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Biomedical subjects

Christian Griesinger

Publications and source records attributed to Christian Griesinger.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Prion protein helix1 promotes aggregation but is not converted into beta-sheet.

Prion diseases are caused by the aggregation of the native alpha-helical prion protein PrP(C) into its pathological beta-sheet-rich isoform PrP(Sc). In current models of PrP(Sc), helix1 is assumed to be preferentially converted into beta-sheet during aggregation of PrP(C). This was supported by the NMR structure of PrP(C) since, in contrast to the isolated helix1, helix2 and helix3 are connected by a small loop and are additionally stabilized by an interhelical disulfide bond. However, helix1 is extremely hydrophilic and has a high helix propensity. This prompted us to investigate the role of helix1 in prion aggregation using humPrP(23-159) including helix1 (144-156) compared with the C-terminal-truncated isoform humPrP(23-144) corresponding to the pathological human stop mutations Q160Stop and Y145Stop, respectively. Most unexpectedly, humPrP(23-159) aggregated significantly faster compared with the truncated fragment humPrP(23-144), clearly demonstrating that helix1 is involved in the aggregation process. However, helix1 is not resistant to digestion with proteinase K in fibrillar humPrP(23-159), suggesting that helix1 is not converted to beta-sheet. This is confirmed by Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy since there is almost no difference in beta-sheet content of humPrP(23-159) fibrils compared with humPrP(23-144). In conclusion, we provide strong direct evidence that in contrast to earlier assumptions helix1 is not converted into beta-sheet during aggregation of PrP(C) to PrP(Sc).

Circular Dichroism↗
PubMed2006

Interaction of alpha-synuclein with divalent metal ions reveals key differences: a link between structure, binding specificity and fibrillation enhancement.

The aggregation of alpha-synuclein (AS) is characteristic of Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative synucleinopathies. Interactions with metal ions affect dramatically the kinetics of fibrillation of AS in vitro and are proposed to play a potential role in vivo. We recently showed that Cu(II) binds at the N-terminus of AS with high affinity (K(d) approximately 0.1 microM) and accelerates its fibrillation. In this work we investigated the binding features of the divalent metal ions Fe(II), Mn(II), Co(II), and Ni(II), and their effects on AS aggregation. By exploiting the different paramagnetic properties of these metal ions, NMR spectroscopy provides detailed information about the protein-metal interactions at the atomic level. The divalent metal ions bind preferentially and with low affinity (millimolar) to the C-terminus of AS, the primary binding site being the (119)DPDNEA(124) motif, in which Asp121 acts as the main anchoring residue. Combined with backbone residual dipolar coupling measurements, these results suggest that metal binding is not driven exclusively by electrostatic interactions but is mostly determined by the residual structure of the C-terminus of AS. A comparative analysis with Cu(II) revealed a hierarchal effect of AS-metal(II) interactions on AS aggregation kinetics, dictated by structural factors corresponding to different protein domains. These findings reveal a strong link between the specificity of AS-metal(II) interactions and the enhancement of aggregation of AS in vitro. The elucidation of the structural basis of AS metal binding specificity is then required to elucidate the mechanism and clarify the role of metal-protein interactions in the etiology of Parkinson's disease.

Chelating Agents↗
PubMed2006

Synthesis and structural model of an alpha(2,6)-sialyl-t glycosylated MUC1 eicosapeptide under physiological conditions.

