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Journal articles on the topic 'Protein conformation'
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1
Cresti, Julianna R., Abramo J. Manfredonia, Christopher E. Bragança, Joseph A. Boscia, Christina M. Hurley, Mary D. Cundiff, and Daniel A. Kraut. "Proteasomal conformation controls unfolding ability." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, no. 25 (June 14, 2021): e2101004118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101004118.
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The 26S proteasome is the macromolecular machine responsible for the bulk of protein degradation in eukaryotic cells. As it degrades a ubiquitinated protein, the proteasome transitions from a substrate-accepting conformation (s1) to a set of substrate-processing conformations (s3 like), each stabilized by different intramolecular contacts. Tools to study these conformational changes remain limited, and although several interactions have been proposed to be important for stabilizing the proteasome’s various conformations, it has been difficult to test these directly under equilibrium conditions. Here, we describe a conformationally sensitive Förster resonance energy transfer assay, in which fluorescent proteins are fused to Sem1 and Rpn6, which are nearer each other in substrate-processing conformations than in the substrate-accepting conformation. Using this assay, we find that two sets of interactions, one involving Rpn5 and another involving Rpn2, are both important for stabilizing substrate-processing conformations. Mutations that disrupt these interactions both destabilize substrate-processing conformations relative to the substrate-accepting conformation and diminish the proteasome’s ability to successfully unfold and degrade hard-to-unfold substrates, providing a link between the proteasome’s conformational state and its unfolding ability.
2
Ohhashi, Yumiko, Yoshiki Yamaguchi, Hiroshi Kurahashi, Yuji O. Kamatari, Shinju Sugiyama, Boran Uluca, Timo Piechatzek, et al. "Molecular basis for diversification of yeast prion strain conformation." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 10 (February 21, 2018): 2389–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1715483115.
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Self-propagating β-sheet–rich fibrillar protein aggregates, amyloid fibers, are often associated with cellular dysfunction and disease. Distinct amyloid conformations dictate different physiological consequences, such as cellular toxicity. However, the origin of the diversity of amyloid conformation remains unknown. Here, we suggest that altered conformational equilibrium in natively disordered monomeric proteins leads to the adaptation of alternate amyloid conformations that have different phenotypic effects. We performed a comprehensive high-resolution structural analysis of Sup35NM, an N-terminal fragment of the Sup35 yeast prion protein, and found that monomeric Sup35NM harbored latent local compact structures despite its overall disordered conformation. When the hidden local microstructures were relaxed by genetic mutations or solvent conditions, Sup35NM adopted a strikingly different amyloid conformation, which redirected chaperone-mediated fiber fragmentation and modulated prion strain phenotypes. Thus, dynamic conformational fluctuations in natively disordered monomeric proteins represent a posttranslational mechanism for diversification of aggregate structures and cellular phenotypes.
3
Cretin, Gabriel, Tatiana Galochkina, Alexandre G. de Brevern, and Jean-Christophe Gelly. "PYTHIA: Deep Learning Approach for Local Protein Conformation Prediction." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 22, no. 16 (August 17, 2021): 8831. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22168831.
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Protein Blocks (PBs) are a widely used structural alphabet describing local protein backbone conformation in terms of 16 possible conformational states, adopted by five consecutive amino acids. The representation of complex protein 3D structures as 1D PB sequences was previously successfully applied to protein structure alignment and protein structure prediction. In the current study, we present a new model, PYTHIA (predicting any conformation at high accuracy), for the prediction of the protein local conformations in terms of PBs directly from the amino acid sequence. PYTHIA is based on a deep residual inception-inside-inception neural network with convolutional block attention modules, predicting 1 of 16 PB classes from evolutionary information combined to physicochemical properties of individual amino acids. PYTHIA clearly outperforms the LOCUSTRA reference method for all PB classes and demonstrates great performance for PB prediction on particularly challenging proteins from the CASP14 free modelling category.
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Seo, Udeok, Ku-Jin Kim, and Beom Kang. "An Algorithm for Computing Side Chain Conformational Variations of a Protein Tunnel/Channel." Molecules 23, no. 10 (September 26, 2018): 2459. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules23102459.
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In this paper, a novel method to compute side chain conformational variations for a protein molecule tunnel (or channel) is proposed. From the conformational variations, we compute the flexibly deformed shapes of the initial tunnel, and present a way to compute the maximum size of the ligand that can pass through the deformed tunnel. By using the two types of graphs corresponding to amino acids and their side chain rotamers, the suggested algorithm classifies amino acids and rotamers which possibly have collisions. Based on the divide and conquer technique, local side chain conformations are computed first, and then a global conformation is generated by combining them. With the exception of certain cases, experimental results show that the algorithm finds up to 327,680 valid side chain conformations from 128~1233 conformation candidates within three seconds.
5
Merski, Matthew, Marcus Fischer, Trent E. Balius, Oliv Eidam, and Brian K. Shoichet. "Homologous ligands accommodated by discrete conformations of a buried cavity." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, no. 16 (April 6, 2015): 5039–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1500806112.
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Conformational change in protein–ligand complexes is widely modeled, but the protein accommodation expected on binding a congeneric series of ligands has received less attention. Given their use in medicinal chemistry, there are surprisingly few substantial series of congeneric ligand complexes in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Here we determine the structures of eight alkyl benzenes, in single-methylene increases from benzene to n-hexylbenzene, bound to an enclosed cavity in T4 lysozyme. The volume of the apo cavity suffices to accommodate benzene but, even with toluene, larger cavity conformations become observable in the electron density, and over the series two other major conformations are observed. These involve discrete changes in main-chain conformation, expanding the site; few continuous changes in the site are observed. In most structures, two discrete protein conformations are observed simultaneously, and energetic considerations suggest that these conformations are low in energy relative to the ground state. An analysis of 121 lysozyme cavity structures in the PDB finds that these three conformations dominate the previously determined structures, largely modeled in a single conformation. An investigation of the few congeneric series in the PDB suggests that discrete changes are common adaptations to a series of growing ligands. The discrete, but relatively few, conformational states observed here, and their energetic accessibility, may have implications for anticipating protein conformational change in ligand design.
6
Giri Rao, V. V. Hemanth, and Shachi Gosavi. "On the folding of a structurally complex protein to its metastable active state." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 9 (January 17, 2018): 1998–2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1708173115.
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For successful protease inhibition, the reactive center loop (RCL) of the two-domain serine protease inhibitor, α1-antitrypsin (α1-AT), needs to remain exposed in a metastable active conformation. The α1-AT RCL is sequestered in a β-sheet in the stable latent conformation. Thus, to be functional, α1-AT must always fold to a metastable conformation while avoiding folding to a stable conformation. We explore the structural basis of this choice using folding simulations of coarse-grained structure-based models of the two α1-AT conformations. Our simulations capture the key features of folding experiments performed on both conformations. The simulations also show that the free energy barrier to fold to the latent conformation is much larger than the barrier to fold to the active conformation. An entropically stabilized on-pathway intermediate lowers the barrier for folding to the active conformation. In this intermediate, the RCL is in an exposed configuration, and only one of the two α1-AT domains is folded. In contrast, early conversion of the RCL into a β-strand increases the coupling between the two α1-AT domains in the transition state and creates a larger barrier for folding to the latent conformation. Thus, unlike what happens in several proteins, where separate regions promote folding and function, the structure of the RCL, formed early during folding, determines both the conformational and the functional fate of α1-AT. Further, the short 12-residue RCL modulates the free energy barrier and the folding cooperativity of the large 370-residue α1-AT. Finally, we suggest experiments to test the predicted folding mechanism for the latent state.
7
DOWNING, Donald T., and N. D. LAZO. "Molecular modelling indicates that the pathological conformations of prion proteins might be β-helical." Biochemical Journal 343, no. 2 (October 8, 1999): 453–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/bj3430453.
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Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru, scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy are diseases of the mammalian central nervous system that involve the conversion of a cellular protein into an insoluble extracellular isoform. Spectroscopic studies have shown that the precursor protein contains mainly α-helical and random-coil conformations, whereas the prion isoform is largely in the β conformation. The pathogenic prion is resistant to denaturation and protease digestion and can promote the conversion of the precursor protein to the pathogenic form. These properties have yet to be explained in terms of the structural conformations of the proteins. In the present study, molecular modelling showed that prion proteins could adopt the β-helical conformation, which has been established for a number of fibrous proteins and has been suggested previously as the basis of amyloid fibrils. The β-helical conformation provides explanations for the biophysical and biochemical stability of prions, their ability to form templates for the transmission of pathological conformation, and the existence of phenotypical strains of the prion diseases.
