Backbone and side chain assignments of human Peptidylprolyl Isomerase Like 1 (hPPIL1).
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Humans↗
Biomedical subjects
Yunyu Shi
Publications and source records attributed to Yunyu Shi.
Solution structure of BmBKTx1, a new BKCa1 channel blocker from the Chinese scorpion Buthus martensi Karsch.
BmBKTx1 is a 31-amino acid peptide identified from the venom of the Chinese scorpion Buthus martensi Karsch, blocking high-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels. Sequence homology analysis indicates that BmBKTx1 is a new subfamily of short-chain alpha-KTx toxins of the potassium channel, which we term alpha-KTx19. Synthetic BmBKTx1 was prepared by using solid-phase peptide synthesis. Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy techniques were used to determine the solution structure of BmBKTx1. The results show that the BmBKTx1 forms a typical cysteine-stabilized alpha/beta scaffold adopted by most short-chain scorpion toxins. The structure of BmBKTx1 consists of a two-stranded antiparallel beta-sheet (residues 20-29) and an alpha-helix (residues 5-15). The three-dimensional structure of BmBKTx1 was also compared with those of two function-related scorpion toxins, charybdotoxin (ChTx) and BmTx1, and their structural and functional implications are discussed.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
1H, 13C and 15N resonance assignments and the secondary structures of human coactosin like protein (hCLP) D123N.
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Carbon Isotopes↗
How well can we predict native contacts in proteins based on decoy structures and their energies?
One strategy for ab initio protein structure prediction is to generate a large number of possible structures (decoys) and select the most fitting ones based on a scoring or free energy function. The conformational space of a protein is huge, and chances are rare that any heuristically generated structure will directly fall in the neighborhood of the native structure. It is desirable that, instead of being thrown away, the unfitting decoy structures can provide insights into native structures so prediction can be made progressively. First, we demonstrate that a recently parameterized physics-based effective free energy function based on the GROMOS96 force field and a generalized Born/surface area solvent model is, as several other physics-based and knowledge-based models, capable of distinguishing native structures from decoy structures for a number of widely used decoy databases. Second, we observe a substantial increase in correlations of the effective free energies with the degree of similarity between the decoys and the native structure, if the similarity is measured by the content of native inter-residue contacts in a decoy structure rather than its root-mean-square deviation from the native structure. Finally, we investigate the possibility of predicting native contacts based on the frequency of occurrence of contacts in decoy structures. For most proteins contained in the decoy databases, a meaningful amount of native contacts can be predicted based on plain frequencies of occurrence at a relatively high level of accuracy. Relative to using plain frequencies, overwhelming improvements in sensitivity of the predictions are observed for the 4_state_reduced decoy sets by applying energy-dependent weighting of decoy structures in determining the frequency. There, approximately 80% native contacts can be predicted at an accuracy of approximately 80% using energy-weighted frequencies. The sensitivity of the plain frequency approach is much lower (20% to 40%). Such improvements are, however, not observed for the other decoy databases. The rationalization and implications of the results are discussed.
Algorithms↗
Quasiequilibrium unfolding thermodynamics of a small protein studied by molecular dynamics simulation with an explicit water model.
The 124 independent molecular dynamics simulations are completed with total time of 196.8 ns. The calculated unfolding quasiequilibrium thermodynamics of G-IgG-binding domain B1 (GB1) shows the experimentally observed protein transitions: a coil to disordered globule transition, a disordered globule to molten globule transition, a molten globule to nativelike transition, and a nativelike to solidlike state transition. The first protein unfolding phase diagram has been constructed from molecular dynamics simulations with an explicit water model. The calculated melting temperature of GB1 agrees with early experiment. The results also agree with the recent experiment result in which GB1 has more than one intermediate.
Bacterial Proteins↗
Molecular dynamics simulation of the unfolding of the human prion protein domain under low pH and high temperature conditions.
Four 10-ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the human prion protein domain (HuPrP 125-228) in explicit water solution have been performed. Each of the simulations mimicked a different environment of the protein: the neutral pH environment was simulated with all histidine residues neutral and bearing a ND proton and with other titratable side chains charged, the weakly acidic environment was simulated with all titratable side chains charged, the strongly acidic environment was simulated with all titratable side chains protonated. The protein in neutral pH environment was simulated at both ambient (298 K) and higher (350 K) temperatures. The native fold is stable in the neutral pH/ambient temperature simulation. Through out all other simulations, a quite stable core consisted of 10-20 residues around the disulfide bond retain their initial conformations. However, the secondary structures of the protein show changes of various degrees compared to the native fold, parts of the helices unfolded and the beta-sheets extended. Our simulations indicated that the heat-induced unfolding and acid-induced unfolding of HuPrP might follow different pathways: the initial stage of the acid-induced unfolding may include not only changes in secondary structures, but also changes in the tertiary structures. Under the strongly acidic condition, obvious tertiary structure changes take place after 10-ns simulation, the secondary structure elements and the loops becoming more parallel to each other, resulting in a compact state, which was stabilized by a large number of new, non-native side chain-side chain contacts. Such tertiary structure changes were not observed in the higher temperature simulation, and intuitively, they may favor the further extension of the beta-sheets and eventually the agglomeration of multiple protein molecules. The driving forces for this tertiary structure changes are discussed. Two additional 10-ns MD simulations, one with Asp202 protonated and the other with Glu196 protonated compared to the neutral pH simulation, were carried out. The results showed that the stability of the native fold is very subtle and can be strongly disturbed by eliminating a single negative charge at one of such key sites. Correlations of our results with previous experimental and theoretical studies are discussed.