To study the effect of O-glycosylation on the conformational propensities of a peptide backbone, a 20-residue peptide (GSTAPPAHGVTSAPDTRPAP) representing the full length tandem repeat sequence of the human mucin MUC1 and its analogue glycosylated with the (2,6)-sialyl-T antigen on Thr11, were prepared and investigated by NMR and molecular modeling. The peptides contain both the GVTSAP sequence, which is an effective substrate for GalNAc transferases, and the PDTRP fragment, a known epitope recognized by several anti-MUC1 monoclonal antibodies. It has been shown that glycosylation of threonine in the GVTSAP sequence is a prerequisite for subsequent glycosylation of the serine at GVTSAP. Furthermore, carbohydrates serve as additional epitopes for MUC1 antibodies. Investigation of the solution structure of the sialyl-T glycoeicosapeptide in a H(2)O/D(2)O mixture (9:1) under physiological conditions (25 degrees C and pH 6.5) revealed that the attachment of the saccharide side-chain affects the conformational equilibrium of the peptide backbone near the glycosylated Thr11 residue. For the GVTSA region, an extended, rod-like secondary structure was found by restrained molecular dynamics simulation. The APDTR region formed a turn structure which is more flexibly organized. Taken together, the joined sequence GVTSAPDTR represents the largest structural model of MUC1 derived glycopeptides analyzed so far.

Biomimetics↗
PubMed2006

Helical structure of tercyclopropanedimethanol in solution.

Oligocyclopropanes with repetitive stereochemistry occur in two unusual natural products with interesting bioactivity. X-ray crystal structures are available for these compounds but with partially contradicting results. Because the 1H and 13C NMR spectra of oligocyclopropanes are far from trivial to be assigned even at highest magnetic fields, we have prepared a specifically deuterated sample and have applied high field NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations to determine its conformation. The helix with equal handedness shown in the stereopicture was found for tercyclopropanedimethanol. A dihedral angle of around +40 degrees is the best representation of the experimental data and characterizes, therefore, the dominating helical conformation of tercyclopropanedimethanol with a single repetitive (+)-gauche interunit dihedral angle. This is in full agreement with the crystal structure of the all syn,trans-quinquecyclopropanedimethanol with an R configuration at the termini that also adopted an all (+)-gauche conformation. However, the crystal structure of the title compound and the solution structure are different.

Crystallography, X-Ray↗
PubMed2006

Two new chiral EDTA-based metal chelates for weak alignment of proteins in solution.

[structure: see text] A short synthesis of EDTA-based metal chelates that can be attached to the cysteine residue of a protein via a disulfide bond is described. The complexes were used after coordination of lanthanides to align trigger factor and apo-calmodulin in solution to yield residual dipolar couplings and pseudocontact shifts. Alignment tensors for the new tags are linearly independent compared to those of previously published tags.

Calmodulin↗
PubMed2006

Resolution enhancement in spectra of natural products dissolved in weakly orienting media with the help of 1H homonuclear dipolar decoupling during acquisition: application to 1H-13C dipolar couplings measurements.

In weakly orienting media such as poly-gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate (PBLG) a polymer that forms a chiral liquid crystal in organic solvents, the spectral resolution for embedded molecules is usually poor because of numerous (1)H, (1)H dipolar couplings that generally broaden proton spectra. Therefore (1)H, (13)C dipolar couplings are difficult or impossible to measure. Here, we incorporate Flip-Flop decoupling during detection into an HSQC experiment. Flip-Flop removes the (1)H, (1)H dipolar couplings and scales the chemical shifts of the protons as well as the (1)H, (13)C dipolar couplings during detection. A resolution gain by a factor 1.5-4.2 and improved signal intensity by an average factor of 1.6-1.7 have been obtained. This technique is demonstrated on (+)-menthol dissolved in a PBLG/CDCl(3) phase.

Anisotropy↗
PubMed2006

Effect of the solvent on the conformation of a depsipeptide: NMR-derived solution structure of hormaomycin in DMSO from residual dipolar couplings in a novel DMSO-compatible alignment medium.

