Folding and stability of membrane transport proteins in vitro

Probing the energy barriers and stages of membrane protein unfolding using solid-state NMR spectroscopy

Understanding how the amino acid sequence dictates protein structure and defines its stability is a fundamental problem in molecular biology. It is especially challenging for membrane proteins that reside in the complex environment of a lipid bilayer. Here, we obtain an atomic-level picture of the thermally induced unfolding of a membrane-embedded α-helical protein, human aquaporin 1, using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Our data reveal the hierarchical two-step pathway that begins with unfolding of a structured extracellular loop and proceeds to an intermediate state with a native-like helical packing. In the second step, the transmembrane domain unravels as a single unit, resulting in a heterogeneous misfolded state with high helical content but with nonnative helical packing. Our results show the importance of loops for the kinetic stabilization of the whole membrane protein structure and support the three-stage membrane protein folding model.

Microbial membrane transport proteins and their biotechnological applications

Because of the hydrophobic nature of the membrane lipid bilayer, the majority of the hydrophilic solutes require special transportation mechanisms for passing through the cell membrane. Integral membrane transport proteins (MTPs), which belong to the Major Intrinsic Protein Family, facilitate the transport of these solutes across cell membranes. MTPs including aquaporins and carrier proteins are transmembrane proteins spanning across the cell membrane. The easy handling of microorganisms enabled the discovery of a remarkable number of transport proteins specific to different substances. It has been realized that these transporters have very important roles in the survival of microorganisms, their pathogenesis, and antimicrobial resistance. Astonishing features related to the solute specificity of these proteins have led to the acceleration of the research on the discovery of their properties and the development of innovative products in which these unique properties are used or imitated. Studies on microbial MTPs range from the discovery and characterization of a novel transporter protein to the mining and screening of them in a large transporter library for particular functions, from simulations and modeling of specific transporters to the preparation of biomimetic synthetic materials for different purposes such as biosensors or filtration membranes. This review presents recent discoveries on microbial membrane transport proteins and focuses especially on formate nitrite transport proteins and aquaporins, and advances in their biotechnological applications.

Unfolding Individual Domains of BmrA, a Bacterial ABC Transporter Involved in Multidrug Resistance

The folding and stability of proteins are often studied via unfolding (and refolding) a protein with urea. Yet, in the case of membrane integral protein domains, which are shielded by a membrane or a membrane mimetic, urea generally does not induce unfolding. However, the unfolding of α-helical membrane proteins may be induced by the addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). When protein unfolding is followed via monitoring changes in Trp fluorescence characteristics, the contributions of individual Trp residues often cannot be disentangled, and, consequently, the folding and stability of the individual domains of a multi-domain membrane protein cannot be studied. In this study, the unfolding of the homodimeric bacterial ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter Bacillus multidrug resistance ATP (BmrA), which comprises a transmembrane domain and a cytosolic nucleotide-binding domain, was investigated. To study the stability of individual BmrA domains in the context of the full-length protein, the individual domains were silenced by mutating the existent Trps. The SDS-induced unfolding of the corresponding constructs was compared to the (un)folding characteristics of the wild-type (wt) protein and isolated domains. The full-length variants BmrA_W413Y and BmrA_W104YW164A were able to mirror the changes observed with the isolated domains; thus, these variants allowed for the study of the unfolding and thermodynamic stability of mutated domains in the context of full-length BmrA.

Biophysical Characterization of Membrane Proteins

Membrane proteins are responsible for a large variety of tasks in organisms and of particular interesting as drug targets. At the same time, they are notoriously difficult to work with and require a thorough characterization before proceeding with structural studies. Here, we present a biophysical pipeline to characterize membrane proteins focusing on the optimization of stability, aggregation behavior, and homogeneity. The pipeline shown here is built on three biophysical techniques: differential scanning fluorimetry using native protein fluorescence (nano differential scanning fluorimetry), dynamic light scattering, and mass photometry. For each of these techniques, we provide detailed protocols for performing experiments and data analysis.

The transported cations impose differences in the thermostability of the gastric H,K-ATPase. A kinetic analysis

This work analyses the thermostability of a membrane protein, the gastric H,K-ATPase, by means of a detailed kinetic characterization of its inactivation process, which showed to exhibit first-order kinetics. We observed parallel time courses for the decrease of ATPase activity, the decrease of the autophosphorylation capacity and the loss of tertiary structure at 49 °C. Higher temperatures were required to induce a significant change in secondary structure. The correspondence between the kinetics of Trp fluorescence measured at 49 °C and the decrease of the residual activity after heating at that temperature, proves the irreversibility of the inactivation process. Inactivation proceeds at different rates in E1 or E2 conformations. The K⁺-induced E2 state exhibits a lower inactivation rate; the specific effect is exerted with a K_0.5 similar to that found at 25 °C, providing a further inkling that K⁺ occlusion by the H,K-ATPase is not really favoured. Increasing [H⁺] from pH 8 to pH 7, which possibly shifts the protein to E1, produces a subtle destabilizing effect on the H,K-ATPase. We performed a prediction of potential intramolecular interactions and found that the differential stability between E1 and E2 may be mainly explained by the higher number of hydrophobic interactions in the α- and β-subunits of E2 conformation.

