Single-site Mutations Research Articles

Molecular Determinants of Mutant Phenotypes, Inferred from Saturation Mutagenesis Data.

Understanding how mutations affect protein activity and organismal fitness is a major challenge. We used saturation mutagenesis combined with deep sequencing to determine mutational sensitivity scores for 1,664 single-site mutants of the 101 residue Escherichia coli cytotoxin, CcdB at seven different expression levels. Active-site residues could be distinguished from buried ones, based on their differential tolerance to aliphatic and charged amino acid substitutions. At nonactive-site positions, the average mutational tolerance correlated better with depth from the protein surface than with accessibility. Remarkably, similar results were observed for two other small proteins, PDZ domain (PSD95pdz3) and IgG-binding domain of protein G (GB1). Mutational sensitivity data obtained with CcdB were used to derive a procedure for predicting functional effects of mutations. Results compared favorably with those of two widely used computational predictors. In vitro characterization of 80 single, nonactive-site mutants of CcdB showed that activity in vivo correlates moderately with thermal stability and solubility. The inability to refold reversibly, as well as a decreased folding rate in vitro, is associated with decreased activity in vivo. Upon probing the effect of modulating expression of various proteases and chaperones on mutant phenotypes, most deleterious mutants showed an increased in vivo activity and solubility only upon over-expression of either Trigger factor or SecB ATP-independent chaperones. Collectively, these data suggest that folding kinetics rather than protein stability is the primary determinant of activity in vivo. This study enhances our understanding of how mutations affect phenotype, as well as the ability to predict fitness effects of point mutations.

Structural Polymorphism of Alzheimer's β-Amyloid Fibrils as Controlled by an E22 Switch: A Solid-State NMR Study.

The amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide of Alzheimer's disease (AD) forms polymorphic fibrils on the micrometer and molecular scales. Various fibril growth conditions have been identified to cause polymorphism, but the intrinsic amino acid sequence basis for this polymorphism has been unclear. Several single-site mutations in the center of the Aβ sequence cause different disease phenotypes and fibrillization properties. The E22G (Arctic) mutant is found in familial AD and forms protofibrils more rapidly than wild-type Aβ. Here, we use solid-state NMR spectroscopy to investigate the structure, dynamics, hydration and morphology of Arctic E22G Aβ40 fibrils. (13)C, (15)N-labeled synthetic E22G Aβ40 peptides are studied and compared with wild-type and Osaka E22Δ Aβ40 fibrils. Under the same fibrillization conditions, Arctic Aβ40 exhibits a high degree of polymorphism, showing at least four sets of NMR chemical shifts for various residues, while the Osaka and wild-type Aβ40 fibrils show a single or a predominant set of chemical shifts. Thus, structural polymorphism is intrinsic to the Arctic E22G Aβ40 sequence. Chemical shifts and inter-residue contacts obtained from 2D correlation spectra indicate that one of the major Arctic conformers has surprisingly high structural similarity with wild-type Aβ42. (13)C-(1)H dipolar order parameters, (1)H rotating-frame spin-lattice relaxation times and water-to-protein spin diffusion experiments reveal substantial differences in the dynamics and hydration of Arctic, Osaka and wild-type Aβ40 fibrils. Together, these results strongly suggest that electrostatic interactions in the center of the Aβ peptide sequence play a crucial role in the three-dimensional fold of the fibrils, and by inference, fibril-induced neuronal toxicity and AD pathogenesis.

Single-Site Glycoprotein Mutants Inhibit a Late Event in Sindbis Virus Assembly.

