The role of the N-terminal loop in the function of the colicin E7 nuclease domain

Hydrolytic Mechanism of a Metalloenzyme Is Modified by the Nature of the Coordinated Metal Ion

The nuclease domain of colicin E7 cleaves double-strand DNA non-specifically. Zn²⁺ ion was shown to be coordinated by the purified NColE7 as its native metal ion. Here, we study the structural and catalytic aspects of the interaction with Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Cd²⁺ non-endogenous metal ions and the consequences of their competition with Zn²⁺ ions, using circular dichroism spectroscopy and intact protein mass spectrometry. An R447G mutant exerting decreased activity allowed for the detection of nuclease action against pUC119 plasmid DNA via agarose gel electrophoresis in the presence of comparable metal ion concentrations. It was shown that all of the added metal ions could bind to the apoprotein, resulting in a minor secondary structure change, but drastically shifting the charge distribution of the protein. Zn²⁺ ions could not be replaced by Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Cd²⁺. The nuclease activity of the Ni²⁺-bound enzyme was extremely high in comparison with the other metal-bound forms, and could not be inhibited by the excess of Ni²⁺ ions. At the same time, this activity was significantly decreased in the presence of equivalent Zn²⁺, independent of the order of addition of each component of the mixture. We concluded that the Ni²⁺ ions promoted the DNA cleavage of the enzyme through a more efficient mechanism than the native Zn²⁺ ions, as they directly generate the nucleophilic OH^- ion.

Peptides having antimicrobial activity and their complexes with transition metal ions

Peptide antibiotics are produced by bacterial, mammalian, insect or plant organisms in defense against invasive microbial pathogens. Therefore, they are gaining importance as anti-infective agents. There are a number of antibiotics that require metal ions to function properly. Metal ions play a key role in their action and are involved in specific interactions with proteins, nucleic acids and other biomolecules. On the other hand, it is well known that some antimicrobial agents possess functional groups that enable them interacting with metal ions present in physiological fluids. Some findings support a hypothesis that they may alter the serum metal ions concentration in humans. Complexes usually have a higher positive charge than uncomplexed compounds. This means that they might interact more tightly with polyanionic DNA and RNA molecules. It has been shown that several metal ion complexes with antibiotics promote degradation of DNA. Some of them, such as bleomycin, form stable complexes with redox metal ions and split the nucleic acids chain via the free radicals mechanism. However, this is not a rule. For example blasticidin does not cause DNA damage. This indicates that some peptide antibiotics can be considered as ligands that effectively lower the oxidative activity of transition metal ions.

Intrinsic protein disorder could be overlooked in cocrystallization conditions: An SRCD case study

X-ray diffractometry dominates protein studies, as it can provide 3D structures of these diverse macromolecules or their molecular complexes with interacting partners: substrates, inhibitors, and/or cofactors. Here, we show that under cocrystallization conditions the results could reflect induced protein folds instead of the (partially) disordered original structures. The analysis of synchrotron radiation circular dichroism spectra revealed that the Im7 immunity protein stabilizes the native-like solution structure of unfolded NColE7 nuclease mutants via complex formation. This is consistent with the fact that among the several available crystal structures with its inhibitor or substrate, all NColE7 structures are virtually the same. Our results draw attention to the possible structural consequence of protein modifications, which is often hidden by compensational effects of intermolecular interactions. The growing evidence on the importance of protein intrinsic disorder thus, demands more extensive complementary experiments in solution phase with the unligated form of the protein of interest.

Design of a colicin E7 based chimeric zinc-finger nuclease

Colicin E7 is a natural bacterial toxin. Its nuclease domain (NColE7) enters the target cell and kills it by digesting the nucleic acids. The HNH-motif as the catalytic centre of NColE7 at the C-terminus requires the positively charged N-terminal loop for the nuclease activity-offering opportunities for allosteric control in a NColE7-based artificial nuclease. Accordingly, four novel zinc finger nucleases were designed by computational methods exploiting the special structural features of NColE7. The constructed models were subjected to MD simulations. The comparison of structural stability and functional aspects showed that these models may function as safely controlled artificial nucleases. This study was complemented by random mutagenesis experiments identifying potentially important residues for NColE7 function outside the catalytic region.

