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Ansari S, Lagasca D, Dumarieh R, Xiao Y, Krishna S, Li Y, Frederick KK. In cell NMR reveals cells selectively amplify and structurally remodel amyloid fibrils. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.09.09.612142. [PMID: 39314304 PMCID: PMC11419106 DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.09.612142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/25/2024]
Abstract
Amyloid forms of α-synuclein adopt different conformations depending on environmental conditions. Advances in structural biology have accelerated fibril characterization. However, it remains unclear which conformations predominate in biological settings because current methods typically not only require isolating fibrils from their native environments, but they also do not provide insight about flexible regions. To address this, we characterized α-syn amyloid seeds and used sensitivity enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance to investigate the amyloid fibrils resulting from seeded amyloid propagation in different settings. We found that the amyloid fold and conformational preferences of flexible regions are faithfully propagated in vitro and in cellular lysates. However, seeded propagation of amyloids inside cells led to the minority conformation in the seeding population becoming predominant and more ordered, and altered the conformational preferences of flexible regions. The examination of the entire ensemble of protein conformations in biological settings that is made possible with this approach may advance our understanding of protein misfolding disorders and facilitate structure-based drug design efforts.
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Kragelj J, Ghosh R, Xiao Y, Dumarieh R, Lagasca D, Krishna S, Frederick KK. Spatially resolved DNP-assisted NMR illuminates the conformational ensemble of α-synuclein in intact viable cells. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.24.563877. [PMID: 37961511 PMCID: PMC10634803 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.24.563877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
The protein α-syn adopts a wide variety of conformations including an intrinsically disordered monomeric form and an α-helical rich membrane-associated form that is thought to play an important role in cellular membrane processes. However, despite the high affinity of α-syn for membranes, evidence that the α-helical form of α-syn is adopted inside cells has thus far been indirect. In cell DNP-assisted solid state NMR on frozen samples has the potential to report directly on the entire conformational ensemble. Moreover, because the DNP polarization agent can be dispersed both homogenously and inhomogenously throughout the cellular biomass, in cell DNP-assisted solid state NMR experiments can report either quantitatively upon the structural ensemble or can preferentially report upon the structural ensemble with a spatial bias. Using DNP-assisted MAS NMR we establish that the spectra of purified α-syn in the membrane-associated and intrinsically disordered forms have distinguishable spectra. When the polarization agent is introduced into cells by electroporation and dispersed homogenously, a minority of the α-syn inside HEK293 cells adopts a highly α-helical rich conformation. Alteration of the spatial distribution of the polarization agent preferentially enhances the signal from molecules nearer to the cellular periphery, thus the α-helical rich population is preferentially adopted toward the cellular periphery. This demonstrates how selectively altering the spatial distribution of the DNP polarization agent can be a powerful tool for preferential reporting on specific structural ensembles, paving the way for more nuanced investigations into the conformations that proteins adopt in different areas of the cell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaka Kragelj
- Department of Biophysics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-8816
- National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, 1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Rupam Ghosh
- Department of Biophysics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-8816
| | - Yiling Xiao
- Department of Biophysics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-8816
| | - Rania Dumarieh
- Department of Biophysics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-8816
| | - Dominique Lagasca
- Department of Biophysics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-8816
| | - Sakshi Krishna
- Department of Biophysics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-8816
| | - Kendra K. Frederick
- Department of Biophysics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-8816
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Disease, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390
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Wang XW, Zhang X, Cui CY, Li B, Goldfarb D, Yang Y, Su XC. Stabilizing Nitroxide Spin Labels for Structural and Conformational Studies of Biomolecules by Maleimide Treatment. Chemistry 2023; 29:e202301350. [PMID: 37354082 DOI: 10.1002/chem.202301350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 06/21/2023] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 06/26/2023]
Abstract
Nitroxide (NO) spin radicals are effective in characterizing structures, interactions and dynamics of biomolecules. The EPR applications in cell lysates or intracellular milieu require stable spin labels, but NO radicals are unstable in such conditions. We showed that the destabilization of NO radicals in cell lysates or even in cells is caused by NADPH/NADH related enzymes, but not by the commonly believed reducing reagents such as GSH. Maleimide stabilizes the NO radicals in the cell lysates by consumption of the NADPH/NADH that are essential for the enzymes involved in destabilizing NO radicals, instead of serving as the solo thiol scavenger. The maleimide treatment retains the crowding properties of the intracellular components and allows to perform long-time EPR measurements of NO labeled biomolecules close to the intracellular conditions. The strategy of maleimide treatment on cell lysates for the EPR applications has been demonstrated on double electron-electron resonance (DEER) measurements on a number of NO labeled protein samples. The method opens a broad application range for the NO labeled biomolecules by EPR in conditions that resemble the intracellular milieu.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi-Wei Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Elemento-organic Chemistry, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
| | - Xing Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Elemento-organic Chemistry, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
| | - Chao-Yu Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Elemento-organic Chemistry, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
| | - Bin Li
- State Key Laboratory of Elemento-organic Chemistry, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
| | - Daniella Goldfarb
- Department of Chemical and Biological Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel
| | - Yin Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Elemento-organic Chemistry, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
| | - Xun-Cheng Su
- State Key Laboratory of Elemento-organic Chemistry, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
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An EPR Study on Highly Stable Nitroxyl-Nitroxyl Biradicals for Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Applications at High Magnetic Fields. Molecules 2023; 28:molecules28041926. [PMID: 36838912 PMCID: PMC9958542 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28041926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Nitroxide biradicals are efficient polarizing agents in dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. Many recently reported radicals possess substantial DNP efficiency in organic solvents but have poor solubility in water media which is unfavorable for biological applications. In this paper, we report DNP efficiency at a high magnetic field for two water-soluble biradicals resistant to reducing media. Water solubility was achieved by obtaining the radicals in the form of quaternary ammonium salts. Parameters of hyperfine interaction and exchange interaction were quantified by EPR spectroscopy, and their influence on the DNP effect was determined. The resistance of the biradicals to strongly reducing media was characterized. High stability was achieved using tetraethyl substituents and pyrrolidine moieties.