A panel of Sindbis virus mutants that were suspected to have deficiencies in one or more aspects of their replication cycles was examined in baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells. These included an amino acid deletion (ΔH230) and substitution (H230A) in the Sindbis glycoprotein E1_H230 and similar mutants in E2_G209 (G209A, G209D, and ΔG209). Neither H230 mutation produced a measurable titer, but repeated passaging of the H230A mutant in BHK cells produced a second-site compensatory mutant (V231I) that partially rescued both H230 mutants. Electron micrograph (EM) images of these mutants showed assembled viral nucleocapsids but no completed, mature virions. EM of the compensatory mutant strains showed complete virus particles, but these now formed paracrystalline arrays. None of the E2_G209 substitution mutants had any effect on virus production; however, the deletion mutant (ΔG209) showed a very low titer when grown at 37°C and no titer when grown at 28°C. When the deletion mutant grown at 28°C was examined by EM, partially budded virions were observed at the cell surface. (35)S labeling of this mutant confirmed the presence of mutant virus protein in the transfected BHK cell lysate. We conclude that H230 is essential for the assembly of complete infectious Sindbis virus virions and that the presence of an amino acid at E2 position 209 is required for complete budding of Sindbis virus particles although several different amino acids can be at this location without affecting the titer. Our data show the importance of single-site mutations at E1_H230 and E2_G209 in Sindbis virus glycoproteins. These sites have been shown to affect assembly and antibody binding in previous studies. Our data indicate that mutation of one histidine residue in E1 is detrimental to the assembly of Sindbis virus particles in baby hamster kidney cells. Repeated passaging leads to a second-site substitution that partially restores the titer although EM still shows an altered phenotype. Substitutions at position G209 in E2 have no effect on titer, but deletion of this residue greatly reduces titer and again prevents assembly. When this mutant is grown at a lower temperature, virus particles bud from the host cell, but budding arrests before the progeny virus escapes. These results allow us to conclude that these sites have essential roles in assembly, and E2_G209 shows us a new viral egress phenotype.

Hydrostatic Pressure Studies Distinguish Global from Local Protein Motions in C-H Activation by Soybean Lipoxygenase-1.

The proposed contributions of distinct classes of local versus global protein motions during enzymatic bond making/breaking processes has been difficult to verify. We employed soybean lipoxygenase-1 as a model system to investigate the impact of high pressure at variable temperatures on the hydrogen-tunneling properties of the wild-type protein and three single-site mutants. For all variants, pressure dramatically elevates the enthalpies of activation for the C-H activation. In contrast, the primary kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) for C-H activation and their corresponding temperature dependencies remain unchanged up to ca. 700 bar. The differential impact of elevated hydrostatic pressure on the temperature dependencies of rate constants versus substrate KIEs provides direct evidence for two distinct classes of protein motions: local, isotope-dependent donor-acceptor distance-sampling modes, and a more global, isotope-independent search for productive protein conformational sub-states.

High-quality Thermodynamic Data on the Stability Changes of Proteins Upon Single-site Mutations

We have set up and manually curated a dataset containing experimental information on the impact of amino acid substitutions in a protein on its thermal stability. It consists of a repository of experimentally measured melting temperatures (Tm) and their changes upon point mutations (ΔTm) for proteins having a well-resolved x-ray structure. This high-quality dataset is designed for being used for the training or benchmarking of in silico thermal stability prediction methods. It also reports other experimentally measured thermodynamic quantities when available, i.e., the folding enthalpy (ΔH) and heat capacity (ΔCP) of the wild type proteins and their changes upon mutations (ΔΔH and ΔΔCP), as well as the change in folding free energy (ΔΔG) at a reference temperature. These data are analyzed in view of improving our insights into the correlation between thermal and thermodynamic stabilities, the asymmetry between the number of stabilizing and destabilizing mutations, and the difference in stabilization potential of thermostable versus mesostable proteins.

Oncogenic mutations and dysregulated pathways in obesity-associated hepatocellular carcinoma.