Computer Simulation↗
Solution structure and DNA binding property of the fifth HMG box domain in comparison with the first HMG box domain in human upstream binding factor.
Human upstream binding factor (hUBF) is a nucleolar transcription factor involved in transcription by RNA polymerase I. It contains six HMG box domains. The contribution of each HMG box motif to its function is different. hUBF HMG box 1 shows a very strong binding affinity for both the four-way DNA junction and a 15 bp GC-rich rRNA gene core promoter fragment, but hUBF HMG box 5 shows a much weaker binding affinity for the four-way DNA junction and the GC-rich rRNA gene core promoter fragment. To illustrate the molecular basis of their DNA binding difference, the solution structure of box 5 was studied by NMR. The tertiary structure of box 5 shows a common flattened L-shaped fold, similar to box 1 and other HMG boxes with known structures. It is formed by intersection of three helical arms: helix 1 (residues 9-25) and helix 2 (residues 30-42) pack into each other to form the major wing, while helix 3 (residues 48-70) is aligned with the extended N-terminal segment to form the minor wing. A hydrophobic core is formed by three tryptophans (W14, W41, and W52) to maintain the fold. Although there is similarity between the two structures, negative charged electrostatic surface potential in the concave face of the molecule of box 5 exhibits great difference compared to that of box 1 and other HMG boxes with known structures. That surface is involved in DNA binding. Besides, in positions which are involved in intercalating into a DNA base pair, there are hydrophobic residues in box 1 and other HMG boxes but polar residues in box 5. These differences may contribute to the loss of the DNA binding ability of box 5.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Molecular dynamics simulations of peptides and proteins with amplified collective motions.
We present a novel method that uses the collective modes obtained with a coarse-grained model/anisotropic network model to guide the atomic-level simulations. Based on this model, local collective modes can be calculated according to a single configuration in the conformational space of the protein. In the molecular dynamics simulations, the motions along the slowest few modes are coupled to a higher temperature by the weak coupling method to amplify the collective motions. This amplified-collective-motion (ACM) method is applied to two test systems. One is an S-peptide analog. We realized the refolding of the denatured peptide in eight simulations out of 10 using the method. The other system is bacteriophage T4 lysozyme. Much more extensive domain motions between the N-terminal and C-terminal domain of T4 lysozyme are observed in the ACM simulation compared to a conventional simulation. The ACM method allows for extensive sampling in conformational space while still restricting the sampled configurations within low energy areas. The method can be applied in both explicit and implicit solvent simulations, and may be further applied to important biological problems, such as long timescale functional motions, protein folding/unfolding, and structure prediction.
Anisotropy↗
Cloning, expression, secondary structure characterization of HMG box 1 of hUBF from E. coli and its binding to DNA.
Human upstream binding factor (hUBF) belonging to a family of protein containing DNA binding domain-HMG box, is important in the activation of rRNA gene transcription. It contains six tandemly arranged HMG box domains, each of which is thought to be as a basic architectural unit in the interaction of DNA and protein. Here the DNA binding domain of hUBF HMG box 1 was cloned and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. Through a single purification step using a Ni2+-chelating column, the highly purified recombinant protein could be obtained. This recombinant protein contains 99 amino acids with a hexahistidine tag added to the C-terminus. It was expressed as a monomer, which was determined by gel filtration. Circular dischroism studies show that it comprises approximately 54.3% alpha-helix and 43.6% random coil at pH 7. This result is in good agreement with that of FTIR, which are 59.9% alpha-helix and 40.1% random coil. There is no obvious change for the secondary structure of the recombinant protein as increasing pH from 5.0 to 12.0. But denaturation occurs at pH 3.0. Like many HMG box domains that were found in other proteins, it could bind to four-way DNA junction, a putative intermediate in DNA recombination, in a structure-specific manner. Magnesium ion has no effect on this binding activity, which is determined by both gel mobility shift assays and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Since Mg2+ is present in the nucleus and RNA polymerase I is Mg2+-stimulated, we believe that this property is relevant for hUBF in vivo. SPR research shows that the recombinant hUBF HMG box 1 also has a strong binding ability to a GC-rich fragment within the rRNA gene core promoter.
Base Sequence↗
Solution structure of the first HMG box domain in human upstream binding factor.
Human upstream binding factor is a nucleolar transcription factor involved in transcription by RNA polymerase I. It contains six HMG box domains; the HMG box is a minor groove DNA-binding domain that has been found in hundreds of proteins with different functions. Among the six HMG box domains in hUBF, the first one can bind to the ribosomal promoter specifically by itself and is essential for the whole protein's DNA binding specificity. Here we report the three-dimensional structure of this first HMG box free in solution determined by multidimensional NMR using (13)C,(15)N-labeled protein. Like the previously determined HMG box structures, hUBF HMG box 1 adopts a twisted L-shape consisting of three alpha-helices: helix 1 (17-30) and helix 2 (38-51) pack onto each other to form the short arm, while helix 3 (57-76) is associated with an extended strand N-terminal to helix 1 and forms the long arm. A cluster of conserved residues, in particular the aromatic residues F21, Y49, and Y60, is important to maintain the fold. The short arm is rigid due to extensive hydrophobic interaction between helix 1 and helix 2, while the long arm is less rigid.
Amino Acid Sequence↗