Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Alber.
In the basic-region leucine-zipper domain, flexible DNA-binding arms are juxtaposed by a two-stranded, parallel coiled-coil motif called the leucine zipper. Genetic, physical and structural studies of the leucine zipper identify interactions that help determine the stability and specificity of dimerization and DNA binding.
The x-ray crystal structure of a peptide corresponding to the leucine zipper of the yeast transcriptional activator GCN4 has been determined at 1.8 angstrom resolution. The peptide forms a parallel, two-stranded coiled coil of alpha helices packed as in the "knobs-into-holes" model proposed by Crick in 1953. Contacts between the helices include ion pairs and an extensive hydrophobic interface that contains a distinctive hydrogen bond. The conserved leucines, like the residues in the alternate hydrophobic repeat, make side-to-side interactions (as in a handshake) in every other layer of the dimer interface. The crystal structure of the GCN4 leucine zipper suggests a key role for the leucine repeat, but also shows how other features of the coiled coil contribute to dimer formation.
Packing interactions in bacteriophage T4 lysozyme were explored by determining the structural and thermodynamic effects of substitutions for Ala98 and neighboring residues. Ala98 is buried in the core of T4 lysozyme in the interface between two alpha-helices. The Ala98 to Val (A98V) replacement is a temperature-sensitive lesion that lowers the denaturation temperature of the protein by 15 degrees C (pH 3.0, delta delta G = -4.9 kcal/mol) and causes atoms within the two helices to move apart by up to 0.7 A. Additional structural shifts also occur throughout the C-terminal domain. In an attempt to compensate for the A98V replacement, substitutions were made for Val149 and Thr152, which make contact with residue 98. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to construct the multiple mutants A98V/T152S, A98V/V149C/T152S and the control mutants T152S, V149C and A98V/V149I/T152S. These proteins were crystallized, and their high-resolution X-ray crystal structures were determined. None of the second-site substitutions completely alleviates the destabilization or the structural changes caused by A98V. The changes in stability caused by the different mutations are not additive, reflecting both direct interactions between the sites and structural differences among the mutants. As an example, when Thr152 in wild-type lysozyme is replaced with serine, the protein is destabilized by 2.6 kcal/mol. Except for a small movement of Val94 toward the cavity created by removal of the methyl group, the structure of the T152S mutant is very similar to wild-type T4 lysozyme. In contrast, the same Thr152 to Ser replacement in the A98V background causes almost no change in stability. Although the structure of A98V/T152S remains similar to A98V, the combination of T152S with A98V allows relaxation of some of the strain introduced by the Ala98 to Val replacement. These studies show that removal of methyl groups by mutation can be stabilizing (Val98----Ala), neutral (Thr152----Ser in A98V) or destabilizing (Val149----Cys, Thr152----Ser). Such diverse thermodynamic effects are not accounted for by changes in buried surface area or free energies of transfer of wild-type and mutant side-chains. In general, the changes in protein stability caused by a mutation depend not only on changes in the free energy of transfer associated with the substitution, but also on the structural context within which the mutation occurs and on the ability of the surrounding structure to relax in response to the substitution.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The thermodynamics and kinetics of unfolding of 28 bacteriophage T4 lysozyme variants were compared by using urea gradient gel electrophoresis. The mutations studied cause a variety of sequence changes at different residues throughout the polypeptide chain and result in a wide range of thermodynamic stabilities. A striking relationship was observed between the thermodynamic and kinetic effects of the amino acid replacements: All the substitutions that destabilized the native protein by 2 kcal/mol or more also increased the rate of unfolding. The observed increases in unfolding rate corresponded to a decrease in the activation energy of unfolding (delta Gu) at least 35% as large as the decrease in thermodynamic stability (delta Gu). Thus, the destabilizing lesions bring the free energy of the native state closer to that of both the unfolded state and the transition state for folding and unfolding. Since a large fraction of the mutational destabilization is expressed between the transition state and the native conformation, the changes in folding energetics cannot be accounted for by effects on the unfolded state alone. The results also suggest that interactions throughout much of the folded structure are altered in the formation of the transition state during unfolding.
