Induction of structure and function in a designed peptide upon adsorption on a silica nanoparticle.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Bengt-Harald Jonsson.
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The effect of modulating the shape and the size of the hydrophobic pocket on the esterase activity and specificity of human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII) for esters with different acyl chain lengths was investigated. Following an initial screen of 7 HCAII variants with alanine substitutions in positions 121, 143 and 198, detailed kinetic measurements were performed on HCAII and the variants V121A, V143A and V121A/V143A. For some variants, an increased size of the hydrophobic pocket resulted in increased activities and specificities for longer substrates. For V121A/V143A, the rate of hydrolysis for paranitrophenyl valerate was increased by a factor of approximately 3000. The specificities also changed dramatically, for example V121A/V143A is 6.3 times more efficient with paranitrophenyl valerate than paranitrophenyl acetate, while HCAII is >500 times more efficient with paranitrophenyl acetate than paranitrophenyl valerate. An automated docking procedure was performed on these variants with transition state analogues (TSAs) for the hydrolysis reaction. It was possible to correlate the catalytic rate constants to the docking results, i.e. for each variant, efficient hydrolysis was generally correlated to successful TSA-docking. The observations in this paper show that the redesign increased the catalytic rates for substrates with long acyl chains by removal of steric hinders and addition of new favourable binding interactions.
We have analysed hydrogen exchange at amide groups to characterise the energy landscape of the 72 amino acid residue protein MerP. From the guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl) dependence of exchange in the pre-transitional region we have determined free energy values of exchange (DeltaG(HX)) and corresponding m-values for individual amide protons. Detailed analysis of the exchange patterns indicates that for one set of amide protons there is a weak dependence on denaturant, indicating that the exchange is dominated by local fluctuations. For another set of amide protons a linear, but much stronger, denaturant dependence is observed. Notably, the plots of free energy of exchange versus [GuHCl] for 16 amide protons show pronounced upward curvature, and a close inspection of the structure shows that these residues form a well-defined core in the protein. The hydrogen exchange that was measured at various concentrations of NaCl shows an apparent selective stabilisation of this core. Detailed analysis of this exchange pattern indicates that it may originate from selective destabilisation of the unfolded state by guanidinium ions and/or selective stabilisation of the core in the native state by chloride ions.
To characterize the sites on the protein surface that are involved in the adsorption to silica nanoparticles and the subsequent rearrangements of the protein/nanoparticle interaction, a novel approach has been used. After incubation of protein with silica nanoparticles for 2 or 16 h, the protein was cleaved with trypsin and the peptide fragments were analyzed with mass spectrometry. The nanoparticle surface area was in 16-fold excess over available protein surface to minimize the probability that the initial binding would be affected by other protein molecules. When the fragment patterns obtained in the presence and absence of silica nanoparticles were compared, we were able to characterize the protein fragments that interact with the surface. This approach has allowed us to identify the initial binding sites on the protein structure and the rearrangement of the binding sites that occur upon prolonged incubation with the surface.
Carriers of the D18G transthyretin (TTR) mutation display an unusual central nervous system (CNS) phenotype with late onset of disease. D18G TTR is monomeric and highly prone to misfold and aggregate even at physiological conditions. Extremely low levels of mutant protein circulate both in human serum and cerebrospinal fluid, indicating impaired secretion of D18G TTR. Recent data show efficient selective ER-associated degradation (ERAD) of D18G TTR. One essential component of the ER-assisted folding machinery is the molecular chaperone BiP. Co-expression of BiP and D18G TTR, or BiP and wild-type (wt) TTR, or mutants A25T TTR and L55P TTR in Escherichia coli showed that only D18G TTR was significantly captured by BiP. Negligible capture of wt TTR and L55P TTR was seen and a sixfold smaller amount of A25T TTR bound to BiP compared to D18G TTR. These data correlate very well with thermodynamic and kinetic stability of the TTR variants, indicating that folding efficiency is inversely correlated to BiP capture. The complexes between BiP and D18G TTR were stable and could be isolated through affinity chromatography. Analytical ultracentrifugation and size-exclusion chromatography revealed that D18G TTR and BiP formed a mixture of 1:1 complexes and large soluble oligomers. The stoichiometry of captured D18G TTR versus BiP increased with increasing size of the oligomers. This indicates that BiP either worked as a molecular shepherd collecting the aggregation-prone mutant into stable oligomers or that BiP could bind to oligomers formed from misfolded mutant protein. Sequence analysis of bound TTR peptides to BiP revealed a bound sequence corresponding to residues 88-103 of TTR, comprising beta-strand F in the folded TTR monomer constituting part of the hydrogen bonding tetramer interface in native TTR. The F-strand has also been suggested as a possible elongation region of amyloid fibrils, implicating how substoichiomeric amounts of BiP could sequester prefibrillar amyloidogenic oligomers through binding to this part of TTR. BiP binding to D18G TTR was abolished by addition of ATP. The released D18G TTR completely misfolded into amyloid aggregates as shown by ThT fluorescence and Congo red binding.