Senecavirus A Entry Into Host Cells Is Dependent on the Cholesterol-Mediated Endocytic Pathway

Senecavirus A (SVA), an important member of the Picornaviridae family, causes vesicular disease in pigs. Here, we generated an EGFP-expressing recombinant SVA re-SVA-EGFP, which exhibited similar growth kinetics to its parental virus. The reporter SVA was used to study the role of pig ANTXR1 (pANTXR1) in SVA infection in a porcine alveolar macrophage cell line (PAM-Tang cells). Knockdown of the pANTXR1 significantly reduced SVA infection and replication in PAM-Tang cells, while re-expression of the pANTXR1 promoted the cell susceptibility to SVA infection. The results indicated that pANTXR1 is a crucial receptor mediating SVA infection. Subsequently, the viral endocytosis pathways for SVA entry into pig cells were investigated and the results showed that cholesterol played an essential role in receptor-mediated SVA entry. Together, these results demonstrated that SVA entered into host cells through the pANTXR1-mediated cholesterol pathway. Our findings provide potential targets to develop antiviral drugs for the prevention of SVA infection in the pig population.

Cell-Free Expression to Probe Co-Translational Insertion of an Alpha Helical Membrane Protein

The majority of alpha helical membrane proteins fold co-translationally during their synthesis on the ribosome. In contrast, most mechanistic folding studies address refolding of full-length proteins from artificially induced denatured states that are far removed from the natural co-translational process. Cell-free translation of membrane proteins is emerging as a useful tool to address folding during translation by a ribosome. We summarise the benefits of this approach and show how it can be successfully extended to a membrane protein with a complex topology. The bacterial leucine transporter, LeuT can be synthesised and inserted into lipid membranes using a variety of in vitro transcription translation systems. Unlike major facilitator superfamily transporters, where changes in lipids can optimise the amount of correctly inserted protein, LeuT insertion yields are much less dependent on the lipid composition. The presence of a bacterial translocon either in native membrane extracts or in reconstituted membranes also has little influence on the yield of LeuT incorporated into the lipid membrane, except at high reconstitution concentrations. LeuT is considered a paradigm for neurotransmitter transporters and possesses a knotted structure that is characteristic of this transporter family. This work provides a method in which to probe the formation of a protein as the polypeptide chain is being synthesised on a ribosome and inserting into lipids. We show that in comparison with the simpler major facilitator transporter structures, LeuT inserts less efficiently into membranes when synthesised cell-free, suggesting that more of the protein aggregates, likely as a result of the challenging formation of the knotted topology in the membrane.

Architects of their own environment: How membrane proteins shape the Gram-negative cell envelope

Gram-negative bacteria are surrounded by a complex multilayered cell envelope, consisting of an inner and an outer membrane, and separated by the aqueous periplasm, which contains a thin peptidoglycan cell wall. These bacteria employ an arsenal of highly specialized membrane protein machineries to ensure the correct assembly and maintenance of the membranes forming the cell envelope. Here, we review the diverse protein systems, which perform these functions in Escherichia coli, such as the folding and insertion of membrane proteins, the transport of lipoproteins and lipopolysaccharide within the cell envelope, the targeting of phospholipids, and the regulation of mistargeted envelope components. Some of these protein machineries have been known for a long time, yet still hold surprises. Others have only recently been described and some are still missing pieces or yet remain to be discovered.

Fluorescence Approaches for Characterizing Ion Channels in Synthetic Bilayers

Ion channels are membrane proteins that play important roles in a wide range of fundamental cellular processes. Studying membrane proteins at a molecular level becomes challenging in complex cellular environments. Instead, many studies focus on the isolation and reconstitution of the membrane proteins into model lipid membranes. Such simpler, in vitro, systems offer the advantage of control over the membrane and protein composition and the lipid environment. Rhodopsin and rhodopsin-like ion channels are widely studied due to their light-interacting properties and are a natural candidate for investigation with fluorescence methods. Here we review techniques for synthesizing liposomes and for reconstituting membrane proteins into lipid bilayers. We then summarize fluorescence assays which can be used to verify the functionality of reconstituted membrane proteins in synthetic liposomes.

Therapeutic Nanobodies Targeting Cell Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins: A High-Risk/High-Gain Endeavor

Cell plasma membrane proteins are considered as gatekeepers of the cell and play a major role in regulating various processes. Transport proteins constitute a subclass of cell plasma membrane proteins enabling the exchange of molecules and ions between the extracellular environment and the cytosol. A plethora of human pathologies are associated with the altered expression or dysfunction of cell plasma membrane transport proteins, making them interesting therapeutic drug targets. However, the search for therapeutics is challenging, since many drug candidates targeting cell plasma membrane proteins fail in (pre)clinical testing due to inadequate selectivity, specificity, potency or stability. These latter characteristics are met by nanobodies, which potentially renders them eligible therapeutics targeting cell plasma membrane proteins. Therefore, a therapeutic nanobody-based strategy seems a valid approach to target and modulate the activity of cell plasma membrane transport proteins. This review paper focuses on methodologies to generate cell plasma membrane transport protein-targeting nanobodies, and the advantages and pitfalls while generating these small antibody-derivatives, and discusses several therapeutic nanobodies directed towards transmembrane proteins, including channels and pores, adenosine triphosphate-powered pumps and porters.

MPTherm-pred: Analysis and Prediction of Thermal Stability Changes upon Mutations in Transmembrane Proteins

The stability of membrane proteins differs from globular proteins due to the presence of nonpolar membrane-spanning regions. Using a dataset of 929 membrane protein mutations whose effects on thermal stability (ΔT_m) were experimentally determined, we found that the average ΔT_m due to 190 stabilizing and 232 destabilizing mutations occurring in membrane-spanning regions are 2.43(3.1) °C and -5.48(5.5) °C, respectively. The ΔT_m values for mutations occurring in solvent-exposed regions are 2.56(2.82) and - 6.8(7.2) °C. We have systematically analyzed the factors influencing the stability of mutants and observed that changes in hydrophobicity, number of contacts between Cα atoms and frequency of aliphatic residues are important determinants of the stability change induced by mutations occurring in membrane-spanning regions. We have developed structure- and sequence-based machine learning predictors of ΔT_m due to mutations specifically for membrane proteins. They showed a correlation and mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.72 and 2.85 °C, respectively, between experimental and predicted ΔT_m for mutations in membrane-spanning regions on 10-fold group-wise cross-validation. The average correlation and MAE for mutations in aqueous regions are 0.73 and 3.7 °C, respectively. These MAE values are about 50% lower than standard deviations from the mean ΔT_m values. The reliability of the method was affirmed on a test set of mutations occurring in evolutionary independent protein sequences. The developed MPTherm-pred server for predicting thermal stability changes upon mutations in membrane proteins is available at https://web.iitm.ac.in/bioinfo2/mpthermpred/. Our results provide insights into factors influencing the stability of membrane proteins and can aid in designing mutants that are more resistant to thermal stress.

