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Karbelkar AA, Font M, Smith TJ, Sondermann H, O’Toole GA. Reconstitution of a biofilm adhesin system from a sulfate-reducing bacterium in Pseudomonas fluorescens. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2320410121. [PMID: 38498718 PMCID: PMC10990149 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2320410121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Biofilms of sulfate-reducing bacterium (SRB) like Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough (DvH) can facilitate metal corrosion in various industrial and environmental settings leading to substantial economic losses. Although the mechanisms of biofilm formation by DvH are not yet well understood, recent studies indicate the large adhesin, DvhA, is a key determinant of biofilm formation. The dvhA gene neighborhood resembles the biofilm-regulating Lap system of Pseudomonas fluorescens but is curiously missing the c-di-GMP-binding regulator LapD. Instead, DvH encodes an evolutionarily unrelated c-di-GMP-binding protein (DVU1020) that we hypothesized is functionally analogous to LapD. To study this unusual Lap system and overcome experimental limitations with the slow-growing anaerobe DvH, we reconstituted its predicted SRB Lap system in a P. fluorescens strain lacking its native Lap regulatory components (ΔlapGΔlapD). Our data support the model that DvhA is a cell surface-associated LapA-like adhesin with a N-terminal "retention module" and that DvhA is released from the cell surface upon cleavage by the LapG-like protease DvhG. Further, we demonstrate DVU1020 (named here DvhD) represents a distinct class of c-di-GMP-binding, biofilm-regulating proteins that regulates DvhG activity in response to intracellular levels of this second messenger. This study provides insight into the key players responsible for biofilm formation by DvH, thereby expanding our understanding of Lap-like systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amruta A. Karbelkar
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH03755
| | - Maria Font
- CSSB Centre for Structural Systems Biology, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, D-22607Hamburg, Germany
| | - T. Jarrod Smith
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH03755
| | - Holger Sondermann
- CSSB Centre for Structural Systems Biology, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, D-22607Hamburg, Germany
| | - George A. O’Toole
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH03755
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2
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Amen A, Yoo R, Fabra-García A, Bolscher J, Stone WJR, Bally I, Dergan-Dylon S, Kucharska I, de Jong RM, de Bruijni M, Bousema T, King CR, MacGill RS, Sauerwein RW, Julien JP, Poignard P, Jore MM. Target-agnostic identification of human antibodies to Plasmodium falciparum sexual forms reveals cross stage recognition of glutamate-rich repeats. bioRxiv 2024:2023.11.03.565335. [PMID: 37961136 PMCID: PMC10635103 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.03.565335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Circulating sexual stages of Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) can be transmitted from humans to mosquitoes, thereby furthering the spread of malaria in the population. It is well established that antibodies (Abs) can efficiently block parasite transmission. In search for naturally acquired Ab targets on sexual stages, we established an efficient method for target-agnostic single B cell activation followed by high-throughput selection of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) reactive to sexual stages of Pf in the form of gamete and gametocyte extract. We isolated mAbs reactive against a range of Pf proteins including well-established targets Pfs48/45 and Pfs230. One mAb, B1E11K, was cross-reactive to various proteins containing glutamate-rich repetitive elements expressed at different stages of the parasite life cycle. A crystal structure of two B1E11K Fab domains in complex with its main antigen, RESA, expressed on asexual blood stages, showed binding of B1E11K to a repeating epitope motif in a head-to-head conformation engaging in affinity-matured homotypic interactions. Thus, this mode of recognition of Pf proteins, previously described only for PfCSP, extends to other repeats expressed across various stages. The findings augment our understanding of immune-pathogen interactions to repeating elements of the Plasmodium parasite proteome and underscore the potential of the novel mAb identification method used to provide new insights into the natural humoral immune response against Pf . Impact Statement A naturally acquired human monoclonal antibody recognizes proteins expressed at different stages of the Plasmodium falciparum lifecycle through affinity-matured homotypic interactions with glutamate-rich repeats.
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Castaldi V, Langella E, Buonanno M, Di Lelio I, Aprile AM, Molisso D, Criscuolo MC, D'Andrea LD, Romanelli A, Amoresano A, Pinto G, Illiano A, Chiaiese P, Becchimanzi A, Pennacchio F, Rao R, Monti SM. Intrinsically disordered Prosystemin discloses biologically active repeat motifs. Plant Sci 2024; 340:111969. [PMID: 38159610 DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2023.111969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
The in-depth studies over the years on the defence barriers by tomato plants have shown that the Systemin peptide controls the response to a wealth of environmental stress agents. This multifaceted stress reaction seems to be related to the intrinsic disorder of its precursor protein, Prosystemin (ProSys). Since latest findings show that ProSys has biological functions besides Systemin sequence, here we wanted to assess if this precursor includes peptide motifs able to trigger stress-related pathways. Candidate peptides were identified in silico and synthesized to test their capacity to trigger defence responses in tomato plants against different biotic stressors. Our results demonstrated that ProSys harbours several repeat motifs which triggered plant immune reactions against pathogens and pest insects. Three of these peptides were detected by mass spectrometry in plants expressing ProSys, demonstrating their effective presence in vivo. These experimental data shed light on unrecognized functions of ProSys, mediated by multiple biologically active sequences which may partly account for the capacity of ProSys to induce defense responses to different stress agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Castaldi
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, Naples 80055, Italy
| | - Emma Langella
- Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging, National Research Council (IBB, CNR), via Pietro Castellino 111, Naples 80131, Italy.
| | - Martina Buonanno
- Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging, National Research Council (IBB, CNR), via Pietro Castellino 111, Naples 80131, Italy
| | - Ilaria Di Lelio
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, Naples 80055, Italy; Interuniversity Center for Studies on Bioinspired Agro-Environmental Technology (BAT Center), University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, 80055 Naples, Italy
| | - Anna Maria Aprile
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, Naples 80055, Italy
| | - Donata Molisso
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, Naples 80055, Italy
| | - Martina Chiara Criscuolo
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, Naples 80055, Italy
| | - Luca Domenico D'Andrea
- Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche "Giulio Natta" (SCITEC), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), via Alfonso Corti 12, 20131 Milano, Italy
| | | | - Angela Amoresano
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Cynthia 8, Napoli and Interuniversitary Consortium "Istituto Nazionale Biostrutture e Biosistemi, 80126 Roma, Italy
| | - Gabriella Pinto
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Cynthia 8, Napoli and Interuniversitary Consortium "Istituto Nazionale Biostrutture e Biosistemi, 80126 Roma, Italy
| | - Anna Illiano
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Cynthia 8, Napoli and Interuniversitary Consortium "Istituto Nazionale Biostrutture e Biosistemi, 80126 Roma, Italy
| | - Pasquale Chiaiese
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, Naples 80055, Italy
| | - Andrea Becchimanzi
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, Naples 80055, Italy; Interuniversity Center for Studies on Bioinspired Agro-Environmental Technology (BAT Center), University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, 80055 Naples, Italy
| | - Francesco Pennacchio
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, Naples 80055, Italy; Interuniversity Center for Studies on Bioinspired Agro-Environmental Technology (BAT Center), University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, 80055 Naples, Italy
| | - Rosa Rao
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, Naples 80055, Italy; Interuniversity Center for Studies on Bioinspired Agro-Environmental Technology (BAT Center), University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, Portici, 80055 Naples, Italy.
| | - Simona Maria Monti
- Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging, National Research Council (IBB, CNR), via Pietro Castellino 111, Naples 80131, Italy.