Fine tuning of the catalytic activity of colicin E7 nuclease domain by systematic N-terminal mutations

The nuclease domain of colicin E7 (NColE7) promotes the nonspecific cleavage of nucleic acids at its C-terminal HNH motif. Interestingly, the deletion of four N-terminal residues (446-449 NColE7 = KRNK) resulted in complete loss of the enzyme activity. R447A mutation was reported to decrease the nuclease activity, but a detailed analysis of the role of the highly positive and flexible N-terminus is still missing. Here, we present the study of four mutants, with a decreased activity in the following order: NColE7  >> KGNK > KGNG ∼ GGNK > GGNG. At the same time, the folding, the metal-ion, and the DNA-binding affinity were unaffected by the mutations as revealed by linear and circular dichroism spectroscopy, isothermal calorimetric titrations, and gel mobility shift experiments. Semiempirical quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that K446, K449, and/or the N-terminal amino group are able to approach the active centre in the absence of the other positively charged residues. The results suggested a complex role of the N-terminus in the catalytic process that could be exploited in the design of a controlled nuclease.

Dihedral-based segment identification and classification of biopolymers I: proteins

A new structure classification scheme for biopolymers is introduced, which is solely based on main-chain dihedral angles. It is shown that by dividing a biopolymer into segments containing two central residues, a local classification can be performed. The method is referred to as DISICL, short for Dihedral-based Segment Identification and Classification. Compared to other popular secondary structure classification programs, DISICL is more detailed as it offers 18 distinct structural classes, which may be simplified into a classification in terms of seven more general classes. It was designed with an eye to analyzing subtle structural changes as observed in molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecular systems. Here, the DISICL algorithm is used to classify two databases of protein structures, jointly containing more than 10 million segments. The data is compared to two alternative approaches in terms of the amount of classified residues, average occurrence and length of structural elements, and pair wise matches of the classifications by the different programs. In an accompanying paper (Nagy, G.; Oostenbrink, C. Dihedral-based segment identification and classification of biopolymers II: Polynucleotides. J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2013, DOI: 10.1021/ci400542n), the analysis of polynucleotides is described and applied. Overall, DISICL represents a potentially useful tool to analyze biopolymer structures at a high level of detail.

A new insight into the zinc-dependent DNA-cleavage by the colicin E7 nuclease: a crystallographic and computational study

The crystal structure of a colicin E7 metallonuclease mutant complemented by QM/MM calculations suggests an alternative catalytic mechanism of Zn²⁺-containing HNH nucleases.

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of an Escherichia coli-selected mutant of the nuclease domain of the metallonuclease colicin E7

The metallonuclease colicin E7 is a member of the HNH family of endonucleases. It serves as a bacterial toxin in Escherichia coli, protecting the host cell from other related bacteria and bacteriophages by degradation of their chromosomal DNA under environmental stress. Its cell-killing activity is attributed to the nonspecific nuclease domain (NColE7), which possesses the catalytic ββα-type metal ion-binding HNH motif at its C-terminus. Mutations affecting the positively charged amino acids at the N-terminus of NColE7 (444-576) surprisingly showed no or significantly reduced endonuclease activity [Czene et al. (2013), J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 18, 309-321]. The necessity of the N-terminal amino acids for the function of the C-terminal catalytic centre poses the possibility of allosteric activation within the enzyme. Precise knowledge of the intramolecular interactions of these residues that affect the catalytic activity could turn NColE7 into a novel platform for artificial nuclease design. In this study, the N-terminal deletion mutant ΔN4-NColE7-C* of the nuclease domain of colicin E7 selected by E. coli was overexpressed and crystallized at room temperature by the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method. X-ray diffraction data were collected to 1.6 Å resolution and could be indexed and averaged in the trigonal space group P3121 or P3221, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 55.4, c = 73.1 Å. Structure determination by molecular replacement is in progress.