It is well-known that adsorption of proteins on interfaces often induces substantial alterations of the protein structure. However, very little is known about whether these conformational changes have any consequence for the protein conformation after desorption from the interface. To investigate this matter, we have selected a protein-particle system in which the enzyme human carbonic anhydrase I (HCAI) alternates between the adsorbed and free state upon interaction with the silica nanoparticles. High-resolution NMR analysis of the protein with the particles present in the sample shows a spectrum that indicates a molten globular-like structure. Removal of particles results in refolding of virtually all HCAI molecules to a fully active form. However, the two-dimensional NMR analysis shows that refolding does not result in a single well-defined protein structure but rather provides an ensemble of protein molecules with near-native conformations. A detailed comparative chemical shift analysis of 108 amide signals in (1)H-(15)N HSQC spectra of native and desorbed HCAI reveals that the most profound effects are located at beta-strands in the center of the molecule. The observation of very slow H-D exchange in the central beta-strands of HCAI [Kjellsson, A., Sethson, I., and Jonsson, B. H. (2003) Biochemistry 42, 363-374] in conjunction with our results indicates that the kinetic barriers for conformational rearrangements in the central core of the protein are low in the presence of nanoparticles but are very high under native conditions.
The binding of protein to solid surfaces often induces changes in the structure, and to investigate these matters we have selected two different protein-nanoparticle systems. The first system concerns the enzyme human carbonic anhydrase II which binds essentially irreversibly to the nanoparticles, and the second system concerns human carbonic anhydrase I which alternate between the adsorbed and free state upon interaction with nanoparticles. Application of the TROSY pulse sequence has allowed high-resolution NMR analysis for both of the protein-nanoparticle systems. For HCAII it was possible to observe spectra of protein when bound to the nanoparticles. The results indicated that HCAII undergoes large rearrangements, forming an ensemble of molten globule-like structures on the surface. The spectra from the HCAI-nanoparticle system are dominated by HCAI molecules in solution. A comparative analysis of variations in intensity from 97 amide resonances in a 1H-15N TROSY spectrum revealed the effects from interaction with nanoparticle on the protein structure at amino acid resolution.
Several receptors for human carbonic anhydrase II (HCAII) have been prepared by covalently attaching benzenesulfonamide carboxylates via aliphatic aminocarboxylic acid spacers of variable length to the side chain of a lysine residue in a designed 42 residue helix-loop-helix motif. The sulfonamide group binds to the active site zinc ion of human carbonic anhydrase II located in a 15 A deep cleft. The dissociation constants of the receptor-HCAII complexes were found to be in the range from low micromolar to better than 20 nM, with the lowest affinities found for spacers with less than five methylene groups and the highest affinity found for the spacer with seven methylene groups. The results suggest that the binding is a cooperative event in which both the sulfonamide residue and the helix-loop-helix motif contribute to the overall affinity.
A general problem when analysing NMR spectra that reflect variations in the environment of target molecules is that different resonances are affected to various extents. Often a few resonances that display the largest frequency changes are selected as probes to reflect the examined variation, especially in the case, where the NMR spectra contain numerous resonances. Such a selection is dependent on more or less intuitive judgements and relying on the observed spectral variation being primarily caused by changes in the NMR sample. Second, recording changes observed for a few (albeit significant) resonances is inevitably accompanied by not using all available information in the analysis. Likewise, the commonly used chemical shift mapping (CSM) [Biochemistry 39 (2000) 26, Biochemistry 39 (2000) 12595] constitutes a loss of information since the total variation in the data is not retained in the projection into this single variable. Here, we describe a method for subjecting 2D NMR time-domain data to multivariate analysis and illustrate it with an analysis of multiple NMR experiments recorded at various folding conditions for the protein MerP. The calculated principal components provide an unbiased model of variations in the NMR spectra and they can consequently be processed as NMR data, and all the changes as reflected in the principal components are thereby made available for visual inspection in one single NMR spectrum. This approach is much less laborious than consideration of large numbers of individual spectra, and it greatly increases the interpretative power of the analysis.