MPTherm: database for membrane protein thermodynamics for understanding folding and stability

The functions of membrane proteins (MPs) are attributed to their structure and stability. Factors influencing the stability of MPs differ from globular proteins due to the presence of membrane spanning regions. Thermodynamic data of MPs aid to understand the relationship among their structure, stability and function. Although a wealth of experimental data on thermodynamics of MPs are reported in the literature, there is no database available explicitly for MPs. In this work, we have developed a database for MP thermodynamics, MPTherm, which contains more than 7000 thermodynamic data from about 320 MPs. Each entry contains protein sequence and structural information, membrane topology, experimental conditions, thermodynamic parameters such as melting temperature, free energy, enthalpy etc. and literature information. MPTherm assists users to retrieve the data by using different search and display options. We have also provided the sequence and structure visualization as well as cross-links to UniProt and PDB databases. MPTherm database is freely available at http://www.iitm.ac.in/bioinfo/mptherm/. It is implemented in HTML, PHP, MySQL and JavaScript, and supports the latest versions of major browsers, such as Firefox, Chrome and Opera. MPTherm would serve as an effective resource for understanding the stability of MPs, development of prediction tools and identifying drug targets for diseases associated with MPs.

Urea-aromatic interactions in biology

Noncovalent interactions are key determinants in both chemical and biological processes. Among such processes, the hydrophobic interactions play an eminent role in folding of proteins, nucleic acids, formation of membranes, protein-ligand recognition, etc.. Though this interaction is mediated through the aqueous solvent, the stability of the above biomolecules can be highly sensitive to any small external perturbations, such as temperature, pressure, pH, or even cosolvent additives, like, urea-a highly soluble small organic molecule utilized by various living organisms to regulate osmotic pressure. A plethora of detailed studies exist covering both experimental and theoretical regimes, to understand how urea modulates the stability of biological macromolecules. While experimentalists have been primarily focusing on the thermodynamic and kinetic aspects, theoretical modeling predominantly involves mechanistic information at the molecular level, calculating atomistic details applying the force field approach to the high level electronic details using the quantum mechanical methods. The review focuses mainly on examples with biological relevance, such as (1) urea-assisted protein unfolding, (2) urea-assisted RNA unfolding, (3) urea lesion interaction within damaged DNA, (4) urea conduction through membrane proteins, and (5) protein-ligand interactions those explicitly address the vitality of hydrophobic interactions involving exclusively the urea-aromatic moiety.

A comparative study for the intermediate states of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein in the absence and presence of glycan - A computational approach

Myelin Oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) is found to play an important role in providing structural integrity to myelin sheath at the same time it acts as an auto-antigen which might lead to Multiple Sclerosis (MS). What causes this specific property of being an auto-antigen is still not known. Here we present molecular dynamics simulation studies of unfolding and folding of the protein MOG in both the absence and presence of N-glycan in order to understand the role of glycosylation in the stability and flexibility of the protein. The main results from these studies show that the glycosylation increases the stability of the protein MOG and inhibits the complete unfolding of MOG in the SMD. From the folding studies using TMD, it was observed that the glycan helps the protein to attain the near-native folded conformation. However, it was also observed from the direct TMD studies that the pathway of protein folding was enhanced by the trace-back of intermediate states in the presence of glycan.

High-throughput stability screening for detergent-solubilized membrane proteins

Protein stability in detergent or membrane-like environments is the bottleneck for structural studies on integral membrane proteins (IMP). Irrespective of the method to study the structure of an IMP, detergent solubilization from the membrane is usually the first step in the workflow. Here, we establish a simple, high-throughput screening method to identify optimal detergent conditions for membrane protein stabilization. We apply differential scanning fluorimetry in combination with scattering upon thermal denaturation to study the unfolding of integral membrane proteins. Nine different prokaryotic and eukaryotic membrane proteins were used as test cases to benchmark our detergent screening method. Our results show that it is possible to measure the stability and solubility of IMPs by diluting them from their initial solubilization condition into different detergents. We were able to identify groups of detergents with characteristic stabilization and destabilization effects for selected targets. We further show that fos-choline and PEG family detergents may lead to membrane protein destabilization and unfolding. Finally, we determined thenmodynamic parameters that are important indicators of IMP stability. The described protocol allows the identification of conditions that are suitable for downstream handling of membrane proteins during purification.