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Thomas LS, Faiola NA, Canessa E, Hathout Y, Cook LC. In silico and experimental analysis of the repeated domains in BvaP, a protein important for GBS vaginal colonization. Infect Immun 2023; 91:e0038723. [PMID: 37916807 PMCID: PMC10714994 DOI: 10.1128/iai.00387-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Streptococcus agalactiae (group B strep, GBS) infections in neonates are often fatal and strongly associated with maternal GBS vaginal colonization. Previously, we highlighted the importance of a formerly uncharacterized protein, BvaP, in GBS vaginal colonization. BvaP is highly conserved across GBS and is made up of repeated domains, with a variable number of repeats between strains. Here, we evaluate the prevalence of BvaP repeated domains and their relevance in phenotypes previously associated with vaginal colonization. Using in silico analysis, we found that the number of repeats in the BvaP protein does not generally appear to be associated with serotype, isolation site, or host. Using BvaP truncations in GBS strain A909, we determined that a smaller number of repeats was correlated with decreased bacterial chain length, but adherence to vaginal epithelial cells was complemented using BvaP containing one, two, three, or five repeats. Future research will be geared toward understanding the host immune response to BvaP in vivo and whether vaginal carriage or host response is dependent on the BvaP repeated domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lamar S. Thomas
- Department of Biology, Binghamton Biofilm Research Center, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA
| | - Nicholas A. Faiola
- Department of Biology, Binghamton Biofilm Research Center, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA
| | - Emily Canessa
- School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA
| | - Yetrib Hathout
- School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA
| | - Laura C. Cook
- Department of Biology, Binghamton Biofilm Research Center, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA
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5
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Simmons M, Horbelt N, Sverko T, Scoppola E, Jackson DJ, Harrington MJ. Invasive mussels fashion silk-like byssus via mechanical processing of massive horizontally acquired coiled coils. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2311901120. [PMID: 37983489 PMCID: PMC10691215 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2311901120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Zebra and quagga mussels (Dreissena spp.) are invasive freshwater biofoulers that perpetrate devastating economic and ecological impact. Their success depends on their ability to anchor onto substrates with protein-based fibers known as byssal threads. Yet, compared to other mussel lineages, little is understood about the proteins comprising their fibers or their evolutionary history. Here, we investigated the hierarchical protein structure of Dreissenid byssal threads and the process by which they are fabricated. Unique among bivalves, we found that threads possess a predominantly β-sheet crystalline structure reminiscent of spider silk. Further analysis revealed unexpectedly that the Dreissenid thread protein precursors are mechanoresponsive α-helical proteins that are mechanically processed into β-crystallites during thread formation. Proteomic analysis of the byssus secretory organ and byssus fibers revealed a family of ultrahigh molecular weight (354 to 467 kDa) asparagine-rich (19 to 20%) protein precursors predicted to form α-helical coiled coils. Moreover, several independent lines of evidence indicate that the ancestral predecessor of these proteins was likely acquired via horizontal gene transfer. This chance evolutionary event that transpired at least 12 Mya has endowed Dreissenids with a distinctive and effective fiber formation mechanism, contributing significantly to their success as invasive species and possibly, inspiring new materials design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Simmons
- Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, QCH3A 0B8, Canada
| | - Nils Horbelt
- Department of Biomaterials, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam14476, Germany
| | - Tara Sverko
- Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, QCH3A 0B8, Canada
| | - Ernesto Scoppola
- Department of Biomaterials, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam14476, Germany
| | - Daniel J. Jackson
- Department of Geobiology, Geoscience Center, University of Göttingen, Göttingen37077, Germany
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6
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Tan JH, Ding HX, Fong MY, Lau YL. Genetic diversity and in silico analysis of Plasmodium knowlesi Serine Repeat Antigen (SERA) 3 antigen 2 in Malaysia. Infect Genet Evol 2023; 114:105490. [PMID: 37595939 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2023.105490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 07/29/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/20/2023]
Abstract
Plasmodium knowlesi is the leading cause of malaria in Malaysia. Serine Repeat Antigens (SERAs) have an essential role in the parasite life cycle. However, genetic characterization on P. knowlesi SERA3 Ag2 (PkSERA3 Ag2) is lacking. In the present study, nucleotide diversity, natural selection, and haplotypes of PkSERA3 Ag2 in clinical samples from Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo were investigated. A total of 50 P. knowlesi clinical samples were collected from Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. The PkSERA3 Ag2 gene was amplified using PCR, and subsequently cloned and sequenced. Genetic diversity, haplotype, natural selection as well as genetic structure and differentiation of PkSERA3 Ag2 were analysed. In addition, in silico analyses were performed to identify repeat motifs, B-cell epitopes, and antigenicity indices of the protein. Analysis of 114 PkSERA3 Ag2 sequences revealed high nucleotide diversity of the gene in Malaysia. A codon-based Z-test indicated that the gene underwent purifying selection. Haplotype and population structure analyses identified two distinct PkSERA3 Ag2 clusters (K = 2, ΔK = 721.14) but no clear genetic distinction between PkSERA3 Ag2 from Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. FST index indicated moderate differentiation of the gene. In silico analyses revealed unique repeat motifs among PkSERA3 Ag2 isolates. Moreover, the amino acid sequence of PkSERA3 Ag2 exhibited potential B-cell epitopes and possessed high antigenicity indices. These findings enhance the understanding of PkSERA3 Ag2 gene as well as its antigenic properties. Further validation is necessary to ascertain the utility of PkSERA3 Ag2 as a serological marker for P. knowlesi infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Hui Tan
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Hans Xing Ding
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Mun Yik Fong
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Yee Ling Lau
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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Cámara-Almirón J, Domínguez-García L, El Mammeri N, Lends A, Habenstein B, de Vicente A, Loquet A, Romero D. Molecular characterization of the N-terminal half of TasA during amyloid-like assembly and its contribution to Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation. NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes 2023; 9:68. [PMID: 37739955 PMCID: PMC10516879 DOI: 10.1038/s41522-023-00437-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 09/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Biofilms are bacterial communities that result from a cell differentiation process leading to the secretion of an extracellular matrix (ECM) by part of the population. In Bacillus subtilis, the main protein component of the ECM is TasA, which forms a fiber-based scaffold that confers structure to the ECM. The N-terminal half of TasA is strongly conserved among Bacillus species and contains a protein domain, the rigid core (RcTasA), which is critical for the structural and functional properties of the recombinant protein. In this study, we demonstrate that recombinantly purified RcTasA in vitro retains biochemical properties previously observed for the entire protein. Further analysis of the RcTasA amino acid sequence revealed two aggregation-prone stretches and a region of imperfect amino acid repeats, which are known to contribute to functional amyloid assembly. Biochemical characterization of these stretches found in RcTasA revealed their amyloid-like capacity in vitro, contributing to the amyloid nature of RcTasA. Moreover, the study of the imperfect amino acid repeats revealed the critical role of residues D64, K68 and D69 in the structural function of TasA. Experiments with versions of TasA carrying the substitutions D64A and K68AD69A demonstrated a partial loss of function of the protein either in the assembly of the ECM or in the stability of the core and amyloid-like properties. Taken together, our findings allow us to better understand the polymerization process of TasA during biofilm formation and provide knowledge into the sequence determinants that promote the molecular behavior of protein filaments in bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesús Cámara-Almirón
- Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea "La Mayora", Universidad de Málaga, (Campus Universitario de Teatinos), Málaga, Spain
- Department of Fundamental Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Laura Domínguez-García
- Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea "La Mayora", Universidad de Málaga, (Campus Universitario de Teatinos), Málaga, Spain
| | - Nadia El Mammeri
- CNRS, Chemistry and Biology of Membranes and Nanoobjects (CBMN), Institut Europeen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB), University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 170 Albany Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Alons Lends
- CNRS, Chemistry and Biology of Membranes and Nanoobjects (CBMN), Institut Europeen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB), University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
- Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Aizkraukles 21, Riga LV, 1006, Latvia
| | - Birgit Habenstein
- CNRS, Chemistry and Biology of Membranes and Nanoobjects (CBMN), Institut Europeen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB), University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | - Antonio de Vicente
- Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea "La Mayora", Universidad de Málaga, (Campus Universitario de Teatinos), Málaga, Spain
| | - Antoine Loquet
- CNRS, Chemistry and Biology of Membranes and Nanoobjects (CBMN), Institut Europeen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB), University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | - Diego Romero
- Departamento de Microbiología, Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea "La Mayora", Universidad de Málaga, (Campus Universitario de Teatinos), Málaga, Spain.
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8
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Szatkownik A, Zea DJ, Richard H, Laine E. Building alternative splicing and evolution-aware sequence-structure maps for protein repeats. J Struct Biol 2023; 215:107997. [PMID: 37453591 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2023.107997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2023] [Revised: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
Alternative splicing of repeats in proteins provides a mechanism for rewiring and fine-tuning protein interaction networks. In this work, we developed a robust and versatile method, ASPRING, to identify alternatively spliced protein repeats from gene annotations. ASPRING leverages evolutionary meaningful alternative splicing-aware hierarchical graphs to provide maps between protein repeats sequences and 3D structures. We re-think the definition of repeats by explicitly accounting for transcript diversity across several genes/species. Using a stringent sequence-based similarity criterion, we detected over 5,000 evolutionary conserved repeats by screening virtually all human protein-coding genes and their orthologs across a dozen species. Through a joint analysis of their sequences and structures, we extracted specificity-determining sequence signatures and assessed their implication in experimentally resolved and modelled protein interactions. Our findings demonstrate the widespread alternative usage of protein repeats in modulating protein interactions and open avenues for targeting repeat-mediated interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Szatkownik
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, IBPS, Laboratoire de Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative (LCQB), 75005 Paris, France; Bioinformatics Unit, Genome Competence Center (MF1), Robert Koch Institute, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Diego Javier Zea
- Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Hugues Richard
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, IBPS, Laboratoire de Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative (LCQB), 75005 Paris, France; Bioinformatics Unit, Genome Competence Center (MF1), Robert Koch Institute, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
| | - Elodie Laine
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, IBPS, Laboratoire de Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative (LCQB), 75005 Paris, France.
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Mesdaghi S, Price RM, Madine J, Rigden DJ. Deep Learning-based structure modelling illuminates structure and function in uncharted regions of β-solenoid fold space. J Struct Biol 2023; 215:108010. [PMID: 37544372 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2023.108010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Repeat proteins are common in all domains of life and exhibit a wide range of functions. One class of repeat protein contains solenoid folds where the repeating unit consists of β-strands separated by tight turns. β-solenoids have distinguishing structural features such as handedness, twist, oligomerisation state, coil shape and size which give rise to their diversity. Characterised β-solenoid repeat proteins are known to form regions in bacterial and viral virulence factors, antifreeze proteins and functional amyloids. For many of these proteins, the experimental structure has not been solved, as they are difficult to crystallise or model. Here we use various deep learning-based structure-modelling methods to discover novel predicted β-solenoids, perform structural database searches to mine further structural neighbours and relate their predicted structure to possible functions. We find both eukaryotic and prokaryotic adhesins, confirming a known functional linkage between adhesin function and the β-solenoid fold. We further identify exceptionally long, flat β-solenoid folds as possible structures of mucin tandem repeat regions and unprecedentedly small β-solenoid structures. Additionally, we characterise a novel β-solenoid coil shape, the FapC Greek key β-solenoid as well as plausible complexes between it and other proteins involved in Pseudomonas functional amyloid fibres.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shahram Mesdaghi
- The University of Liverpool, Institute of Systems, Molecular & Integrative Biology, Biosciences Building, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, United Kingdom; Computational Biology Facility, MerseyBio, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, United Kingdom
| | - Rebecca M Price
- The University of Liverpool, Institute of Systems, Molecular & Integrative Biology, Biosciences Building, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, United Kingdom
| | - Jillian Madine
- The University of Liverpool, Institute of Systems, Molecular & Integrative Biology, Biosciences Building, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, United Kingdom.
| | - Daniel J Rigden
- The University of Liverpool, Institute of Systems, Molecular & Integrative Biology, Biosciences Building, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB, United Kingdom.