We have analyzed the adsorption of protein to the surfaces of silica nanoparticles with diameters of 6, 9, and 15 nm. The effects upon adsorption on variants of human carbonic anhydrase with differing conformational stabilities have been monitored using methods that give complementary information, i.e., circular dichroism (CD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC), and gel permeation chromatography. Human carbonic anhydrase I (HCAI), which is the most stable of the protein variants, establishes a dynamic equilibrium between bound and unbound protein following mixture with silica particles. Gel permeation and AUC experiments indicate that the residence time of HCAI is on the order of approximately 10 min and slowly increases with time, which allows us to study the effects of the interaction with the solid surface on the protein structure in more detail than would be possible for a process with faster kinetics. The effects on the protein conformation from the interaction have been characterized using CD and NMR measurements. This study shows that differences in particle curvature strongly influence the amount of the protein's secondary structure that is perturbed. Particles with a longer diameter allow formation of larger particle-protein interaction surfaces and cause larger perturbations of the protein's secondary structure upon interaction. In contrast, the effects on the tertiary structure seem to be independent of the particles' curvature.
Most loss-of-function diseases are caused by aberrant folding of important proteins. These proteins often misfold due to mutations. The disease marble brain syndrome (MBS), known also as carbonic anhydrase II deficiency syndrome (CADS), can manifest in carriers of point mutations in the human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II) gene. One mutation associated with MBS entails the His107Tyr substitution. Here, we demonstrate that this mutation is a remarkably destabilizing folding mutation. The loss-of-function is clearly a folding defect, since the mutant shows 64% of CO(2) hydration activity compared to that of the wild-type at low temperature where the mutant is folded. On the contrary, its stability towards thermal and guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl) denaturation is highly compromised. Using activity assays, CD, fluorescence, NMR, cross-linking, aggregation measurements and molecular modeling, we have mapped the properties of this remarkable mutant. Loss of enzymatic activity had a midpoint temperature of denaturation (T(m)) of 16 degrees C for the mutant compared to 55 degrees C for the wild-type protein. GuHCl-denaturation (at 4 degrees C) showed that the native state of the mutant was destabilized by 9.2kcal/mol. The mutant unfolds through at least two equilibrium intermediates; one novel intermediate that we have termed the molten globule light state and, after further denaturation, the classical molten globule state is populated. Under physiological conditions (neutral pH; 37 degrees C), the His107Tyr mutant will populate the molten globule light state, likely due to novel interactions between Tyr107 and the surroundings of the critical residue Ser29 that destabilize the native conformation. This intermediate binds the hydrophobic dye 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonic acid (ANS) but not as strong as the molten globule state, and near-UV CD reveals the presence of significant tertiary structure. Notably, this intermediate is not as prone to aggregation as the classical molten globule. As a proof of concept for an intervention strategy with small molecules, we showed that binding of the CA inhibitor acetazolamide increases the stability of the native state of the mutant by 2.9kcal/mol in accordance with its strong affinity. Acetazolamide shifts the T(m) to 34 degrees C that protects from misfolding and will enable a substantial fraction of the enzyme pool to survive physiological conditions.
We have analysed the folding energy landscape of the 72 amino acid protein MerP by monitoring native state hydrogen exchange as a function of temperature in the range of 7-55 degrees C. The temperature dependence of the hydrogen exchange has allowed us to determine DeltaG, DeltaH and DeltaC(p) values for the conformational processes that permit hydrogen exchange. When studied with the traditional probes, fluorescence and CD, MerP appears to behave as a typical two-state protein, but the results from the hydrogen exchange analysis reveal a much more complex energy landscape. Analysis at the individual amino acid level show that exchange is allowed from an ensemble of partially unfolded structures (i.e. intermediates) in which the stabilities at the amino acid level form a broad distribution throughout the protein. The formation of partially unfolded structures might contribute to the unusually slow folding of MerP.
