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Brian W Matthews

Publications and source records attributed to Brian W Matthews.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Determination of solvent content in cavities in IL-1beta using experimentally phased electron density.

The extent to which water is present within apolar cavities in proteins remains unclear. In the case of interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), four independent structures solved by x-ray crystallography indicate that water is not present in the central apolar cavity. In contrast, results from NMR spectroscopy suggest that water has high occupancy within the cavity but is positionally disordered, making it undetectable by standard crystallographic methods. A theoretically based crystallographic-phase refinement technique also suggested that there was the equivalent of two fully occupied water molecules within the apolar cavity. To resolve these discrepancies we sought to obtain an experimentally phased electron density map that was free of possible bias caused by mathematical modeling of the protein or the solvent. By combining native diffraction data with multiple wavelength anomalous data from a platinum derivative, accurate phases were obtained. Using these experimental phases, we estimate that occupancy of the apolar cavity in IL-1beta by solvent is close or equal to zero. Polar cavities in the protein that contain ordered solvent molecules serve as internal controls.

Electrons↗
PubMed2006

Elucidation of the function of type 1 human methionine aminopeptidase during cell cycle progression.

Processing of the N-terminal initiator methionine is an essential cellular process conserved from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. The enzymes that remove N-terminal methionine are known as methionine aminopeptidases (MetAPs). Human MetAP2 has been shown to be required for the proliferation of endothelial cells and angiogenesis. The physiological function of MetAP1, however, has remained elusive. In this report we demonstrate that a family of inhibitors with a core structure of pyridine-2-carboxylic acid previously developed for the bacterial and yeast MetAP1 is also specific for human MetAP1 (HsMetAP1), as confirmed by both enzymatic assay and high-resolution x-ray crystallography. Treatment of tumor cell lines with the MetAP1-specific inhibitors led to an accumulation of cells in the G(2)/M phase, suggesting that HsMetAP1 may play an important role in G(2)/M phase transition. Overexpression of HsMetAP1, but not HsMetAP2, conferred resistance of cells to the inhibitors, and the inhibitors caused retention of N-terminal methionine of a known MetAP substrate, suggesting that HsMetAP1 is the cellular target for the inhibitors. In addition, when HsMetAP1 was knocked down by gene-specific siRNA, cells exhibited slower progression during G(2)/M phase, a phenotype similar to cells treated with MetAP1 inhibitors. Importantly, MetAP1 inhibitors were able to induce apoptosis of leukemia cell lines, presumably as a consequence of their interference with the G(2)/M phase checkpoint. Together, these results suggest that MetAP1 plays an important role in G(2)/M phase of the cell cycle and that it may serve as a promising target for the discovery and development of new anticancer agents.

Aminopeptidases↗
PubMed2006

Structure of aminopeptidase N from Escherichia coli suggests a compartmentalized, gated active site.

Aminopeptidase N from Escherichia coli is a major metalloprotease that participates in the controlled hydrolysis of peptides in the proteolytic pathway. Determination of the 870-aa structure reveals that it has four domains similar to the tricorn-interacting factor F3. The thermolysin-like active site is enclosed within a large cavity with a volume of 2,200 A(3), which is inaccessible to substrates except for a small opening of approximately 8-10 A. The substrate-based inhibitor bestatin binds to the protein with minimal changes, suggesting that this is the active form of the enzyme. The previously described structure of F3 had three distinct conformations that were described as "closed," "intermediate," and "open." The structure of aminopeptidase N from E. coli, however, is substantially more closed than any of these. Taken together, the results suggest that these proteases, which are involved in intracellular peptide degradation, prevent inadvertent hydrolysis of inappropriate substrates by enclosing the active site within a large cavity. There is also some evidence that the open form of the enzyme, which admits substrates, remains inactive until it adopts the closed form.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

Structure of the angiogenesis inhibitor ovalicin bound to its noncognate target, human Type 1 methionine aminopeptidase.