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Ackermann BE, Lim BJ, Elathram N, Narayanan S, Debelouchina GT. A Comparative Study of Nitroxide-Based Biradicals for Dynamic Nuclear Polarization in Cellular Environments. Chembiochem 2022; 23:e202200577. [PMID: 36250276 PMCID: PMC9856215 DOI: 10.1002/cbic.202200577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 10/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) is a powerful tool to enhance the NMR signals of molecules by transferring polarization from unpaired electron spins to nuclei through microwave irradiation. The resulting signal enhancements can enable the analysis of samples that have previously been intractable by NMR spectroscopy, including proteins, nucleic acids, and metabolites in cells. To carry out DNP, the sample is doped with a polarization agent, a biradical containing two nitroxide moieties. DNP applications in cells, however, present significant challenges as nitroxides are often susceptible to the reducing cellular environment. Here, we introduce a novel polarization agent, POPAPOL, that exhibits increased lifetimes under reducing conditions. We also compare its bioresistance and DNP performance with three popular, commercially available polarization agents. Our work indicates that pyrrolidine-based nitroxides can outperform piperidine-based nitroxides in cellular environments, and that future polarization agent designs must carefully balance DNP performance and stability for cellular applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bryce E. Ackermann
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Byung Joon Lim
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Nesreen Elathram
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Sirish Narayanan
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Galia T. Debelouchina
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA,Corresponding author: , http://debelouchinalab.ucsd.edu/
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Yao R, Beriashvili D, Zhang W, Li S, Safeer A, Gurinov A, Rockenbauer A, Yang Y, Song Y, Baldus M, Liu Y. Highly bioresistant, hydrophilic and rigidly linked trityl-nitroxide biradicals for cellular high-field dynamic nuclear polarization. Chem Sci 2022; 13:14157-14164. [PMID: 36540821 PMCID: PMC9728575 DOI: 10.1039/d2sc04668g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Accepted: 11/16/2022] [Indexed: 09/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Cellular dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has been an effective means of overcoming the intrinsic sensitivity limitations of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) spectroscopy, thus enabling atomic-level biomolecular characterization in native environments. Achieving DNP signal enhancement relies on doping biological preparations with biradical polarizing agents (PAs). Unfortunately, PA performance within cells is often limited by their sensitivity to the reductive nature of the cellular lumen. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of a highly bioresistant and hydrophilic PA (StaPol-1) comprising the trityl radical OX063 ligated to a gem-diethyl pyrroline nitroxide via a rigid piperazine linker. EPR experiments in the presence of reducing agents such as ascorbate and in HeLa cell lysates demonstrate the reduction resistance of StaPol-1. High DNP enhancements seen in small molecules, proteins and cell lysates at 18.8 T confirm that StaPol-1 is an excellent PA for DNP ssNMR investigations of biomolecular systems at high magnetic fields in reductive environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ru Yao
- The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics, School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University Tianjin 300070 P. R. China
| | - David Beriashvili
- NMR Spectroscopy Group, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Utrecht University Padualaan 8 3584 CH Utrecht The Netherlands
| | - Wenxiao Zhang
- The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics, School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University Tianjin 300070 P. R. China
| | - Shuai Li
- The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics, School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University Tianjin 300070 P. R. China
| | - Adil Safeer
- NMR Spectroscopy Group, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Utrecht University Padualaan 8 3584 CH Utrecht The Netherlands
| | - Andrei Gurinov
- NMR Spectroscopy Group, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Utrecht University Padualaan 8 3584 CH Utrecht The Netherlands
| | - Antal Rockenbauer
- Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Hungarian Academy of Sciences And, Department of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics Budafoki Ut 8 1111 Budapest Hungary
| | - Yin Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Elemento-organic Chemistry, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Nankai University Tianjin 300071 China
| | - Yuguang Song
- The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics, School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University Tianjin 300070 P. R. China
| | - Marc Baldus
- NMR Spectroscopy Group, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Utrecht University Padualaan 8 3584 CH Utrecht The Netherlands
| | - Yangping Liu
- The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory on Technologies Enabling Development of Clinical Therapeutics and Diagnostics, School of Pharmacy, Tianjin Medical University Tianjin 300070 P. R. China
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