The macrocyclic compound hormaomycin has been investigated by NMR spectroscopy and by restrained molecular-dynamics simulations. Measurement of residual dipolar couplings induced by dissolving the depsipeptide in a polyacrylamide gel compatible with DMSO and their incorporation into the structure calculation of the title compound improved the precision of the family of structures. In DMSO the macrocyclic ring shows two beta-turns, whose positions in the sequence differ from those found in the CDCl3 solution structure and in the crystal structure obtained from hexylene glycol/H2O (50:50). The bulky side chain consisting of a 3-(2-nitrocyclopropyl)alanine and a chlorinated N-hydroxypyrrole moiety is flexible in DMSO.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed2006

Stable expression of soluble therapeutic peptides in eukaryotic cells by multimerisation: application to the HIV-1 fusion inhibitory peptide C46.

A major drawback of therapeutic peptides is their short half-life, which results in the need for multiple applications and high synthesis costs. To overcome this, we established a eukaryotic expression system that allows the stable expression of small therapeutic peptides by multimerisation. By inserting the sequence encoding the therapeutic peptide between a signal peptide and the multimerising domain of the alpha-chain from the human C4bp plasma protein, therapeutic peptides as small as 5 kDa are secreted as multimers from transfected cells; this allows easy purification. As proof of principle, we show that the T20-derived HIV-1 fusion inhibitory peptide C46 in its multimeric form: i) was efficiently secreted, ii) was more stable than the current antiviral drug T20 in vitro and in vivo, and iii) inihibited HIV-1 entry with similar efficiency in vitro. Besides the gain in stability, multimerisation also leads to increased valency and allows the combination of several therapeutic functions. Furthermore, by expressing the multimers from cells, post-translational modifications could easily be introduced.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

Paramagnetic tagging of diamagnetic proteins for solution NMR.

In this article, approaches towards the paramagnetic tagging of diamagnetic proteins are reviewed. Alignment can be achieved by adding paramagnetic fusion proteins or peptides to the C- or the N-terminus or by attaching paramagnetic tags to Cystein residues. Applications for the study of homodimer structures and protein/ligand interactions, as well as protein domain dynamics, are reviewed.

Cysteine↗
PubMed2006

A thorough dynamic interpretation of residual dipolar couplings in ubiquitin.

The presence of slow motions with large amplitudes, as detected by measurements based on residual dipolar couplings [Peti, W., Meiler, J., Brueschweiler, R. and Griesinger, C. (2002) J. Am. Chem. Soc., 124, 5822-5833], has stirred up much discussion in recent years. Based on ubiquitin NH residual dipolar couplings (rdcs) measured in 31 different alignment conditions, a model-free analysis of structure and dynamics [Meiler, J., Peti, W., Prompers, J., Griesinger, C. and Brueschweiler, R. (2001) J. Am. Chem. Soc., 123, 6098-6107] is presented. Starting from this broad experimental basis, rdc-based order parameters with so far unattained accuracy were determined. These rdc-based order parameters underpin the presence of new modes of motion slower than the inverse overall tumbling correlation time. Amplitudes and anisotropies of the motion were derived. The effect of structural noise on the results was proven to be negligible.

Humans↗
PubMed2005

Defining long-range order and local disorder in native alpha-synuclein using residual dipolar couplings.

Intrinsically unstructured proteins play key biochemical roles in a vast range of normal and pathological processes. To study these systems, it is necessary to invoke an ensemble of rapidly interconverting conformations. Residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) are particularly powerful probes of the behavior of unfolded proteins, reporting on time and ensemble-averaged conformations up to and beyond the millisecond time scale. In this study, we present a novel interpretation of RDCs in unfolded systems that simultaneously defines long-range structural order and local conformational sampling. This approach is used to describe the structure and dynamics of alpha-Synuclein (alphaS), a protein that is strongly implicated in the development of Parkinson's disease (PD), allowing unambiguous detection of strongly populated conformers containing long-range contacts between the N- and C-terminal domains. The structural model combines two features required for the description of alphaS in solution: local conformational fluctuation based on random sampling of residue-specific phi/psi distributions, and long-range contacts induced by the presence of nonbonding interactions between domains that are distant in primary sequence. Both aspects are found to be necessary for the reproduction of the nonaveraged RDCs from alphaS. Although RDCs have previously been shown to report on local conformational preferences in unstructured proteins, this study shows the additional sensitivity of these measurements to the presence of long-range order in highly flexible systems.