Epidemiological studies showed that obesity and its related non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) promote hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. We aimed to uncover the genetic alterations of NAFLD-HCC using whole-exome sequencing. We compared HCC development in genetically obese mice and dietary obese mice with wild-type lean mice fed a normal chow after treatment with diethylnitrosamine. HCC tumor and adjacent normal samples from obese and lean mice were then subjected to whole-exome sequencing. Functional and mechanistic importance of the identified mutations in Carboxyl ester lipase (Cel) gene and Harvey rat sarcoma virus oncogene 1 (Hras) was further elucidated. We demonstrated significantly higher incidences of HCC in both genetic and dietary obese mice with NAFLD development as compared with lean mice without NAFLD. The mutational signatures of NAFLD-HCC and lean HCC were distinct, with <3% overlapped. Eight metabolic or oncogenic pathways were found to be significantly enriched by mutated genes in NAFLD-HCC, but only two of these pathways were dysregulated by mutations in lean HCC. In particular, Cel was mutated significantly more frequently in NAFLD-HCC than in lean HCC. The multiple-site mutations in Cel are loss-of-function mutations, with effects similar to Cel knock-down. Mutant Cel caused accumulation of cholesteryl ester in liver cells, which led to induction of endoplasmic reticulum stress and consequently activated the IRE1α/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/c-Jun/activating protein-1 (AP-1) signaling cascade to promote liver cell growth. In addition, single-site mutations in Hras at codon 61 were found in NAFLD-HCC but none in lean HCC. The gain-of-function mutations in Hras (Q61R and Q61K) significantly promoted liver cell growth through activating the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K)/3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK1)/Akt pathways. In conclusion, we have identified mutation signature and pathways in NAFLD-associated HCC. Mutations in Cel and Hras have important roles in NAFLD-associated hepatocellular carcinogenesis.

Triazole resistance mediated by mutations of a conserved active site tyrosine in fungal lanosterol 14α-demethylase.

Emergence of fungal strains showing resistance to triazole drugs can make treatment of fungal disease problematic. Triazole resistance can arise due to single mutations in the drug target lanosterol 14α-demethylase (Erg11p/CYP51). We have determined how commonly occurring single site mutations in pathogenic fungi affect triazole binding using Saccharomyces cerevisiae Erg11p (ScErg11p) as a target surrogate. The mutations Y140F/H were introduced into full-length hexahistidine-tagged ScErg11p. Phenotypes and high-resolution X-ray crystal structures were determined for the mutant enzymes complexed with short-tailed (fluconazole and voriconazole) or long-tailed (itraconazole and posaconazole) triazoles and wild type enzyme complexed with voriconazole. The mutations disrupted a water-mediated hydrogen bond network involved in binding of short-tailed triazoles, which contain a tertiary hydroxyl not present in long-tailed triazoles. This appears to be the mechanism by which resistance to these short chain azoles occurs. Understanding how these mutations affect drug affinity will aid the design of azoles that overcome resistance.

ImiRP: a computational approach to microRNA target site mutation.

BackgroundMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small ~22 nucleotide non-coding RNAs that function as post-transcriptional regulators of messenger RNA (mRNA) through base-pairing to 6–8 nucleotide long target sites, usually located within the mRNA 3’ untranslated region. A common approach to validate and probe microRNA-mRNA interactions is to mutate predicted target sites within the mRNA and determine whether it affects miRNA-mediated activity. The introduction of miRNA target site mutations, however, is potentially problematic as it may generate new, “illegitimate sites” target sites for other miRNAs, which may affect the experimental outcome. While it is possible to manually generate and check single miRNA target site mutations, this process can be time consuming, and becomes particularly onerous and error prone when multiple sites are to be mutated simultaneously. We have developed a modular Java-based system called ImiRP (Illegitimate miRNA Predictor) to solve this problem and to facilitate miRNA target site mutagenesis.ResultsThe ImiRP interface allows users to input a sequence of interest, specify the locations of multiple predicted target sites to mutate, and set parameters such as species, mutation strategy, and disallowed illegitimate target site types. As mutant sequences are generated, ImiRP utilizes the miRBase high confidence miRNA dataset to identify illegitimate target sites in each mutant sequence by comparing target site predictions between input and mutant sequences. ImiRP then assembles a final mutant sequence in which all specified target sites have been mutated.ConclusionsImiRP is a mutation generator program that enables selective disruption of specified miRNA target sites while ensuring predicted target sites for other miRNAs are not inadvertently created. ImiRP supports mutagenesis of single and multiple miRNA target sites within a given sequence, including sites that overlap. This software will be particularly useful for studies looking at microRNA cooperativity, where mutagenesis of multiple microRNA target sites may be desired. The software is available at imirp.org and is available open source for download through GitHub (https://github.com/imirp).Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12859-016-1057-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Tracking evolution of myoglobin stability in cetaceans using experimentally calibrated computational methods that account for generic protein relaxation

