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B W Matthews

Publications and source records attributed to B W Matthews.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Protein structural plasticity exemplified by insertion and deletion mutants in T4 lysozyme.

To further investigate the ways in which proteins respond to changes in the length of the polypeptide chain, a series of 32 insertions and five deletions were made within nine different alpha-helices of T4 lysozyme. In most cases, the inserted amino acid was a single alanine, although in some instances up to four residues, not necessarily alanine, were used. Different insertions destabilized the protein by different amounts, ranging from approximately 1 to 6 kcal/mol. In one case, no protein could be obtained. An "extension" mutant in which the carboxy terminus of the molecule was extended by four alanines increased stability by 0.3 kcal/mol. For the deletions, the loss in stability ranged from approximately 3 to 5 kcal/mol. The structures of six insertion mutants, as well as one deletion mutant and the extension mutant, were determined, three in crystal forms nonisomorphous with wild type. In all cases, including previously described insertion mutants within a single alpha-helix, there appears to be a strong tendency to preserve the helix by translocating residues so that the effects of the insertion are propagated into a bend or loop at one end or the other of the helix. In three mutants, even the hydrophobic core was disrupted so as to permit the preservation of the alpha-helix containing the insertion. Translocation (or "register shift") was also observed for the deletion mutant, in this case a loop at the end of the helix being shortened. In general, when translocation occurs, the reduction in stability is only moderate, averaging 2.5 kcal/mol. Only in the most extreme cases does "bulging" or "looping-out" occur within the body of an alpha-helix, in which case the destabilization is substantial, averaging 4.9 kcal/mol. Looping-out can occur for insertions close to the end of a helix, in which case the destabilization is less severe, averaging 2.6 kcal/mol. Mutant A73-[AAA] as well as mutants R119-[A] and V131-[A], include shifts in the backbone of 3-6 A, extending over 20 residues or more. As a result, residues 114-142, which form a "cap" on the carboxy-terminal domain, undergo substantial reorganizations such that the interface between this "cap" and the rest of the protein is altered substantially. In the case of mutant A73-[AAA], two nearby alpha-helices, which form a bend of approximately 105 degrees in the wild-type structure, reorganize in the mutant structure to form a single, essentially straight helix. These structural responses to mutation demonstrate the plasticity of protein structures and illustrate ways in which their three-dimensional structures might changes during evolution.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Structural and genetic analysis of the folding and function of T4 lysozyme.

The combination of directed mutagenesis with high-resolution structure analysis has made it possible to systematically address fundamental questions of protein folding and stability. Here we briefly review some recent results in this area based on studies of the lysozyme of bacteriophage T4. Extended segments of the polypeptide chain can be substituted with alanine, suggesting that about 50%, or perhaps less, of the overall amino acid sequence protein is necessary to define the 3-dimensional structure of the protein. It is the internal residues that seem to be most important for folding and stability (although not necessarily for function). Substitutions within the core of the protein of large nonpolar side chains with smaller ones have been used to better understand the nature of hydrophobic stabilization. Mutants that produce the largest cavities within the protein tend to be most destabilizing, allowing the energy cost of cavity formation to be estimated. Small, nonpolar ligands bind within such cavities and restore some stability to the protein. Analogous, nonpolar ligands do not bind, however, providing evidence that water molecules do not bind with high occupancy within nonpolar cavities. In a further series of studies it has been possible to re-engineer the active site region of T4 lysozyme to change the catalytic mechanism of the enzyme.

Bacteriophage T4↗
PubMed1995

Eukaryotic methionyl aminopeptidases: two classes of cobalt-dependent enzymes.

Using partial amino acid sequence data derived from porcine methionyl aminopeptidase (MetAP; methionine aminopeptidase, peptidase M; EC 3.4.11.18), a full-length clone of the homologous human enzyme has been obtained. The cDNA sequence contains 2569 nt with a single open reading frame corresponding to a protein of 478 amino acids. The C-terminal portion representing the catalytic domain shows limited identity with MetAP sequences from various prokaryotes and yeast, while the N terminus is rich in charged amino acids, including extended strings of basic and acidic residues. These highly polar stretches likely result in the spuriously high observed molecular mass (67 kDa). This cDNA sequence is highly similar to a rat protein, termed p67, which was identified as an inhibitor of phosphorylation of initiation factor eIF2 alpha and was previously predicted to be a metallopeptidase based on limited sequence homology. Model building established that human MetAP (p67) could be readily accommodated into the Escherichia coli MetAP structure and that the Co2+ ligands were fully preserved. However, human MetAP was found to be much more similar to a yeast open reading frame that differed markedly from the previously reported yeast MetAP. A similar partial sequence from Methanothermus fervidus suggests that this p67-like sequence is also found in prokaryotes. These findings suggest that there are two cobalt-dependent MetAP families, presently composed of the prokaryote and yeast sequences (and represented by the E. coli structure) (type I), on the one hand, and by human MetAP, the yeast open reading frame, and the partial prokaryotic sequence (type II), on the other.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Protein flexibility and adaptability seen in 25 crystal forms of T4 lysozyme.