Protein Conformation↗
PubMed2005

Familial mutants of alpha-synuclein with increased neurotoxicity have a destabilized conformation.

A30P and A53T mutations of the presynaptic protein alpha-synuclein are associated with familial forms of Parkinson disease. NMR spectroscopy demonstrates that Parkinsonism-linked mutations greatly perturb specific tertiary interactions essential for the native state of alpha-synuclein. However, alpha-synuclein is not completely unfolded but exhibits structural fluctuations on the time scale of secondary structure formation and loses its native conformation gradually when protein stability decreases. The redistribution of the ensemble of alpha-synuclein conformers may underlie toxic gain-of-function by fostering self-association and altered binding affinity to ligands and receptors.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2005

Convenient synthesis of multifunctional EDTA-based chiral metal chelates substituted with an S-mesylcysteine.

We describe the synthetic route to ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) derivatives that can be attached to surface-exposed thiol functional groups of cysteine residues in proteins, via a methylthiosulfonate moiety that is connected in a stereochemically unique way to the C-1 carbon atom of EDTA. Such compounds can be used to align proteins in solution without the need to add liquid crystalline media, and are, therefore, of great interest for the NMR spectroscopic analysis of biomolecules. The binding constant for the paramagnetic tag to lanthanide ions was determined by measuring luminescence. For the Tb(+3)-ligand complex, a K(b) value of 6.5 x 10(17) M(-1) was obtained. This value is in excellent agreement with literature values for the related EDTA compound. In addition, it could be shown that there is no significant reduction in the luminescence intensity upon addition of a 10(4) excess of Ca2+ ions, indicating that this paramagnetic tag is compatible with buffers containing high concentrations of divalent alkaline earth ions.

Chelating Agents↗
PubMed2005

The structure of hormaomycin and one of its all-peptide aza-analogues in solution: syntheses and biological activities of new hormaomycin analogues.

Four new aza-analogues of hormaomycin 1, a secondary metabolite with interesting biological activities produced by Streptomyces griseoflavus, were synthesized and subjected to preliminary tests of their antibiotic activity to provide new insights into the structure-activity relationship studies of this class of compounds. The solution structures of hormaomycin 1 and its aza-analogue 2 a were determined by NMR spectroscopy. The data exhibited a reasonably rigid conformation for both molecules, stabilized by stacking interactions between the aromatic moieties attached to the ring and the side chain. According to NMR-spectral data the aza-analogue epi-2 a has a rather different conformation and indeed shows no antibacterial activity whatsoever.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed2005

Sites of tau important for aggregation populate {beta}-structure and bind to microtubules and polyanions.

The aggregation of the microtubule-associated tau protein and formation of "neurofibrillary tangles" is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer disease. The mechanisms underlying the structural transition of innocuous, natively unfolded tau to neurotoxic forms and the detailed mechanisms of binding to microtubules are largely unknown. Here we report the high-resolution characterization of the repeat domain of soluble tau using multidimensional NMR spectroscopy. NMR secondary chemical shifts detect residual beta-structure for 8-10 residues at the beginning of repeats R2-R4. These regions correspond to sequence motifs known to form the core of the cross-beta-structure of tau-paired helical filaments. Chemical shift perturbation studies show that polyanions, which promote paired helical filament aggregation, as well as microtubules interact with tau through positive charges near the ends of the repeats and through the beta-forming motifs at the beginning of repeats 2 and 3. The high degree of similarity between the binding of polyanions and microtubules supports the hypothesis that stable microtubules prevent paired helical filament formation by blocking the tau-polyanion interaction sites, which are crucial for paired helical filament formation.

Alzheimer Disease↗