Identification of the salusin-β receptor using proteoliposomes embedded with endogenous membrane proteins

Although orphan G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been used as targets to discover unidentified natural ligands, increasing numbers of non-GPCRs have been found to mediate important biological functions. Bioinformatics of genome and cDNA resources predict putative bioactive peptides, demanding an alternative approach to efficiently unravel cell surface targets. In silico analysis of a full-length cDNA library previously allowed us to identify salusin-β, a parasympathomimetic/pro-atherosclerotic peptide with unique physicochemical properties. Here, we show that the β-chain of ATP synthase is a cell surface receptor for salusin-β by utilizing artificial liposomes embedded with endogenous membrane proteins directly transferred from animal tissues while retaining the ligand-binding capability. Conventional techniques using detergents identified a β-actin-profilin complex as membrane-associated salusin-β-binding proteins, but failed to identify the cell surface receptor. Since the α-chain of ATP synthase is a principal cell surface target for angiostatin, a potent endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor, we investigated whether salusin-β modulates angiogenesis. Salusin-β inhibited cell surface ATP synthase activity and prevented sarcoma cell-induced angiogenesis in an in vivo mouse air sac model. Therefore, salusin-β binds to membrane-bound ATP synthase and acts as an angiogenesis inhibitor. The current methodology allows the identification of novel cell surface targets, irrespective of the receptor structure.

Single-Vesicle Assays Using Liposomes and Cell-Derived Vesicles: From Modeling Complex Membrane Processes to Synthetic Biology and Biomedical Applications

The plasma membrane is of central importance for defining the closed volume of cells in contradistinction to the extracellular environment. The plasma membrane not only serves as a boundary, but it also mediates the exchange of physical and chemical information between the cell and its environment in order to maintain intra- and intercellular functions. Artificial lipid- and cell-derived membrane vesicles have been used as closed-volume containers, representing the simplest cell model systems to study transmembrane processes and intracellular biochemistry. Classical examples are studies of membrane translocation processes in plasma membrane vesicles and proteoliposomes mediated by transport proteins and ion channels. Liposomes and native membrane vesicles are widely used as model membranes for investigating the binding and bilayer insertion of proteins, the structure and function of membrane proteins, the intramembrane composition and distribution of lipids and proteins, and the intermembrane interactions during exo- and endocytosis. In addition, natural cell-released microvesicles have gained importance for early detection of diseases and for their use as nanoreactors and minimal protocells. Yet, in most studies, ensembles of vesicles have been employed. More recently, new micro- and nanotechnological tools as well as novel developments in both optical and electron microscopy have allowed the isolation and investigation of individual (sub)micrometer-sized vesicles. Such single-vesicle experiments have revealed large heterogeneities in the structure and function of membrane components of single vesicles, which were hidden in ensemble studies. These results have opened enormous possibilities for bioanalysis and biotechnological applications involving unprecedented miniaturization at the nanometer and attoliter range. This review will cover important developments toward single-vesicle analysis and the central discoveries made in this exciting field of research.

Thermal melt circular dichroism spectroscopic studies for identifying stabilising amphipathic molecules for the voltage-gated sodium channel NavMs

Purified integral membrane proteins require amphipathic molecules to maintain their solubility in aqueous solutions. These complexes, in turn, are used in studies to characterise the protein structures by a variety of biophysical and structural techniques, including spectroscopy, crystallography, and cryo-electron microscopy. Typically the amphilphiles used have been detergent molecules, but more recently they have included amphipols, which are polymers of different sizes and compositions designed to create smaller, more well-defined solubilised forms of the membrane proteins. In this study we used circular dichroism spectroscopy to compare the secondary structures and thermal stabilities of the NavMs voltage-gated sodium channel in different amphipols and detergents as a means of identifying amphipathic environments that maximally maintain the protein structure whilst providing a stabilising environment. These types of characterisations also have potential as means of screening for sample types that may be more suitable for crystallisation and/or cryo-electron microscopy structure determinations.

Post-translational modifications of transporters

Drug transporter proteins are critical to the distribution of a wide range of endogenous compounds and xenobiotics such as hormones, bile acids, peptides, lipids, sugars, and drugs. There are two classes of drug transporters- the solute carrier (SLC) transporters and ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters -which predominantly differ in the energy source utilized to transport substrates across a membrane barrier. Despite their hydrophobic nature and residence in the membrane bilayer, drug transporters have dynamic structures and adopt many conformations during the translocation process. Whereas there is significant literature evidence for the substrate specificity and structure-function relationship for clinically relevant drug transporters proteins, there is less of an understanding in the regulatory mechanisms that contribute to the functional expression of these proteins. Post-translational modifications have been shown to modulate drug transporter functional expression via a wide range of molecular mechanisms. These modifications commonly occur through the addition of a functional group (e.g. phosphorylation), a small protein (e.g. ubiquitination), sugar chains (e.g. glycosylation), or lipids (e.g. palmitoylation) on solvent accessible amino acid residues. These covalent additions often occur as a result of a signaling cascade and may be reversible depending on the type of modification and the intended fate of the signaling event. Here, we review the significant role in which post-translational modifications contribute to the dynamic regulation and functional consequences of SLC and ABC drug transporters and highlight recent progress in understanding their roles in transporter structure, function, and regulation.

Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy of Transmembrane β-Barrel Proteins

Single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) has been widely applied to study the mechanical unfolding and folding of transmembrane proteins. Here, we review the recent progress in characterizing bacterial and human transmembrane β-barrel proteins by SMFS. First, we describe the mechanical unfolding of transmembrane β-barrels, which follows a general mechanism dictated by the sequential unfolding and extraction of individual β-strands and β-hairpins from membranes. Upon force relaxation, the unfolded polypeptide can insert stepwise into the membrane as single β-strands or β-hairpins to fold as the native β-barrel. The refolding can be followed at a high spatial and temporal resolution, showing that small β-barrels are able to fold without assistance, whereas large and complex β-barrels require chaperone cofactors. Applied in the dynamic mode, SMFS can quantify the kinetic and mechanical properties of single β-hairpins and reveal complementary insight into the membrane protein structure and function relationship. We further outline the challenges that SMFS experiments must overcome for a comprehensive understanding of the folding and function of transmembrane β-barrel proteins.