The structures of various mutants of T4 lysozyme have been determined in 25 non-isomorphous crystal forms. This provides an unusually diverse data base to compare the structures and dynamics of a closely related set of proteins in different crystal packing environments. In general, the more tightly packed crystals diffract better than those that are highly hydrated although the wild-type crystal form is an exception. The ability of the protein to form a relatively open but stable lattice may help explain why many of the mutants crystallize in this form. In different crystalline environments, the lysozyme molecules associate with 2-fold, 3-fold, 4-fold, and 5-fold symmetry, as well as with various types of screw associations. A "back-to-back" dimeric association, and a "head-to-tail" 2(1) screw association, are especially common, each occurring in more than half a dozen crystal forms. The 4-fold and 5-fold modes of association are closely related and provide an example of quasi-equivalent association as envisaged by Caspar and Klug. In different crystal environments the lysozyme molecules display a range of over 50 degrees in the hinge-bending angle between the amino and carboxy-terminal domains. Large variations in the hinge-bending angle are observed not only for lysozymes with mutations in the hinge region, but for molecules with mutations far from this site. This suggests that hinge-bending is an intrinsic property of the lysozyme molecule and is not an artifact due to mutation. As the hinge-bending angle increases about 15 degrees beyond that seen in wild-type there is a distinct conformations change in the side-chains of five residues in the hinge-bending region. Changes in the backbone are localized near residues 13, 59 and 80, but do not include significant changes in (phi, psi). Comparison of the different structures indicates that crystal contacts perturb the backbone structure of the protein by 0.2 to 0.5 A. These perturbations are of the same magnitude for helices and beta-sheet strands, suggesting that protein structures can be defined and maintained equally well by hydrogen-bonding (i.e. strand-strand) or by non-hydrogen-bonding (i.e. helix-helix) interactions. The discrepancies between the lysozyme structures in different crystallographic environments are in line with other comparisons of independently determined protein crystal structures. They suggest that protein structures in general are subject to low energy changes in conformation of 0.2 to 0.5 A.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Bacteriophage T4↗
PubMed1995

Energetic origins of specificity of ligand binding in an interior nonpolar cavity of T4 lysozyme.

To determine the constraints on interactions within the core of a folded protein, we have analyzed the binding of 91 different compounds to an internal cavity created in the interior of phage T4 lysozyme by site-directed mutagenesis [Eriksson et al. (1992a) Nature 355, 371-373]. The cavity is able to accommodate a variety of small, mainly nonpolar, ligands. Molecules which do not appear to bind include those that are very polar, those that are too large, and those that have appropriate volume and polarity but inappropriate shape. Calorimetric analysis of 16 of these ligands reveals that their free energies of binding are poorly correlated with their solvent-transfer free energies. In addition, their enthalpies of binding are much larger than expected on the basis of transfer of the ligands from an aqueous to a nonpolar liquid phase. The binding energetics were analyzed by dividing the reaction into three processes: desolvation, immobilization, and packing. This analysis indicates that all three processes contribute to binding specificity. For a subset of these ligands that are structurally related, however, packing interactions in the protein interior are well modeled by the interactions of the ligands with octanol.

Bacteriophage T4↗
PubMed1995

Specificity of ligand binding in a buried nonpolar cavity of T4 lysozyme: linkage of dynamics and structural plasticity.