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10
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Nowakowska AW, Wojciechowski JW, Szulc N, Kotulska M. The role of tandem repeats in bacterial functional amyloids. J Struct Biol 2023; 215:108002. [PMID: 37482232 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2023.108002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023]
Abstract
Repetitivity and modularity of proteins are two related notions incorporated into multiple evolutionary concepts. We discuss whether they may also be essential for functional amyloids. Amyloids are proteins that create very regular and usually highly insoluble fibrils, which are often associated with neurodegeneration. However, recent discoveries showed that amyloid structure of a protein could also be beneficial and desired, e.g., to promote cell adhesion. Functional amyloids are proteins which differ in their characteristics from pathological amyloids, so that the fibril formation could be more under control of an organism. We propose that repeats in the sequence could regulate the aggregation propensity of these proteins. The inclusion of multiple symmetric interactions, due to the presence of the repeats, could be supporting and strengthening the desirable structural properties of functional amyloids. Our results show that tandem repeats in bacterial functional amyloids have a distinct characteristic. The pattern of repeats supports the appropriate level of fibril formation and better controllability of fibril stability. The repeats tend to be more imperfect, which attenuates excessive aggregation propensity. Their desired structure and function are also reinforced by their amino acid profile. Although in the study we focused on bacterial functional amyloids, due to their importance in biofilm formation, we propose that similar mechanisms could be employed in other functional amyloids which are designed by evolution to aggregate in a desirable manner, but not necessarily in pathological amyloids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alicja W Nowakowska
- Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Poland.
| | - Jakub W Wojciechowski
- Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Poland
| | - Natalia Szulc
- Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Poland; Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Department of Physics and Biophysics, Poland; LPCT, CNRS, Universite de Lorraine, F-54000 Nancy, France
| | - Malgorzata Kotulska
- Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Poland.
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Kümpel C, Grein F, Dahl C. Fluorescence Microscopy Study of the Intracellular Sulfur Globule Protein SgpD in the Purple Sulfur Bacterium Allochromatium vinosum. Microorganisms 2023; 11:1792. [PMID: 37512964 PMCID: PMC10386293 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11071792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2023] [Revised: 07/01/2023] [Accepted: 07/08/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
When oxidizing reduced sulfur compounds, the phototrophic sulfur bacterium Allochromatium vinosum forms spectacular sulfur globules as obligatory intracellular-but extracytoplasmic-intermediates. The globule envelope consists of three extremely hydrophobic proteins: SgpA and SgpB, which are very similar and can functionally replace each other, and SgpC which is involved in the expansion of the sulfur globules. The presence of a fourth protein, SgpD, was suggested by comparative transcriptomics and proteomics of purified sulfur globules. Here, we investigated the in vivo function of SgpD by coupling its carboxy-terminus to mCherry. This fluorescent protein requires oxygen for chromophore maturation, but we were able to use it in anaerobically growing A. vinosum provided the cells were exposed to oxygen for one hour prior to imaging. While mCherry lacking a signal peptide resulted in low fluorescence evenly distributed throughout the cell, fusion with SgpD carrying its original Sec-dependent signal peptide targeted mCherry to the periplasm and co-localized it exactly with the highly light-refractive sulfur deposits seen in sulfide-fed A. vinosum cells. Insertional inactivation of the sgpD gene showed that the protein is not essential for the formation and degradation of sulfur globules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolin Kümpel
- Institut für Mikrobiologie & Biotechnologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 168, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
| | - Fabian Grein
- Institut für Pharmazeutische Mikrobiologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 16, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
| | - Christiane Dahl
- Institut für Mikrobiologie & Biotechnologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 168, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
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12
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Tong Y, Rozeboom HJ, Loonstra MR, Wijma HJ, Fraaije MW. Characterization of two bacterial multi-flavinylated proteins harboring multiple covalent flavin cofactors. BBA Adv 2023; 4:100097. [PMID: 37455753 PMCID: PMC10339131 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbadva.2023.100097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Revised: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
In recent years, studies have shown that a large number of bacteria secrete multi-flavinylated proteins. The exact roles and properties, of these extracellular flavoproteins that contain multiple covalently anchored FMN cofactors, are still largely unknown. Herein, we describe the biochemical and structural characterization of two multi-FMN-containing covalent flavoproteins, SaFMN3 from Streptomyces azureus and CbFMN4 from Clostridiaceae bacterium. Based on their primary structure, these proteins were predicted to contain three and four covalently tethered FMN cofactors, respectively. The genes encoding SaFMN3 and CbFMN4 were heterologously coexpressed with a flavin transferase (ApbE) in Escherichia coli, and could be purified by affinity chromatography in good yields. Both proteins were found to be soluble and to contain covalently bound FMN molecules. The SaFMN3 protein was studied in more detail and found to display a single redox potential (-184 mV) while harboring three covalently attached flavins. This is in line with the high sequence similarity when the domains of each flavoprotein are compared. The fully reduced form of SaFMN3 is able to use dioxygen as electron acceptor. Single domains from both proteins were expressed, purified and crystallized. The crystal structures were elucidated, which confirmed that the flavin cofactor is covalently attached to a threonine. Comparison of both crystal structures revealed a high similarity, even in the flavin binding pocket. Based on the crystal structure, mutants of the SaFMN3-D2 domain were designed to improve its fluorescence quantum yield by changing the microenvironment of the isoalloxazine moiety of the flavin cofactor. Residues that quench the flavin fluorescence were successfully identified. Our study reveals biochemical details of multi-FMN-containing proteins, contributing to a better understanding of their role in bacteria and providing leads to future utilization of these flavoprotein in biotechnology.
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13
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Pourcel C, Ouldali M, Tavares P, Essoh C. The saclayvirus Aci01-1 very long and complex fiber and its receptor at the Acinetobacter baumannii surface. Arch Virol 2023; 168:187. [PMID: 37351676 DOI: 10.1007/s00705-023-05817-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
The Acinetobacter baumannii bacteriophage Aci01-1, which belongs to the genus Saclayvirus of the order Caudoviricetes, has an icosahedral head and a contractile rigid tail. We report that Aci01-1 has, attached to the tail conical tip, a remarkable 146-nm-long flexible fiber with seven beads and a terminal knot. Its putative gene coding for a 241.36-kDa tail fiber protein is homologous to genes in Aci01-1-related and unrelated phages. Analysis of its 3D structure using AlphaFold provides a structural model for the fiber observed by electron microscopy. We also identified a putative receptor of the phage on the bacterial capsule that is hypothesized to interact with the Aci01-1 long fiber.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christine Pourcel
- CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), Université Paris-Saclay, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
| | - Malika Ouldali
- CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), Université Paris-Saclay, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Paulo Tavares
- CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), Université Paris-Saclay, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Christiane Essoh
- Department of Biochemistry-Genetic, School of Biological Sciences, Université Peleforo Gon Coulibaly, Korhogo, Côte d'Ivoire
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14
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Roitman S, Rozenberg A, Lavy T, Brussaard CPD, Kleifeld O, Béjà O. Isolation and infection cycle of a polinton-like virus virophage in an abundant marine alga. Nat Microbiol 2023; 8:332-346. [PMID: 36702941 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-022-01305-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Virophages are small double stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses that can only replicate in a host by co-infecting with another virus. Marine algae are commonly associated with virophage-like elements such as Polinton-like viruses (PLVs) that remain largely uncharacterized. Here we isolated a PLV that co-infects the alga Phaeocystis globosa with the Phaeocystis globosa virus-14T (PgV-14T), a close relative of the "Phaeocystis globosa virus-virophage" genomic sequence. We name this PLV 'Gezel-14T. Gezel is phylogenetically distinct from the Lavidaviridae family where all known virophages belong. Gezel-14T co-infection decreases the fitness of its viral host by reducing burst sizes of PgV-14T, yet insufficiently to spare the cellular host population. Genomic screens show Gezel-14T-like PLVs integrated into Phaeocystis genomes, suggesting that these widespread viruses are capable of integration into cellular host genomes. This system presents an opportunity to better understand the evolution of eukaryotic dsDNA viruses as well as the complex dynamics and implications of viral parasitism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheila Roitman
- Faculty of Biology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
| | - Andrey Rozenberg
- Faculty of Biology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Tali Lavy
- Faculty of Biology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Corina P D Brussaard
- Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, The Netherlands
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Oded Kleifeld
- Faculty of Biology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Oded Béjà
- Faculty of Biology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
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15
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Song Z, Burbridge C, Schneider DJ, Sharbel TF, Reaney MJT. The flax genome reveals orbitide diversity. BMC Genomics 2022; 23. [PMID: 35870878 PMCID: PMC9308333 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-022-08735-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Ribosomally-synthesized cyclic peptides are widely found in plants and exhibit useful bioactivities for humans. The identification of cyclic peptide sequences and their precursor proteins is facilitated by the growing number of sequenced genomes. While previous research largely focused on the chemical diversity of these peptides across various species, there is little attention to a broader range of potential peptides that are not chemically identified. Results A pioneering study was initiated to explore the genetic diversity of linusorbs, a group of cyclic peptides uniquely occurring in cultivated flax (Linum usitatissimum). Phylogenetic analysis clustered the 5 known linusorb precursor proteins into two clades and one singleton. Preliminary tBLASTn search of the published flax genome using the whole protein sequence as query could only retrieve its homologues within the same clade. This limitation was overcome using a profile-based mining strategy. After genome reannotation, a hidden Markov Model (HMM)-based approach identified 58 repeats homologous to the linusorb-embedded repeats in 8 novel proteins, implying that they share common ancestry with the linusorb-embedded repeats. Subsequently, we developed a customized profile composed of a random linusorb-like domain (LLD) flanked by 5 conserved sites and used it for string search of the proteome, which extracted 281 LLD-containing repeats (LLDRs) in 25 proteins. Comparative analysis of different repeat categories suggested that the 5 conserved flanking sites among the non-homologous repeats have undergone convergent evolution driven by functional selection. Conclusions The profile-based mining approach is suitable for analyzing repetitive sequences. The 25 LLDR proteins identified herein represent the potential diversity of cyclic peptides within the flax genome and lay a foundation for further studies on the functions and evolution of these protein tandem repeats. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-022-08735-x.