The evolution of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) from land to water is one of the most spectacular events in mammal evolution. It has been suggested that selection for higher myoglobin stability (∆G of folding) allowed whales to conquer the deep-diving niche. The stability of multi-site protein variants, including ancient proteins, is however hard to describe theoretically. From a compilation of experimental ∆∆G vs. ∆G we first find that protein substitutions are subject to large generic protein relaxation effects. Using this discovery, we develop a simple two-parameter model that predicts multi-site ∆∆G as accurately as standard methods do for single-site mutations and reproduces trends in contemporary myoglobin stabilities. We then apply this new method to the study of the evolution of Mb stability in cetaceans: With both methods the main change in stability (about 1kcal/mol) occurred very early, and stability was later relaxed in dolphins and porpoises, but was further increased in the sperm whales. This suggests that single proteins can affect whole organism evolution and indicates a role of Mb stability in the evolution of cetaceans. Transition to the deep-diving niche probably occurred already in the ancestor of contemporary baleen and toothed whales. In summary, we have discovered generic stability relaxation effects in proteins that, when incorporated into a simple model, improves the description of multi-site protein variants.

Control of the Position of Oxygen Delivery in Soybean Lipoxygenase-1 by Amino Acid Side Chains within a Gas Migration Channel

Understanding gas migration pathways is critical to unraveling structure-function relationships in enzymes that process gaseous substrates such as O2, H2, and N2 This work investigates the role of a defined pathway for O2 in regulating the peroxidation of linoleic acid by soybean lipoxygenase 1. Computational and mutagenesis studies provide strong support for a dominant delivery channel that shuttles molecular oxygen to a specific region of the active site, thereby ensuring the regio- and stereospecificity of product. Analysis of reaction kinetics and product distribution in channel mutants also reveals a plasticity to the gas migration pathway. The findings show that a single site mutation (I553W) limits oxygen accessibility to the active site, greatly increasing the fraction of substrate that reacts with oxygen free in solution. They also show how a neighboring site mutation (L496W) can result in a redirection of oxygen toward an alternate position of the substrate, changing the regio- and stereospecificity of peroxidation. The present data indicate that modest changes in a protein scaffold may modulate the access of small gaseous molecules to enzyme-bound substrates.

Transglutaminase Factor XIII Cross-Links Reactive Glutamines in Disordered Regions of Fibrinogen αC

Fibrinogen is the most abundant protein involved in blood coagulation and has been implicated in cardiovascular disease. During the formation of a blood clot, thrombin cleaves fibrinopeptides A and B from fibrinogen (AαBβγ)2 to form fibrin monomers (αβγ)2. Fibrin polymerization proceeds with the formation of protofibrils and a hard clot is only generated when the transglutaminase factor XIII (FXIII) introduces covalent γ-glutamyl-e-lysyl bonds between specific reactive glutamines and lysines in the fibrin clot network. The αC region (Aα221-610) of fibrinogen contains numerous reactive glutamines in the flexible αC-connector (221-392) and a FXIII binding site within αC (371-425). MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry assays and 2D 15N-1H HSQC NMR studies have been carried out on fibrinogen αC (233-425), a segment containing three known reactive glutamines (Q237, Q328, and Q366). FXIIIa crosslinks these three glutamines to the lysine mimic glycine ethyl ester (GEE) in the order Q237 >> Q366 > Q328. To better characterize this system, single site mutants have been generated in which the reactive glutamines (Q) are individually replaced with inactive asparagines (N). Work with these mutants suggests that FXIIIa does not require crosslinking to occur in a sequential manner. Each glutamine can be cross-linked independently of the other. Due to its highly flexible nature, the fibrinogen αC region has not been observed by X-ray crystallography. 2D HSQC NMR studies on 15N-labeled αC (233-425) suggest that this protein is intrinsically disordered. FXIIIa substrate specificity for specific reactive glutamines is predicted to be controlled by a combination of neighboring residues and the presence of regions of disorder. The knowledge gained from these studies can be used for subsequent assay and drug designs.

