Roles of a short connecting disulfide bond in the stability and function of psychrophilic Shewanella violacea cytochrome c (5)

Rational Design of Disulfide Bonds for Enhancing the Thermostability of the 1,4-α-Glucan Branching Enzyme from Geobacillus thermoglucosidans STB02

Disulfide bonds play crucial roles in thermostabilization, recognition, or activation of proteins. They are vital in maintaining the respective conformations of globular structures, thereby enhancing thermostability. Bioinformatic approaches provide practical strategies to build disulfide bonds based on structural information. We constructed nine mutants by rational analysis of the 1,4-α-glucan branching enzyme (EC 2.4.1.18) from Geobacillus thermoglucosidans STB02, which catalyzes the synthesis of α-1,6-glucosidic bonds by acting on α-(1,4) and/or α-(1,6) glucosidic linkages. Four of the mutations enhanced thermostability, and five of them had adverse or negligible effects on stability. Circular dichroism spectra and intrinsic fluorescence analysis showed that introducing disulfide bonds might only affect secondary structures. The results also demonstrated that the distances of Cα carbons and thiol groups, as well as the sequence between the two cysteines, need to be considered when designing disulfide bonds.

Protein surface charge effect on 3D domain swapping in cells for c-type cytochromes

Many c-type cytochromes (cyts) can form domain-swapped oligomers. The positively charged Hydrogenobacter thermophilus (HT) cytochrome (cyt) c₅₅₂ forms domain-swapped oligomers during expression in the Escherichia coli (E. coli) expression system, but the factors influencing the oligomerization remain unrevealed. Here, we found that the dimer of the negatively charged Shewanella violacea (SV) cyt c₅ exhibits a domain-swapped structure, in which the N-terminal helix is exchanged between protomers, similar to the structures of the HT cyt c₅₅₂ and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) cyt c₅₅₁ domain-swapped dimers. Positively charged horse cyt c and HT cyt c₅₅₂ domain swapped during expression in E. coli, whereas negatively charged PA cyt c₅₅₁ and SV cyt c₅ did not. Oligomers were formed during expression in E. coli for HT cyt c₅₅₂ attached to either a co- or post-translational signal peptide for transportation through the cytoplasm membrane, but not for PA cyt c₅₅₁ attached to either signal peptide. HT cyt c₅₅₂ formed oligomers in E. coli in the presence and absence of rare codons. More oligomers were obtained from the in vitro folding of horse cyt c and HT cyt c₅₅₂ by the addition of negatively charged liposomes during folding, whereas the amount of oligomers for the in vitro folding of PA cyt c₅₅₁ and SV cyt c₅ did not change significantly by the addition. These results indicate that the protein surface charge affects the oligomerization of c-type cyts in cells; positively charged c-type cyts assemble on a negatively charged membrane, inducing formation of domain-swapped oligomers during folding.

Commonly stabilized cytochromes c from deep-sea Shewanella and Pseudomonas

Two cytochromes c5 (SBcytc and SVcytc) have been derived from Shewanella living in the deep-sea, which is a high pressure environment, so it could be that these proteins are more stable at high pressure than at atmospheric pressure, 0.1 MPa. This study, however, revealed that SBcytc and SVcytc were more stable at 0.1 MPa than at higher pressure. In addition, at 0.1-150 MPa, the stability of SBcytc and SVcytc was higher than that of homologues from atmospheric-pressure Shewanella, which was due to hydrogen bond formation with the heme in the former two proteins. This study further revealed that cytochrome c551 (PMcytc) of deep-sea Pseudomonas was more stable than a homologue of atmospheric-pressure Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and that specific hydrogen bond formation with the heme also occurred in the former. Although SBcytc and SVcytc, and PMcytc are phylogenetically very distant, these deep-sea cytochromes c are commonly stabilized through hydrogen bond formation.

Multifactorial level of extremostability of proteins: can they be exploited for protein engineering?