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16
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Tan W, Cheng S, Li Y, Li XY, Lu N, Sun J, Tang G, Yang Y, Cai K, Li X, Ou X, Gao X, Zhao GP, Childers WS, Zhao W. Phase separation modulates the assembly and dynamics of a polarity-related scaffold-signaling hub. Nat Commun 2022; 13:7181. [PMID: 36418326 PMCID: PMC9684454 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35000-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Asymmetric cell division (ACD) produces morphologically and behaviorally distinct cells and is the primary way to generate cell diversity. In the model bacterium Caulobacter crescentus, the polarization of distinct scaffold-signaling hubs at the swarmer and stalked cell poles constitutes the basis of ACD. However, mechanisms involved in the formation of these hubs remain elusive. Here, we show that a swarmer-cell-pole scaffold, PodJ, forms biomolecular condensates both in vitro and in living cells via phase separation. The coiled-coil 4-6 and the intrinsically disordered regions are the primary domains that contribute to biomolecular condensate generation and signaling protein recruitment in PodJ. Moreover, a negative regulation of PodJ phase separation by the stalked-cell-pole scaffold protein SpmX is revealed. SpmX impedes PodJ cell-pole accumulation and affects its recruitment ability. Together, by modulating the assembly and dynamics of scaffold-signaling hubs, phase separation may serve as a general biophysical mechanism that underlies the regulation of ACD in bacteria and other organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Tan
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China
| | - Sihua Cheng
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China
| | - Yingying Li
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China
| | - Xiao-Yang Li
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China ,grid.256922.80000 0000 9139 560XDepartment of Pharmacy, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004 China
| | - Ning Lu
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China
| | - Jingxian Sun
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China
| | - Guiyue Tang
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China
| | - Yujiao Yang
- grid.9227.e0000000119573309CAS Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032 China ,grid.410726.60000 0004 1797 8419University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China
| | - Kezhu Cai
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China ,grid.263817.90000 0004 1773 1790Department of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055 China
| | - Xuefei Li
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China
| | - Xijun Ou
- grid.263817.90000 0004 1773 1790Department of Biology, School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055 China
| | - Xiang Gao
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China
| | - Guo-Ping Zhao
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China ,grid.9227.e0000000119573309CAS Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032 China ,grid.8547.e0000 0001 0125 2443State Key Lab of Genetic Engineering & Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Department of Microbiology and Microbial Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433 China
| | - W. Seth Childers
- grid.21925.3d0000 0004 1936 9000Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
| | - Wei Zhao
- grid.458489.c0000 0001 0483 7922CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055 China
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17
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Samulevich ML, Shamilov R, Aneskievich BJ. Thermostable Proteins from HaCaT Keratinocytes Identify a Wide Breadth of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Candidates for Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms232214323. [PMID: 36430801 PMCID: PMC9692912 DOI: 10.3390/ijms232214323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2022] [Revised: 11/08/2022] [Accepted: 11/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) move through an ensemble of conformations which allows multitudinous roles within a cell. Keratinocytes, the predominant cell type in mammalian epidermis, have had only a few individual proteins assessed for intrinsic disorder and its possible contribution to liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), especially in regard to what functions or structures these proteins provide. We took a holistic approach to keratinocyte IDPs starting with enrichment via the isolation of thermostable proteins. The keratinocyte protein involucrin, known for its resistance to heat denaturation, served as a marker. It and other thermostable proteins were identified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and subjected to extensive bioinformatic analysis covering gene ontology, intrinsic disorder, and potential for LLPS. Numerous proteins unique to keratinocytes and other proteins with shared expression in multiple cell types were identified to have IDP traits (e.g., compositional bias, nucleic acid binding, and repeat motifs). Among keratinocyte-specific proteins, many that co-assemble with involucrin into the cell-specific structure known as the cornified envelope scored highly for intrinsic disorder and potential for LLPS. This suggests intrinsic disorder and LLPS are previously unrecognized traits for assembly of the cornified envelope, echoing the contribution of intrinsic disorder and LLPS to more widely encountered features such as stress granules and PML bodies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael L. Samulevich
- Graduate Program in Pharmacology & Toxicology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, 69 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06292-3092, USA
| | - Rambon Shamilov
- Graduate Program in Pharmacology & Toxicology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, 69 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06292-3092, USA
| | - Brian J. Aneskievich
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Connecticut, 69 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06269-3092, USA
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-860-486-3053; Fax: +1-860-486-5792
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Warsaba R, Stoynov N, Moon KM, Flibotte S, Foster L, Jan E. Multiple Viral Protein Genome-Linked Proteins Compensate for Viral Translation in a Positive-Sense Single-Stranded RNA Virus Infection. J Virol 2022; 96:e0069922. [PMID: 35993738 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00699-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Viral protein genome-linked (VPg) protein plays an essential role in protein-primed replication of plus-stranded RNA viruses. VPg is covalently linked to the 5' end of the viral RNA genome via a phosphodiester bond typically at a conserved amino acid. Whereas most viruses have a single VPg, some viruses have multiple VPgs that are proposed to have redundant yet undefined roles in viral replication. Here, we use cricket paralysis virus (CrPV), a dicistrovirus that has four nonidentical copies of VPg, as a model to characterize the role of VPg copies in infection. Dicistroviruses contain two main open reading frames (ORFs) that are driven by distinct internal ribosome entry sites (IRESs). We systematically generated single and combinatorial deletions and mutations of VPg1 to VPg4 within the CrPV infectious clone and monitored viral yield in Drosophila S2 cells. Deletion of one to three VPg copies progressively decreased viral yield and delayed viral replication, suggesting a threshold number of VPgs for productive infection. Mass spectrometry analysis of CrPV VPg-linked RNAs revealed viral RNA linkage to either a serine or threonine in VPg, mutations of which in all VPgs attenuated infection. Mutating serine 4 in a single VPg abolished viral infection, indicating a dominant negative effect. Using viral minigenome reporters that monitor dicistrovirus 5' untranslated (UTR) and IRES translation revealed a relationship between VPg copy number and the ratio of distinct IRES translation activities. We uncovered a novel viral strategy whereby VPg copies in dicistrovirus genomes compensate for the relative IRES translation efficiencies to promote infection. IMPORTANCE Genetic duplication is exceedingly rare in small RNA viral genomes, as there is selective pressure to prevent RNA genomes from expanding. However, some small RNA viruses encode multiple copies of a viral protein, most notably an unusual viral protein that is linked to the viral RNA genome. Here, we investigate a family of viruses that contains multiple viral protein genome-linked proteins and reveal a novel viral strategy whereby viral protein copy number counterbalances differences in viral protein synthesis mechanisms.