Interactions of a class IIb bacteriocin with a model lipid bilayer, investigated through molecular dynamics simulations

The emergence of antibiotic resistant microorganisms poses an alarming threat to global health. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered a possible effective alternative to conventional antibiotic therapies. An understanding of the mechanism of action of AMPs is needed in order to better control and optimize their bactericidal activity. Plantaricin EF is a heterodimeric AMP, consisting of two peptides Plantaricin E (PlnE) and Plantaricin F (PlnF). We studied the behavior of these peptides on the surface of a model lipid bilayer. We identified the residues that facilitate peptide–peptide interactions. We also identified residues that mediate interactions of the dimer with the membrane. PlnE interacts with the membrane through amino acids at both its termini, while only the N terminus of PlnF approaches the membrane. By comparing the activity of single-site mutants of the two-peptide bacteriocin and the simulations of the bacteriocin on the surface of a model lipid bilayer, structure activity relationships are proposed. These studies allow us to generate hypotheses that relate biophysical interactions observed in simulations with the experimentally measured activity. We find that single-site amino acid substitutions result in markedly stronger antimicrobial activity when they strengthen the interactions between the two peptides, while, concomitantly, they weaken peptide–membrane association. This effect is more pronounced in the case of the PlnE mutant (G20A), which interacts the strongest with PlnF and the weakest with the membrane while displaying the highest activity.

Use of Dominant-Negative/Substrate Trapping PTP Mutations to Search for PTP Interactors/Substrates.

Phosphorylation of proteins on tyrosine residues is the consequence of coordinated action of tyrosine kinases (TKs), and protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs). Together, they regulate intermolecular interactions, subcellular localization, and activity of a variety of proteins. The level of total protein-associated tyrosine phosphorylation in eukaryotic cells is only a small fraction of the total phosphorylation. PTPs, which have high specific activity compared to tyrosine kinases, play an important role in maintaining the tyrosine phosphorylation state of proteins and regulate signal transduction pathways and cellular responses. PTPs depend on specific invariant residues that enable binding to substrates phosphorylated at tyrosine and aid catalytic activity. Identification of PTP substrates has helped understand their role in distinct intracellular signaling pathways. Because of their high specific activity, the interaction between tyrosine phosphatases and their substrates is often very transient in the cellular context, and therefore identification of physiological substrates has been difficult. Single-site mutations in the enzymes stabilize interaction between the enzyme and its targets and have been used extensively to identify substrates. The mutations are either of the catalytic cysteine (Cys) residue or other invariant residues and have been classified as substrate-trapping mutants (STMs). These mutants often serve as dominant negatives that can inactivate effector functions of a specific PTP within cells. Considering their association with human disorders, inhibiting specific PTPs is important therapeutically. Since the catalytic domains are largely conserved, developing small-molecule inhibitors to a particular enzyme has proven difficult and therefore alternate strategies to block functions of individual enzymes are seriously being investigated. We provide a description of methods that will be useful to design strategies of using dominant-negative and substrate-trapping mutants for identifying novel interacting partners and substrates of PTPs.

Efficacy of Oleuropein Aglycone in the Treatment of Transthyretin-Amyloidosis

Transthyretin (TTR) is an amyloidogenic protein implicated in diseases such as senile systemic amyloidosis (SSA) and familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP), both characterized by extracellular deposition of insoluble amyloid fibrils in heart, peripheral nerves and other organs. In particular, fibrils in FAP patients are composed of single-site mutant TTR and among the numerous pathogenic variants Leu55 → Pro55 (L55P) is highly amyloidogenic and forms amyloid fibrils in vitro. TTR fibrils have been considered directly responsible of tissue impairment in FAP and SSA, but the unstable fibril precursors are increasingly considered the main responsible of cell sufferance and tissue impairment in amyloid diseases. The recent introduction in the clinical practice of synthetic TTR-stabilizing molecules that reduce protein aggregation provides the rationale to search natural effective molecules able to interfere with TTR amyloid aggregation by hindering the appearance of toxic species or by favouring the growth of harmless aggregates. We focused our study on the ability of Oleuropein aglycone (OleA), the main phenolic component of the extra virgin olive oil, to inhibit the toxic effects of wtand L55P- TTR amyloid. Our data offer the possibility to validate and optimize the use of OleA as itself or as a starting point to rationally design promising drugs that could enter in a clinical experimental phase.

