicts α-PreSMos with high confidence confirmed by comparison to experimental NMR data. Moreover, the method also can dissect α-PreSMos in close vicinity to each other and indicate helix stability. Importantly, simulations with disordered regions forming helices in X-ray structures of complexes indicate that a preformed helix is frequently the binding element itself, while in other cases it may have a role in initiating the binding process. Our results indicate that RX-DMD provides a breakthrough in the structural and dynamical characterization of disordered proteins by generating the structural ensembles of IDPs even when experimental data are not available.

The hairpin conformation of the amyloid β peptide is an important structural motif along the aggregation pathway.

The amyloid β (Aβ) peptides are 39-42 residue-long peptides found in the senile plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. These peptides self-aggregate in aqueous solution, going from soluble and mainly unstructured monomers to insoluble ordered fibrils. The aggregation process(es) are strongly influenced by environmental conditions. Several lines of evidence indicate that the neurotoxic species are the intermediate oligomeric states appearing along the aggregation pathways. This minireview summarizes recent findings, mainly based on solution and solid-state NMR experiments and electron microscopy, which investigate the molecular structures and characteristics of the Aβ peptides at different stages along the aggregation pathways. We conclude that a hairpin-like conformation constitutes a common motif for the Aβ peptides in most of the described structures. There are certain variations in different hairpin conformations, for example regarding H-bonding partners, which could be one reason for the molecular heterogeneity observed in the aggregated systems. Interacting hairpins are the building blocks of the insoluble fibrils, again with variations in how hairpins are organized in the cross-section of the fibril, perpendicular to the fibril axis. The secondary structure propensities can be seen already in peptide monomers in solution. Unfortunately, detailed structural information about the intermediate oligomeric states is presently not available. In the review, special attention is given to metal ion interactions, particularly the binding constants and ligand structures of Aβ complexes with Cu(II) and Zn(II), since these ions affect the aggregation process(es) and are considered to be involved in the molecular mechanisms underlying AD pathology.

Estimated Secondary Structure Propensities within V1/V2 Region of HIV gp120 Are an Important Global Antibody Neutralization Sensitivity Determinant

BackgroundNeutralization sensitivity of HIV-1 virus to antibodies and anti-sera varies greatly between the isolates. Significant role of V1/V2 domain as a global neutralization sensitivity regulator has been suggested. Recent X-ray structures revealed presence of well-defined tertiary structure within this domain but also demonstrated partial disorder and conformational heterogeneity.MethodsCorrelations of neutralization sensitivity with the conformational propensities for beta-strand and alpha-helix formation over the entire folded V1/V2 domain as well as within sliding 5-residue window were investigated. Analysis was based on a set of neutralization data for 106 HIV isolates for which consistent neutralization sensitivity measurements against multiple pools of human immune sera have been previously reported.ResultsSignificant correlation between beta-sheet formation propensity of the folded segments of V1/V2 domain and neutralization sensitivity was observed. Strongest correlation peaks localized to the beta-strands B and C. Correlation persisted when subsets of HIV isolates belonging to clades B, C and circulating recombinant form BC where analyzed individually or in combinations.ConclusionsObserved correlations suggest that stability of the beta-sheet structure and/or degree of structural disorder in the V1/V2 domain is an important determinant of the global neutralization sensitivity of HIV-1 virus. While specific mechanism is to yet to be investigated, plausible hypothesis is that less ordered V1/V2s may have stronger masking effect on various neutralizing epitopes, perhaps effectively occupying larger volume and thereby occluding antibody access.

Diverse sequences are functional at the C-terminus of the E. coli periplasmic chaperone SurA

SurA is a major periplasmic molecular chaperone in Escherichia coli and has been shown to assist the biogenesis of several outer membrane proteins. The C-terminal fragment of SurA folds into a short β-strand, which forms a small three-stranded anti-parallel β-sheet module with the N-terminal β-hairpin. We found that the length of the C-terminal fragment, rather than its exact amino acid composition, had a big impact on SurA function. To investigate the determinant factor of the C-terminal sequence, we created a library of SurA constructs randomized in the last 10 residues. We screened the library and randomly analyzed 19 constructs that displayed SurA activity. The C-termini of these constructs shared little sequence similarity, except that β-strand-forming residues were preferentially enriched. Three SurA constructs were expressed and purified for structural characterization. Circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy analyses revealed that their structures were similar to the structure of the wild-type SurA. Our results suggest that for scaffolding purpose proteins may tolerate various sequences provided certain general requirements such as hydrophobicity and secondary structure propensity are satisfied. Furthermore, the sequence tolerance of SurA at the C-terminus indicates that this area is not likely to be involved in substrate binding.