A facile approach for the in vitro assembly of multimeric membrane transport proteins

Membrane proteins such as ion channels and transporters are frequently homomeric. The homomeric nature raises important questions regarding coupling between subunits and complicates the application of techniques such as FRET or DEER spectroscopy. These challenges can be overcome if the subunits of a homomeric protein can be independently modified for functional or spectroscopic studies. Here, we describe a general approach for in vitro assembly that can be used for the generation of heteromeric variants of homomeric membrane proteins. We establish the approach using Glt_Ph, a glutamate transporter homolog that is trimeric in the native state. We use heteromeric Glt_Ph transporters to directly demonstrate the lack of coupling in substrate binding and demonstrate how heteromeric transporters considerably simplify the application of DEER spectroscopy. Further, we demonstrate the general applicability of this approach by carrying out the in vitro assembly of VcINDY, a Na⁺-coupled succinate transporter and CLC-ec1, a Cl^-/H⁺ antiporter.

Kinetic stability of membrane proteins

Although membrane proteins constitute an important class of biomolecules involved in key cellular processes, study of the thermodynamic and kinetic stability of their structures is far behind that of soluble proteins. It is known that many membrane proteins become unstable when removed by detergent extraction from the lipid environment. In addition, most of them undergo irreversible denaturation, even under mild experimental conditions. This process was found to be associated with partial unfolding of the polypeptide chain exposing hydrophobic regions to water, and it was proposed that the formation of kinetically trapped conformations could be involved. In this review, we will describe some of the efforts toward understanding the irreversible inactivation of membrane proteins. Furthermore, its modulation by phospholipids, ligands, and temperature will be herein discussed.

Efficient Screening and Optimization of Membrane Protein Production in Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is one of the most widely used expression hosts for membrane proteins. However, establishing conditions for its recombinant production of membrane proteins remains difficult. Attempts to produce membrane proteins frequently result in either no expression or expression as misfolded aggregates. We developed an efficient pipeline for improving membrane protein overexpression in E. coli that is based on two approaches. The first involves transcriptional fusions, small additional RNA sequences upstream of the target open reading frame, to overcome no or poor overall expression levels. The other is based on a tunable promoter in combination with a fusion to green fluorescent protein serving as a reporter for the folding state of the target membrane protein. The latter combination allows adjusting the membrane protein expression rate to the downstream folding capacity, in order to decrease the formation of protein aggregates. This pipeline has proven successful for the efficient and parallel optimization of a diverse set of membrane proteins.

Amyloid-like Fibrils from an α-Helical Transmembrane Protein

The propensity to misfold and self-assemble into stable aggregates is increasingly being recognized as a common feature of protein molecules. Our understanding of this phenomenon and of its links with human disease has improved substantially over the past two decades. Studies thus far, however, have been almost exclusively focused on cytosolic proteins, resulting in a lack of detailed information about the misfolding and aggregation of membrane proteins. As a consequence, although such proteins make up approximately 30% of the human proteome and have high propensities to aggregate, relatively little is known about the biophysical nature of their assemblies. To shed light on this issue, we have studied as a model system an archetypical representative of the ubiquitous major facilitator superfamily, the Escherichia coli lactose permease (LacY). By using a combination of established indicators of cross-β structure and morphology, including the amyloid diagnostic dye thioflavin-T, circular dichroism spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray fiber diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy, we show that LacY can form amyloid-like fibrils under destabilizing conditions. These results indicate that transmembrane α-helical proteins, similarly to cytosolic proteins, have the ability to adopt this generic state.

YidC assists the stepwise and stochastic folding of membrane proteins

How chaperones, insertases and translocases facilitate insertion and folding of complex cytoplasmic proteins into cellular membranes is not fully understood. Here we utilize single-molecule force spectroscopy to observe YidC, a transmembrane chaperone and insertase, sculpting the folding trajectory of the polytopic α-helical membrane protein lactose permease (LacY). In the absence of YidC, unfolded LacY inserts individual structural segments into the membrane; however, misfolding dominates the process so that folding cannot be completed. YidC prevents LacY from misfolding by stabilizing the unfolded state from which LacY inserts structural segments stepwise into the membrane until folding is completed. During stepwise insertion, YidC and the membrane together stabilize the transient folds. Remarkably, the order of insertion of structural segments is stochastic, indicating that LacY can fold along variable pathways toward the native structure. Since YidC is essential in membrane protein biogenesis and LacY is a model for the major facilitator superfamily, our observations have general relevance.

Cooperative folding of a polytopic α-helical membrane protein involves a compact N-terminal nucleus and nonnative loops

Despite the ubiquity of helical membrane proteins in nature and their pharmacological importance, the mechanisms guiding their folding remain unclear. We performed kinetic folding and unfolding experiments on 69 mutants (engineered every 2-3 residues throughout the 178-residue transmembrane domain) of GlpG, a membrane-embedded rhomboid protease from Escherichia coli. The only clustering of significantly positive ϕ-values occurs at the cytosolic termini of transmembrane helices 1 and 2, which we identify as a compact nucleus. The three loops flanking these helices show a preponderance of negative ϕ-values, which are sometimes taken to be indicative of nonnative interactions in the transition state. Mutations in transmembrane helices 3-6 yielded predominantly ϕ-values near zero, indicating that this part of the protein has denatured-state-level structure in the transition state. We propose that loops 1-3 undergo conformational rearrangements to position the folding nucleus correctly, which then drives folding of the rest of the domain. A compact N-terminal nucleus is consistent with the vectorial nature of cotranslational membrane insertion found in vivo. The origin of the interactions in the transition state that lead to a large number of negative ϕ-values remains to be elucidated.