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Tsytsykova AV, Wiley G, Li C, Pelikan RC, Garman L, Acquah FA, Mooers BH, Tsitsikov EN, Dunn IF. Mutated KLF4(K409Q) in meningioma binds STRs and activates FGF3 gene expression. iScience 2022; 25:104839. [PMID: 35996584 PMCID: PMC9391581 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Revised: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) is a transcription factor that has been proven necessary for both induction and maintenance of pluripotency and self-renewal. Whole-genome sequencing defined a unique mutation in KLF4 (KLF4K409Q) in human meningiomas. However, the molecular mechanism of this tumor-specific KLF4 mutation is unknown. Using genome-wide high-throughput and focused quantitative transcriptional approaches in human cell lines, primary meningeal cells, and meningioma tumor tissue, we found that a change in the evolutionarily conserved DNA-binding domain of KLF4 alters its DNA recognition preference, resulting in a shift in downstream transcriptional activity. In the KLF4K409Q-specific targets, the normally silent fibroblast growth factor 3 (FGF3) is activated. We demonstrated a neomorphic function of KLF4K409Q in stimulating FGF3 transcription through binding to its promoter and in using short tandem repeats (STRs) located within the locus as enhancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alla V. Tsytsykova
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
| | - Graham Wiley
- Clinical Genomics Center, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
| | - Chuang Li
- Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Genes & Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
| | - Richard C. Pelikan
- Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Genes & Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
| | - Lori Garman
- Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Genes & Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
| | - Francis A. Acquah
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
| | - Blaine H.M. Mooers
- Peggy and Charles Stephenson Cancer Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
| | - Erdyni N. Tsitsikov
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
| | - Ian F. Dunn
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA
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20
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Van Lindt J, Lazar T, Pakravan D, Demulder M, Meszaros A, Van Den Bosch L, Maes D, Tompa P. F/YGG-motif is an intrinsically disordered nucleic-acid binding motif. RNA Biol 2022; 19:622-635. [PMID: 35491929 PMCID: PMC9067507 DOI: 10.1080/15476286.2022.2066336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNP) function in RNA processing, have RNA-recognition motifs (RRMs) and intrinsically disordered, low-complexity domains (LCDs). While RRMs are drivers of RNA binding, there is only limited knowledge about the RNA interaction by the LCD of some hnRNPs. Here, we show that the LCD of hnRNPA2 interacts with RNA via an embedded Tyr/Gly-rich region which is a disordered RNA-binding motif. RNA binding is maintained upon mutating tyrosine residues to phenylalanines, but abrogated by mutating to alanines, thus we term the RNA-binding region ‘F/YGG motif’. The F/YGG motif can bind a broad range of structured (e.g. tRNA) and disordered (e.g. polyA) RNAs, but not rRNA. As the F/YGG otif can also interact with DNA, we consider it a general nucleic acid-binding motif. hnRNPA2 LCD can form dense droplets, by liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS). Their formation is inhibited by RNA binding, which is mitigated by salt and 1,6-hexanediol, suggesting that both electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions feature in the F/YGG motif. The D290V mutant also binds RNA, which interferes with both LLPS and aggregation thereof. We found homologous regions in a broad range of RNA- and DNA-binding proteins in the human proteome, suggesting that the F/YGG motif is a general nucleic acid-interaction motif.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joris Van Lindt
- Center for Structural Biology, VIBVIB-VUB, Brussels, Belgium
- Structural Biology Brussels, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Tamas Lazar
- Center for Structural Biology, VIBVIB-VUB, Brussels, Belgium
- Structural Biology Brussels, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Donya Pakravan
- Center for Brain & Disease Research, Laboratory of Neurobiology, VIB, Leuven, Belgium
- Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Neurology and Leuven Brain Institute (LBI), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Manon Demulder
- Center for Structural Biology, VIBVIB-VUB, Brussels, Belgium
- Structural Biology Brussels, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Attila Meszaros
- Center for Structural Biology, VIBVIB-VUB, Brussels, Belgium
- Structural Biology Brussels, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Ludo Van Den Bosch
- Center for Brain & Disease Research, Laboratory of Neurobiology, VIB, Leuven, Belgium
- Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Neurology and Leuven Brain Institute (LBI), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Dominique Maes
- Structural Biology Brussels, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Peter Tompa
- Center for Structural Biology, VIBVIB-VUB, Brussels, Belgium
- Structural Biology Brussels, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
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Sathasivam R, Kim NS, Choi M, Kwon H, Nguyen BV, Kim JK, Jeong DH, Park EJ, Park HW, Park SU. Identification, In Silico Characterization, and Differential Expression Profiles of Carotenoid, Xanthophyll, Apocarotenoid Biosynthetic Pathways Genes, and Analysis of Carotenoid and Xanthophyll Accumulation in Heracleum moellendorffii Hance. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23094845. [PMID: 35563233 PMCID: PMC9099461 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23094845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Revised: 04/22/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Heracleum moellendorffii Hance is a non-woody forest plant widely used in China, Korea, and Japan because of its various therapeutic properties. However, the genetic details of the carotenoid pathway (CP), xanthophyll pathway (XP), and apocarotenoid pathway (AP) genes have not been studied. Thus, the CP, XP, and AP genes of H. moellendorffii were detected and analyzed. A total of fifteen genes were identified, of which eight, four, and three belonged to CP, XP, and AP, respectively. All identified genes possessed full open reading frames. Phylogenetic characterization of the identified gene sequences showed the highest similarity with other higher plants. Multiple alignments and 3D dimensional structures showed several diverse conserved motifs, such as the carotene-binding motif, dinucleotide-binding motif, and aspartate or glutamate residues. The results of real-time PCR showed that the CP, XP, and AP genes were highly expressed in leaves, followed by the stems and roots. In total, eight different individual carotenoids were identified using HPLC analysis. The highest individual and total carotenoid content were achieved in the leaves, followed by the stems and roots. This study will provide more information on the gene structure of the CP, XP, and AP genes, which may help to increase the accumulation of carotenoids in H. moellendorffii through genetic engineering. These results could be helpful for further molecular and functional studies of CP, XP, and AP genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ramaraj Sathasivam
- Department of Crop Science, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Korea; (R.S.); (M.C.); (H.K.)
| | - Nam Su Kim
- Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, 30 Yeongudanji-ro, Ochang-eup, Cheongju-si 28116, Korea;
| | - Minsol Choi
- Department of Crop Science, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Korea; (R.S.); (M.C.); (H.K.)
| | - Haejin Kwon
- Department of Crop Science, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Korea; (R.S.); (M.C.); (H.K.)
| | - Bao Van Nguyen
- Department of Smart Agriculture Systems, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Korea;
| | - Jae Kwang Kim
- Division of Life Sciences, College of Life Sciences and Bioengineering, Incheon National University, 119 Academy-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon 22012, Korea;
| | - Dae Hui Jeong
- Forest Medicinal Resources Research Center, National Institute of Forest Science, Yeongju 36040, Korea; (D.H.J.); (E.J.P.)
| | - Eung Jun Park
- Forest Medicinal Resources Research Center, National Institute of Forest Science, Yeongju 36040, Korea; (D.H.J.); (E.J.P.)
| | - Hong Woo Park
- Forest Medicinal Resources Research Center, National Institute of Forest Science, Yeongju 36040, Korea; (D.H.J.); (E.J.P.)
- Correspondence: (H.W.P.); (S.U.P.); Tel.: +82-54-630-5649 (H.W.P.); +82-42-821-5730 (S.U.P.); Fax: +82-42-822-2631 (S.U.P.)
| | - Sang Un Park
- Department of Crop Science, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Korea; (R.S.); (M.C.); (H.K.)
- Department of Smart Agriculture Systems, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Korea;
- Correspondence: (H.W.P.); (S.U.P.); Tel.: +82-54-630-5649 (H.W.P.); +82-42-821-5730 (S.U.P.); Fax: +82-42-822-2631 (S.U.P.)
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22
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Kersten RD, Mydy LS, Fallon TR, de Waal F, Shafiq K, Wotring JW, Sexton JZ, Weng JK. Gene-Guided Discovery and Ribosomal Biosynthesis of Moroidin Peptides. J Am Chem Soc 2022; 144:7686-7692. [PMID: 35438481 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c00014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Moroidin is a bicyclic plant octapeptide with tryptophan side-chain cross-links, originally isolated as a pain-causing agent from the Australian stinging tree Dendrocnide moroides. Moroidin and its analog celogentin C, derived from Celosia argentea, are inhibitors of tubulin polymerization and, thus, lead structures for cancer therapy. However, low isolation yields from source plants and challenging organic synthesis hinder moroidin-based drug development. Here, we present biosynthesis as an alternative route to moroidin-type bicyclic peptides and report that they are ribosomally synthesized and posttranslationally modified peptides (RiPPs) derived from BURP-domain peptide cyclases in plants. By mining 793 plant transcriptomes for moroidin core peptide motifs within BURP-domain precursor peptides, we identified a moroidin cyclase in Japanese kerria, which catalyzes the installation of the tryptophan-indole-centered macrocyclic bonds of the moroidin bicyclic motif in the presence of cupric ions. Based on the kerria moroidin cyclase, we demonstrate the feasibility of producing diverse moroidins including celogentin C in transgenic tobacco plants and report specific cytotoxicity of celogentin C against a lung adenocarcinoma cancer cell line. Our study sets the stage for future biosynthetic development of moroidin-based therapeutics and highlights that mining plant transcriptomes can reveal bioactive cyclic peptides and their underlying cyclases from new source plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roland D Kersten
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Lisa S Mydy
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Timothy R Fallon
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 455 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States.,Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
| | - Floris de Waal
- Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen 6700AP, The Netherlands
| | - Khadija Shafiq
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Jesse W Wotring
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Jonathan Z Sexton
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States.,Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Jing-Ke Weng
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 455 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States.,Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
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23
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Yang Z, Yi W, Tao J, Liu X, Zhang MQ, Chen G, Dai Q. HPVMD-C: a disease-based mutation database of human papillomavirus in China. Database (Oxford) 2022; 2022:6554601. [PMID: 35348640 PMCID: PMC9216535 DOI: 10.1093/database/baac018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause condyloma acuminatum and cervical cancer. Some mutations of these viruses are closely related to the persistent infection of cervical cancer and are ideal cancer vaccine targets. Several databases have been developed to collect HPV sequences, but no HPV mutation database has been published. This paper reports a Chinese HPV mutation database (HPVMD-C), which contains 149 HPV genotypes, 468 HPV mutations, 3409 protein sequences, 4727 domains and 236 epitopes. We analyzed the mutation distribution among HPV genotypes, domains and epitopes. We designed a visualization tool to display these mutations, domains and epitopes and provided more detailed information about the disease, region and related literature. We also proposed an HPV genotype prediction tool, which can predict HPV carcinogenic or non-carcinogenic risk genotypes. We expect that HPVMD-C will complement the existing database and provide valuable resources for HPV vaccine research and cervical cancer treatment. HPVMD-C is freely available at Database URL: http://bioinfo.zstu.edu.cn/hpv.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenyu Yang