8
Avdeev, P. A., V. A. Ignatenko, Yu V. Kornoushenko, and L. A. Evtuhova. "EFFECT OF DIFFERENT CONCENTRATIONS OF UREA AND PH ON THE FLUORESCENCE PARAMETERS OF BOVINE SERUM ALBUMIN." Health and Ecology Issues, no. 1 (March 28, 2011): 106–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.51523/2708-6011.2011-8-1-20.
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Urea is a chemical effect on the conformation of bovine serum albumin, causing a partial unfolding of the protein globule its exit to the surface of hydrophobic amino acids. Changing the pH of the solution in which the protein also affects the state of the protein, so there are multiple conformational states in which urea as a chemical effect on the conformation of bovine serum albumin, causing a partial unfolding of the protein globule of its exit to the surface of hydrophobic amino acids. Changing the pH of the solution in which the protein also affects the state of the protein, so there are multiple conformational states into which the serum albumin. The objective of our research was to study the effect of different protein concentrations and pH on the conformation of serum albumin. Very sensitive method for studying protein conformation are their own methods and probe fluorescence. The dependence of the effect of various factors on the fluorescence can be with a certain degree of probability suggest conformational transitions in proteins.
9
Lamichhane, Rajan, Jeffrey J. Liu, Goran Pljevaljcic, Kate L. White, Edwin van der Schans, Vsevolod Katritch, Raymond C. Stevens, Kurt Wüthrich, and David P. Millar. "Single-molecule view of basal activity and activation mechanisms of the G protein-coupled receptor β2AR." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, no. 46 (November 2, 2015): 14254–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1519626112.
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Binding of extracellular ligands to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) initiates transmembrane signaling by inducing conformational changes on the cytoplasmic receptor surface. Knowledge of this process provides a platform for the development of GPCR-targeting drugs. Here, using a site-specific Cy3 fluorescence probe in the human β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR), we observed that individual receptor molecules in the native-like environment of phospholipid nanodiscs undergo spontaneous transitions between two distinct conformational states. These states are assigned to inactive and active-like receptor conformations. Individual receptor molecules in the apo form repeatedly sample both conformations, with a bias toward the inactive conformation. Experiments in the presence of drug ligands show that binding of the full agonist formoterol shifts the conformational distribution in favor of the active-like conformation, whereas binding of the inverse agonist ICI-118,551 favors the inactive conformation. Analysis of single-molecule dwell-time distributions for each state reveals that formoterol increases the frequency of activation transitions, while also reducing the frequency of deactivation events. In contrast, the inverse agonist increases the frequency of deactivation transitions. Our observations account for the high level of basal activity of this receptor and provide insights that help to rationalize, on the molecular level, the widely documented variability of the pharmacological efficacies among GPCR-targeting drugs.
10
Mizutani, Tadashi, and Shigeyuki Yagi. "Linear tetrapyrroles as functional pigments in chemistry and biology." Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines 08, no. 03 (March 2004): 226–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s1088424604000210.
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1,19,21,24-tetrahydro-1,19-bilindione is the framework of pigments frequently found in nature, which includes biliverdin IX α, phytochromobilin and phycocyanobilin. 1,19-bilindiones have unique features such as (1) photochemical and thermal cis-trans isomerization, (2) excited energy transfer, (3) chiroptical properties due to the cyclic helical conformation, (4) redox activity, (5) coordination to various metals, and (6) reconstitution to proteins. 1,19-bilindione can adopt a number of conformations since it has exocyclic three double bonds and three single bonds that are rotatable thermally and photochemically. In solution, biliverdin and phycocyanobilin adopt a cyclic helical ZZZ, syn, syn, syn conformation, but other conformations are stabilized depending on the experimental conditions and substituents on the bilin framework. The conformational changes in 1,19-bilindiones are related to the biological functions of a photoreceptor protein, phytochrome. Structural and conformational studies of bilindiones are summarized both in solution and in protein. The conformational changes of bilins can be used for other functions such as a chirality sensor. The bilindiones and the zinc complexes of bilindiones can be employed as a chirality sensor due to the helically chiral structure and the dynamics of racemization of enantiomers. In this paper, we discuss the conformational equilibria and dynamics of bilindiones and its implications in photobiology and materials science.
11
Mary, Sophie, Jean-Alain Fehrentz, Marjorie Damian, Pascal Verdié, Jean Martinez, Jacky Marie, and Jean-Louis Banères. "How ligands and signalling proteins affect G-protein-coupled receptors' conformational landscape." Biochemical Society Transactions 41, no. 1 (January 29, 2013): 144–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/bst20120267.
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The dynamic character of GPCRs (G-protein-coupled receptors) is essential to their function. However, the details of how ligands and signalling proteins stabilize a receptor conformation to trigger the activation of a given signalling pathway remain largely unexplored. Multiple data, including recent results obtained with the purified ghrelin receptor, suggest a model where ligand efficacy and functional selectivity are directly related to different receptor conformations. Importantly, distinct effector proteins (G-proteins and arrestins) as well as ligands are likely to affect the conformational landscape of GPCRs in different manners, as we show with the isolated ghrelin receptor. Such modulation of the GPCR conformational landscape by pharmacologically distinct ligands and effector proteins has major implications for the design of new drugs that activate specific signalling pathways.
12
Serio, Tricia R., Anil G. Cashikar, Anthony S. Kowal, George J. Sawicki, and Susan L. Lindquist. "Self-perpetuating changes in Sup35 protein conformation as a mechanism of heredity in yeast." Biochemical Society Symposia 68 (August 1, 2001): 35–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/bss0680035.
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Recently, a novel mode of inheritance has been described in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The mechanism is based on the prion hypothesis, which posits that self-perpetuating changes in the conformation of single protein, PrP, underlie the severe neurodegeneration associated with the transmissible spongiform enchephalopathies in mammals. In yeast, two prions, [URE3] and [PSI+], have been identified, but these factors confer unique phenotypes rather than disease to the organism. In each case, the prion-associated phenotype has been linked to alternative conformations of the Ure2 and Sup35 proteins. Remarkably, Ure2 and Sup35 proteins existing in the alternative conformations have the unique capacity to transmit this physical state to the newly synthesized protein in vivo. Thus, a mechanism exists to ensure replication of the conformational information that underlies protein-only inheritance. We have characterized the mechanism by which Sup35 conformational information is replicated in vitro. The assembly of amyloid fibres by a region of Sup35 encompassing the N-terminal 254 amino acids faithfully recapitulates the in vivo propagation of [PSI+]. Mutations that alter [PSI+] inheritance in vivo change the kinetics of amyloid assembly in vitro in a complementary fashion, and lysates from [PSI+] cells, but not [psi-] cells, accelerate assembly in vitro. Using this system we propose a mechanism by which the alternative conformation of Sup35 is adopted by an unstructured oilgomeric intermediate at the time of assembly.
13
Solopova, O. N., L. P. Pozdnyakova, N. E. Varlamov, M. N. Bokov, E. V. Morozkina, Т. А. Yagudin, and P. G. Sveshnikov. "Conformational Differences between Active Angiotensins and Their Inactive Precursors." Acta Naturae 4, no. 1 (March 15, 2012): 74–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.32607/20758251-2012-4-1-74-77.
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The peptide conformation in the context of a protein polypeptide chain is influenced by proximal amino acid residues. However, the mechanisms of this interference remain poorly understood. We studied the conformation of angiotensins 1, 2 and 3, which are produced naturally in a sequential fashion from a precursor protein angiotensinogen and contain an identical peptide core structure. Using the example of angiotensins 1, 2 and 3, it was shown that similar amino acid sequences may have significant conformational differences in various molecules. In order to assess the conformational changes, we developed a panel of high-affinity mouse monoclonal antibodies against angiotensins 1, 2 and 3 and studied their cross-reactivity in indirect and competitive ELISAs. It was found that the conformations of inactive angiotensin1 and the corresponding fragment of angiotensinogen are similar; the same is true for the conformations of active angiotensins 2 and 3, whereas the conformations of homologous fragments in the active and inactive angiotensins differ significantly.
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Nakae, Setsu, Maho Kitamura, Daisuke Fujiwara, Masaaki Sawa, Tsuyoshi Shirai, Ikuo Fujii, and Toshiji Tada. "Structure of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1 in the DFG-out conformation." Acta Crystallographica Section F Structural Biology Communications 77, no. 12 (November 25, 2021): 459–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/s2053230x21011687.