Dimerization of the bZIP class of eukaryotic transcriptional control proteins requires a sequence motif called the leucine zipper. We have grown two distinct crystal forms of a 33-amino acid peptide corresponding to the leucine zipper of the yeast transcriptional activator GCN4. This peptide is known to form a dimer of parallel helices in solution. X-ray scattering from both crystal forms shows reflections that are diagnostic of coiled coils. The most notable reflections occur at approximately 5.2 A resolution and correspond to the pitch of helices in coiled coils. There is no diffraction maximum near 5.4 A, the characteristic pitch of straight helices. Our results provide direct evidence that the leucine zipper of GCN4 is a coiled coil.
A study of the steady-state kinetics of the crystalline brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces carlsbergensis) nucleoside diphosphokinase, with the magnesium complexes of the adenine and thymidine nucleotides as reactants, has led to a postulated kinetic mechanism which proceeds through a substituted enzyme. This agrees with the earlier conclusions of Garces and Cleland [Biochemistry 1969; 8:633-640] who characterized a reaction between the magnesium complexes of the adenine and uridine nucleotides. An advantage of using thymidine nucleotides as reactants is that they permit accurate, rapid and continuous assays of the enzymatic activity in coupled-enzymatic tests. Through measurements of the initial velocities and product inhibition studies, the Michaelis constants, maximum velocities, and inhibition constants could be evaluated for the individual substrates. Competitive substrate inhibition was encountered at relatively high substrate concentrations, which also permitted an evaluation of their ability to act as 'dead-end' inhibitors. The Michaelis constants for the 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AzT) analogues were also evaluated and, although these values were only somewhat higher than those of their natural substrates, the Km's for the adenine nucleotides as paired substrates were lower and the Vmax's were drastically reduced. The pharmacological implications of these observations are touched upon and extrapolated to the cases where therapeutic doses of AzT may be employed.
The structure of yeast triosephosphate isomerase (TIM) has been solved at 3.0-A resolution and refined at 1.9-A resolution to an R factor of 21.0%. The final model consists of all non-hydrogen atoms in the polypeptide chain and 119 water molecules, a number of which are found in the interior of the protein. The structure of the active site clearly indicates that the carboxylate of the catalytic base, Glu 165, is involved in a hydrogen-bonding interaction with the hydroxyl of Ser 96. In addition, the interactions of the other active site residues, Lys 12 and His 95, are also discussed. For the first time in any TIM structure, the "flexible loop" has well-defined density; the conformation of the loop in this structure is stabilized by a crystal contact. Analysis of the subunit interface of this dimeric enzyme hints at the source of the specificity of one subunit for another and allows us to estimate an association constant of 10(14)-10(16) M-1 for the two monomers. The analysis also suggests that the interface may be a particularly good target for drug design. The conserved positions (20%) among sequences from 13 sources ranging on the evolutionary scale from Escherichia coli to humans reveal the intense pressure to maintain the active site structure.
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To investigate the relation between protein stability and the predicted stabilities of individual secondary structural elements, residue Pro86 in an alpha-helix in phage T4 lysozyme was replaced by ten different amino acids. The x-ray crystal structures of seven of the mutant lysozymes were determined at high resolution. In each case, replacement of the proline resulted in the formation of an extended alpha-helix. This involves a large conformational change in residues 81 to 83 and smaller shifts that extend 20 angstroms across the protein surface. Unexpectedly, all ten amino acid substitutions marginally reduce protein thermostability. This insensitivity of stability to the amino acid at position 86 is not simply explained by statistical and thermodynamic criteria for helical propensity. The observed conformational changes illustrate a general mechanism by which proteins can tolerate mutations.
Twenty-five different temperature-sensitive point mutations at 20 sites in the lysozyme gene of bacteriophage T4 have been identified. All of the mutations alter amino acid side chains that have lower than average crystallographic thermal factors and reduced solvent accessibility in the folded protein. This suggests that the amino acids with well-defined conformations can form specific intramolecular interactions that make relatively large contributions to the thermal stability of the protein. Residues with high mobility or high solvent accessibility are much less susceptible to destabilizing substitutions, suggesting that, in general, such amino acids contribute less to protein stability. The pattern of the sites of ts substitutions observed in the folded conformation of T4 lysozyme suggests that severe destabilizing mutations that primarily affect the free energy of the unfolded state are rare. These results indicate that proteins can be stabilized by adding new interactions to regions that are rigid or buried in the folded conformation.