Mapping Residual Structure in Disordered Protein Ensembles with Millisecond H/D Exchange Mass Spectrometry

Interactions of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP) with their binding partners often involve coupled binding and folding. A long-standing question is the extent to which folding of the IDP is mediated by selection of a folded conformer from the disordered state ensemble rather than folding induced by interaction with the binding partner. Answering this question requires detailed information about the disordered state ensemble, in particular the extent to which the IDP possesses residual structure. Yet obtaining this type of information at near-atomic resolution remains challenging. To address this need, we have developed an approach based on millisecond quench-flow amide H/D exchange and mass spectrometry to measure residual structure. In the present work, we examine residual structure in the disordered CBP-binding domain of ACTR as a model system for validation. Following millisecond H/D exchange and acid quench, digestion with pepsin produced a set of 67 highly-overlapping fragments covering the entire 77-resdidue sequence. Residue-by-residue analysis of empirically-determined H/D exchange half-life obtained from each ACTR fragment provided exchange kinetics at near-residue resolution. In ACTR, we found that the regions that are known adopt an α-helical fold upon binding to CBP became more protected from H/D exchange than the structured loop regions. We also found that most of the N-terminal region, which does not appear in the solved structure, was the least protected. There was also evidence of slight protection in a short stretch of the N-terminal region. Our results are consistent both with a recent analysis of residual structure obtained from NMR secondary shift measurements and with the AGADIR helicity prediction algorithm. Our results demonstrate the utility of millisecond H/D exchange for mapping secondary structural propensity in disordered state ensembles with near-residue resolution.

Conformational Equilibrium between the Sub States of the Acidic Denatured State of ACBP Determined by NMR Chemical Shifts and Metadynamics

NMR Chemical shifts have recently gain renovated attention as a probe for both the structure and the dynamics of proteins. The structure and the dynamics of folded proteins can be elucidated straightforwardly from the backbone chemical shifts at least for small to medium sized protein. In the denatured state and for intrinsically disordered proteins chemical shifts are routinely used as probe for secondary structure propensities and populations and have been also used as a probe for tertiary structure contact propensities. In this work we show how chemical shifts, together with an appropriate advanced sampling method, can be successfully used to determine the structure and the dynamics of the denatured state of ACBP, an 86 residues long proteins, in acidic conditions. Chemical shifts are used as replica-averaged restrained to improve the quality of the molecular mechanic force field in the Maximum Entropy framework and Bias-Exchange Metadynamics is used to achieve a converged sampling of the large conformational space of an unfolded protein.View Large Image | View Hi-Res Image | Download PowerPoint Slide

Fluorinated amino acids in amyloid formation: a symphony of size, hydrophobicity and α-helix propensity

Fluorinated amino acids can have dramatic effects on protein stability and protein–protein interactions due to the unique stereoelectronic properties of fluorine. Previous approaches to assessing their properties have mainly focused on helical systems, even though fluoro-amino acids are known to exhibit lower intrinsic helix propensities than their hydrocarbon analogues. Fluorination of specific β-sheet positions within globular proteins has been shown to have a stabilizing effect, suggesting that fluorinated amino acids may generally be well suitable for modulating non-helical structures. Still, fluorinated amino acids have rarely been studied in amyloid forming peptides, which take on a characteristically high cross-β-sheet content. Here, we examine the substitution of natural amino acids within an amyloid forming model peptide by amino acids that contain different stoichiometries of fluorine in their side chains. This approach enables a systematic evaluation of the impact of fluorine on amyloid formation. We have investigated the impact of size, hydrophobicity and secondary structure propensities of the fluorinated amino acids on the amyloid formation process. The structure of the model peptide is based on an engineered coiled coil folding motif that was designed to provide an α-helical starting structure that can fold into β-sheet rich amyloids under controlled conditions. Substitution with fluorinated amino acids was accomplished for two neighboring valine residues that play a key role in the structural transition. The resulting peptides show an unexpected folding behavior as a consequence of the interplay of stereoelectronic effects, helix propensity, hydrophobicity and position of the particular substitution within the amyloid forming system.

Quantitative PCR as a Predictor of Aligned Ancient DNA Read Counts Following Targeted Enrichment

Targeted DNA enrichment through hybridization capture (EHC) is rapidly replacing PCR as the method of choice for enrichment prior to genomic resequencing. This is especially true in the case of ancient DNA (aDNA) from long-dead organisms, where targets tend to be highly fragmented and outnumbered by contaminant DNA. However, the behavior of EHC using aDNA has been quite variable, making success difficult to predict and preventing efficient sample equilibration during multiplexed sequencing runs. Here, we evaluate whether quantitative PCR (qPCR) measurements of aDNA samples correlate with on-target read counts before and after EHC. Our data indicate that not only do simple target qPCRs correlate strongly with high-throughput sequencing (HTS) data but that certain sample characteristics, such as overall target abundance as well as experimental parameters (e.g., bait concentration and secondary structure propensity), consistently influenced enrichment of our diverse set of aDNA samples. Taken together, our results should help guide experimental design, screening strategies, and multiplexed sample equilibration, increasing yield and reducing the expected and actual cost of aDNA EHC high-throughput sequencing projects in the future.