Research on extremostable proteins has seen immense growth in the past decade owing to their industrial importance. Basic research of attributes related to extreme-stability requires further exploration. Modern mechanistic approaches to engineer such proteins in vitro will have more impact in industrial biotechnology economy. Developing a priori knowledge about the mechanism behind extreme-stability will nurture better understanding of pathways leading to protein molecular evolution and folding. This review is a vivid compilation about all classes of extremostable proteins and the attributes that lead to myriad of adaptations divulged after an extensive study of 6495 articles belonging to extremostable proteins. Along with detailing on the rationale behind extreme-stability of proteins, emphasis has been put on modern approaches that have been utilized to render proteins extremostable by protein engineering. It was understood that each protein shows different approaches to extreme-stability governed by minute differences in their biophysical properties and the milieu in which they exist. Any general rule has not yet been drawn regarding adaptive mechanisms in extreme environments. This review was further instrumental to understand the drawback of the available 14 stabilizing mutation prediction algorithms. Thus, this review lays the foundation to further explore the biophysical pleiotropy of extreme-stable proteins to deduce a global prediction model for predicting the effect of mutations on protein stability.

Difference in NaCl tolerance of membrane-bound 5'-nucleotidases purified from deep-sea and brackish water Shewanella species

Shewanella species are widely distributed in sea, brackish, and fresh water areas, growing psychrophilically or mesophilically, and piezophilically or piezo-sensitively. Here, membrane-bound 5'-nucleotidases (NTases) from deep-sea Shewanella violacea and brackish water Shewanella amazonensis were examined from the aspect of NaCl tolerance to gain an insight into protein stability against salt. Both NTases were single polypeptides with molecular masses of ~59 kDa, as determined on mass spectroscopy. They similarly required 10 mM MgCl₂ for their activities, and they exhibited the same pH dependency and substrate specificity for 5'-nucleotides. However, S. violacea 5'-nucleotidase (SVNTase) was active enough in the presence of 2.5 M NaCl, whereas S. amazonensis 5'-nucleotidase (SANTase) exhibited significantly reduced activity with the same concentration of the salt. Although SVNTase and SANTase exhibited high sequence identity (69.7%), differences in the ratio of acidic to basic amino acid residues and the number of potential salt bridges maybe being responsible for the difference in the protein stability against salt. 5'-Nucleotidases from these Shewanella species will provide useful information regarding NaCl tolerance, which may be fundamental for understanding bacterial adaptation to growth environments.

Physical and molecular bases of protein thermal stability and cold adaptation

The molecular bases of thermal and cold stability and adaptation, which allow proteins to remain folded and functional in the temperature ranges in which their host organisms live and grow, are still only partially elucidated. Indeed, both experimental and computational studies fail to yield a fully precise and global physical picture, essentially because all effects are context-dependent and thus quite intricate to unravel. We present a snapshot of the current state of knowledge of this highly complex and challenging issue, whose resolution would enable large-scale rational protein design.

Comparative study on stabilization mechanism of monomeric cytochrome c5 from deep-sea piezophilic Shewanella violacea

Monomeric cytochrome c5 from deep-sea piezophilic Shewanella violacea (SVcytc5) was stable against heat and denaturant compared with the homologous protein from shallow-sea piezo-sensitive Shewanella livingstonensis (SLcytc5). Here, the SVcytc5 crystal structure revealed that the Lys-50 side chain on the flexible loop formed a hydrogen bond with heme whereas that of corresponding hydrophobic Leu-50 could not form such a bond in SLcytc5, which appeared to be one of possible factors responsible for the difference in stability between the two proteins. This structural insight was confirmed by a reciprocal mutagenesis study on the thermal stability of these two proteins. As SVcytc5 was isolated from a deep-sea piezophilic bacterium, the present comparative study indicates that adaptation of monomeric SVcytc5 to high pressure environments results in stabilization against heat.