Marginally hydrophobic transmembrane α-helices shaping membrane protein folding

Cells have developed an incredible machinery to facilitate the insertion of membrane proteins into the membrane. While we have a fairly good understanding of the mechanism and determinants of membrane integration, more data is needed to understand the insertion of membrane proteins with more complex insertion and folding pathways. This review will focus on marginally hydrophobic transmembrane helices and their influence on membrane protein folding. These weakly hydrophobic transmembrane segments are by themselves not recognized by the translocon and therefore rely on local sequence context for membrane integration. How can such segments reside within the membrane? We will discuss this in the light of features found in the protein itself as well as the environment it resides in. Several characteristics in proteins have been described to influence the insertion of marginally hydrophobic helices. Additionally, the influence of biological membranes is significant. To begin with, the actual cost for having polar groups within the membrane may not be as high as expected; the presence of proteins in the membrane as well as characteristics of some amino acids may enable a transmembrane helix to harbor a charged residue. The lipid environment has also been shown to directly influence the topology as well as membrane boundaries of transmembrane helices-implying a dynamic relationship between membrane proteins and their environment.

Single-molecule force spectroscopy of membrane proteins from membranes freely spanning across nanoscopic pores

Single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) provides detailed insight into the mechanical (un)folding pathways and structural stability of membrane proteins. So far, SMFS could only be applied to membrane proteins embedded in native or synthetic membranes adsorbed to solid supports. This adsorption causes experimental limitations and raises the question to what extent the support influences the results obtained by SMFS. Therefore, we introduce here SMFS from native purple membrane freely spanning across nanopores. We show that correct analysis of the SMFS data requires extending the worm-like chain model, which describes the mechanical stretching of a polypeptide, by the cubic extension model, which describes the bending of a purple membrane exposed to mechanical stress. This new experimental and theoretical approach allows to characterize the stepwise (un)folding of the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin and to assign the stability of single and grouped secondary structures. The (un)folding and stability of bacteriorhodopsin shows no significant difference between freely spanning and directly supported purple membranes. Importantly, the novel experimental SMFS setup opens an avenue to characterize any protein from freely spanning cellular or synthetic membranes.

Engineering the glutamate transporter homologue GltPh using protein semisynthesis

Glutamate transporters catalyze the concentrative uptake of glutamate from synapses and are essential for normal synaptic function. Despite extensive investigations of glutamate transporters, the mechanisms underlying substrate recognition, ion selectivity, and the coupling of substrate and ion transport are not well-understood. Deciphering these mechanisms requires the ability to precisely engineer the transporter. In this study, we describe the semisynthesis of GltPh, an archaeal homologue of glutamate transporters. Semisynthesis allows the precise engineering of GltPh through the incorporation of unnatural amino acids and peptide backbone modifications. In the semisynthesis, the GltPh polypeptide is initially assembled from a recombinantly expressed thioester peptide and a chemically synthesized peptide using the native chemical ligation reaction followed by in vitro folding to the native state. We have developed a robust procedure for the in vitro folding of GltPh. Biochemical characterization of the semisynthetic GltPh indicates that it is similar to the native transporter. We used semisynthesis to substitute Arg397, a highly conserved residue in the substrate binding site, with the unnatural analogue, citrulline. Our studies demonstrate that Arg397 is required for high-affinity substrate binding, and on the basis of our results, we propose that Arg397 is involved in a Na+-dependent remodeling of the substrate binding site required for high-affinity Asp binding. We anticipate that the semisynthetic approach developed in this study will be extremely useful in investigating functional mechanisms in GltPh. Further, the approach developed in this study should also be applicable to other membrane transport proteins.

Folding and stability of integral membrane proteins in amphipols

Amphipols (APols) are a family of amphipathic polymers designed to keep transmembrane proteins (TMPs) soluble in aqueous solutions in the absence of detergent. APols have proven remarkably efficient at (i) stabilizing TMPs, as compared to detergent solutions, and (ii) folding them from a denatured state to a native, functional one. The underlying physical-chemical mechanisms are discussed.

Amphipols for each season

Amphipols (APols) are short amphipathic polymers that can substitute for detergents at the transmembrane surface of membrane proteins (MPs) and, thereby, keep them soluble in detergent free aqueous solutions. APol-trapped MPs are, as a rule, more stable biochemically than their detergent-solubilized counterparts. APols have proven useful to produce MPs, most noticeably by assisting their folding from the denatured state obtained after solubilizing MP inclusion bodies in either SDS or urea. They facilitate the handling in aqueous solution of fragile MPs for the purpose of proteomics, structural and functional studies, and therapeutics. Because APols can be chemically labeled or functionalized, and they form very stable complexes with MPs, they can also be used to functionalize those indirectly, which opens onto many novel applications. Following a brief recall of the properties of APols and MP/APol complexes, an update is provided of recent progress in these various fields.

Life at the border: adaptation of proteins to anisotropic membrane environment

This review discusses main features of transmembrane (TM) proteins which distinguish them from water-soluble proteins and allow their adaptation to the anisotropic membrane environment. We overview the structural limitations on membrane protein architecture, spatial arrangement of proteins in membranes and their intrinsic hydrophobic thickness, co-translational and post-translational folding and insertion into lipid bilayers, topogenesis, high propensity to form oligomers, and large-scale conformational transitions during membrane insertion and transport function. Special attention is paid to the polarity of TM protein surfaces described by profiles of dipolarity/polarizability and hydrogen-bonding capacity parameters that match polarity of the lipid environment. Analysis of distributions of Trp resides on surfaces of TM proteins from different biological membranes indicates that interfacial membrane regions with preferential accumulation of Trp indole rings correspond to the outer part of the lipid acyl chain region-between double bonds and carbonyl groups of lipids. These "midpolar" regions are not always symmetric in proteins from natural membranes. We also examined the hydrophobic effect that drives insertion of proteins into lipid bilayer and different free energy contributions to TM protein stability, including attractive van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds, side-chain conformational entropy, the hydrophobic mismatch, membrane deformations, and specific protein-lipid binding.