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Eukaryotic protein kinases contain an Asp-Phe-Gly (DFG) motif, the conformation of which is involved in controlling the catalytic activity, at the N-terminus of the activation segment. The motif can be switched between active-state (DFG-in) and inactive-state (DFG-out) conformations: however, the mechanism of conformational change is poorly understood, partly because there are few reports of the DFG-out conformation. Here, a novel crystal structure of nonphosphorylated human mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1 (MEK1; amino acids 38–381) complexed with ATP-γS is reported in which MEK1 adopts the DFG-out conformation. The crystal structure revealed that the structural elements (the αC helix and HRD motif) surrounding the active site are involved in the formation/stabilization of the DFG-out conformation. The ATP-γS molecule was bound to the canonical ATP-binding site in a different binding mode that has never been found in previously determined crystal structures of MEK1. This novel ATP-γS binding mode provides a starting point for the design of high-affinity inhibitors of nonphosphorylated inactive MEK1 that adopts the DFG-out conformation.
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Almahmoud, Suliman, Xiaofang Wang, Jonathan L. Vennerstrom, and Haizhen A. Zhong. "Conformational Studies of Glucose Transporter 1 (GLUT1) as an Anticancer Drug Target." Molecules 24, no. 11 (June 7, 2019): 2159. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules24112159.
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Glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) is a facilitative glucose transporter overexpressed in various types of tumors; thus, it has been considered as an important target for cancer therapy. GLUT1 works through conformational switching from an outward-open (OOP) to an inward-open (IOP) conformation passing through an occluded conformation. It is critical to determine which conformation is preferred by bound ligands because the success of structure-based drug design depends on the appropriate starting conformation of the target protein. To find out the most favorable GLUT 1 conformation for ligand binding, we ran systemic molecular docking studies for different conformations of GLUT1 using known GLUT1 inhibitors. Our data revealed that the IOP is the preferred conformation and that residues Phe291, Phe379, Glu380, Trp388, and Trp412 may play critical roles in ligand binding to GLUT1. Our data suggests that conformational differences in these five amino acids in the different conformers of GLUT1 may be used to design ligands that inhibit GLUT1.
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Egorov, Vladimir, Natalia Grudinina, Andrey Vasin, and Dmitry Lebedev. "Peptide-Induced Amyloid-Like Conformational Transitions in Proteins." International Journal of Peptides 2015 (September 8, 2015): 1–5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/723186.
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Changes in protein conformation can occur both as part of normal protein functioning and during disease pathogenesis. The most common conformational diseases are amyloidoses. Sometimes the development of a number of diseases which are not traditionally related to amyloidoses is associated with amyloid-like conformational transitions of proteins. Also, amyloid-like aggregates take part in normal physiological processes such as memorization and cell signaling. Several primary structural features of a protein are involved in conformational transitions. Also the protein proteolytic fragments can cause the conformational transitions in the protein. Short peptides which could be produced during the protein life cycle or which are encoded by short open reading frames can affect the protein conformation and function.
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Roh, Soung-Hun, Corey F. Hryc, Hyun-Hwan Jeong, Xue Fei, Joanita Jakana, George H. Lorimer, and Wah Chiu. "Subunit conformational variation within individual GroEL oligomers resolved by Cryo-EM." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, no. 31 (July 14, 2017): 8259–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1704725114.
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Single-particle electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) is an emerging tool for resolving structures of conformationally heterogeneous particles; however, each structure is derived from an average of many particles with presumed identical conformations. We used a 3.5-Å cryo-EM reconstruction with imposed D7 symmetry to further analyze structural heterogeneity among chemically identical subunits in each GroEL oligomer. Focused classification of the 14 subunits in each oligomer revealed three dominant classes of subunit conformations. Each class resembled a distinct GroEL crystal structure in the Protein Data Bank. The conformational differences stem from the orientations of the apical domain. We mapped each conformation class to its subunit locations within each GroEL oligomer in our dataset. The spatial distributions of each conformation class differed among oligomers, and most oligomers contained 10–12 subunits of the three dominant conformation classes. Adjacent subunits were found to more likely assume the same conformation class, suggesting correlation among subunits in the oligomer. This study demonstrates the utility of cryo-EM in revealing structure dynamics within a single protein oligomer.
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Sun, Shangwu, Rui Zhu, Mengyao Zhu, Qi Wang, Na Li, and Bei Yang. "Visualization of conformational transition of GRP94 in solution." Life Science Alliance 7, no. 2 (November 10, 2023): e202302051. http://dx.doi.org/10.26508/lsa.202302051.
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GRP94, an ER paralog of the heat-shock protein 90 family, binds and hydrolyses ATP to chaperone the folding and maturation of its selected clients. Compared with other hsp90 proteins, the in-solution conformational dynamics of GRP94 along the ATP hydrolysis cycle are less understood, hindering our understanding of its chaperoning mechanism. Leveraging small-angle X-ray scattering, negative-staining EM, and hydrogen–deuterium exchange coupled mass-spec, here we show that in its apo form, ∼60% of mouse GRP94 (mGRP94) populates an “extended” conformation, whereas the rest exist in either “close V” or “twist V” like “compact” conformations. Different from other hsp90 proteins, the presence of AMPPNP only impacts the relative abundance of the two compact conformations, rather than shifting the equilibrium between the “extended” and “compact” conformations of mGRP94. HDX-MS study of apo, AMPPNP-bound, and ADP-bound mGRP94 suggests a conformational transition from “twist V” to “close V” upon ATP binding and a back transition from “close V” to “twist V” upon ATP hydrolysis. These results illustrate the dissimilarities of GRP94 in conformation transition during ATP hydrolysis from other hsp90 paralogs.
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Guo, Qing, Yufan He, and H. Peter Lu. "Interrogating the activities of conformational deformed enzyme by single-molecule fluorescence-magnetic tweezers microscopy." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, no. 45 (October 28, 2015): 13904–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1506405112.
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Characterizing the impact of fluctuating enzyme conformation on enzymatic activity is critical in understanding the structure–function relationship and enzymatic reaction dynamics. Different from studying enzyme conformations under a denaturing condition, it is highly informative to manipulate the conformation of an enzyme under an enzymatic reaction condition while monitoring the real-time enzymatic activity changes simultaneously. By perturbing conformation of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) molecules using our home-developed single-molecule total internal reflection magnetic tweezers, we successfully manipulated the enzymatic conformation and probed the enzymatic activity changes of HRP in a catalyzed H2O2–amplex red reaction. We also observed a significant tolerance of the enzyme activity to the enzyme conformational perturbation. Our results provide a further understanding of the relation between enzyme behavior and enzymatic conformational fluctuation, enzyme–substrate interactions, enzyme–substrate active complex formation, and protein folding–binding interactions.
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Ramm, Ingrid, Adrian Sanchez-Fernandez, Jaeyeong Choi, Christian Lang, Herje Schagerlöf, Marie Wahlgren, and Lars Nilsson. "The Impact of Glycerol on an Affibody Conformation and Its Correlation to Chemical Degradation." Pharmaceutics 13, no. 11 (November 3, 2021): 1853. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13111853.
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The addition of glycerol to protein solutions is often used to hinder the aggregation and denaturation of proteins. However, it is not a generalised practice against chemical degradation reactions. The chemical degradation of proteins, such as deamidation and isomerisation, is an important deteriorative mechanism that leads to a loss of functionality of pharmaceutical proteins. Here, the influence of glycerol on the chemical degradation of a protein and its correlation to glycerol-induced conformational changes is presented. The time-dependent chemical degradation of a pharmaceutical protein, GA-Z, in the absence and presence of glycerol was investigated in a stability study. The effect of glycerol on protein conformation and oligomerisation was characterised using asymmetric field-flow fractionation and small-angle neutron scattering in a wide glycerol concentration range of 0–90% v/v. The results from the stability study were connected to the observed glycerol-induced conformational changes in the protein. A correlation between protein conformation and the protective effect of glycerol against the degradation reactions deamidation, isomerisation, and hydrolysis was found. The study reveals that glycerol induces conformational changes of the protein, which favour a more compact and chemically stable state. It is also shown that the conformation can be changed by other system properties, e.g., protein concentration, leading to increased chemical stability.