- College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
| | - Wenjing Yi
- College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
| | - Jin Tao
- College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
| | - Xiaoqing Liu
- College of Sciences, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China
| | - Michael Q Zhang
- Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Systems Biology, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA.,Division of Bioinformatics, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, TNLIST, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Guiqian Chen
- College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
| | - Qi Dai
- College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China.,Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Systems Biology, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA
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24
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Stern DL, Han C. OUP accepted manuscript. Genome Biol Evol 2022; 14:6602283. [PMID: 35660862 PMCID: PMC9168663 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evac069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2022] [Revised: 04/09/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Homology of highly divergent genes often cannot be determined from sequence similarity alone. For example, we recently identified in the aphid Hormaphis cornu a family of rapidly evolving bicycle genes, which encode novel proteins implicated as plant gall effectors, and sequence similarity search methods yielded few putative bicycle homologs in other species. Coding sequence-independent features of genes, such as intron-exon boundaries, often evolve more slowly than coding sequences, however, and can provide complementary evidence for homology. We found that a linear logistic regression classifier using only structural features of bicycle genes identified many putative bicycle homologs in other species. Independent evidence from sequence features and intron locations supported homology assignments. To test the potential roles of bicycle genes in other aphids, we sequenced the genome of a second gall-forming aphid, Tetraneura nigriabdominalis and found that many bicycle genes are strongly expressed in the salivary glands of the gall forming foundress. In addition, bicycle genes are strongly overexpressed in the salivary glands of a non-gall forming aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, and in the non-gall forming generations of H. cornu. These observations suggest that Bicycle proteins may be used by multiple aphid species to manipulate plants in diverse ways. Incorporation of gene structural features into sequence search algorithms may aid identification of deeply divergent homologs, especially of rapidly evolving genes involved in host-parasite interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Clair Han
- Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA
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25
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Cukkemane A, Becker N, Zielinski M, Frieg B, Lakomek NA, Heise H, Schröder GF, Willbold D, Weiergräber OH. Conformational heterogeneity coupled with β-fibril formation of a scaffold protein involved in chronic mental illnesses. Transl Psychiatry 2021; 11:639. [PMID: 34921141 PMCID: PMC8683410 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01765-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 11/23/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic mental illnesses (CMIs) pose a significant challenge to global health due to their complex and poorly understood etiologies and hence, absence of causal therapies. Research of the past two decades has revealed dysfunction of the disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) protein as a predisposing factor involved in several psychiatric disorders. DISC1 is a multifaceted protein that serves myriads of functions in mammalian cells, for instance, influencing neuronal development and synapse maintenance. It serves as a scaffold hub forming complexes with a variety (~300) of partners that constitute its interactome. Herein, using combinations of structural and biophysical tools, we demonstrate that the C-region of the DISC1 protein is highly polymorphic, with important consequences for its physiological role. Results from solid-state NMR spectroscopy and electron microscopy indicate that the protein not only forms symmetric oligomers but also gives rise to fibrils closely resembling those found in certain established amyloid proteinopathies. Furthermore, its aggregation as studied by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is an exergonic process, involving a negative enthalpy change that drives the formation of oligomeric (presumably tetrameric) species as well as β-fibrils. We have been able to narrow down the β-core region participating in fibrillization to residues 716-761 of full-length human DISC1. This region is absent in the DISC1Δ22aa splice variant, resulting in reduced association with proteins from the dynein motor complex, viz., NDE-like 1 (NDEL1) and lissencephaly 1 (LIS1), which are crucial during mitosis. By employing surface plasmon resonance, we show that the oligomeric DISC1 C-region has an increased affinity and shows cooperativity in binding to LIS1 and NDEL1, in contrast to the noncooperative binding mode exhibited by the monomeric version. Based on the derived structural models, we propose that the association between the binding partners involves two neighboring subunits of DISC1 C-region oligomers. Altogether, our findings highlight the significance of the DISC1 C-region as a crucial factor governing the balance between its physiological role as a multifunctional scaffold protein and aggregation-related aberrations with potential significance for disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhishek Cukkemane
- Institute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany. .,Institut für Physikalische Biologie, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Nina Becker
- grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XInstitute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany ,grid.411327.20000 0001 2176 9917Institut für Physikalische Biologie, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany ,grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XJülich Centre for Structural Biology (JuStruct), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Mara Zielinski
- grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XInstitute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Benedikt Frieg
- grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XInstitute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Nils-Alexander Lakomek
- grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XInstitute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany ,grid.411327.20000 0001 2176 9917Institut für Physikalische Biologie, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany ,grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XJülich Centre for Structural Biology (JuStruct), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Henrike Heise
- grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XInstitute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany ,grid.411327.20000 0001 2176 9917Institut für Physikalische Biologie, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany ,grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XJülich Centre for Structural Biology (JuStruct), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Gunnar F. Schröder
- grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XInstitute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany ,grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XJülich Centre for Structural Biology (JuStruct), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany ,grid.411327.20000 0001 2176 9917Physics Department, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Dieter Willbold
- Institute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany. .,Institut für Physikalische Biologie, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany. .,Jülich Centre for Structural Biology (JuStruct), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
| | - Oliver H. Weiergräber
- grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XInstitute of Biological Information Processing (IBI-7: Structural Biochemistry), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany ,grid.8385.60000 0001 2297 375XJülich Centre for Structural Biology (JuStruct), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
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Ramesh S, Guo X, DiCaprio AJ, De Lio AM, Harris LA, Kille BL, Pogorelov TV, Mitchell DA. Bioinformatics-Guided Expansion and Discovery of Graspetides. ACS Chem Biol 2021; 16:2787-2797. [PMID: 34766760 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.1c00672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Graspetides are a class of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide natural products featuring ATP-grasp ligase-dependent formation of macrolactones/macrolactams. These modifications arise from serine, threonine, or lysine donor residues linked to aspartate or glutamate acceptor residues. Characterized graspetides include serine protease inhibitors such as the microviridins and plesiocin. Here, we report an update to Rapid ORF Description and Evaluation Online (RODEO) for the automated detection of graspetides, which identified 3,923 high-confidence graspetide biosynthetic gene clusters. Sequence and co-occurrence analyses doubled the number of graspetide groups from 12 to 24, defined based on core consensus sequence and putative secondary modification. Bioinformatic analyses of the ATP-grasp ligase superfamily suggest that extant graspetide synthetases diverged once from an ancestral ATP-grasp ligase and later evolved to introduce a variety of ring connectivities. Furthermore, we characterized thatisin and iso-thatisin, two graspetides related by conformational stereoisomerism from Lysobacter antibioticus. Derived from a newly identified graspetide group, thatisin and iso-thatisin feature two interlocking macrolactones with identical ring connectivity, as determined by a combination of tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), methanolytic, and mutational analyses. NMR spectroscopy of thatisin revealed a cis conformation for a key proline residue, while molecular dynamics simulations, solvent-accessible surface area calculations, and partial methanolytic analysis coupled with MS/MS support a trans conformation for iso-thatisin at the same position. Overall, this work provides a comprehensive overview of the graspetide landscape, and the improved RODEO algorithm will accelerate future graspetide discoveries by enabling open-access analysis of existing and emerging genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sangeetha Ramesh
- Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Xiaorui Guo
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Adam J. DiCaprio
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Ashley M. De Lio
- School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 505 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1205 West Clark Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Lonnie A. Harris
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Bryce L. Kille
- Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 201 North Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Taras V. Pogorelov
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 505 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1205 West Clark Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 405 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Douglas A. Mitchell
- Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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Deryusheva EI, Machulin AV, Galzitskaya OV. Structural, Functional, and Evolutionary Characteristics of Proteins with Repeats. Mol Biol 2021. [DOI: 10.1134/s0026893321040038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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28
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Bhardwaj R, Thakur JK, Kumar S. MedProDB: A database of Mediator proteins. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2021; 19:4165-4176. [PMID: 34527190 PMCID: PMC8342855 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2021.07.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2021] [Revised: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Mediator complex is a key component of transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes. Identification of Mediator subunits was done by using computational approaches. Different physicochemical properties, and functions of Mediators were discussed. We have developed first database of Mediator proteins e.g. MedProDB. MedProDB contains different types of search and browse options, and various tools.
