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L L Randall

Publications and source records attributed to L L Randall.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Interaction of SecB with intermediates along the folding pathway of maltose-binding protein.

SecB, a molecular chaperone involved in protein export in Escherichia coli, displays the remarkable ability to selectively bind many different polypeptide ligands whose only common feature is that of being nonnative. The selectivity is explained in part by a kinetic partitioning between the folding of a polypeptide and its association with SecB. SecB has no affinity for native, stably folded polypeptides but interacts tightly with polypeptides that are nonnative. In order to better understand the nature of the binding, we have examined the interaction of SecB with intermediates along the folding pathway of maltose-binding protein. Taking advantage of forms of maltose-binding protein that are altered in their folding properties, we show that the first intermediate in folding, represented by the collapsed state, binds to SecB, and that the polypeptide remains active as a ligand until it crosses the final energy barrier to attain the native state.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗
PubMed1995

Chaperone SecB: conformational changes demonstrated by circular dichroism.

The chaperone SecB, which is involved in protein export in Escherichia coli, is shown by circular dichroism measurements to contain a high content of beta-pleated sheets. Prediction of the secondary structure of SecB is in good agreement with the observed content of beta-sheet. In accordance with the previous studies in which changes in conformation were assessed indirectly [Randall (1992), Science 257, 241-245], here we show that the conformation of SecB changes with the concentration of salt in the milieu and also when SecB interacts with a peptide ligand.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1995

High selectivity with low specificity: how SecB has solved the paradox of chaperone binding.

Fundamental to the function of all molecular chaperones is their amazing ability to selectively and rapidly bind proteins in non-native states. Chaperones modulate a kinetic partitioning among the alternative pathways open to polypeptides within a cell, so that the proper pathway is taken. Here we review studies of SecB, a chaperone in Escherichia coli dedicated to facilitation of protein export, and emphasize the features that enable it to bind rapidly with high affinity and selectivity in the absence of consensus in sequence. The concepts discussed are likely to be generally applicable to chaperones.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1995

Demonstration in vivo that interaction of maltose-binding protein with SecB is determined by a kinetic partitioning.

An early step in the export of maltose-binding protein to the periplasm is interaction with the molecular chaperone SecB. We demonstrate that binding to SecB in vivo is determined by a kinetic partitioning between the folding of maltose-binding protein to its native state and its association with SecB. A complex of SecB and a species of maltose-binding protein that folds slowly is shown to be longer-lived than a complex of the wild-type maltose-binding protein and SecB. In addition, we show that incomplete nascent chains, which are unable to fold, remain complexed with SecB.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗
PubMed1994

Determination of the binding frame within a physiological ligand for the chaperone SecB.

The hallmark of the class of proteins called chaperones is the amazing ability to bind tightly to a wide array of polypeptide ligands that have no consensus in sequence; chaperones recognize non-native structure. As a step in the elucidation of the molecular mechanism of such remarkable binding, we have characterized complexes between the bacterial chaperone SecB and a series of ligands related to maltose-binding protein. SecB interacts at multiple sites on its polypeptide ligand. The entire binding region covers approximately half of the primary sequence of maltose-binding protein and comprises contiguous sites positioned around the center of the sequence.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗
PubMed1994

In vivo studies of the role of SecA during protein export in Escherichia coli.

SecA is found in Escherichia coli both tightly associated with the cytoplasmic membrane where it functions as a translocation ATPase during protein export and free in the cytosol (R. J. Cabelli, K. M. Dolan, L. Qian, and D. B. Oliver, J. Biol. Chem. 266:24420-24427, 1991; D. B. Oliver and J. Beckwith, Cell 30:311-319, 1982; W. Wickner, A. J. M. Driessen, and F.-U. Hartl, Annu. Rev. Biochem. 60:101-124, 1991). Here we show that SecA can be immunoprecipitated from the cytosol in complex with both fully elongated and nascent species of the precursor of maltose-binding protein, an exported, periplasmic protein. In addition, under conditions in which the distribution of SecA between the cytosolic and membrane-bound states changes from that normally observed, the distribution of precursor maltose-binding protein changes in parallel. These results support the idea that cytosolic SecA plays a role in export. With the aim of determining the roles of the multiple binding sites for ATP on SecA, we compared the export defect in a culture of E. coli expressing a temperature-sensitive allele of secA with the defect in a culture treated with sodium azide. The results indicate that the mutational change and treatment with sodium azide inhibit export by affecting different steps in the cycle of ATP binding and hydrolysis by SecA.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗
PubMed1993

Folding of maltose-binding protein. Evidence for the identity of the rate-determining step in vivo and in vitro.