Regulation of cytochrome c- and quinol oxidases, and piezotolerance of their activities in the deep-sea piezophile Shewanella violacea DSS12 in response to growth conditions

The facultative piezophile Shewanella violacea DSS12 is known to have respiratory components that alter under the influence of hydrostatic pressure during growth, suggesting that its respiratory system is adapted to high pressure. We analyzed the expression of the genes encoding terminal oxidases and some respiratory components of DSS12 under various growth conditions. The expression of some of the genes during growth was regulated by both the O2 concentration and hydrostatic pressure. Additionally, the activities of cytochrome c oxidase and quinol oxidase of the membrane fraction of DSS12 grown under various conditions were measured under high pressure. The piezotolerance of cytochrome c oxidase activity was dependent on the O2 concentration during growth, while that of quinol oxidase was influenced by pressure during growth. The activity of quinol oxidase was more piezotolerant than that of cytochrome c oxidase under all growth conditions. Even in the membranes of the non-piezophile Shewanella amazonensis, quinol oxidase was more piezotolerant than cytochrome c oxidase, although both were highly piezosensitive as compared to the activities in DSS12. By phylogenetic analysis, piezophile-specific cytochrome c oxidase, which is also found in the genome of DSS12, was identified in piezophilic Shewanella and related genera. Our observations suggest that DSS12 constitutively expresses piezotolerant respiratory terminal oxidases, and that lower O2 concentrations and higher hydrostatic pressures induce higher piezotolerance in both types of terminal oxidases. Quinol oxidase might be the dominant terminal oxidase in high-pressure environments, while cytochrome c oxidase might also contribute. These features should contribute to adaptation of DSS12 in deep-sea environments.

The respiratory system of the piezophile Photobacterium profundum SS9 grown under various pressures

It is known that the facultative piezophile Shewanella violacea DSS12 alters its respiratory components under the influence of hydrostatic pressure during growth. This can be considered one of the mechanisms of bacterial adaptation to high pressure. In this study, we investigated the respiratory system of another well-studied piezophile, Photobacterium profundum SS9. We analyzed cytochrome contents, the expression of genes encoding respiratory components in P. profundum SS9 grown under various conditions, and the pressure dependency of the terminal oxidase activities. Activity was more tolerant of relatively high pressures, such as 125 MPa when the cells were grown under high pressure as compared with cells grown under atmospheric pressure. Such properties observed are similar to the case of S. violacea. However, the contents of the cytochromes and expression of the respiratory genes were not influenced by growth pressure in P. profundum SS9, inconsistent with the case of S. violacea. We suggest that the mechanism of the piezoadaptation of the respiratory system of P. profundum SS9 differs from that of S. violacea, as described above, and that each strain chooses its own strategy.

Thermal stability of cytochrome c₅ of pressure-sensitive Shewanella livingstonensis

Cytochrome c₅ of pressure-sensitive Shewanella livingstonensis (SL cytc₅) exhibits lower thermal stability than a highly homologous counterpart of pressure-tolerant Shewanella violacea. This stability difference is due to an enthalpic effect that can be attributed to the amino acid residue at position 50 (Leu or Lys). These cytc₅ proteins are appropriate materials for understanding the protein stability mechanism.

Piezotolerance of the respiratory terminal oxidase activity of the piezophilic Shewanella violacea DSS12 as compared with non-piezophilic Shewanella species

The facultative piezophile Shewanella violacea DSS12 is known to alter its respiratory components under the influence of hydrostatic pressure during growth, suggesting that it has a respiratory system that functions in adaptation to high pressure. We investigated the pressure- and temperature-dependencies of the respiratory terminal oxidase activity of the membrane of S. violacea relative to non-piezophilic Shewanella species. We observed that the activity in the membrane of S. violacea was more resistant to high pressure than those of non-piezophilic Shewanella even though DSS12 was cultured under atmospheric pressure. On the other hand, the temperature dependency of this activity was almost the same for all of the tested strain regardless of optimal growth temperature. Both high pressure and low temperature are expected to lower protein flexibility, causing a decrease in enzyme activity, but the results of this study suggest that the mechanism maintaining enzyme activity under high hydrostatic pressure is different from that at low temperature. Additionally, the responses of the activity to the pressure- and temperature-changes were independent of membrane lipid composition. Therefore, the piezotolerance of the respiratory terminal oxidases of S. violacea is perhaps dependent on the properties of the protein itself and not on the lipid composition of the membrane. Our observations suggest that S. violacea constitutively express piezotolerant respiratory terminal oxidases that serve adaptation to the deep-sea environment.