In the last three decades, the multi-subunit Mediator complex has emerged as the key component of transcriptional regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. Although there were initial hiccups, recent advancements in bioinformatics tools contributed significantly to in-silico prediction and characterization of Mediator subunits from several organisms belonging to different eukaryotic kingdoms. In this study, we have developed the first database of Mediator proteins named MedProDB with 33,971 Mediator protein entries. Out of those, 12531, 11545, and 9895 sequences belong to metazoans, plants, and fungi, respectively. Apart from the core information consisting of sequence, length, position, organism, molecular weight, and taxonomic lineage, additional information of each Mediator sequence like aromaticity, hydropathy, instability index, isoelectric point, functions, interactions, repeat regions, diseases, sequence alignment to Mediator subunit family, Intrinsically Disordered Regions (IDRs), Post-translation modifications (PTMs), and Molecular Recognition Features (MoRFs) may be of high utility to the users. Furthermore, different types of search and browse options with four different tools namely BLAST, Smith-Waterman Align, IUPred, and MoRF-Chibi_Light are provided at MedProDB to perform different types of analysis. Being a critical component of the transcriptional machinery and regulating almost all the aspects of transcription, it generated lots of interest in structural and functional studies of Mediator functioning. So, we think that the MedProDB database will be very useful for researchers studying the process of transcription. This database is freely available at www.nipgr.ac.in/MedProDB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rohan Bhardwaj
- Bioinformatics Lab, National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India.,Plant Mediator Lab, National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India
| | - Jitendra Kumar Thakur
- Plant Mediator Lab, National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India.,Plant Transcription Regulation, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India
| | - Shailesh Kumar
- Bioinformatics Lab, National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India
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García-Ramos M, de la Mora J, Ballado T, Camarena L, Dreyfus G. Modulation of the enzymatic activity of the flagellar lytic transglycosylase SltF by rod components, and the scaffolding protein FlgJ in Rhodobacter sphaeroides. J Bacteriol 2021;:JB0037221. [PMID: 34309398 DOI: 10.1128/JB.00372-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Macromolecular cell-envelope-spanning structures such as the bacterial flagellum must traverse the cell wall. Lytic transglycosylases enzymes are capable of enlarging gaps in the peptidoglycan meshwork to allow the efficient assembly of supramolecular complexes. In the periplasmic space, the assembly of the flagellar rod requires the scaffold protein FlgJ, which includes a muramidase domain in the canonical models Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli. In contrast, in Rhodobacter sphaeroides, FlgJ and the dedicated flagellar lytic transglycosylase SltF are separate entities that interact in the periplasm. In this study we show that sltF is expressed along with the genes encoding the early components of the flagellar hierarchy that include the hook-basal body proteins, making SltF available during the rod assembly. Protein-protein interaction experiments demonstrated that SltF interacts with the rod proteins FliE, FlgB, FlgC, FlgF and FlgG through its C-terminal region. A deletion analysis that divides the C-terminus in two halves revealed that the interacting regions for most of the rod proteins are not redundant. Our results also show that the presence of the rod proteins FliE, FlgB, FlgC, and FlgF displace the previously reported SltF-FlgJ interaction. In addition, we observed modulation of the transglycosylase activity of SltF mediated by FlgB and FlgJ that could be relevant to coordinate rod assembly with cell wall remodeling. In summary, different mechanisms regulate the flagellar lytic transglycosylase, SltF ensuring a timely transcription, a proper localization and a controlled enzymatic activity. Importance Several mechanisms participate in the assembly of cell-envelope-spanning macromolecular structures. The sequential expression of substrates to be exported, selective export, and a specific order of incorporation are some of the mechanisms that stand out to drive an efficient assembly process. In this work we analyze how the structural rod proteins, the scaffold protein FlgJ and the flagellar lytic enzyme SltF, interact in an orderly fashion to assemble the flagellar rod into the periplasmic space. A complex arrangement of transient interactions directs a dedicated flagellar muramidase towards the flagellar rod. All these interactions bring this protein to the proximity of the peptidoglycan wall while also modulating its enzymatic activity. This study suggests how a dynamic network of interactions participates in controlling SltF, a prominent component for flagellar formation.
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Armijos-Jaramillo V, Espinosa N, Vizcaíno K, Santander-Gordón D. A Novel In Silico Method for Molecular Mimicry Detection Finds a Formin with the Potential to Manipulate the Maize Cell Cytoskeleton. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 2021; 34:815-825. [PMID: 33755496 DOI: 10.1094/mpmi-11-20-0332-r] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Molecular mimicry is one of the evolutionary strategies that parasites use to manipulate the host metabolism and perform an effective infection. This phenomenon has been observed in several animal and plant pathosystems. Despite the relevance of this mechanism in pathogenesis, little is known about it in fungus-plant interactions. For that reason, we performed an in silico method to select plausible mimicry candidates for the Ustilago maydis-maize interaction. Our methodology used a tripartite sequence comparison between the parasite, the host, and nonparasitic organisms' genomes. Furthermore, we used RNA sequencing information to identify gene coexpression, and we determined subcellular localization to detect potential cases of colocalization in the imitator-imitated pairs. With these approximations, we found a putative extracellular formin in U. maydis with the potential to rearrange the host cell cytoskeleton. In parallel, we detected at least two maize genes involved in the cytoskeleton rearrangement differentially expressed under U. maydis infection; thus, this find increases the expectation for the potential mimicry role of the fungal protein. The use of several sources of data led us to develop a strict and replicable in silico methodology to detect molecular mimicry in pathosystems with enough information available. Furthermore, this is the first time that a genomewide search has been performed to detect molecular mimicry in a U. maydis-maize system. Additionally, to allow the reproducibility of this experiment and the use of this pipeline, we created a Web server called Molecular Mimicry Finder.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vinicio Armijos-Jaramillo
- Carrera de Ingeniería en Biotecnología, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
- Grupo de Bio-Quimioinformática, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Nicole Espinosa
- Carrera de Ingeniería en Biotecnología, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Karla Vizcaíno
- Carrera de Ingeniería en Biotecnología, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Daniela Santander-Gordón
- Carrera de Ingeniería en Biotecnología, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
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Christensen LFB, Alijanvand SH, Burdukiewicz M, Herbst FA, Kjeldal H, Dueholm MS, Otzen DE. Identification of amyloidogenic proteins in the microbiomes of a rat Parkinson's disease model and wild-type rats. Protein Sci 2021; 30:1854-1870. [PMID: 34075639 DOI: 10.1002/pro.4137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Revised: 05/24/2021] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Cross seeding between amyloidogenic proteins in the gut is receiving increasing attention as a possible mechanism for initiation or acceleration of amyloid formation by aggregation-prone proteins such as αSN, which is central in the development of Parkinson's disease (PD). This is particularly pertinent in view of the growing number of functional (i.e., benign and useful) amyloid proteins discovered in bacteria. Here we identify two amyloidogenic proteins, Pr12 and Pr17, in fecal matter from PD transgenic rats and their wild type counterparts, based on their stability against dissolution by formic acid (FA). Both proteins show robust aggregation into ThT-positive aggregates that contain higher-order β-sheets and have a fibrillar morphology, indicative of amyloid proteins. In addition, Pr17 aggregates formed in vitro showed significant resistance against FA, suggesting an ability to form highly stable amyloid. Treatment with proteinase K revealed a protected core of approx. 9 kDa. Neither Pr12 nor Pr17, however, affected αSN aggregation in vitro. Thus, amyloidogenicity does not per se lead to an ability to cross-seed fibrillation of αSN. Our results support the use of proteomics and FA to identify amyloidogenic protein in complex mixtures and suggests that there may be numerous functional amyloid proteins in microbiomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Line Friis Bakmann Christensen
- Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Saeid Hadi Alijanvand
- Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics (IBB), Department of Biophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Michał Burdukiewicz
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.,Centre for Clinical Research, Medical University of Białystok, Białystok, Poland
| | - Florian-Alexander Herbst
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Henrik Kjeldal
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Morten Simonsen Dueholm
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Daniel E Otzen
- Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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Chrystal PW, Footz T, Hodges ED, Jensen JA, Walter MA, Allison WT. Functional Domains and Evolutionary History of the PMEL and GPNMB Family Proteins. Molecules 2021; 26:3529. [PMID: 34207849 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26123529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Revised: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The ancient paralogs premelanosome protein (PMEL) and glycoprotein nonmetastatic melanoma protein B (GPNMB) have independently emerged as intriguing disease loci in recent years. Both proteins possess common functional domains and variants that cause a shared spectrum of overlapping phenotypes and disease associations: melanin-based pigmentation, cancer, neurodegenerative disease and glaucoma. Surprisingly, these proteins have yet to be shown to physically or genetically interact within the same cellular pathway. This juxtaposition inspired us to compare and contrast this family across a breadth of species to better understand the divergent evolutionary trajectories of two related, but distinct, genes. In this study, we investigated the evolutionary history of PMEL and GPNMB in clade-representative species and identified TMEM130 as the most ancient paralog of the family. By curating the functional domains in each paralog, we identified many commonalities dating back to the emergence of the gene family in basal metazoans. PMEL and GPNMB have gained functional domains since their divergence from TMEM130, including the core amyloid fragment (CAF) that is critical for the amyloid potential of PMEL. Additionally, the PMEL gene has acquired the enigmatic repeat domain (RPT), composed of a variable number of imperfect tandem repeats; this domain acts in an accessory role to control amyloid formation. Our analyses revealed the vast variability in sequence, length and repeat number in homologous RPT domains between craniates, even within the same taxonomic class. We hope that these analyses inspire further investigation into a gene family that is remarkable from the evolutionary, pathological and cell biology perspectives.
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Lorenzo MA, Pachón D, Maier A, Bermúdez H, Losada S, Toledo M, Pujol FH, Alarcón de Noya B, Noya O, Serrano ML. Immunoinformatics and Pepscan strategies on the path of a peptide-based serological diagnosis of COVID19. J Immunol Methods 2021; 495:113071. [PMID: 33991531 DOI: 10.1016/j.jim.2021.113071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2021] [Revised: 04/21/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Several diagnostic tools have been developed for clinical and epidemiological assays. RT-PCR and antigen detection tests are more useful for diagnosis of acute disease, while antibody tests allow the estimation of exposure in the population. Currently, there is an urgent need for the development of diagnostic tests for COVID-19 that can be used for large-scale epidemiological sampling. Through a comprehensive strategy, potential 16 mer antigenic peptides suited for antibody-based SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis were identified. A systematic scan of the three structural proteins (S,N and M) and the non-structural proteins (ORFs) present in the SARS-CoV-2 virus was conducted through the combination of immunoinformatic methods, peptide SPOT synthesis and an immunoassay with cellulose-bound peptides (Pepscan). The Pepscan filter paper sheets with synthetic peptides were tested against pools of sera of COVID-19 patients. Antibody recognition showed a strong signal for peptides corresponding to the S, N and M proteins of SARS-CoV-2 virus, but not for the ORFs proteins. The peptides exhibiting higher signal intensity were found in the C-terminal region of the N protein. Several peptides of this region showed strong recognition with all three immunoglobulins in the pools of sera. The differential reactivity observed between the different immunoglobulin isotypes (IgA, IgM and IgG) within different regions of the S and N proteins, can be advantageous for ensuring accurate diagnosis of all infected patients, with different times of exposure to infection. Few peptides of the M protein showed antibody recognition and no recognition was observed for peptides of the ORFs proteins.