The folding of maltose-binding protein, a periplasmic protein in Escherichia coli, was shown to proceed through the same rate-limiting step whether folding occurred in the cell under physiological conditions or in vitro in the absence of other proteins. Four species of maltose-binding protein containing aminoacyl substitutions identified as decreasing the rate of folding of the protein in vivo were purified, and their denaturant-induced folding transitions were analyzed by monitoring the intrinsic fluorescence of tryptophan. In all four cases the rate of folding in vitro was slower than that of the wild-type maltose-binding protein; thus the same step determines the rate of folding in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, examination of the three-dimensional structure of maltose-binding protein as determined by x-ray crystallography (F. Quiocho, personal communication; Spurlino, J. C., Lu, G.-Y., and Quiocho, F. A. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 5202-5219) indicates that all 4 of the residues identified as crucial to folding lie in one structural element of the native protein. We conclude that the rate-limiting step both in vivo and in vitro involves formation of this element of structure.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗
PubMed1993

Recognition of ligands by SecB, a molecular chaperone involved in bacterial protein export.

SecB is a molecular chaperone involved in protein export from Escherichia coli. It is a highly negatively charged, soluble, tetrameric protein with a monomer molecular mass of 16,400 kDa. It has two functions: it maintains precursors of some exported proteins in a conformation compatible with export, by preventing them from aggregating or from folding into their thermodynamically stable state in the cytoplasm, and it delivers both nascent and completed precursors to SecA, one of the components of the export apparatus that are on and in the plasma membrane. SecB recognizes completed precursors of soluble proteins, not by direct interaction with leader sequences but by virtue of the property, imposed by their leader sequences, that they fold slowly: i.e. there is a kinetic partitioning between folding and interaction with SecB. Only those polypeptides that fold slowly interact significantly with this molecular chaperone even though it is able to bind a wide variety of non-native proteins. Binding studies with purified peptides indicate that each SecB monomer has a binding site that can interact with flexible peptides having a net positive charge and a length of about ten residues, which may depend on the charge density. Binding of the hydrophobic fluorescent probe 1-anilino-naphthalene-8-sulphonate (ANS) indicates that simultaneous interaction of multiple peptides causes a conformational change that exposes a hydrophobic site on SecB. This hydrophobic region is thought to contribute an extra binding site for physiological ligands of SecB. A model of SecB binding to nonnative precursors is presented.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Peptide binding by chaperone SecB: implications for recognition of nonnative structure.

The molecular basis for recognition of nonnative proteins by the molecular chaperone SecB was investigated with an in vitro assay based on the protection of SecB from proteolysis when a ligand is bound. The SecB tetramer has multiple binding sites for positively charged peptides. When the peptide binding sites are occupied, the complex undergoes a conformational change to expose hydrophobic sites that bind the fluorescent probe 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate. A model is proposed for interaction of nonnative polypeptides with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic sites on SecB.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Mutations that affect the folding of ribose-binding protein selected as suppressors of a defect in export in Escherichia coli.

It has been proposed (Randall, L. L., and Hardy, S. J. S. (1986) Cell 46, 921-928) that export of protein involves a kinetic partitioning between the pathway that leads to productive export and the pathway that leads to the folding of polypeptides into a stable conformation that is incompatible with export. As predicted from this model, a decrease in the rate of export of maltose-binding protein to the periplasmic space in Escherichia coli resulting from a defect in the leader sequence was able to be partially overcome by a mutation that slowed the folding of the precursor, thereby increasing the time in which the polypeptide was competent for export. (Liu, G., Topping, T. B., Cover, W. H., and Randall, L. L. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 14790-14793). Here we describe mutations of the gene encoding ribose-binding protein that were selected as suppressors of a defect in export of that protein and that alter the folding pathway. We propose that selection of such suppressors may provide a general method to obtain mutations that affect the folding properties of any protein that can be expressed and exported in E. coli.

Biological Transport↗
PubMed1991

A kinetic partitioning model of selective binding of nonnative proteins by the bacterial chaperone SecB.