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Garaizar, Adiran, Ignacio Sanchez-Burgos, Rosana Collepardo-Guevara, and Jorge R. Espinosa. "Expansion of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Increases the Range of Stability of Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation." Molecules 25, no. 20 (October 15, 2020): 4705. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules25204705.
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Proteins containing intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) are ubiquitous within biomolecular condensates, which are liquid-like compartments within cells formed through liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS). The sequence of amino acids of a protein encodes its phase behaviour, not only by establishing the patterning and chemical nature (e.g., hydrophobic, polar, charged) of the various binding sites that facilitate multivalent interactions, but also by dictating the protein conformational dynamics. Besides behaving as random coils, IDRs can exhibit a wide-range of structural behaviours, including conformational switching, where they transition between alternate conformational ensembles. Using Molecular Dynamics simulations of a minimal coarse-grained model for IDRs, we show that the role of protein conformation has a non-trivial effect in the liquid–liquid phase behaviour of IDRs. When an IDR transitions to a conformational ensemble enriched in disordered extended states, LLPS is enhanced. In contrast, IDRs that switch to ensembles that preferentially sample more compact and structured states show inhibited LLPS. This occurs because extended and disordered protein conformations facilitate LLPS-stabilising multivalent protein–protein interactions by reducing steric hindrance; thereby, such conformations maximize the molecular connectivity of the condensed liquid network. Extended protein configurations promote phase separation regardless of whether LLPS is driven by homotypic and/or heterotypic protein–protein interactions. This study sheds light on the link between the dynamic conformational plasticity of IDRs and their liquid–liquid phase behaviour.
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Li, Haiyan, Zanxia Cao, Guodong Hu, Liling Zhao, Chunling Wang, and Jihua Wang. "Ligand-induced structural changes analysis of ribose-binding protein as studied by molecular dynamics simulations." Technology and Health Care 29 (March 25, 2021): 103–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/thc-218011.
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BACKGROUND: The ribose-binding protein (RBP) from Escherichia coli is one of the representative structures of periplasmic binding proteins. Binding of ribose at the cleft between two domains causes a conformational change corresponding to a closure of two domains around the ligand. The RBP has been crystallized in the open and closed conformations. OBJECTIVE: With the complex trajectory as a control, our goal was to study the conformation changes induced by the detachment of the ligand, and the results have been revealed from two computational tools, MD simulations and elastic network models. METHODS: Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to study the conformation changes of RBP starting from the open-apo, closed-holo and closed-apo conformations. RESULTS: The evolution of the domain opening angle θ clearly indicates large structural changes. The simulations indicate that the closed states in the absence of ribose are inclined to transition to the open states and that ribose-free RBP exists in a wide range of conformations. The first three dominant principal motions derived from the closed-apo trajectories, consisting of rotating, bending and twisting motions, account for the major rearrangement of the domains from the closed to the open conformation. CONCLUSIONS: The motions showed a strong one-to-one correspondence with the slowest modes from our previous study of RBP with the anisotropic network model (ANM). The results obtained for RBP contribute to the generalization of robustness for protein domain motion studies using either the ANM or PCA for trajectories obtained from MD.
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LEE, HO-JIN, HYUN-MEE PARK, and KANG-BONG LEE. "CONFORMATIONAL PREFERENCES OF N-ACETYL–GLYCINE–GLYCINE–N′-METHYLAMIDE: A THEORETICAL STUDY." Journal of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry 08, no. 05 (October 2009): 799–811. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s0219633609005118.
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The conformational preferences of peptide models have been investigated to understand the protein folding mechanism and to develop the force field. Here, we report the minimum energy conformations for a model peptide, N-acetyl–glycine–glycine–N′-methylamide ( Ac–1Gly–2Gly–NHMe(I) ) at the HF/3-21G, HF/6-31G*, and the B3LYP/6-31G* level of theory. At the B3LYP/6-31G* level, the 31 minima were identified and the 10 β-turn structures among the minima were observed in gas-phase. The conformational preferences of Gly residue in the model peptide, I depend on its relative position and conformation of neighboring Gly residue. The Gly residue in this model dipeptide has an asymmetric energy profile as one of Gly residue adopts a specific conformation. This study sheds some lights on understanding the unique conformational preferences of Gly residue in protein including two consecutive Gly residues.
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Cahill, Thomas J., Alex R. B. Thomsen, Jeffrey T. Tarrasch, Bianca Plouffe, Anthony H. Nguyen, Fan Yang, Li-Yin Huang, et al. "Distinct conformations of GPCR–β-arrestin complexes mediate desensitization, signaling, and endocytosis." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, no. 10 (February 21, 2017): 2562–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1701529114.
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β-Arrestins (βarrs) interact with G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to desensitize G protein signaling, to initiate signaling on their own, and to mediate receptor endocytosis. Prior structural studies have revealed two unique conformations of GPCR–βarr complexes: the “tail” conformation, with βarr primarily coupled to the phosphorylated GPCR C-terminal tail, and the “core” conformation, where, in addition to the phosphorylated C-terminal tail, βarr is further engaged with the receptor transmembrane core. However, the relationship of these distinct conformations to the various functions of βarrs is unknown. Here, we created a mutant form of βarr lacking the “finger-loop” region, which is unable to form the core conformation but retains the ability to form the tail conformation. We find that the tail conformation preserves the ability to mediate receptor internalization and βarr signaling but not desensitization of G protein signaling. Thus, the two GPCR–βarr conformations can carry out distinct functions.
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Guerrini, Giuditta, Dora Mehn, Francesco Fumagalli, Sabrina Gioria, Mattia Pedotti, Luca Simonelli, Filippo Bianchini, Davide F. Robbiani, Luca Varani, and Luigi Calzolai. "Analytical Ultracentrifugation Detects Quaternary Rearrangements and Antibody-Induced Conformational Selection of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Trimer." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24, no. 19 (October 3, 2023): 14875. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms241914875.
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Analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) analysis shows that the SARS-CoV-2 trimeric Spike (S) protein adopts different quaternary conformations in solution. The relative abundance of the “open” and “close” conformations is temperature-dependent, and samples with different storage temperature history have different open/close distributions. Neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) targeting the S receptor binding domain (RBD) do not alter the conformer populations; by contrast, a NAb targeting a cryptic conformational epitope skews the Spike trimer toward an open conformation. The results highlight AUC, which is typically applied for molecular mass determination of biomolecules as a powerful tool for detecting functionally relevant quaternary protein conformations.
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Joshi, Arpita, Nurit Haspel, and Eduardo González. "Characterizing Protein Conformational Spaces using Efficient Data Reduction and Algebraic Topology." Journal of Human, Earth, and Future 3 (May 31, 2022): 1–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.28991/hef-sp2022-01-01.
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Datasets representing the conformational landscapes of protein structures are high-dimensional and hence present computational challenges. Efficient and effective dimensionality reduction of these datasets is therefore paramount to our ability to analyze the conformational landscapes of proteins and extract important information regarding protein folding, conformational changes, and binding. Representing the structures with fewer attributes that capture the most variance in the data makes for a quicker and more precise analysis of these structures. In this study, we make use of dimensionality reduction methods for reducing the number of instances and for feature reduction. The reduced dataset that is obtained is then subjected to topological and quantitative analysis. In this step, we perform hierarchical clustering to obtain different sets of conformation clusters that may correspond to intermediate structures. The structures represented by these conformations are then analyzed by studying their high-dimensional topological properties to identify truly distinct conformations and holes in the conformational space that may represent high energy barriers. Our results show that the clusters closely follow known experimental results about intermediate structures as well as binding and folding events. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-SP2022-01-01 Full Text: PDF
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Xiao, Qingjie, Mengxue Xu, Weiwei Wang, Tingting Wu, Weizhe Zhang, Wenming Qin, and Bo Sun. "Utilization of AlphaFold2 to Predict MFS Protein Conformations after Selective Mutation." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23, no. 13 (June 29, 2022): 7235. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms23137235.
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The major facilitator superfamily (MFS) is the largest secondary transporter family and is responsible for transporting a broad range of substrates across the biomembrane. These proteins are involved in a series of conformational changes during substrate transport. To decipher the transport mechanism, it is necessary to obtain structures of these different conformations. At present, great progress has been made in predicting protein structure based on coevolutionary information. In this study, AlphaFold2 was used to predict different conformational structures for 69 MFS transporters of E. coli after the selective mutation of residues at the interface between the N- and C-terminal domains. The predicted structures for these mutants had small RMSD values when compared to structures obtained using X-ray crystallography, which indicates that AlphaFold2 predicts the structure of MSF transporters with high accuracy. In addition, different conformations of other transporter family proteins have been successfully predicted based on mutation methods. This study provides a structural basis to study the transporting mechanism of the MFS transporters and a method to probe dynamic conformation changes of transporter family proteins when performing their function.