DNA polymerase epsilon (Pol epsilon) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae consists of four subunits (Pol2, Dpb2, Dpb3, and Dpb4) and is essential for chromosomal DNA replication. Biochemical characterizations of Pol epsilon have been cumbersome due to protease sensitivity and the limited amounts of Pol epsilon in cells. We have developed a protocol for overexpression and purification of Pol epsilon from S. cerevisiae. The native four-subunit complex was purified to homogeneity by conventional chromatography. Pol epsilon was characterized biochemically by sedimentation velocity experiments and gel filtration experiments. The stoichiometry of the four subunits was estimated to be 1:1:1:1 from colloidal Coomassie-stained gels. Based on the sedimentation coefficient (11.9 S) and the Stokes radius (74.5 A), a molecular mass for Pol epsilon of 371 kDa was calculated, in good agreement with the calculated molecular mass of 379 kDa for a heterotetramer. Furthermore, analytical equilibrium ultracentrifugation experiments support the proposed heterotetrameric structure of Pol epsilon. Thus, both DNA polymerase delta and Pol epsilon are purified as monomeric complexes, in agreement with accumulating evidence that Pol delta and Pol epsilon are located on opposite strands of the eukaryotic replication fork.
The nature of denatured ensembles of the enzyme human carbonic anhydrase (HCA) has been extensively studied by various methods in the past. The protein constitutes an interesting model for folding studies that does not unfold by a simple two-state transition, instead a molten globule intermediate is highly populated at 1.5 M GuHCl. In this work, NMR and H/D exchange studies have been conducted on one of the isozymes, HCA I. The H/D exchange studies, which were enabled by the previously obtained resonance assignment of HCA I, have been used to identify unfolded forms that are accessible from the native state. In addition, the GuHCl-induced unfolded states of HCA I have also been characterized by NMR at GuHCl concentrations in the 0-5 M range. The most important findings in this work are as follows: (1) Amide protons located in the center of the beta-sheet require global unfolding events for efficient H/D exchange. (2) The molten globule and the native state give similar protection against H/D exchange for all of the observable amide protons (i.e., water seems not to efficiently penetrate the interior of the molten globule). (3) At high protein concentrations, the molten globule can form large aggregates, which are not detectable by solution-state NMR methods. (4) The unfolded state (U), present at GuHCl concentrations above 2 M, is composed of an ensemble of conformations having residual structures with different stabilities.
Helicobacter pylori, the causative agent of peptic ulcer disease, expresses two different forms of the zinc-containing enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA) (alpha and beta), catalyzing the reversible hydration of CO(2). Presumably, the high CO(2) requirement of H. pylori implies an important role for this enzyme in the bacterial physiology. In this paper, expression of the CAs has been analyzed in three different strains of the bacterium, 26695, J99 and 17.1, and appears to be independent of CO(2) concentration in the investigated range (0.1-10%). Presence of the potent and highly specific CA inhibitor, acetazolamide, in the medium does not seem to inhibit bacterial growth at the given sulfonamide concentration. Moreover, the localization and distribution of the alpha-CA was analyzed by immunonegative staining, while SDS-digested freeze-fracture immunogold labelling was used for the beta-form of the enzyme. The latter method has the advantage of allowing assessment of protein localization to distinct cell compartments and membrane structures. The resulting electron microscopy images indicate a localization of the beta-CA in the cytosol, on the cytosolic side of the inner membrane and on the outer membrane facing the periplasmic space. The alpha-enzyme was found attached to the surface of the bacterium.
Substitution of Pro for Thr199 in the active site of human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II)(1) reduces its catalytic efficiency about 3000-fold. X-ray crystallographic structures of the T199P/C206S variant have been determined in complex with the substrate bicarbonate and with the inhibitors thiocyanate and beta-mercaptoethanol. The latter molecule is normally not an inhibitor of wild-type HCA II. All three ligands display novel binding interactions to the T199P/C206S mutant. The beta-mercaptoethanol molecule binds in the active site area with its sulfur atom tetrahedrally coordinated to the zinc ion. Thiocyanate binds tetrahedrally coordinated to the zinc ion in T199P/C206S, in contrast to its pentacoordinated binding to the zinc ion in wild-type HCA II. Bicarbonate binds to the mutant with two of its oxygens at the positions of the zinc water (Wat263) and Wat318 in wild-type HCA II. The environment of this area is more hydrophilic than the normal bicarbonate-binding site of HCA II situated in the hydrophobic part of the cavity normally occupied by the so-called deep water (Wat338). The observation of a new binding site for bicarbonate has implications for understanding the mechanism by which the main-chain amino group of Thr199 acquired an important role for orientation of the substrate during the evolution of the enzyme.