The diheme cytochrome c(4) from Vibrio cholerae is a natural electron donor to the respiratory cbb(3) oxygen reductase

The respiratory chain of Vibrio cholerae contains three bd-type quinol oxygen reductases as well as one cbb(3) oxygen reductase. The cbb(3) oxygen reductase has been previously isolated and characterized; however, the natural mobile electron donor(s) that shuttles electrons between the bc(1) complex and the cbb(3) oxygen reductase is not known. The most likely candidates are the diheme cytochrome c(4) and monoheme cytochrome c(5), which have been previously shown to be present in the periplasm of aerobically grown cultures of V. cholerae. Both cytochromes c(4) and c(5) from V. cholerae have been cloned and expressed heterologously in Escherichia coli. It is shown that reduced cytochrome c(4) is a substrate for the purified cbb(3) oxygen reductase and can support steady state oxygen reductase activity of at least 300 e(-1)/s. In contrast, reduced cytochrome c(5) is not a good substrate for the cbb(3) oxygen reductase. Surprisingly, the dependence of the oxygen reductase activity on the concentration of cytochrome c(4) does not exhibit saturation. Global spectroscopic analysis of the time course of the oxidation of cytochrome c(4) indicates that the apparent lack of saturation is due to the strong dependence of K(M) and V(max) on the concentration of oxidized cytochrome c(4). Whether this is an artifact of the in vitro assay or has physiological significance remains unknown. Cyclic voltammetry was used to determine that the midpoint potentials of the two hemes in cytochrome c(4) are 240 and 340 mV (vs standard hydrogen electrode), similar to the electrochemical properties of other c(4)-type cytochromes. Genomic analysis shows a strong correlation between the presence of a c(4)-type cytochrome and a cbb(3) oxygen reductase within the beta- and gamma-proteobacterial clades, suggesting that cytochrome c(4) is the likely natural electron donor to the cbb(3) oxygen reductases within these organisms. These would include the beta-proteobacteria Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonnorhoeae, in which the cbb(3) oxygen reductases are the only terminal oxidases in their respiratory chains, and the gamma-proteobacterium Pseudomonas stutzeri.

Probing residue-specific interactions in the stabilization of proteins using high-resolution NMR: a study of disulfide bond compensation

It is well established that the oxidation state of cysteine residues in proteins is critical to overall physical stability. Disulfide bonds most often impart thermodynamic stability, but in some cases, diminish it. Predicting the circumstances that lead to each outcome is difficult because mechanistic information is lacking. Because the techniques typically used to study protein stability do not provide sufficient detail, high-resolution NMR was used in combination with low-resolution analysis to obtain mechanistic information regarding disulfide bond formation in a model protein. T(m) (CD) and T(onset) (SLS) for the reduced and oxidized wild type and C104S and C49S mutants were measured. The mutant proteins have altered T(m)s and T(onset)s compared to the reduced wild type, indicating that differences in local interactions of the Cys side chains are important for stability. The NMR spectra clearly show distinct differences in the chemical environment surrounding these Cys residues and the overall tertiary structure. The C49S protein, which is less stable and more aggregation prone than reduced wild type, lacks a hydrogen bond between Y53 and H103. Increased flexibility of the Y53-containing loop is correlated with increased dynamics and unraveling of alpha2, which likely leads to edge strand initiated aggregation of the central beta-sheet.

Heme is not required for Aquifex aeolicus cytochrome c(555) polypeptide folding

In cytochrome c, it has been supposed that heme must bind to the apo polypeptide for structure formation. We constructed a C12A/C15A variant of hyperthermophilic Aquifex aeolicus cytochrome c(555) (AA c(555)) in which the covalently heme-binding Cys residues were replaced by Ala, and characterized its molecular features. The apo C12A/C15A variant had almost the same helical content as holo AA c(555), and spontaneously incorporated heme in vitro with no helical content change. These results suggest that the apo AA c(555) polypeptide is intrinsically structured without heme binding, this being the first case of a cytochrome c polypeptide. This finding provides a new suggestion as to cytochrome c formation, that heme is not necessarily required for cytochrome c polypeptide folding.