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Lin, Shawn H., Dacheng Zhao, Vivian Deng, Veronica K. Birdsall, Suzanne Ho, Olga Buzovetsky, Candice M. Etson, and Ishita Mukerji. "Integration Host Factor Binds DNA Holliday Junctions." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24, no. 1 (December 29, 2022): 580. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms24010580.
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Integration host factor (IHF) is a nucleoid-associated protein involved in DNA packaging, integration of viral DNA and recombination. IHF binds with nanomolar affinity to duplex DNA containing a 13 bp consensus sequence, inducing a bend of ~160° upon binding. We determined that IHF binds to DNA Four-way or Holliday junctions (HJ) with high affinity regardless of the presence of the consensus sequence, signifying a structure-based mechanism of recognition. Junctions, important intermediates in DNA repair and homologous recombination, are dynamic and can adopt either an open or stacked conformation, where the open conformation facilitates branch migration and strand exchange. Using ensemble and single molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) methods, we investigated IHF-induced changes in the population distribution of junction conformations and determined that IHF binding shifts the population to the open conformation. Further analysis of smFRET dynamics revealed that even in the presence of protein, the junctions remain dynamic as fast transitions are observed for the protein-bound open state. Protein binding alters junction conformational dynamics, as cross correlation analyses reveal the protein slows the transition rate at 1 mM Mg2+ but accelerates the transition rate at 10 mM Mg2+. Stopped flow kinetic experiments provide evidence for two binding steps, a rapid, initial binding step followed by a slower step potentially associated with a conformational change. These measurements also confirm that the protein remains bound to the junction during the conformer transitions and further suggest that the protein forms a partially dissociated state that allows junction arms to be dynamic. These findings, which demonstrate that IHF binds HJs with high affinity and stabilizes junctions in the open conformation, suggest that IHF may play multiple roles in the processes of integration and recombination in addition to stabilizing bacterial biofilms.
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Kulichikhin, Konstantin Y., Oksana A. Malikova, Anastasia E. Zobnina, Natalia M. Zalutskaya, and Aleksandr A. Rubel. "Interaction of Proteins Involved in Neuronal Proteinopathies." Life 13, no. 10 (September 23, 2023): 1954. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life13101954.
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Proteinopathy is characterized by the accumulation of aggregates of a specific protein in a target organ, tissue, or cell. The aggregation of the same protein can cause different pathologies as single protein can adopt various amyloidogenic, disease-specific conformations. The conformation governs the interaction of amyloid aggregates with other proteins that are prone to misfolding and, thus, determines disease-specific spectrum of concomitant pathologies. In this regard, a detailed description of amyloid protein conformation as well as spectrum of its interaction with other proteins become a key point for drafting of precise description of the disease. The majority of clinical cases of neuronal proteinopathies is caused by the aggregation of rather limited range of amyloidogenic proteins. Here, we provided the characterization of pathologies, related to the aggregation of amyloid β peptide, tau protein, α-synuclein, TDP-43, and amylin, giving a short description of pathologies themselves, recent advances in elucidation of misfolded protein conformation, with emphasis on those protein aggregates extracted from biological samples, what is known about the interaction of this proteins, and the influence of this interaction on the progression of underlying disease and comorbidities.
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Lerch, Michael T., Rachel A. Matt, Matthieu Masureel, Matthias Elgeti, Kaavya Krishna Kumar, Daniel Hilger, Bryon Foys, Brian K. Kobilka, and Wayne L. Hubbell. "Viewing rare conformations of the β2 adrenergic receptor with pressure-resolved DEER spectroscopy." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 50 (November 30, 2020): 31824–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2013904117.
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The β2 adrenergic receptor (β2AR) is an archetypal G protein coupled receptor (GPCR). One structural signature of GPCR activation is a large-scale movement (ca. 6 to 14 Å) of transmembrane helix 6 (TM6) to a conformation which binds and activates a cognate G protein. The β2AR exhibits a low level of agonist-independent G protein activation. The structural origin of this basal activity and its suppression by inverse agonists is unknown but could involve a unique receptor conformation that promotes G protein activation. Alternatively, a conformational selection model proposes that a minor population of the canonical active receptor conformation exists in equilibrium with inactive forms, thus giving rise to basal activity of the ligand-free receptor. Previous spin-labeling and fluorescence resonance energy transfer experiments designed to monitor the positional distribution of TM6 did not detect the presence of the active conformation of ligand-free β2AR. Here we employ spin-labeling and pressure-resolved double electron–electron resonance spectroscopy to reveal the presence of a minor population of unliganded receptor, with the signature outward TM6 displacement, in equilibrium with inactive conformations. Binding of inverse agonists suppresses this population. These results provide direct structural evidence in favor of a conformational selection model for basal activity in β2AR and provide a mechanism for inverse agonism. In addition, they emphasize 1) the importance of minor populations in GPCR catalytic function; 2) the use of spin-labeling and variable-pressure electron paramagnetic resonance to reveal them in a membrane protein; and 3) the quantitative evaluation of their thermodynamic properties relative to the inactive forms, including free energy, partial molar volume, and compressibility.
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Fernández-Quintero, Monica L., Martin C. Heiss, and Klaus R. Liedl. "Antibody humanization—the Influence of the antibody framework on the CDR-H3 loop ensemble in solution." Protein Engineering, Design and Selection 32, no. 9 (September 2019): 411–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/protein/gzaa004.
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Abstract Antibody engineering of non-human antibodies has focused on reducing immunogenicity by humanization, being a major limitation in developing monoclonal antibodies. We analyzed four series of antibody binding fragments (Fabs) and a variable fragment (Fv) with structural information in different stages of humanization to investigate the influence of the framework, point mutations and specificity on the complementarity determining region (CDR)-H3 loop dynamics. We also studied a Fv without structural information of the anti-idiotypic antibody Ab2/3H6, because it completely lost its binding affinity upon superhumanization, as an example of a failed humanization. Enhanced sampling techniques in combination with molecular dynamics simulations allow to access micro- to milli-second timescales of the CDR-H3 loop dynamics and reveal kinetic and thermodynamic changes involved in the process of humanization. In most cases, we observe a reduced conformational diversity of the CDR-H3 loop when grafted on a human framework and find a conformational shift of the dominant CDR-H3 loop conformation in solution. A shallow side minimum of the conformational CDR-H3 loop ensemble attached to the murine framework becomes the dominant conformation in solution influenced by the human framework. Additionally, we observe in the case of the failed humanization that the potentially binding competent murine CDR-H3 loop ensemble in solution shows nearly no kinetical or structural overlap with the superhumanized variant, thus explaining the loss of binding.
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GUYEUX, CHRISTOPHE, NATHALIE M. L. CÔTÉ, JACQUES M. BAHI, and WOJCIECH BIENIA. "IS PROTEIN FOLDING PROBLEM REALLY A NP-COMPLETE ONE? FIRST INVESTIGATIONS." Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology 12, no. 01 (January 28, 2014): 1350017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s0219720013500170.
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To determine the 3D conformation of proteins is a necessity to understand their functions or interactions with other molecules. It is commonly admitted that, when proteins fold from their primary linear structures to their final 3D conformations, they tend to choose the ones that minimize their free energy. To find the 3D conformation of a protein knowing its amino acid sequence, bioinformaticians use various models of different resolutions and artificial intelligence tools, as the protein folding prediction problem is a NP complete one. More precisely, to determine the backbone structure of the protein using the low resolution models (2D HP square and 3D HP cubic), by finding the conformation that minimizes free energy, is intractable exactly. Both proofs of NP-completeness and the 2D prediction consider that acceptable conformations have to satisfy a self-avoiding walk (SAW) requirement, as two different amino acids cannot occupy a same position in the lattice. It is shown in this document that the SAW requirement considered when proving NP-completeness is different from the SAW requirement used in various prediction programs, and that they are different from the real biological requirement. Indeed, the proof of NP completeness and the predictions in silico consider conformations that are not possible in practice. Consequences of this fact are investigated in this research work.
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Moore, Alexander F., David J. Newman, Shoba Ranganathan, and Fei Liu. "Imaginative Order from Reasonable Chaos: Conformation-Driven Activity and Reactivity in Exploring Protein–Ligand Interactions." Australian Journal of Chemistry 71, no. 12 (2018): 917. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ch18416.