An in vitro assay for the interaction of SecB, a molecular chaperone from Escherichia coli, with polypeptide ligands was established based on the ability of SecB to block the refolding of denatured maltose-binding protein. Competition experiments show that SecB binds selectively to nonnative proteins with high affinity and without specificity for a particular sequence of amino acids. It is proposed that selectivity in binding is due to a kinetic partitioning of polypeptides between folding and association with SecB.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗
PubMed1990

No specific recognition of leader peptide by SecB, a chaperone involved in protein export.

Most proteins destined for export from Escherichia coli are made as precursors containing amino-terminal leader sequences that are essential for export and that are removed during the process. The initial step in export of a subset of proteins, which includes maltose-binding protein, is binding of the precursor by the molecular chaperone SecB. This work shows directly that SecB binds with high affinity to unfolded maltose-binding protein but does not specifically recognize and bind the leader. Rather, the leader modulates folding to expose elements in the remainder of the polypeptide that are recognized by SecB.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗
PubMed1989

Unity in function in the absence of consensus in sequence: role of leader peptides in export.

Passage of proteins across membranes during export from their site of synthesis to their final destination is mediated by leader peptides that paradoxically exhibit a unity of function in spite of a diversity of sequence. These leader peptides act in at least two stages of the export process: at entry into the pathway and subsequently during translocation across the membrane. How selectivity is imposed on the system in the absence of a consensus among the sequences of leader peptides is the main issue discussed here.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Physiological role during export for the retardation of folding by the leader peptide of maltose-binding protein.

It has been shown that folding of precursor maltose-binding protein of Escherichia coli in vitro is retarded by the leader peptide. We now present evidence that this modulation of folding plays a role during the export of maltose-binding protein in vivo. Maltose-binding protein synthesized in vivo without a leader sequence did not engage the cellular export apparatus. However, the requirement for the leader in at least one step, that of binding the export factor SecB, could be overcome by an amino acid substitution in the mature portion of maltose-binding protein. This substitution retarded the folding of the polypeptide even in the absence of a leader. Investigations using purified proteins in vitro demonstrated that SecB would stably bind to species of maltose-binding protein devoid of a leader when the folding of the binding proteins was sufficiently slow. Thus, we conclude that one of the roles of the leader is to retard folding and expose the binding site for SecB.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗
PubMed1989

Biochemical investigation of protein export in Escherichia coli.

Export of proteins from the bacterial cytoplasm to a final destination in the periplasm and outer membrane is one example of the fundamental process occurring in all cells whereby polypeptides are transferred across biological membranes. Investigations on a variety of different systems have indicated similarities in the mechanism of this process. In the cases of bacterial protein export and the transfer of polypeptides across the endoplasmic reticulum in eukaryotic cells the processes are so similar that understanding gleaned from studies of the one is usually directly applicable to the other. The study of protein export in E. coli has two advantages over that of eukaryotic secretion. Not only is there the possibility of doing sophisticated genetic experiments, but also one can carry out biochemical investigations in vivo, a facility not so readily available with eukaryotic organisms. Such studies have, for example, shown that membrane translocation can occur both cotranslationally and post-translationally, that export requires protonmotive force, that some component of the export apparatus prevents the exported protein from assuming its native structure in the cytosol, and that there are probably at least two functions for the leader sequence, one in targeting the protein to the export pathway and one in translocation across the membrane.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1988

Retardation of folding as a possible means of suppression of a mutation in the leader sequence of an exported protein.

We have proposed (Randall, L. L., and Hardy, S. J. S. (1986) Cell 46, 921-928) that during export of protein from Escherichia coli, there is a kinetic partitioning between the pathway that leads to productive translocation and the pathway that leads to folding of precursors into a stable conformation that is incompatible with export. This model predicts that a decrease in rate along the productive pathway resulting from a defect in the leader sequence could be partially overcome by slowing the folding of the precursor and thereby increasing the time during which that polypeptide would be competent to enter the export pathway. Here it is shown that a change in the mature portion of maltose-binding protein that is known to suppress a mutation in the leader sequence (Cover, W. H., Ryan, J. P., Bassford, P. J., Jr., Walsh, K. A., Bollinger, J., and Randall, L. L. (1987) J. Bacteriol. 169, 1794-1800) also decreases the rate of folding of the precursor.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