Methionine aminopeptidases (MetAPs) remove the initiator methionine during protein biosynthesis. They exist in two isoforms, MetAP1 and MetAP2. The anti-angiogenic compound fumagillin binds tightly to the Type 2 MetAPs but only weakly to Type 1. High-affinity complexes of fumagillin and its relative ovalicin with Type 2 human MetAP have been reported. Here we describe the crystallographic structure of the low-affinity complex between ovalicin and Type 1 human MetAP at 1.1 A resolution. This provides the first opportunity to compare the structures of ovalicin or fumagillin bound to a Type 1 and a Type 2 MetAP. For both Type 1 and Type 2 human MetAPs the inhibitor makes a covalent adduct with a corresponding histidine. At the same time there are significant differences in the alignment of the inhibitors within the respective active sites. It has been argued that the lower affinity of ovalicin and fumagillin for the Type 1 MetAPs is due to the smaller size of their active sites relative to the Type 2 enzymes. Comparison with the uncomplexed structure of human Type 1 MetAP indicates that there is some truth to this. Several active site residues have to move "outward" by 0.5 Angstroms or so to accommodate the inhibitor. Other residues move "inward." There are, however, other factors that come into play. In particular, the side chain of His310 rotates by 134 degrees into a different position where (together with Glu128 and Tyr195) it coordinates a metal ion not seen at this site in the native enzyme.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

Sequential reorganization of beta-sheet topology by insertion of a single strand.

Insertions, duplications, and deletions of sequence segments are thought to be major evolutionary mechanisms that increase the structural and functional diversity of proteins. Alternative splicing, for example, is an intracellular editing mechanism that is thought to generate isoforms for 30%-50% of all human genes. Whereas the inserted sequences usually display only minor structural rearrangements at the insertion site, recent observations indicate that they may also cause more dramatic structural displacements of adjacent structures. In the present study we test how artificially inserted sequences change the structure of the beta-sheet region in T4 lysozyme. Copies of two different beta-strands were inserted into two different loops of the beta-sheet, and the structures were determined. Not surprisingly, one insert "loops out" at its insertion site and forms a new small beta-hairpin structure. Unexpectedly, however, the second insertion leads to displacement of adjacent strands and a sequential reorganization of the beta-sheet topology. Even though the insertions were performed at two different sites, looping out occurred at the C-terminal end of the same beta-strand. Reasons as to why a non-native sequence would be recruited to replace that which occurs in the native protein are discussed. Our results illustrate how sequence insertions can facilitate protein evolution through both local and nonlocal changes in structure.

Amino Acid Motifs↗
PubMed2006

Extension to 2268 atoms of direct methods in the ab initio determination of the unknown structure of bacteriophage P22 lysozyme.

The X-ray crystal structure of the previously unknown bacteriophage P22 lysozyme, the product of gene 19, has been determined ab initio by direct methods using the program SIR2002. The presence of several partially occupied iodine anions and samarium cations augmented the ability of direct methods to locate all 2268 non-H protein atoms in the asymmetric unit, making this one of the largest structures to date to be determined ab initio. The iodides were introduced from a quick soak, which the crystal survived sufficiently well to diffract to 1.04 angstroms resolution. The complete heavy-atom substructure contributed 6.6% of the total scattering power. The initial determination of the structure assumed that there were two iodide ions in the asymmetric unit, although it was later determined that these sites correspond to partially occupied samarium ions. Tests suggested that it is better to overestimate rather than underestimate the heavy-atom content. While experimental phases from all of the successful tests were of high quality, the best results came from a SAD experiment using the programs SHELXD and SHELXE. Nonetheless, ab initio structure determination by direct methods was found to be a viable alternative to traditional protein crystallographic methods provided that the X-ray data extend to atomic resolution and heavy atoms with sufficient scattering power are present in the crystal.

Bacteriophage P22↗
PubMed2006

Co-repressor induced order and biotin repressor dimerization: a case for divergent followed by convergent evolution.

