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Christina Marchetti Bradley

Publications and source records attributed to Christina Marchetti Bradley.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

The notch ankyrin domain folds via a discrete, centralized pathway.

The Notch ankyrin repeat domain contains seven ankyrin sequence repeats, six of which adopt very similar structures. To determine if folding proceeds along parallel pathways and the order in which repeats become structured during folding, we examined the effect of analogous destabilizing Ala-->Gly substitutions in each repeat on folding kinetics. We find that folding proceeds to an on-pathway kinetic intermediate through a transition state ensemble containing structure in repeats three through five. Repeats two, six, and seven remain largely unstructured in this intermediate, becoming structured in a second kinetic step that leads to the native state. These data suggest that the Notch ankyrin domain folds according to a discrete kinetic pathway despite structural redundancy in the native state and highlight the importance of sequence-specific interactions in controlling pathway selection. This centralized pathway roughly corresponds to a low energy channel through the experimentally determined energy landscape.

Ankyrin Repeat↗
PubMed2005

Effect of multiple prolyl isomerization reactions on the stability and folding kinetics of the notch ankyrin domain: experiment and theory.

Studies on the folding kinetics of the Notch ankyrin domain have demonstrated that the major refolding phase is slow, the minor refolding phase is limited by the isomerization of prolyl peptide bonds, and that unfolding is multiexponential. Here, we explore the relationship between prolyl isomerization and folding heterogeneity using a combination of experiment and simulation. Proline residues were replaced with alanine, both singly and in various combinations. These destabilizing substitutions combine to eliminate the minor refolding phase, although unfolding heterogeneity persists even when all seven proline residues are replaced. To test whether prolyl isomerization influences the major refolding phase, we modeled folding and prolyl isomerization as a system of sequential reactions. Simulations that use rate constants of the major folding phase of the Notch ankyrin domain to represent intrinsic folding indicate that even with seven prolyl isomerization reactions, only two significant phases should be observed, and that the fast observed phase provides a good approximation of the intrinsic folding in the absence of prolyl isomerization. These results indicate that the major refolding phase of the Notch ankyrin domain reflects an intrinsically slow folding transition, rather than coupling of fast folding events with slow prolyl isomerization steps. This is consistent with the observation that the single observed refolding phase of a construct in which all proline residues are replaced remains slow. Finally, the simulation fails to produce a second unfolding phase at high urea concentrations, indicating that prolyl isomerization does not play a role in the three-state mechanism that leads to this heterogeneity.

Alanine↗
PubMed2005

Experimental characterization of the folding kinetics of the notch ankyrin domain.

Proteins constructed from linear arrays of tandem repeats provide a simplified architecture for understanding protein folding. Here, we examine the folding kinetics of the ankyrin repeat domain from the Drosophila Notch receptor, which consists of six folded ankyrin modules and a seventh partly disordered N-terminal ankyrin repeat sequence. Both the refolding and unfolding kinetics are best described as a sum of two exponential phases. The slow, minor refolding phase is limited by prolyl isomerization in the denatured state (D). The minor unfolding phase, which appears as a lag during fluorescence-detected unfolding, is consistent with an on-pathway intermediate (I). This intermediate, although not directly detected during refolding, is shown to be populated by interrupted refolding experiments. When plotted against urea, the rate constants for the major unfolding and refolding phases define a single non-linear v-shaped chevron, as does the minor unfolding phase. These two chevrons, along with unfolding amplitudes, are well-fitted by a sequential three-state model, which yields rate constants for the individual steps in folding and unfolding. Based on these fitted parameters, the D to I step is rate-limiting, and closely matches the major observed refolding phase at low denaturant concentrations. I appears to be midway between N and D in folding free energy and denaturant sensitivity, but has Trp fluorescence properties close to N. Although the Notch ankyrin domain has a simple architecture, folding is slow, with the limiting refolding rate constant as much as seven orders of magnitude smaller than expected from topological predictions.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Structural basis for DNA bridging by barrier-to-autointegration factor.

The ability of barrier-to-autointegration factor (BAF) to bind and bridge DNA in a sequence-independent manner is crucial for its role in retroviral integration and a variety of cellular processes. To better understand this behavior, we solved the crystal structure of BAF bound to DNA. The structure reveals that BAF bridges DNA using two pairs of helix-hairpin-helix motifs located on opposite surfaces of the BAF dimer without changing its conformation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2005

An improved experimental system for determining small folding entropy changes resulting from proline to alanine substitutions.

Changes in protein stability can be achieved by making substitutions that increase or decrease the available conformations of the unfolded protein without altering the conformational freedom of the folded protein. Matthews and coworkers (1987) proposed that proline to alanine (P --> A) substitution would achieve this type of entropic destabilization. By comparing the Ramachandran area associated with alanine and proline residues, Matthews et al. estimated the unfolding entropy change resulting from P --> A substitution to be 4.8 cal mol(-1) K(-1). Although such an entropy difference would produce a substantial free energy change, accurately resolving such free energy changes into entropic and enthalpic components has been difficult. Here, we attempt to quantify the unfolding entropy change produced by P --> A substitution by amplifying the effect through multiple substitutions, and by decreasing the uncertainty in determining the unfolding entropy. Variants of a repeat protein, the Drosophila Notch ankyrin domain, were constructed with a varying number of P --> A substitutions at structurally conserved positions. Unfolding entropy values of the variants were determined from free energy measurements taken over a common temperature range using chemical denaturation. Our findings confirm the prediction that increasing the number of proline residues present in similar local environments increases the unfolding entropy. The average value of this increase in unfolding entropy is 7.7 +/- 4.2 cal mol(-1) K(-1), which is within error of the value estimated by Matthews et al. (1987).

Alanine↗
PubMed2002

Limits of cooperativity in a structurally modular protein: response of the Notch ankyrin domain to analogous alanine substitutions in each repeat.

To determine the limits of cooperativity in a structurally modular protein, we characterized the structure and stability of glycine variants of the ankyrin repeat domain from the Drosophila melangaster Notch receptor. The substitutions are of analogous alanine residues to glycine in each repeat, and allow the same perturbation to be examined at different positions in the protein. The ankyrin domain is insensitive to substitution in repeat one, suggesting that the first repeat is not fully-folded. Glycine substitutions in repeat two through seven are strongly destabilizing, but the variants retain their overall secondary and tertiary structures. Spectroscopic and calorimetric data are consistent with two-state unfolding transitions for the repeat-two through repeat-five glycine variants, and for the wild-type protein. These data indicate that, despite its modular structure, the Notch ankyrin domain unfolds as a cooperative unit consisting of the six C-terminal repeats, and that this cooperativity is maintained in the presence of severely destabilizing substitutions in the N-terminal and central repeats. In contrast, glycine substitution in repeat six leads to a multi-state unfolding transition, suggesting that the coupling that gives rise to long-range cooperativity in the wild-type protein may have a weak link in the C-terminal region. Such behavior is captured by a simple statistical thermodynamic model in which an unstable C-terminal region is coupled to a stable N-terminal region through a strongly stabilizing interface.

Alanine↗