To better understand the role of shape complementarity in ligand binding and protein core interactions, the structures have been determined of a set of ligands bound within a cavity-containing mutant of T4 lysozyme. The interior cavity is seen to consist of two parts that respond very differently to the binding of ligands. First, there is a relatively rigid region that does not relax significantly upon binding any ligand. Second, there is a more flexible region that moves to various extents in response to binding the different ligands. The part of the binding site that remains rigid is characterized by low temperature factors and strong protection from hydrogen exchange. This part of the site appears to be primarily responsible for discriminating between ligands of different shape (i.e., for determining specificity). The more flexible region, characterized by relatively high temperature factors and weak protection from hydrogen exchange, allows some promiscuity in binding by undergoing variable amounts of deformation at essentially the same energetic cost. This linkage between the dynamic information represented by crystallographic temperature factors and hydrogen-exchange behavior on the one hand, and structural plasticity in response to ligand binding on the other hand, suggests a way to improve our understanding of steric interactions in protein cores and protein-ligand binding sites. Ligand design and packing algorithms might take advantage of this information, requiring complementary interactions where the protein is rigid and allowing some overlap in regions where the protein is flexible.

Bacteriophage T4↗
PubMed1995

Alanine scanning mutagenesis of the alpha-helix 115-123 of phage T4 lysozyme: effects on structure, stability and the binding of solvent.

A series of individual alanine mutations has been constructed in the helical region 115 to 123 in phage T4 lysozyme in order to evaluate the contribution to protein stability of the different side-chains within this region. Pairwise alanine mutations and a combination mutant with seven alanine substitutions were constructed to evaluate the additive effects upon structure and stability. Only three residues within this region (Ser117, Leu118 and Leu121) have a substantial influence upon stability (change in free energy of unfolding greater than 1.0 kcal/mol). Replacement of Ser117 with alanine results in an increase in protein stability of 1.27 kcal/mol, apparently due to the release of strain present in the wild-type protein. Replacement of the buried residues Leu118 and Leu121 is destabilizing. Substitution of the remaining six residues with alanine has relatively little effect on stability. This is consistent with prior studies showing that only 20 to 30% of the residues in amphipathic helices in T4 lysozyme are critical for stability. For some of the pairwise alanine mutants the effects on stability are additive. For most of these mutants, however, there is a slight (approximately 0.15 to 0.25 kcal/mol) non-additivity such that the double mutant is more stable than the sum of the constituent single mutants. This effect is consistently observed for residues with positions i, i +4; i.e. adjacent, but in consecutive turns of the helix, suggesting a weak but significant interaction between these amino acid residues. A more pronounced non-additivity (approximately 0.5 kcal/mol) is seen in the seven-alanine combination mutant. This non-additivity is due to a modest "collapse" or "repacking" that occurs for the combination mutants (especially the multiple alanine mutant) but is not possible for the single replacements. The truncation of some side-chains permits an increase in solvent accessibility of main-chain amide and carbonyl groups. This effect is most pronounced for the seven-alanine combination mutant, where two solvent molecules, not present in wild-type, hydrogen bond to main-chain carbonyl groups in the middle region of the helix. It has been suggested that the binding of such water molecules might represent the first step in solvent-mediated unfolding of an alpha-helix. The appearance of ordered solvent, however, appears to have very little effect on stability (approximately less than 0.2 kcal/mol).

Alanine↗
PubMed1995

A relationship between protein stability and protein function.

Enzymes are thought to use their ordered structures to facilitate catalysis. A corollary of this theory suggests that enzyme residues involved in function are not optimized for stability. We tested this hypothesis by mutating functionally important residues in the active site of T4 lysozyme. Six mutations at two catalytic residues, Glu-11 and Asp-20, abolished or reduced enzymatic activity but increased thermal stability by 0.7-1.7 kcal.mol-1. Nine mutations at two substrate-binding residues, Ser-117 and Asn-132, increased stability by 1.2-2.0 kcal.mol-1, again at the cost of reduced activity. X-ray crystal structures show that the substituted residues complement regions of the protein surface that are used for substrate recognition in the native enzyme. In two of these structures the enzyme undergoes a general conformational change, similar to that seen in an enzyme-product complex. These results support a relationship between stability and function for T4 lysozyme. Other evidence suggests that the relationship is general.

Bacteriophage T4↗
PubMed1995

The refined structures of goose lysozyme and its complex with a bound trisaccharide show that the "goose-type" lysozymes lack a catalytic aspartate residue.