BirA catalyzes the adenylation and subsequent covalent attachment of biotin to the biotin carboxyl carrier protein (BCCP). In the absence of apo-BCCP, biotin-5'-AMP acts as a co-repressor that induces BirA dimerization and binding to the bio operator to repress biotin biosynthesis. The crystal structures of apo-BirA, and BirA in complex with biotin have been reported. We here describe the 2.8A resolution crystal structure of BirA in complex with the co-repressor analog biotinol-5'-AMP. It was previously shown that the structure of apo-BirA is monomeric and that binding of biotin weakly induces a dimeric structure in which three disordered surface loops become organized to form the dimer interface. The structure of the co-repressor complex is also a dimer, clearly related to the BirA.biotin structure, but with several significant conformational changes. A hitherto disordered "adenylate binding loop" forms a well-defined structure covering the co-repressor. The co-repressor buttresses the dimer interface, resulting in improved packing and a 12 degrees change in the hinge-bending angle along the dimer interface relative to the BirA.biotin structure. This helps explain why the binding of the co-repressor is necessary to optimize the binding of BirA to the bioO operator. The structure reveals an unexpected use of the nucleotide-binding motif GXGXXG in binding adenylate and controlling the repressor function. Finally, based on structural analysis we propose that the class of adenylating enzymes represented by BirA, lipoate protein ligase and class II tRNA synthetases diverged early and were selected based on their ability to sequester co-factors or amino acid residues, and adenylation activity arose independently through functional convergence.

Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase↗
PubMed2006

Guanidinium derivatives bind preferentially and trigger long-distance conformational changes in an engineered T4 lysozyme.

The binding of guanidinium ion has been shown to promote a large-scale translation of a tandemly duplicated helix in an engineered mutant of T4 lysozyme. The guanidinium ion acts as a surrogate for the guanidino group of an arginine side chain. Here we determine whether methyl- and ethylguanidinium provide better mimics. The results show that addition of the hydrophobic moieties to the ligand enhances the binding affinity concomitant with reduction in ligand solubility. Crystallographic analysis confirms that binding of the alternative ligands to the engineered site still drives the large-scale conformational change. Thermal analysis and NMR data show, in comparison to guanidinium, an increase in protein stability and in ligand affinity. This is presumably due to the successive increase in hydrophobicity in going from guanidinium to ethylguanidinium. A fluorescence-based optical method was developed to sense the ligand-triggered helix translation in solution. The results are a first step in the de novo design of a molecular switch that is not related to the normal function of the protein.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2005

Structural analysis of silanediols as transition-state-analogue inhibitors of the benchmark metalloprotease thermolysin.

Dialkylsilanediols have been found to be an effective functional group for the design of active-site-directed protease inhibitors, including aspartic (HIV protease) and metallo (ACE and thermolysin) proteases. The use of silanediols is predicated on its resemblance to the hydrated carbonyl transition-state structure of amide hydrolysis. This concept has been tested by replacing the presumed tetrahedral carbon of a thermolysin substrate with a silanediol group, resulting in an inhibitor with an inhibition constant K(i) = 40 nM. The structure of the silanediol bound to the active site of thermolysin was found to have a conformation very similar to that of a corresponding phosphonamidate inhibitor (K(i) = 10 nM). In both cases, a single oxygen is within bonding distance to the active-site zinc ion, mimicking the presumed tetrahedral transition state. There are binding differences that appear to be related to the presence or absence of protons on the oxygens attached to the silicon or phosphorus. This is the first crystal structure of an organosilane bound to the active site of a protease.

Bacillus↗
PubMed2005

Structural basis for the functional differences between type I and type II human methionine aminopeptidases.

Determination of the crystal structure of human MetAP1 makes it possible, for the first time, to compare the structures of a Type I and a Type II methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP) from the same organism. Comparison of the Type I enzyme with the previously reported complex of ovalicin with Type II MetAP shows that the active site of the former is reduced in size and would incur steric clashes with the bound inhibitor. This explains why ovalicin and related anti-angiogenesis inhibitors target Type II human MetAP but not Type I. The differences in both size and shape of the active sites between MetAP1 and MetAP2 also help to explain their different substrate specificity. In the presence of excess Co(2+), a third cobalt ion binds in the active site region, explaining why metal ions in excess can be inhibitory. Also, the N-terminal region of the protein contains three distinct Pro-x-x-Pro motifs, supporting the prior suggestion that this region of the protein may participate in binding to the ribosome.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2005

Cooperative water filling of a nonpolar protein cavity observed by high-pressure crystallography and simulation.