Unfolding study of a trimeric membrane protein AcrB

The folding of a multi-domain trimeric α-helical membrane protein, Escherichia coli inner membrane protein AcrB, was investigated. AcrB contains both a transmembrane domain and a large periplasmic domain. Protein unfolding in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and urea was monitored using the intrinsic fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The SDS denaturation curve displayed a sigmoidal profile, which could be fitted with a two-state unfolding model. To investigate the unfolding of separate domains, a triple mutant was created, in which all three Trp residues in the transmembrane domain were replaced with Phe. The SDS unfolding profile of the mutant was comparable to that of the wild type AcrB, suggesting that the observed signal change was largely originated from the unfolding of the soluble domain. Strengthening of trimer association through the introduction of an inter-subunit disulfide bond had little effect on the unfolding profile, suggesting that trimer dissociation was not the rate-limiting step in unfolding monitored by fluorescence emission. Under our experimental condition, AcrB unfolding was not reversible. Furthermore, we experimented with the refolding of a monomeric mutant, AcrBΔloop , from the SDS unfolded state. The CD spectrum of the refolded AcrBΔloop superimposed well onto the spectra of the original folded protein, while the fluorescence spectrum was not fully recovered. In summary, our results suggested that the unfolding of the trimeric AcrB started with a local structural rearrangement. While the refolding of secondary structure in individual monomers could be achieved, the re-association of the trimer might be the limiting factor to obtain folded wild-type AcrB.

Kinetics and thermodynamics of membrane protein folding

Understanding protein folding has been one of the great challenges in biochemistry and molecular biophysics. Over the past 50 years, many thermodynamic and kinetic studies have been performed addressing the stability of globular proteins. In comparison, advances in the membrane protein folding field lag far behind. Although membrane proteins constitute about a third of the proteins encoded in known genomes, stability studies on membrane proteins have been impaired due to experimental limitations. Furthermore, no systematic experimental strategies are available for folding these biomolecules in vitro. Common denaturing agents such as chaotropes usually do not work on helical membrane proteins, and ionic detergents have been successful denaturants only in few cases. Refolding a membrane protein seems to be a craftsman work, which is relatively straightforward for transmembrane β-barrel proteins but challenging for α-helical membrane proteins. Additional complexities emerge in multidomain membrane proteins, data interpretation being one of the most critical. In this review, we will describe some recent efforts in understanding the folding mechanism of membrane proteins that have been reversibly refolded allowing both thermodynamic and kinetic analysis. This information will be discussed in the context of current paradigms in the protein folding field.

Strategies of bacterial over expression of membrane transporters relevant in human health: the successful case of the three members of OCTN subfamily

The OCTN subfamily includes OCTN1, 2, and 3 which are structurally and functionally related. These transporters are involved in maintenance of the carnitine homeostasis, which is essential in mammals for fatty acid β-oxidation, VLDL assembly, post-translational modifications, and other essential functions. Indeed, defects of these transporters lead to severe pathologies. OCTN1 and OCTN2 are expressed in many human tissues, while OCTN3 gene has been identified only in mouse and rat. The transporters mediate transport of carnitine and other substrates with different efficiencies and mechanisms. In order to over express the three proteins, a screening of many combinations of E. coli strains with plasmid constructs has been conducted. Only Rosetta(DE3) or Rosettagami2(DE3) gave significant expression. Higher protein amounts were firstly obtained with pET-41a(+) or pGEX-4T1 carrying fusion protein tags which required additional purification passages. Vectors carrying only a 6His tag, suitable for single passage purification, were preferred even though they lead to lower initial expression levels. Expressions were then increased optimizing several critical parameters. hOCTN1 was obtained with pH6EX3 in RosettaGami2(DE3)pLysS. hOCTN2 and mOCTN3 were obtained using pET-21a(+) in Rosetta(DE3). In particular, hOCTN2 was expressed only after codon bias, substituting the second triplet CGG with AAA (R2K mutant). The best growth conditions for hOCTN1 and mOCTN3 were 28 °C and 6 h of induction, while 4 h of induction for hOCTN2R2K. The proteins collected in the insoluble fraction of cell lysates, solubilized with sarkosyl, were purified by Ni-chelating chromatography. Final yield was 2.0, 3.0, or 3.5 mg/l of cell culture for mOCTN3, hOCTN1, or hOCTN2R2K. The data indicated that, in spite of the close evolutionary relations, several factors play different critical roles in bacterial expression of the three proteins, thus general criteria cannot be underlined. However, the strategy of dealing with related proteins revealed to be finally successful for over expressing all the three subfamily members.

Synthesis and optical behaviors of 6-seleno-deoxyguanosine

We have developed a simple method to synthesize 6-seleno-2'-deoxyguanosine (^SedG) by selectively replacing the 6-oxygen atom with selenium. This selenium-atom-specific modification (SAM) alters the optical properties of the naturally occurring 2'-deoxyguanosine (dG). Unlike the native dG, the UVabsorption of ^SedG is significantly influenced by the pH of the aqueous solution. Moreover, ^SedG is fluorescent at the physiological pH and exhibits pH-dependent fluorescence in aqueous solutions. Furthermore, ^SedG has noticeable fluorescence in non-aqueous solutions, indicating its sensitivity to environmental changes. This is the first time a fluorescent nucleoside by single-atom alteration has been observed. Fluorescent nucleosides modified by a single atom have great potential as molecular probes with minimal perturbations to investigate nucleoside interactions with proteins, such as membrane-transporter proteins.