Resistance Mechanisms and Molecular Docking Studies of Four Novel QoI Fungicides in Peronophythora litchii.

Peronophythora litchii is the causal agent of litchi downy blight. Enestroburin, SYP-1620, SYP-2815 and ZJ0712 are four novel QoI fungicides developed by China. Eight mutants of P. litchii resistant to these QoI fungicides and azoxystrobin (as a known QoI fungicide) were obtained in our preliminary work. In this study, the full length of the cytochrome b gene in P. litchii, which has a full length of 382 amino acids, was cloned from both sensitive isolates and resistant mutants, and single-site mutations G142A, G142S, Y131C, or F128S were found in resistant mutants. Molecular docking was used to predict how the mutations alter the binding of the five QoI fungicides to the Qo-binding pockets. The results have increased our understanding of QoI fungicide-resistance mechanisms and may help in the development of more potent inhibitors against plant diseases in the fields.

F429 Regulation of Tunnels in Cytochrome P450 2B4: A Top Down Study of Multiple Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

The root causes of the outcomes of the single-site mutation in enzymes remain by and large not well understood. This is the case of the F429H mutant of the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2B4 enzyme where the substitution, on the proximal surface of the active site, of a conserved phenylalanine 429 residue with histidine seems to hamper the formation of the active species, Compound I (porphyrin cation radical-Fe(IV) = O, Cpd I) from the ferric hydroperoxo (Fe(III)OOH-, Cpd 0) precursor. Here we report a study based on extensive molecular dynamic (MD) simulations of 4 CYP-2B4 point mutations compared to the WT enzyme, having the goal of better clarifying the importance of the proximal Phe429 residue on CYP 2B4 catalytic properties. To consolidate the huge amount of data coming from five simulations and extract the most distinct structural features of the five species studied we made an extensive use of cluster analysis. The results show that all studied single polymorphisms of F429, with different side chain properties: i) drastically alter the reservoir of conformations accessible by the protein, perturbing global dynamics ii) expose the thiolate group of residue Cys436 to the solvent, altering the electronic properties of Cpd0 and iii) affect the various ingress and egress channels connecting the distal sites with the bulk environment, altering the reversibility of these channels. In particular, it was observed that the wild type enzyme exhibits unique structural features as compared to all mutant species in terms of weak interactions (hydrogen bonds) that generate a completely different dynamical behavior of the complete system. Albeit not conclusive, the current computational investigation sheds some light on the subtle and critical effects that proximal single-site mutations can exert on the functional mechanisms of human microsomal CYPs which should go rather far beyond local structure characterization.

Mapping the topographic epitope landscape on the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) by surface plasmon resonance and X-ray crystallography.

The urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR or CD87) is a glycolipid-anchored membrane protein often expressed in the microenvironment of invasive solid cancers and high levels are generally associated with poor patient prognosis (Kriegbaum et al., 2011 [1]). uPAR is organized as a dynamic modular protein structure composed of three homologous Ly6/uPAR domains (LU).This internally flexible protein structure of uPAR enables an allosteric regulation of the interactions with its two principal ligands: the serine protease urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and the provisional matrix protein vitronectin (Vn) (Mertens et al., 2012; Gårdsvoll et al., 2011; Madsen et al., 2007 [2–4]). The data presented here relates to the non-covalent trapping of one of these biologically relevant uPAR-conformations by a novel class of monoclonal antibodies (Zhao et al., 2015 [5]) and to the general mapping of the topographic epitope landscape on uPAR. The methods required to achieve these data include: (1) recombinant expression and purification of a uPAR-hybrid protein trapped in the desired conformation [patent; WO 2013/020898 A12013]; (2) developing monoclonal antibodies with unique specificities using this protein as antigen; (3) mapping the functional epitope on uPAR for these mAbs by surface plasmon resonance with a complete library of purified single-site uPAR mutants (Zhao et al., 2015; Gårdsvoll et al., 2006 [5,6]); and finally (4) solving the three-dimensional structures for one of these mAbs by X-ray crystallography alone and in complex with uPAR [deposited in the PDB database as 4QTH and 4QTI, respectively].