Formation of a water-expelling nonpolar core is the paradigm of protein folding and stability. Although experiment largely confirms this picture, water buried in "hydrophobic" cavities is required for the function of some proteins. Hydration of the protein core has also been suggested as the mechanism of pressure-induced unfolding. We therefore are led to ask whether even the most nonpolar protein core is truly hydrophobic (i.e., water-repelling). To answer this question we probed the hydration of an approximately 160-A(3), highly hydrophobic cavity created by mutation in T4 lysozyme by using high-pressure crystallography and molecular dynamics simulation. We show that application of modest pressure causes approximately four water molecules to enter the cavity while the protein itself remains essentially unchanged. The highly cooperative filling is primarily due to a small change in bulk water activity, which implies that changing solvent conditions or, equivalently, cavity polarity can dramatically affect interior hydration of proteins and thereby influence both protein activity and folding.

Crystallography↗
PubMed2005

Dynamics of xenon binding inside the hydrophobic cavity of pseudo-wild-type bacteriophage T4 lysozyme explored through xenon-based NMR spectroscopy.

Wild-type bacteriophage T4 lysozyme contains a hydrophobic cavity with binding properties that have been extensively studied by X-ray crystallography and NMR. In the present study, the monitoring of 1H chemical shift variations under xenon pressure enables the determination of the noble gas binding constant (K = 60.2 M(-1)). Although the interaction site is highly localized, dipolar cross-relaxation effects between laser-polarized xenon and nearby protons (SPINOE) are rather poor. This is explained by the high value of the xenon-proton dipolar correlation time (0.8 ns), much longer than the previously reported values for xenon in medium-size proteins. This indicates that xenon is highly localized within the protein cavity, as confirmed by the large chemical shift difference between free and bound xenon. The exploitation of the xenon line width variation vs xenon pressure and protein concentration allows the extraction of the exchange correlation time between free and bound xenon. Comparison to the exchange experienced by protein protons indicates that the exchange between the open and closed conformations of T4 lysozyme is not required for xenon binding.

Bacteriophage T4↗
PubMed2005

Identification of an SH3-binding motif in a new class of methionine aminopeptidases from Mycobacterium tuberculosis suggests a mode of interaction with the ribosome.

The crystal structure of the methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MtMetAP1c) has been determined in the apo- and methionine-bound forms. This is the first structure of a type I MetAP with a significant extension at the amino terminus. The catalytic domain is similar to that of Escherichia coli MetAP (EcMetAP), and the additional 40-residue segment wraps around the surface with an extended but well-defined structure. There are several members of the actinomyces family of bacteria that contain MetAPs with such N-terminal extensions, and we classify these as MetAP type Ic (MetAP1c). Some members of this family of bacteria also contain a second MetAP (type Ia) similar in size to EcMetAP. The main difference between the apo- and the methionine-bound forms of MtMetAP1c is in the conformation of the metal-binding residues. The position of the methionine bound in the active site is very similar to that found in many of the known members of this family. Side chains of several residues in the S1 and S1' subsites shift as much as 1.5 A compared to EcMetAP. Residues 14-17 have the sequence Pro-Thr-Arg-Pro and adopt the conformation of a polyproline II helix. Model-building suggests that this PxxP segment can bind to an SH3 protein motif. Other type Ib and type Ic MetAPs with N-terminal extensions contain similarly located PxxP motifs. Also, several ribosomal proteins are known to include SH3 domains, one of which is located close to the tunnel from which the nascent polypeptide chain exits the ribosome. Therefore, it is proposed that the binding of MetAPs to the ribosome is mediated by a complex between a PxxP motif on the protein and an SH3 domain on the ribosome. It is also possible that zinc-finger domains, which are located at the extreme N-terminus of type I MetAPs, may participate in interactions with the ribosome.

Amino Acid Motifs↗
PubMed2005

Structural analysis of the group II intron splicing factor CRS2 yields insights into its protein and RNA interaction surfaces.