Prion versus Doppel Protein Misfolding: New Insights from Replica-Exchange Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The doppel (Dpl) and prion (PrP) proteins share a very similar fold (three helices and two short β-strands), while they differ significantly in sequence (only 25% homologous) and in disease-related β-rich conformations that occur for PrP only. In a previous study [Baillod, P., et al. (2012) Biochemistry 51, 9891-9899], we investigated the misfolding and rare, β-rich folds of monomeric PrP with replica-exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulations. In the work presented here, we perform analogous simulations for Dpl with the aim of comparing the two systems and characterizing possible specificities of PrP for misfolding and amyloidogenesis. Our extensive simulations, which allow us to overcome high energy barriers via the REMD approach, sample several β-rich folds, some of which are stable at room temperature, for both proteins. Per residue secondary structure propensities reveal that novel β-sheets of Dpl and PrP are formed by amino acids belonging to the helices that are the least stable in the respective native structure, H1 for Dpl and H2 and H3 for PrP, in agreement with experimental data. Using a specific clustering method that allows discrimination against different β-strand arrangements, seven β-rich folds could be characterized for PrP and five for Dpl, which are clearly distinct and share only one single similar fold. A major difference between the two proteins is found in the free energy barriers leading to misfolded structures: they are approximately 3 times higher for Dpl than for PrP. This suggests that the difference in amyloidogenic behavior between PrP and Dpl might be due to kinetic reasons.

Predicting the Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Helix Formation in a Cyclic Peptide Model.

The peptide Ac-(cyclo-2,6)-R[KAAAD]-NH2 (cyc-RKAAAD) is a short cyclic peptide known to adopt a remarkably stable single turn α-helix in water. Due to its simplicity and the availability of thermodynamic and kinetic experimental data, cyc-RKAAAD poses as an ideal model for evaluating the aptness of current molecular dynamics (MD) simulation methodologies to accurately sample conformations that reproduce experimentally observed properties. In this work, we extensively sample the conformational space of cyc-RKAAAD using microsecond-timescale MD simulations. We characterize the peptide conformational preferences in terms of secondary structure propensities and, using Cartesian-coordinate principal component analysis (cPCA), construct its free energy landscape, thus obtaining a detailed weighted discrimination between the helical and nonhelical subensembles. The cPCA state discrimination, together with a Markov model built from it, allowed us to estimate the free energy of unfolding (-0.57 kJ/mol) and the relaxation time (∼0.435 μs) at 298.15 K, which are in excellent agreement with the experimentally reported values (-0.22 kJ/mol and 0.42 μs, Serrano, A. L.; Tucker, M. J.; Gai, F. J. Phys. Chem. B, 2011, 115, 7472-7478.). Additionally, we present simulations conducted using two enhanced sampling methods: replica-exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) and bias-exchange metadynamics (BE-MetaD). We compare the free energy landscape obtained by these two methods with the results from MD simulations and discuss the sampling and computational gains achieved. Overall, the results obtained attest to the suitability of modern simulation methods to explore the conformational behavior of peptide systems with a high level of realism.

The investigation of the secondary structure propensities and free-energy landscapes of peptide ligands by replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations

The conformational states of two peptide sequences that bind to staphylococcal enterotoxin B are sampled by replica exchange molecular dynamic (REMD) simulations in explicit water. REMD simulations were treated with 52 replicas in the range of 280–501 K for both peptides. The conformational ensembles of both peptides are dominated by random coil, bend and turn structures with a small amount of helical structures for each temperature. In addition, while an insignificant presence of β-bridge structures were observed for both peptides, the β-sheet structure was observed only for peptide 3. The results obtained from simulations at 300 K are consistent with the experimental results obtained from circular dichroism spectroscopy. From the analysis of REMD results, we also calculated hydrophobic and hydrophilic solvent accessible surface areas for both peptides, and it was observed that the hydrophobic segments of the peptides tend to form bend or turn structures. Moreover, the free-energy landscapes of both peptides were obtained by principal component analysis to understand how the secondary structural properties change according to their complex space. From the free-energy analysis, we have found several minima for both peptides at decreased temperature. For these obvious minima of both peptides, it was observed that the random coil, bend and turn structures are still dominant and the helix, β-bridge or β-sheet structures can appear or disappear with respect to minima. On the other hand, when we compare the results of REMD with conventional MD simulations for these peptides, the configurations of peptide 3 might be trapped in energy minima during the conventional MD simulations. Hence, it can be said that the REMD simulations have provided a sufficiently high sampling efficiency.