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Sir Derek Barton’s seminal work on steroid conformational analysis opened up a new era of enquiry into how the preferred conformation of any molecule could have profound effects on its physical–chemical properties and activities. Conformation-based effects on molecular activity and reactivity continue to manifest, with one key area of investigation currently focussed on conformational entropy in driving protein–ligand interactions. Carrying on from Barton’s initial insight on natural product conformational properties, new questions now address how conformational flexibility within a bioactive natural product structural framework (reasonable chaos), can be directed to confer dynamically new protein–ligand interactions beyond the basic lock–key model (imaginative order). Here we summarise our work on exploring conformational diversity from fluorinated natural product fragments, and how this approach of conformation-coupled diversity-oriented synthesis can be used to iteratively derive ligands with enhanced specificity against highly homologous protein domains. Our results demonstrate that the conformation entropic states of highly conserved protein domains differ significantly, and this conformational diversity, beyond primary sequence analysis, can be duly captured and exploited by natural-product derived ligands with complementary conformational dynamics for enhancing recognition specificity in drug lead discovery.
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Fischer, Marion F. S., James E. Crowe, and Jens Meiler. "Computational epitope mapping of class I fusion proteins using low complexity supervised learning methods." PLOS Computational Biology 18, no. 12 (December 7, 2022): e1010230. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010230.
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Antibody epitope mapping of viral proteins plays a vital role in understanding immune system mechanisms of protection. In the case of class I viral fusion proteins, recent advances in cryo-electron microscopy and protein stabilization techniques have highlighted the importance of cryptic or ‘alternative’ conformations that expose epitopes targeted by potent neutralizing antibodies. Thorough epitope mapping of such metastable conformations is difficult but is critical for understanding sites of vulnerability in class I fusion proteins that occur as transient conformational states during viral attachment and fusion. We introduce a novel method Accelerated class I fusion protein Epitope Mapping (AxIEM) that accounts for fusion protein flexibility to improve out-of-sample prediction of discontinuous antibody epitopes. Harnessing data from previous experimental epitope mapping efforts of several class I fusion proteins, we demonstrate that accuracy of epitope prediction depends on residue environment and allows for the prediction of conformation-dependent antibody target residues. We also show that AxIEM can identify common epitopes and provide structural insights for the development and rational design of vaccines.
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Golderg, M. "Protein Conformation." Biochimie 74, no. 2 (February 1992): 211–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0300-9084(92)90056-k.
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Pasala, Chiranjeevi, Sahil Sharma, Tanaya Roychowdhury, Elisabetta Moroni, Giorgio Colombo, and Gabriela Chiosis. "N-Glycosylation as a Modulator of Protein Conformation and Assembly in Disease." Biomolecules 14, no. 3 (February 27, 2024): 282. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom14030282.
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Glycosylation, a prevalent post-translational modification, plays a pivotal role in regulating intricate cellular processes by covalently attaching glycans to macromolecules. Dysregulated glycosylation is linked to a spectrum of diseases, encompassing cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, congenital disorders, infections, and inflammation. This review delves into the intricate interplay between glycosylation and protein conformation, with a specific focus on the profound impact of N-glycans on the selection of distinct protein conformations characterized by distinct interactomes—namely, protein assemblies—under normal and pathological conditions across various diseases. We begin by examining the spike protein of the SARS virus, illustrating how N-glycans regulate the infectivity of pathogenic agents. Subsequently, we utilize the prion protein and the chaperone glucose-regulated protein 94 as examples, exploring instances where N-glycosylation transforms physiological protein structures into disease-associated forms. Unraveling these connections provides valuable insights into potential therapeutic avenues and a deeper comprehension of the molecular intricacies that underlie disease conditions. This exploration of glycosylation’s influence on protein conformation effectively bridges the gap between the glycome and disease, offering a comprehensive perspective on the therapeutic implications of targeting conformational mutants and their pathologic assemblies in various diseases. The goal is to unravel the nuances of these post-translational modifications, shedding light on how they contribute to the intricate interplay between protein conformation, assembly, and disease.
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Ludwiczak, Jan, Ewa Szczęsna, Antônio Marinho da Silva Neto, Piotr Cieplak, Andrzej A. Kasprzak, and Adam Jarmuła. "Interactions between motor domains in kinesin-14 Ncd — a molecular dynamics study." Biochemical Journal 476, no. 17 (September 10, 2019): 2449–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/bcj20190484.
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Abstract Minus-end directed, non-processive kinesin-14 Ncd is a dimeric protein with C-terminally located motor domains (heads). Generation of the power-stroke by Ncd consists of a lever-like rotation of a long superhelical ‘stalk’ segment while one of the kinesin's heads is bound to the microtubule. The last ∼30 amino acids of Ncd head play a crucial but still poorly understood role in this process. Here, we used accelerated molecular dynamics simulations to explore the conformational dynamics of several systems built upon two crystal structures of Ncd, the asymmetrical T436S mutant in pre-stroke/post-stroke conformations of two partner subunits and the symmetrical wild-type protein in pre-stroke conformation of both subunits. The results revealed a new conformational state forming following the inward motion of the subunits and stabilized with several hydrogen bonds to residues located on the border or within the C-terminal linker, i.e. a modeled extension of the C-terminus by residues 675–683. Forming of this new, compact Ncd conformation critically depends on the length of the C-terminus extending to at least residue 681. Moreover, the associative motion leading to the compact conformation is accompanied by a partial lateral rotation of the stalk. We propose that the stable compact conformation of Ncd may represent an initial state of the working stroke.
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Kang, Hyun-Seo, and Michael Sattler. "Capturing dynamic conformational shifts in protein–ligand recognition using integrative structural biology in solution." Emerging Topics in Life Sciences 2, no. 1 (April 20, 2018): 107–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/etls20170090.
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In recent years, a dynamic view of the structure and function of biological macromolecules is emerging, highlighting an essential role of dynamic conformational equilibria to understand molecular mechanisms of biological functions. The structure of a biomolecule, i.e. protein or nucleic acid in solution, is often best described as a dynamic ensemble of conformations, rather than a single structural state. Strikingly, the molecular interactions and functions of the biological macromolecule can then involve a shift between conformations that pre-exist in such an ensemble. Upon external cues, such population shifts of pre-existing conformations allow gradually relaying the signal to the downstream biological events. An inherent feature of this principle is conformational dynamics, where intrinsically disordered regions often play important roles to modulate the conformational ensemble. Unequivocally, solution-state NMR spectroscopy is a powerful technique to study the structure and dynamics of such biomolecules in solution. NMR is increasingly combined with complementary techniques, including fluorescence spectroscopy and small angle scattering. The combination of these techniques provides complementary information about the conformation and dynamics in solution and thus affords a comprehensive description of biomolecular functions and regulations. Here, we illustrate how an integrated approach combining complementary techniques can assess the structure and dynamics of proteins and protein complexes in solution.
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Toepfer, Christopher N., Amanda C. Garfinkel, Gabriela Venturini, Hiroko Wakimoto, Giuliana Repetti, Lorenzo Alamo, Arun Sharma, et al. "Myosin Sequestration Regulates Sarcomere Function, Cardiomyocyte Energetics, and Metabolism, Informing the Pathogenesis of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy." Circulation 141, no. 10 (March 10, 2020): 828–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/circulationaha.119.042339.