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A method has been developed to screen for mutants of phage T4 lysozyme that are more stable than the wild-type enzyme. Using an assay that detects lysozyme activity on Petri plates [Streisinger, G., Okada, Y., Emrich, J., Newton, J., Tsugita, A., Terzaghi, E. & Inouye, M. (1966) Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 31, 77-84], protein synthesized during the formation of phage plaques at a permissive temperature (33 degrees C) was tested for its ability to withstand incubation at a temperature that inactivates the wild-type enzyme. In our initial screen of approximately 3 X 10(4) plaques from a T4 phage stock mutagenized with hydroxylamine, greater than 30 mutants that produce lysozyme activity resistant to high temperature incubation were found. Lysozyme produced by two of the mutants was purified and found to denature at a higher temperature than the wild-type enzyme in vitro. We have called such mutants "st" for thermostable. The existence of st mutants indicates that protein stability is not maximized during evolution; instead, it is likely that stability is optimized for the physiology of the organism. Analysis of the structures of these mutants will provide another way to identify and predict interactions that stabilize proteins. The method of finding thermostable variants presented here may be applicable to any protein that can be detected by a plate assay or by a plate screen with antibodies.
Recent theoretical and experimental studies have demonstrated that proteins are fluctuating systems capable of large, seemingly random, excursions from the equilibrium conformation. Attention is now focusing on the functional consequences of these motions. X-ray diffraction is a powerful tool for mapping the spatial distribution of protein dynamics; studies on the temperature dependence of the apparent Debye-Waller factors of crystalline myoglobin demonstrate that proteins are flexible in the solid state. Crystallographic studies of a Michaelis complex of ribonuclease A show that a mobile lysine adapts its conformation to the changes in stereochemistry and charge distribution in the substrate during catalysis. The structure of the triose phosphate isomerase-substrate complex shows that a mobile region of 10 amino acids becomes ordered when ligand binds. These studies suggest several roles for protein mobility in enzymic catalysis: providing access to internal sites, allowing changes in substrate structure during the reaction, and reducing the observed binding constant of substrate and product to the enzyme by decreasing entropy. A flexible enzyme also does not need a communication system to signal binding or transformation, since a pre-existing equilibrium can be used. More speculative ideas, such as the guiding of thermal vibrations along the reaction coordinate, can only be tested when more detailed data are available.
The gene coding for the glycolytic enzyme triose phosphate isomerase (TPI1) was isolated from a yeast library in the shuttle vector pYE13. Selecting for a deletion mutant of the plasmid which enhances expression of the otherwise dormant yeast gene in E. coli facilitated the identification of the coding region. The DNA sequences of the wild type and mutant genes were determined by chemical methods. The 5' flanking region of the wild-type TPI1 resembles the analogous regions of the yeast genes coding for two other glycolytic enzymes. The sequence of the deletion mutant indicates that, upstream from -65 in the 5' flanking region, 3.3 kilobases have been lost from entirely within the yeast insert. The mutation reduces enzyme activity by tenfold in yeast, and its implications for the expression of the gene in yeast and E. coli are discussed. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide order is consistent with the electron density map of the protein as well as the sequence of its N-terminal 16 amino acids and amino acid composition. The amino acid sequence is approximately 50% homologous with the triose phosphate isomerases from rabbit, chicken, and coelacanth and 37% homologous with the Bacillus stearothermophilus enzyme. Residues which are thought to be catalytically important are conserved.
Triose phosphate isomerase is a dimeric enzyme of molecular mass 56 000 which catalyses the interconversion of dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) and D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. The crystal structure of the enzyme from chicken muscle has been determined at a resolution of 2.5 A, and an independent determination of the structure of the yeast enzyme has just been completed at 3 A resolution. The conformation of the polypeptide chain is essentially identical in the two structures, and consists of an inner cylinder of eight strands of parallel beta-pleated sheet, with mostly helical segments connecting each strand. The active site is a pocket containing glutamic acid 165, which is believed to act as a base in the reaction. Crystallographic studies of the binding of DHAP to both the chicken and the yeast enzymes reveal a common mode of binding and suggest a mechanisms for catalysis involving polarization of the substrate carbonyl group.
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The structure of a specific acyl-enzyme intermediate in the elastase-catalysed hydrolysis of N-carbobenzoxy-L-alanyl-p-nitrophenol ester has been determined by X-ray diffraction at 3.5 A resolution. The acyl-enzyme was stabilised by cooling the crystal to --55 degrees C during substrate addition and data collection.