Mechanistic Insight into the Relationship between N-Terminal Acetylation of α-Synuclein and Fibril Formation Rates by NMR and Fluorescence

Aggregation of α-synuclein (αSyn), the primary protein component in Lewy body inclusions of patients with Parkinson’s disease, arises when the normally soluble intrinsically disordered protein converts to amyloid fibrils. In this work, we provide a mechanistic view of the role of N-terminal acetylation on fibrillation by first establishing a quantitative relationship between monomer secondary structural propensity and fibril assembly kinetics, and secondly by demonstrating in the N-terminal acetylated form of the early onset A53T mutation, that N-terminal transient helices formed and/or inhibited by N-terminal acetylation modulate the fibril assembly rates. Using NMR chemical shifts and fluorescence experiments, we report that secondary structural propensity in residues 5–8, 14–31, and 50–57 are highly correlated to fibril growth rate. A four-way comparison of secondary structure propensity and fibril growth rates of N-terminally acetylated A53T and WT αSyn with non-acetylated A53T and WT αSyn present novel mechanistic insight into the role of N-terminal acetylation in amyloid fibril formation. We show that N-terminal acetylation inhibits the formation of the “fibrillation promoting” transient helix at residues 14–31 resulting from the A53T mutation in the non-acetylated variant and supports the formation of the “fibrillation inhibiting” transient helix in residues 1–12 thereby resulting in slower fibrillation rates relative to the previously studied non-acetylated A53T variant. Our results highlight the critical interplay of the region-specific transient secondary structure of the N-terminal region with fibrillation, and the inhibitory role of the N-terminal acetyl group in fibril formation.

Probing the transient dark state of substrate binding to GroEL by relaxation-based solution NMR

The mechanism whereby the prototypical chaperonin GroEL performs work on substrate proteins has not yet been fully elucidated, hindered by lack of detailed structural and dynamic information on the bound substrate. Previous investigations have produced conflicting reports on the state of GroEL-bound polypeptides, largely due to the transient and dynamic nature of these complexes. Here, we present a unique approach, based on combined analysis of four complementary relaxation-based NMR experiments, to probe directly the "dark" NMR-invisible state of the model, intrinsically disordered, polypeptide amyloid β (Aβ40) bound to GroEL. The four NMR experiments, lifetime line-broadening, dark-state exchange saturation transfer, relaxation dispersion, and small exchange-induced chemical shifts, are dependent in different ways on the overall exchange rates and populations of the free and bound states of the substrate, as well as on residue-specific dynamics and structure within the bound state as reported by transverse magnetization relaxation rates and backbone chemical shifts, respectively. Global fitting of all the NMR data shows that the complex is transient with a lifetime of <1 ms, that binding involves two predominantly hydrophobic segments corresponding to predicted GroEL consensus binding sequences, and that the structure of the bound polypeptide remains intrinsically and dynamically disordered with minimal changes in secondary structure propensity relative to the free state. Our results establish a unique method to observe NMR-invisible dynamic states of GroEL-bound substrates and to describe at atomic resolution the events between substrate binding and encapsulation that are crucial for understanding the normal and stress-related metabolic function of chaperonins.

The C-Terminal V5 Domain of Protein Kinase Cα Is Intrinsically Disordered, with Propensity to Associate with a Membrane Mimetic

The C-terminal V5 domain is one of the most variable domains in Protein Kinase C isoforms (PKCs). V5 confers isoform specificity on its parent enzyme through interactions with isoform-specific adaptor proteins and possibly through specific intra-molecular interactions with other PKC domains. The structural information about V5 domains in solution is sparse. The objective of this work was to determine the conformational preferences of the V5 domain from the α isoform of PKC (V5α) and evaluate its ability to associate with membrane mimetics. We show that V5α and its phosphorylation-mimicking variant, dmV5α, are intrinsically disordered protein domains. Phosphorylation-mimicking mutations do not alter the overall conformation of the polypeptide backbone, as evidenced by the local nature of chemical shift perturbations and the secondary structure propensity scores. However, the population of the “cis-trans” conformer of the Thr638-Pro639-Pro640 turn motif, which has been implicated in the down-regulation of PKCα via peptidyl-prolyl isomerase Pin1, increases in dmV5α, along with the conformational flexibility of the region between the turn and hydrophobic motifs. Both wild type and dmV5α associate with micelles made of a zwitterionic detergent, n-dodecylphosphocholine. Upon micelle binding, V5α acquires a higher propensity to form helical structures at the conserved “NFD” motif and the entire C-terminal third of the domain. The ability of V5α to partition into the hydrophobic micellar environment suggests that it may serve as a membrane anchor during the PKC maturation process.