The structure of goose egg-white lysozyme (GEWL) has been refined to an R-value of 15.9% at 1.6 A resolution. Details of the structure determination, the refinement and the structure itself are presented. The structure of a complex of the enzyme with the trisaccharide of N-acetyl glucosamine has also been determined and refined at 1.6 A resolution. The trisaccharide occupies sites analogous to the B, C and D subsites of chicken (HEWL) and phage T4 (T4L) lysozymes. All three lysozymes (GEWL, HEWL and T4L) display the same characteristic set of bridging hydrogen bonds between backbone atoms of the protein and the 2-acetamido group of the saccharide in subsite C. Glu73 of GEWL is seen to correspond closely to Glu35 of HEWL (and to Glu11 of T4L) and supports the established view that this group is critically involved in the catalytic mechanism. There is, however, no obvious residue in goose lysozyme that is a counterpart of Asp52 of chicken lysozyme (or of Asp20 in T4L), suggesting that a second acidic residue is not essential for the catalytic activity of goose lysozyme, and may not be required for the activity of other lysozymes.

Acetylglucosamine↗
PubMed1995

Structural analysis of zinc substitutions in the active site of thermolysin.

Native thermolysin binds a single catalytically essential zinc ion that is tetrahedrally coordinated by three protein ligands and a water molecule. During catalysis the zinc ligation is thought to change from fourfold to fivefold. Substitution of the active-site zinc with Cd2+, Mn2+, Fe2+, and Co2+ alters the catalytic activity (Holmquist B, Vallee BL, 1974, J Biol Chem 249:4601-4607). Excess zinc inhibits the enzyme. To investigate the structural basis of these changes in activity, we have determined the structures of a series of metal-substituted thermolysins at 1.7-1.9 A resolution. The structure of the Co(2+)-substituted enzyme is shown to be very similar to that of wild type except that two solvent molecules are liganded to the metal at positions that are thought to be occupied by the two oxygens of the hydrated scissile peptide in the transition state. Thus, the enhanced activity toward some substrates of the cobalt-relative to the zinc-substituted enzyme may be due to enhanced stabilization of the transition state. The ability of Zn2+ and Co2+ to accept tetrahedral coordination in the Michaelis complex, as well as fivefold coordination in the transition state, may also contribute to their effectiveness in catalysis. The Cd(2+)- and Mn(2+)-substituted thermolysins display conformational changes that disrupt the active site to varying degrees and could explain the associated reduction of activity. The conformational changes involve not only the essential catalytic residue, Glu 143, but also concerted side-chain rotations in the adjacent residues Met 120 and Leu 144. Some of these side-chain movements are similar to adjustments that have been observed previously in association with the "hinge-bending" motion that is presumed to occur during catalysis by the zinc endoproteases. In the presence of excess zinc, a second zinc ion is observed to bind at His 231 within 3.2 A of the zinc bound to native thermolysin, explaining the inhibitory effect.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Studies on protein stability with T4 lysozyme.

A series of mutants of phage T4 lysozyme have been constructed and have permitted a systematic analysis of different aspects of protein stability and folding. One striking result has been the ability of the protein to accommodate changes at many sites, yet still fold and retain activity. This shows that many amino acids in the sequence of the protein are nonessential for protein folding and stability. Such amino acids appear, predominantly, to be those that are mobile and/or largely exposed to solvent. Even though buried residues seem to be more important, it is still possible to change these as well. In some cases individual amino acids have been replaced. In other cases it has been found that a combination of substitutions permits repacking of the core. Such repacking is associated with adjustments of both the main chain and side chains. Only rarely do side chains rotate into radically new orientations. Taken together, substitutions of core residues confirm the overall importance of the hydrophobic effect as the dominant factor in stabilizing the folded structures of proteins. "Cavity-creating" substitutions of the form Leu-->Ala show, as expected, that the burial of the bulky leucine side chain within the core of the protein confers greater hydrophobic stabilization than is the case for the smaller alanine side chain. Leu-->Ala substitutions that create large cavities are especially destabilizing because they result in a loss of both hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions. In cases where the protein relaxes to reduce the size of the putative cavity, alternative van der Waals interactions are generated and the overall destabilization of the protein may be less severe than in cases where a large cavity is formed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Structure-based design of a lysozyme with altered catalytic activity.