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Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is caused by pathogenic variants in sarcomere protein genes that evoke hypercontractility, poor relaxation, and increased energy consumption by the heart and increased patient risks for arrhythmias and heart failure. Recent studies show that pathogenic missense variants in myosin, the molecular motor of the sarcomere, are clustered in residues that participate in dynamic conformational states of sarcomere proteins. We hypothesized that these conformations are essential to adapt contractile output for energy conservation and that pathophysiology of HCM results from destabilization of these conformations. Methods: We assayed myosin ATP binding to define the proportion of myosins in the super relaxed state (SRX) conformation or the disordered relaxed state (DRX) conformation in healthy rodent and human hearts, at baseline and in response to reduced hemodynamic demands of hibernation or pathogenic HCM variants. To determine the relationships between myosin conformations, sarcomere function, and cell biology, we assessed contractility, relaxation, and cardiomyocyte morphology and metabolism, with and without an allosteric modulator of myosin ATPase activity. We then tested whether the positions of myosin variants of unknown clinical significance that were identified in patients with HCM, predicted functional consequences and associations with heart failure and arrhythmias. Results: Myosins undergo physiological shifts between the SRX conformation that maximizes energy conservation and the DRX conformation that enables cross-bridge formation with greater ATP consumption. Systemic hemodynamic requirements, pharmacological modulators of myosin, and pathogenic myosin missense mutations influenced the proportions of these conformations. Hibernation increased the proportion of myosins in the SRX conformation, whereas pathogenic variants destabilized these and increased the proportion of myosins in the DRX conformation, which enhanced cardiomyocyte contractility, but impaired relaxation and evoked hypertrophic remodeling with increased energetic stress. Using structural locations to stratify variants of unknown clinical significance, we showed that the variants that destabilized myosin conformations were associated with higher rates of heart failure and arrhythmias in patients with HCM. Conclusions: Myosin conformations establish work-energy equipoise that is essential for life-long cellular homeostasis and heart function. Destabilization of myosin energy-conserving states promotes contractile abnormalities, morphological and metabolic remodeling, and adverse clinical outcomes in patients with HCM. Therapeutic restabilization corrects cellular contractile and metabolic phenotypes and may limit these adverse clinical outcomes in patients with HCM.
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Qu, Kun, Qiuluan Chen, Katarzyna A. Ciazynska, Banghui Liu, Xixi Zhang, Jingjing Wang, Yujie He, et al. "Engineered disulfide reveals structural dynamics of locked SARS-CoV-2 spike." PLOS Pathogens 18, no. 7 (July 29, 2022): e1010583. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010583.
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The spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 has been observed in three distinct pre-fusion conformations: locked, closed and open. Of these, the function of the locked conformation remains poorly understood. Here we engineered a SARS-CoV-2 S protein construct “S-R/x3” to arrest SARS-CoV-2 spikes in the locked conformation by a disulfide bond. Using this construct we determined high-resolution structures confirming that the x3 disulfide bond has the ability to stabilize the otherwise transient locked conformations. Structural analyses reveal that wild-type SARS-CoV-2 spike can adopt two distinct locked-1 and locked-2 conformations. For the D614G spike, based on which all variants of concern were evolved, only the locked-2 conformation was observed. Analysis of the structures suggests that rigidified domain D in the locked conformations interacts with the hinge to domain C and thereby restrains RBD movement. Structural change in domain D correlates with spike conformational change. We propose that the locked-1 and locked-2 conformations of S are present in the acidic high-lipid cellular compartments during virus assembly and egress. In this model, release of the virion into the neutral pH extracellular space would favour transition to the closed or open conformations. The dynamics of this transition can be altered by mutations that modulate domain D structure, as is the case for the D614G mutation, leading to changes in viral fitness. The S-R/x3 construct provides a tool for the further structural and functional characterization of the locked conformations of S, as well as how sequence changes might alter S assembly and regulation of receptor binding domain dynamics.
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Campbell, Ashley C., Kyle M. Stiers, Julia S. Martin Del Campo, Ritcha Mehra-Chaudhary, Pablo Sobrado, and John J. Tanner. "Trapping conformational states of a flavin-dependent N-monooxygenase in crystallo reveals protein and flavin dynamics." Journal of Biological Chemistry 295, no. 38 (July 28, 2020): 13239–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.ra120.014750.
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The siderophore biosynthetic enzyme A (SidA) ornithine hydroxylase from Aspergillus fumigatus is a fungal disease drug target involved in the production of hydroxamate-containing siderophores, which are used by the pathogen to sequester iron. SidA is an N-monooxygenase that catalyzes the NADPH-dependent hydroxylation of l-ornithine through a multistep oxidative mechanism, utilizing a C4a-hydroperoxyflavin intermediate. Here we present four new crystal structures of SidA in various redox and ligation states, including the first structure of oxidized SidA without NADP(H) or l-ornithine bound (resting state). The resting state structure reveals a new out active site conformation characterized by large rotations of the FAD isoalloxazine around the C1–′C2′ and N10–C1′ bonds, coupled to a 10-Å movement of the Tyr-loop. Additional structures show that either flavin reduction or the binding of NADP(H) is sufficient to drive the FAD to the in conformation. The structures also reveal protein conformational changes associated with the binding of NADP(H) and l-ornithine. Some of these residues were probed using site-directed mutagenesis. Docking was used to explore the active site of the out conformation. These calculations identified two potential ligand-binding sites. Altogether, our results provide new information about conformational dynamics in flavin-dependent monooxygenases. Understanding the different active site conformations that appear during the catalytic cycle may allow fine-tuning of inhibitor discovery efforts.
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Yagi-Utsumi, Maho, and Koichi Kato. "Conformational Variability of Amyloid-β and the Morphological Diversity of Its Aggregates." Molecules 27, no. 15 (July 26, 2022): 4787. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules27154787.
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Protein folding is the most fundamental and universal example of biomolecular self-organization and is characterized as an intramolecular process. In contrast, amyloidogenic proteins can interact with one another, leading to protein aggregation. The energy landscape of amyloid fibril formation is characterized by many minima for different competing low-energy structures and, therefore, is much more enigmatic than that of multiple folding pathways. Thus, to understand the entire energy landscape of protein aggregation, it is important to elucidate the full picture of conformational changes and polymorphisms of amyloidogenic proteins. This review provides an overview of the conformational diversity of amyloid-β (Aβ) characterized from experimental and theoretical approaches. Aβ exhibits a high degree of conformational variability upon transiently interacting with various binding molecules in an unstructured conformation in a solution, forming an α-helical intermediate conformation on the membrane and undergoing a structural transition to the β-conformation of amyloid fibrils. This review also outlines the structural polymorphism of Aβ amyloid fibrils depending on environmental factors. A comprehensive understanding of the energy landscape of amyloid formation considering various environmental factors will promote drug discovery and therapeutic strategies by controlling the fibril formation pathway and targeting the consequent morphology of aggregated structures.
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Gül, Nadir, and Ahmet Yıldız. "An in silico study of how histone tail conformation affects the binding affinity of ING family proteins." PeerJ 10 (September 30, 2022): e14029. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14029.
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Background Due to its intrinsically disordered nature, the histone tail is conformationally heterogenic. Therefore, it provides specific binding sites for different binding proteins or factors through reversible post-translational modifications (PTMs). For instance, experimental studies stated that the ING family binds with the histone tail that has methylation on the lysine in position 4. However, numerous complexes featuring a methylated fourth lysine residue of the histone tail can be found in the UniProt database. So the question arose if other factors like the conformation of the histone tail affect the binding affinity. Methods The crystal structure of the PHD finger domain from the proteins ING1, ING2, ING4, and ING5 are docked to four histone H3 tails with two different conformations using Haddock 2.4 and ClusPro. The best four models for each combination are selected and a two-sample t-test is performed to compare the binding affinities of helical conformations vs. linear conformations using Prodigy. The protein-protein interactions are examined using LigPlot. Results The linear histone conformations in predicted INGs-histone H3 complexes exhibit statistically significant higher binding affinity than their helical counterparts (confidence level of 99%). The outputs of predicted models generated by the molecular docking programs Haddock 2.4 and ClusPro are comparable, and the obtained protein-protein interaction patterns are consistent with experimentally confirmed binding patterns. Conclusion The results show that the conformation of the histone tail is significantly affecting the binding affinity of the docking protein. Herewith, this in silico study demonstrated in detail the binding preference of the ING protein family to histone H3 tail. Further research on the effect of certain PTMs on the final tail conformation and the interaction between those factors seem to be promising for a better understanding of epigenetics.
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Camacho, Inês S., Alina Theisen, Linus O. Johannissen, L. Aranzazú Díaz-Ramos, John M. Christie, Gareth I. Jenkins, Bruno Bellina, Perdita Barran, and Alex R. Jones. "Native mass spectrometry reveals the conformational diversity of the UVR8 photoreceptor." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 4 (January 4, 2019): 1116–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1813254116.
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UVR8 is a plant photoreceptor protein that regulates photomorphogenic and protective responses to UV light. The inactive, homodimeric state absorbs UV-B light, resulting in dissociation into monomers, which are considered to be the active state and comprise a β-propeller core domain and intrinsically disordered N- and C-terminal tails. The C terminus is required for functional binding to signaling partner COP1. To date, however, structural studies have only been conducted with the core domain where the terminal tails have been truncated. Here, we report structural investigations of full-length UVR8 using native ion mobility mass spectrometry adapted for photoactivation. We show that, while truncated UVR8 photoconverts from a single conformation of dimers to a single monomer conformation, the full-length protein exists in numerous conformational families. The full-length dimer adopts both a compact state and an extended state where the C terminus is primed for activation. In the monomer the extended C terminus destabilizes the core domain to produce highly extended yet stable conformations, which we propose are the fully active states that bind COP1. Our results reveal the conformational diversity of full-length UVR8. We also demonstrate the potential power of native mass spectrometry to probe functionally important structural dynamics of photoreceptor proteins throughout nature.