Chloroplast RNA splicing 2 (CRS2) is a nuclear-encoded protein required for the splicing of nine group II introns in maize chloroplasts. CRS2 functions in the context of splicing complexes that include one of two CRS2-associated factors (CAF1 and CAF2). The CRS2-CAF1 and CRS2-CAF2 complexes are required for the splicing of different subsets of CRS2-dependent introns, and they bind tightly and specifically to their genetically defined intron targets in vivo. The CRS2 amino acid sequence is closely related to those of bacterial peptidyl-tRNA hydrolases (PTHs). To identify the structural differences between CRS2 and bacterial PTHs responsible for CRS2's gains of CAF binding and intron splicing functions, we determined the structure of CRS2 by X-ray crystallography. The fold of CRS2 is the same as that of Escherichia coli PTH, but CRS2 has two surfaces that differ from the corresponding surfaces in PTH. One of these is more hydrophobic in CRS2 than in PTH. Site-directed mutagenesis of this surface blocked CRS2-CAF complex formation, indicating that it is the CAF binding site. The CRS2 surface corresponding to the putative tRNA binding face of PTH is considerably more basic than in PTH, suggesting that CRS2 interacts with group II intron substrates via this surface. Both the sequence and the structural context of the amino acid residues essential for peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase activity are conserved in CRS2, yet expression of CRS2 is incapable of rescuing a pth(ts)E.coli strain.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2005

The structure of E. coli beta-galactosidase.

E. coli beta-galactosidase is a tetramer of four identical 1023-amino acid chains. Each chain consists of five domains, the third of which is an eight-stranded alpha/beta barrel that comprises much of the active site. This site does, however, include elements from other domains and other subunits. The N-terminal region of the polypeptide chains help form one of the subunit interfaces. Taken together these features provide a structural basis for the well-known property of alpha-complementation. Catalytic activity proceeds via the formation of a covalent galactosyl intermediate with Glu537, and includes 'shallow' and 'deep' modes of substrate binding.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed2005

Structural basis of Prospero-DNA interaction: implications for transcription regulation in developing cells.

The crystal structure of a complex between the novel homeodomain of the neural transcription factor Prospero and DNA shows that the invariant residues Lys1290, Asn1294, and Asp1297 make specific contacts with the noncanonical DNA binding site. The overall structure includes the homeodomain and the adjacent Prospero domain and confirms that they act as a single structural unit, a Homeo-Prospero domain. The Prospero domain facilitates the proper alignment of the protein on the DNA. Knowledge of the structure reconciles two different DNA sequences that have been proposed as transcriptional targets for Prospero. As in the apo structure, the C terminus of the Prospero domain shields a short helix within the homeodomain that includes a nuclear export signal (NES). The structural results suggest that exposure of the NES is not coupled directly to DNA binding. We propose a DNA recognition mechanism specific to Prospero-type homeodomains in developing cells.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2004

Structure of the constitutively active double mutant CheYD13K Y106W alone and in complex with a FliM peptide.

CheY is a member of the response regulator protein superfamily that controls the chemotactic swimming response of motile bacteria. The CheY double mutant D13K Y106W (CheY**) is resistant to phosphorylation, yet is a highly effective mimic of phosphorylated CheY in vivo and in vitro. The conformational attributes of this protein that enable it to signal in a phosphorylation-independent manner are unknown. We have solved the crystal structure of selenomethionine-substituted CheY** in the presence of its target, a peptide (FliM16) derived from the flagellar motor switch, FliM, to 1.5A resolution with an R-factor of 19.6%. The asymmetric unit contains four CheY** molecules, two with FliM16 bound, and two without. The two CheY** molecules in the asymmetric unit that are bound to FliM16 adopt a conformation similar to BeF3- -activated wild-type CheY, and also bind FliM16 in a nearly identical manner. The CheY** molecules that do not bind FliM16 are found in a conformation similar to unphosphorylated wild-type CheY, suggesting that the active phenotype of this mutant is enabled by a facile interconversion between the active and inactive conformations. Finally, we propose a ligand-binding model for CheY and CheY**, in which Ile95 changes conformation in a Tyr/Trp106-dependent manner to accommodate FliM.

Bacterial Proteins↗