Here we show that the substitution Thr 26-->His in the active site of T4 lysozyme causes the product to change from the alpha- to the beta-anomer. This implies an alteration in the catalytic mechanism of the enzyme. From the change in product, together with inspection of relevant crystal structures, it is inferred that wild-type T4 lysozyme is an anomer-inverting enzyme with a single displacement mechanism in which water attacks from the alpha-side of the substrate. In contrast, the mutant T26H is an anomer-retaining enzyme with an apparently double displacement mechanism in which a water molecule attacks from the opposite side of the substrate. The results also show that the mechanism of wild-type T4 lysozyme differs from that of hen egg-white lysozyme even though both enzymes are presumed to have evolved from a common precursor.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Enhancement of protein stability by the combination of point mutations in T4 lysozyme is additive.

A number of mutations have been shown previously to stabilize T4 lysozyme. By combining up to seven such mutations in the same protein, the melting temperature was incrementally increased by up to 8.3 degrees C at pH 5.4 (delta delta G = 3.6 kcal/mol). This shows that it is possible to engineer a protein of enhanced thermostability by combining a series of rationally designed point mutations. It is also shown that this stabilization is achieved with only minor, localized changes in the structure of the protein. This is consistent with the observation that the change in stability of each of the multiple mutants is, in each case, additive, i.e. equal to the sum of the stability changes associated with the constituent single mutants. One of the seven substitutions, Asn116-->Asp, changes a residue that participates in substrate binding; not surprisingly, it causes a significant loss in activity. Ignoring this mutation, there is a gradual reduction in activity as successively more mutations are combined.

Bacteriophage T4↗
PubMed1994

Enhancement of the method of molecular replacement by incorporation of known structural information.

Crystals of macromolecules often have two or more molecules per asymmetric unit, or contain domains of a macromolecule or a macromolecular complex that are structurally independent. In such cases the conventional molecular-replacement method attempts to determine the position of each structural unit independently. Typically, some parts of the structure can be determined more easily or more reliably than other parts. Methods are proposed whereby information from a part of a crystal structure that has been determined can be used to help determine the structure of the remainder. Two different strategies are discussed, 'subtraction' and 'addition'. With 'subtraction' strategy the Patterson function of the known part of the structure is subtracted from the 'observed' Patterson. This approach is found to be most effective in the context of the rotation function in that it eliminates peaks that are irrelevant to the desired solution. With 'addition' strategy the structure factors of the known component are added to those of the search model. This procedure is most effective in the context of the translation function because it brings the structure factors calculated from the search model closer to those observed. Methods of applying the fast Fourier transform to facilitate these calculations are described. A number of examples are provided including structures of mutants of T4 lysozyme that might not have been solved without recourse to the proposed methods. A method of including information from a heavy-atom derivative in a translation function is also developed and shown to be superior in some situations to the conventional translation function.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

Redetermination and refinement of the complex of benzylsuccinic acid with thermolysin and its relation to the complex with carboxypeptidase A.

The complex of benzylsuccinic acid with thermolysin has been redetermined at 1.7-A resolution and refined to a crystallographic residual of 15.7%. In contrast to the prior study, which was to 2.3-A resolution, and without the benefit of refinement (Bolognesi, M. C. and Matthews, B. W. (1979) J. Biol. Chem. 254, 634-639), the present analysis shows that it is the D- rather than the L-isomer of benzylsuccinic acid that binds. The stereochemistry of the zinc-carboxylate interaction is now seen to be syn, as is also observed in all known zinc-carboxylate complexes of both thermolysin and carboxypeptidase A. The mode of binding of the beta-carboxylate resembles the presumed geometry of the tetrahedral transition state and, as such, is consistent with the commonly accepted mechanism of action of thermolysin and of carboxypeptidase A.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1994

Three-dimensional structure of beta-galactosidase from E. coli.

The beta-galactosidase from Escherichia coli was instrumental in the development of the operon model, and today is one of the most commonly used enzymes in molecular biology. Here we report the structure of this protein and show that it is a tetramer with 222-point symmetry. The 1,023-amino-acid polypeptide chain folds into five sequential domains, with an extended segment at the amino terminus. The participation of this amino-terminal segment in a subunit interface, coupled with the observation that each active site is made up of elements from two different subunits, provides a structural rationale for the phenomenon of alpha-complementation. The structure represents the longest polypeptide chain for which an atomic structure has been determined. Our results show that it is possible successfully to study non-viral protein crystals with unit cell dimensions in excess of 500 A and with relative molecular masses in the region of 2,000K per asymmetric unit. Non-crystallographic symmetry averaging proved to be a very powerful tool in the structure determination, as has been shown in other contexts.

Amino Acid Sequence↗