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Shi, Heping, Jiaxi Wu, Zhijian J. Chen, and Chuo Chen. "Molecular basis for the specific recognition of the metazoan cyclic GMP-AMP by the innate immune adaptor protein STING." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, no. 29 (July 6, 2015): 8947–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1507317112.
Full textAbstract:
Cyclic GMP-AMP containing a unique combination of mixed phosphodiester linkages (2′3′-cGAMP) is an endogenous second messenger molecule that activates the type-I IFN pathway upon binding to the homodimer of the adaptor protein STING on the surface of endoplasmic reticulum membrane. However, the preferential binding of the asymmetric ligand 2′3′-cGAMP to the symmetric dimer of STING represents a physicochemical enigma. Here we show that 2′3′-cGAMP, but not its linkage isomers, adopts an organized free-ligand conformation that resembles the STING-bound conformation and pays low entropy and enthalpy costs in converting into the active conformation. Our results demonstrate that analyses of free-ligand conformations can be as important as analyses of protein conformations in understanding protein–ligand interactions.
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McGinnes, Lori W., Kathryn Gravel, and Trudy G. Morrison. "Newcastle Disease Virus HN Protein Alters the Conformation of the F Protein at Cell Surfaces." Journal of Virology 76, no. 24 (December 15, 2002): 12622–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jvi.76.24.12622-12633.2002.
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ABSTRACT Conformational changes in the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) fusion (F) protein during activation of fusion and the role of HN protein in these changes were characterized with a polyclonal antibody. This antibody was raised against a peptide with the sequence of the amino-terminal half of the F protein HR1 domain. This antibody immunoprecipitated both F0 and F1 forms of the fusion protein from infected and transfected cell extracts solubilized with detergent, and precipitation was unaffected by expression of the HN protein. In marked contrast, this antibody detected significant conformational differences in the F protein at cell surfaces, differences that depended upon HN protein expression. The antibody minimally detected the F protein, either cleaved or uncleaved, in the absence of HN protein expression. However, when coexpressed with HN protein, an uncleaved mutant F protein bound the anti-HR1 antibody, and this binding depended upon the coexpression of specifically the NDV HN protein. When the cleaved wild-type F protein was coexpressed with HN protein, the F protein bound anti-HR1 antibody poorly although significantly more than F protein expressed alone. Anti-HR1 antibody inhibited the fusion of R18 (octadecyl rhodamine B chloride)-labeled red blood cells to syncytia expressing HN and wild-type F proteins. This inhibition showed that fusion-competent F proteins present on surfaces of syncytia were capable of binding anti-HR1. Furthermore, only antibody which was added prior to red blood cell binding could inhibit fusion. These results suggest that the conformation of uncleaved cell surface F protein is affected by HN protein expression. Furthermore, the cleaved F protein, when coexpressed with HN protein and in a prefusion conformation, can bind anti-HR1 antibody, and the anti-HR1-accessible conformation exists prior to HN protein attachment to receptors on red blood cells.
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Cai, Dawen, Adam D. Hoppe, Joel A. Swanson, and Kristen J. Verhey. "Kinesin-1 structural organization and conformational changes revealed by FRET stoichiometry in live cells." Journal of Cell Biology 176, no. 1 (January 1, 2007): 51–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.200605097.
Full textAbstract:
Kinesin motor proteins drive the transport of cellular cargoes along microtubule tracks. How motor protein activity is controlled in cells is unresolved, but it is likely coupled to changes in protein conformation and cargo association. By applying the quantitative method fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) stoichiometry to fluorescent protein (FP)–labeled kinesin heavy chain (KHC) and kinesin light chain (KLC) subunits in live cells, we studied the overall structural organization and conformation of Kinesin-1 in the active and inactive states. Inactive Kinesin-1 molecules are folded and autoinhibited such that the KHC tail blocks the initial interaction of the KHC motor with the microtubule. In addition, in the inactive state, the KHC motor domains are pushed apart by the KLC subunit. Thus, FRET stoichiometry reveals conformational changes of a protein complex in live cells. For Kinesin-1, activation requires a global conformational change that separates the KHC motor and tail domains and a local conformational change that moves the KHC motor domains closer together.
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Wisniewski, T., D. R. Brown, and E. M. Sigurdsson. "Therapeutics in Alzheimer's and Prion Diseases." Biochemical Society Transactions 30, no. 4 (August 1, 2002): 574–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/bst0300574.
Full textAbstract:
There is increasing recognition that numerous neurodegenerative conditions have the same underlying pathogenetic mechanism, namely a change in protein conformation, where the β-sheet content is increased. In Alzheimer's disease, amyloid deposition in the form of neuritic plaques and congophilic angiopathy is driven by the conversion of normal soluble amyloid-β peptide (sAβ) to Aβ plaques; while in the prionoses the critical event is the conversion of normal prion protein, PrPc, to the disease-associated form, PrPsc. This common theme in the pathogenesis of these disorders and the extracellular localization of the accumulating abnormal protein make them highly amenable to therapeutic approaches based on experimental manipulation of protein conformation and clearance. A number of different approaches under current development include drugs which affect the processing of the precursor proteins drugs the clearance of the amyloidogenic protein, and which inhibit or prevent the conformation change and immunological approaches. Particularly interesting are compounds termed ‘β-sheet breakers’ that directly target the abnormal conformational change both for Aβ- and PrPsc-related deposits. In addition, immune system activation can serve as β-sheet breakers and/or to increase the clearance of the disease-associated proteins. These conformation-based approaches appear to hold the best promise for therapies for this devastating group of disorders.
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Kim, J. I., K. Eom, and S. Na. "Mechanical Mass-Spring Model for Understanding Globular Motion of Proteins." Journal of Mechanics 32, no. 2 (January 25, 2016): 123–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jmech.2015.109.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractThe conformational (structural) change of proteins plays an essential role in their functions. Experiments have been conducted to try to understand the conformational change of proteins, but they have not been successful in providing information on the atomic scale. Simulation methods have been developed to understand the conformational change at an atomic scale in detail. Coarse-grained methods have been developed to calculate protein dynamics with computational efficiency when compared with than all-atom models. A structure-based mass-spring model called the elastic network model (ENM) showed excellent performance in various protein studies. Coarse-grained ENM was modified in various ways to improve the computational efficiency, and consequently to reduce required computational cost for studying the large-scale protein structures. Our previous studies report a modified mass-spring model, which was developed based on condensation method applicable to ENM, and show that the model is able to accurately predict the fluctuation behavior of proteins. We applied this modified mass-spring model to analyze the conformational changes in proteins. We consider two model proteins as an example, where these two proteins exhibit different functions and molecular sizes. It is shown that the modified mass-spring model allows for accurately predicting the pathways of conformation changes for proteins. Our model provides structural insights into the conformation change of proteins related to the biological functions of large protein complexes.
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Yeung, Heidi O., Andreas Förster, Cecilia Bebeacua, Hajime Niwa, Caroline Ewens, Ciarán McKeown, Xiaodong Zhang, and Paul S. Freemont. "Inter-ring rotations of AAA ATPase p97 revealed by electron cryomicroscopy." Open Biology 4, no. 3 (March 2014): 130142. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.130142.
Full textAbstract:
The type II AAA+ protein p97 is involved in numerous cellular activities, including endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation, transcription activation, membrane fusion and cell-cycle control. These activities are at least in part regulated by the ubiquitin system, in which p97 is thought to target ubiquitylated protein substrates within macromolecular complexes and assist in their extraction or disassembly. Although ATPase activity is essential for p97 function, little is known about how ATP binding or hydrolysis is coupled with p97 conformational changes and substrate remodelling. Here, we have used single-particle electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) to study the effect of nucleotides on p97 conformation. We have identified conformational heterogeneity within the cryo-EM datasets from which we have resolved two major p97 conformations. A comparison of conformations reveals inter-ring rotations upon nucleotide binding and hydrolysis that may be linked to the remodelling of target protein complexes.