Engineering of Alicyclobacillus hesperidum l-Arabinose Isomerase for Improved Catalytic Activity and Reduced pH Optimum Using Random and Site-Directed Mutagenesis

A mutation, D478N, was obtained by an error-prone polymerase chain reaction using the L-arabinose isomerase (L-AI) gene from Alicyclobacillus hesperidum URH17-3-68 as the template. The mutated isomerase showed higher activity for D-galactose isomerization. The mutation site obtained from random mutagenesis was then introduced as a single-site mutation using site-directed mutagenesis. Single-site variants, D478N, D478Q, D478A, D478K, and D478R, were constructed. The optimum temperatures were all higher than 60°C. D478A, D478N, and D478Q retained more than 80% of the maximum relative activity of the wild-type L-AI at 75°C. With the exception of the D478A variant, all variants showed decreased optimum pH values in the acidic range (6.0-6.5). All of the variant L-AIs could be significantly activated by the addition of Co(2+) and Mn(2+). D478N and D478Q showed higher catalytic efficiencies (k cat/K m) toward D-galactose than that of wild-type L-AI. In addition, the D478N and D478Q variants exhibited a much higher conversion ratio of D-galactose to D-tagatose at 6.0 than the wild-type L-AI. According to the molecular model, residue D478 was located on the surface of the enzyme and distant from the active site. It was supposed that the charged state of residue 478 may influence the optimum pH for substrate binding or isomerization.

Protein Conformational Changes Are Detected and Resolved Site Specifically by Second-Harmonic Generation

We present here a straightforward, broadly applicable technique for real-time detection and measurement of protein conformational changes in solution. This method is based on tethering proteins labeled with a second-harmonic generation (SHG) active dye to supported lipid bilayers. We demonstrate our method by measuring the conformational changes that occur upon ligand binding with three well-characterized proteins labeled at lysine residues: calmodulin (CaM), maltose-binding protein (MBP), and dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). We also create a single-site cysteine mutant of DHFR engineered within the Met20 catalytic loop region and study the protein’s structural motion at this site. Using published x-ray crystal structures, we show that the changes in the SHG signals upon ligand binding are the result of structural motions that occur at the labeled sites between the apo and ligand-bound forms of the proteins, which are easily distinguished from each other. In addition, we demonstrate that different magnitudes of the SHG signal changes are due to different and specific ligand-induced conformational changes. Taken together, these data illustrate the potential of the SHG approach for detecting and measuring protein conformational changes for a wide range of biological applications.

Three N-Glycosylation Sites of Human Acetylcholinesterase Shares Similar Glycan Composition.

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.7) is a glycoprotein possessing three conserved N-linked glycosylation sites in mammalian species, locating at 296, 381, and 495 residues of the human sequence. Several lines of evidence demonstrated that N-glycosylation of AChE affected the enzymatic activity, as well as its biosynthesis. In order to determine the role of three N-glycosylation sites in AChE activity and glycan composition, the site-directed mutagenesis of N-glycosylation sites in wild-type human AChE(T) sequence was employed to generate the single-site mutants (i.e., AChE(T) (N296Q), AChET (N381Q), and AChE(T) (N495Q)) and all site mutant (i.e., AChE(T) (3N→3Q)). The mutation did not affect AChE protein expression in the transfected cells. The mutants, AChE(T) (3N→3Q) and AChE(T) (N381Q), showed very minimal enzymatic activity, while the other mutants showed reduced activity. By binding to lectins, Con A, and SNA, the glycosylation profile was revealed in those mutated AChE. The binding affinity with lectins showed no significant difference between various N-glycosylation mutants, which suggested that similar glycan composition should be resulted from different N-glycosylation sites. Although the three glycosylation sites within AChE sequence have different extent in affecting the enzymatic activity, their glycan compositions are very similar.