Methionine mutations of outer membrane protein X influence structural stability and beta-barrel unfolding

We report the biochemical and biophysical characterization of outer membrane protein X (OmpX), an eight-stranded transmembrane β-barrel from E. coli, and compare the barrel behavior with a mutant devoid of methionine residues. Transmembrane outer membrane proteins of bacterial origin are known to display high tolerance to sequence rearrangements and mutations. Our studies with the triple mutant of OmpX that is devoid of all internal methionine residues (M18L; M21L; M118L) indicate that Met replacement has no influence on the refolding efficiency and structural characteristics of the protein. Surprisingly, the conserved substitution of Met→Leu leads to barrel destabilization and causes a lowering of the unfolding free energy by a factor of ∼8.5 kJ/mol, despite the mutations occurring at the loop regions. We report that the barrel destabilization is accompanied by a loss in cooperativity of unfolding in the presence of chemical denaturants. Furthermore, we are able to detect an unfolding intermediate in the Met-less barrel, whereas the parent protein exhibits a classic two-state unfolding. Thermal denaturation measurements also suggest a greater susceptibility of the OmpX barrel to heat, in the Met-less construct. Our studies reveal that even subtle variations in the extra-membrane region of rigid barrel structures such as OmpX, may bear severe implications on barrel stability. We propose that methionines contribute to efficient barrel structuring and protein-lipid interactions, and are therefore important elements of OmpX stability.

Modulating lipid dynamics and membrane fluidity to drive rapid folding of a transmembrane barrel

Lipid-protein interactions, critical for the folding, stability and function of membrane proteins, can be both of mechanical and chemical nature. Mechanical properties of lipid systems can be suitably influenced by physical factors so as to facilitate membrane protein folding. We demonstrate here that by modulating lipid dynamics transiently using heat, rapid folding of two 8-stranded transmembrane β-barrel proteins OmpX and OmpA^1–171, in micelles and vesicles, can be achieved within seconds. Folding kinetics using this ‘heat shock’ method shows a dramatic ten to several hundred folds increase in refolding rate along with ~100% folding efficiency. We establish that OmpX thus folded is highly thermostable even in detergent micelles, and retains structural characteristics comparable to the protein in bilayers.

The maltose ABC transporter: action of membrane lipids on the transporter stability, coupling and ATPase activity

The coupling between ATP hydrolysis and substrate transport remains a key question in the understanding of ABC-mediated transport. We show using the MalFGK2 complex reconstituted into nanodiscs, that membrane lipids participate directly to the coupling reaction by stabilizing the transporter in a low energy conformation. When surrounded by short acyl chain phospholipids, the transporter is unstable and hydrolyzes large amounts of ATP without inducing maltose. The presence of long acyl chain phospholipids stabilizes the conformational dynamics of the transporter, reduces its ATPase activity and restores dependence on maltose. Membrane lipids therefore play an essential allosteric function, they restrict the transporter ATPase activity to increase coupling to the substrate. In support to the notion, we show that increasing the conformational dynamics of MalFGK2 with mutations in MalF increases the transporter ATPase activity but decreases the maltose transport efficiency.

Thermal unfolding of a mammalian pentameric ligand-gated ion channel proceeds at consecutive, distinct steps

Pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) play an important role in fast synaptic signal transduction. Binding of agonists to the β-sheet-structured extracellular domain opens an ion channel in the transmembrane α-helical region of the LGIC. How the structurally distinct and distant domains are functionally coupled for such central transmembrane signaling processes remains an open question. To obtain detailed information about the stability of and the coupling between these different functional domains, we analyzed the thermal unfolding of a homopentameric LGIC, the 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor (ligand binding, secondary structure, accessibility of Trp and Cys residues, and aggregation), in plasma membranes as well as during detergent extraction, purification, and reconstitution into artificial lipid bilayers. We found a large loss in thermostability correlating with the loss of the lipid bilayer during membrane solubilization and purification. Thermal unfolding of the 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor occurred in consecutive steps at distinct protein locations. A loss of ligand binding was detected first, followed by formation of different transient low oligomeric states of receptor pentamers, followed by partial unfolding of helical parts of the protein, which finally lead to the formation receptor aggregates. Structural destabilization of the receptor in detergents could be partially reversed by reconstituting the receptor into lipid bilayers. Our results are important because they quantify the stability of LGICs during detergent extraction and purification and can be used to create stabilized receptor proteins for structural and functional studies.

Naturally evolved G protein-coupled receptors adopt metastable conformations

A wide range of membrane receptors signal through conformational changes, and the resulting protein conformational flexibility often hinders their structural studies. Because the determinants of membrane receptor conformational stability are still poorly understood, identifying a minimal set of perturbations stabilizing a membrane protein in a given conformation remains a major challenge in membrane protein structure determination. We present a novel approach integrating bioinformatics, computational design and experimental techniques that identifies and stabilizes metastable receptor regions. When applied to the beta1-adrenergic receptor, the method generated 13 novel receptor variants stabilized in the intended inactive state among which two exhibit an apparent thermostability higher than WT and M23 (a receptor variant previously stabilized by extensive scanning mutagenesis) by more than 30 °C and 11 °C, respectively. Targeted regions involve nonconserved unsatisfied polar residues or exhibit significant packing defects, features found in all class A G protein-coupled receptor structures. These findings suggest that natural G protein-coupled receptor sequences have evolved to be conformationally metastable through the design of suboptimal polar and van der Waals tertiary interactions. Given sufficiently accurate structural models, our approach should prove useful for designing stabilized variants of many uncharacterized membrane receptors.