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Mitchell SJ, Verma D, Griswold KE, Bailey-Kellogg C. Building blocks and blueprints for bacterial autolysins. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1008889. [PMID: 33793553 PMCID: PMC8051824 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Revised: 04/16/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacteria utilize a wide variety of endogenous cell wall hydrolases, or autolysins, to remodel their cell walls during processes including cell division, biofilm formation, and programmed death. We here systematically investigate the composition of these enzymes in order to gain insights into their associated biological processes, potential ways to disrupt them via chemotherapeutics, and strategies by which they might be leveraged as recombinant antibacterial biotherapies. To do so, we developed LEDGOs (lytic enzyme domains grouped by organism), a pipeline to create and analyze databases of autolytic enzyme sequences, constituent domain annotations, and architectural patterns of multi-domain enzymes that integrate peptidoglycan binding and degrading functions. We applied LEDGOs to eight pathogenic bacteria, gram negatives Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa; and gram positives Clostridioides difficile, Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Our analysis of the autolytic enzyme repertoires of these pathogens reveals commonalities and differences in their key domain building blocks and architectures, including correlations and preferred orders among domains in multi-domain enzymes, repetitions of homologous binding domains with potentially complementarity recognition modalities, and sequence similarity patterns indicative of potential divergence of functional specificity among related domains. We have further identified a variety of unannotated sequence regions within the lytic enzymes that may themselves contain new domains with important functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Spencer J. Mitchell
- Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America
| | - Deeptak Verma
- Computational and Structural Chemistry, Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Karl E. Griswold
- Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America
- Lyticon LLC, Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States of America
| | - Chris Bailey-Kellogg
- Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America
- Lyticon LLC, Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Kamel M, Kastano K, Mier P, Andrade-Navarro MA. REP2: A Web Server to Detect Common Tandem Repeats in Protein Sequences. J Mol Biol 2021; 433:166895. [PMID: 33972020 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2021.166895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Ensembles of tandem repeats (TRs) in protein sequences expand rapidly to form domains well suited for interactions with proteins. For this reason, they are relatively frequent. Some TRs have known structures and therefore it is advantageous to predict their presence in a protein sequence. However, since most TRs diverge quickly, their detection by classical sequence comparison algorithms is not very accurate. Previously, we developed a method and a web server that used curated profiles and thresholds for the detection of 11 common TRs. Here we present a new web server (REP2) that allows the analysis of TRs in both individual and aligned sequences. We provide currently precomputed analyses for a selection of 78 UniProt reference proteomes. We illustrate how these data can be used to study the evolution of TRs using comparative genomics. REP2 can be accessed at http://cbdm-01.zdv.uni-mainz.de/~munoz/rep/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamed Kamel
- Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, University of M'sila, 28000 M'sila, Algeria; Faculty of Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Kristina Kastano
- Faculty of Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Pablo Mier
- Faculty of Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
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Adamczyk M, Lewicka E, Szatkowska R, Nieznanska H, Ludwiczak J, Jasiński M, Dunin-Horkawicz S, Sitkiewicz E, Swiderska B, Goch G, Jagura-Burdzy G. Revealing biophysical properties of KfrA-type proteins as a novel class of cytoskeletal, coiled-coil plasmid-encoded proteins. BMC Microbiol 2021; 21:32. [PMID: 33482722 PMCID: PMC7821693 DOI: 10.1186/s12866-020-02079-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 12/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Background DNA binding KfrA-type proteins of broad-host-range bacterial plasmids belonging to IncP-1 and IncU incompatibility groups are characterized by globular N-terminal head domains and long alpha-helical coiled-coil tails. They have been shown to act as transcriptional auto-regulators. Results This study was focused on two members of the growing family of KfrA-type proteins encoded by the broad-host-range plasmids, R751 of IncP-1β and RA3 of IncU groups. Comparative in vitro and in silico studies on KfrAR751 and KfrARA3 confirmed their similar biophysical properties despite low conservation of the amino acid sequences. They form a wide range of oligomeric forms in vitro and, in the presence of their cognate DNA binding sites, they polymerize into the higher order filaments visualized as “threads” by negative staining electron microscopy. The studies revealed also temperature-dependent changes in the coiled-coil segment of KfrA proteins that is involved in the stabilization of dimers required for DNA interactions. Conclusion KfrAR751 and KfrARA3 are structural homologues. We postulate that KfrA type proteins have moonlighting activity. They not only act as transcriptional auto-regulators but form cytoskeletal structures, which might facilitate plasmid DNA delivery and positioning in the cells before cell division, involving thermal energy. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12866-020-02079-w.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Adamczyk
- Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Chair of Drug and Cosmetics Biotechnology, Noakowskiego 3, 00-664, Warsaw, Poland.
| | - E Lewicka
- Department of Microbial Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics PAS, Pawinskiego 5a, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - R Szatkowska
- Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Chair of Drug and Cosmetics Biotechnology, Noakowskiego 3, 00-664, Warsaw, Poland
| | - H Nieznanska
- Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS, Laboratory of Electron Microscopy, Pasteura 3, 02-093, Warsaw, Poland
| | - J Ludwiczak
- University of Warsaw, Centre of New Technologies, Laboratory of Structural Bioinformatics, 02-097, Warsaw, Poland.,Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Pasteura 3, 02-093, Warsaw, Poland
| | - M Jasiński
- University of Warsaw, Centre of New Technologies, Laboratory of Structural Bioinformatics, 02-097, Warsaw, Poland
| | - S Dunin-Horkawicz
- University of Warsaw, Centre of New Technologies, Laboratory of Structural Bioinformatics, 02-097, Warsaw, Poland
| | - E Sitkiewicz
- Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5a, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - B Swiderska
- Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5a, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - G Goch
- Department of Microbial Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics PAS, Pawinskiego 5a, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - G Jagura-Burdzy
- Department of Microbial Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics PAS, Pawinskiego 5a, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
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Teixeira-Silva NS, Schaker PDC, Rody HVS, Maia T, Garner CM, Gassmann W, Monteiro-Vitorello CB. Leaping into the Unknown World of Sporisorium scitamineum Candidate Effectors. J Fungi (Basel) 2020; 6:E339. [PMID: 33291820 DOI: 10.3390/jof6040339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 11/28/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Sporisorium scitamineum is a biotrophic fungus causing sugarcane smut disease. In this study, we set up a pipeline and used genomic and dual transcriptomic data previously obtained by our group to identify candidate effectors of S. scitamineum and their expression profiles in infected smut-resistant and susceptible sugarcane plants. The expression profile of different genes after infection in contrasting sugarcane genotypes assessed by RT-qPCR depended on the plant genotypes and disease progression. Three candidate effector genes expressed earlier only in resistant plants, four expressed in both genotypes, and three later in susceptible plants. Ten genes were cloned and transiently expressed in N. benthamiana leaves to determine their subcellular location, while four localized in more than one compartment. Two candidates, g3890 having a nucleoplasmic and mitochondrial location and g5159 targeting the plant cell wall, were selected to obtain their possible corresponding host targets using co-immunoprecipitation (CoIP) experiments and mass spectrometry. Various potential interactors were identified, including subunits of the protein phosphatase 2A and an endochitinase. We investigated the presence of orthologs in sugarcane and using transcriptome data present their expression profiles. Orthologs of sugarcane shared around 70% similarity. Identifying a set of putative fungal effectors and their plant targets provides a valuable resource for functional characterization of the molecular events leading to smut resistance in sugarcane plants and uncovers further opportunities for investigation.
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Mary Rajathei D, Parthasarathy S, Selvaraj S. HPREP: a comprehensive database for human proteome repeats. J Integr Bioinform 2020; 0:/j/jib.ahead-of-print/jib-2020-0024/jib-2020-0024.xml. [PMID: 33136065 DOI: 10.1515/jib-2020-0024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Accepted: 09/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Amino acid repeats are found to play important roles in both structures and functions of the proteins. These are commonly found in all kingdoms of life, especially in eukaryotes and a larger fraction of human proteins composed of repeats. Further, the abnormal expansions of shorter repeats cause various diseases to humans. Therefore, the analysis of repeats of the entire human proteome along with functional, mutational and disease information would help to better understand their roles in proteins. To fulfill this need, we developed a web database HPREP (http://bioinfo.bdu.ac.in/hprep) for human proteome repeats using Perl and HTML programming. We identified different categories of well-characterized repeats and domain repeats that are present in the human proteome of UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot by using in-house Perl programming and novel repeats by using the repeat detection T-REKS tool as well as XSTREAM web server. Further, these proteins are annotated with functional, mutational and disease information and grouped according to specific repeat types. The developed database enables the users to search by specific repeat type in order to understand their involvement in proteins. Thus, the HPREP database is expected to be a useful resource to gain better insight regarding the different repeats in human proteome and their biological roles.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Mary Rajathei
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, India
| | - Subbiah Parthasarathy
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, India
| | - Samuel Selvaraj
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, India
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Altae-tran H, Gao L, Strecker J, Macrae RK, Zhang F. Computational Identification of Repeat-Containing Proteins and Systems. QRB Discovery 2020; 1. [PMID: 37528961 PMCID: PMC10392669 DOI: 10.1017/qrd.2020.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractRepetitive sequence elements in proteins and nucleic acids are often signatures of adaptive or reprogrammable systems in nature. Known examples of these systems, such as transcriptional activator-like effectors (TALE) and CRISPR, have been harnessed as powerful molecular tools with a wide range of applications including genome editing. The continued expansion of genomic sequence databases raises the possibility of prospectively identifying new such systems by computational mining. By leveraging sequence repeats as an organizing principle, here we develop a systematic genome mining approach to explore new types of naturally adaptive systems, five of which are discussed in greater detail. These results highlight the existence of a diverse range of intriguing systems in nature that remain to be explored and also provide a framework for future discovery efforts.
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Gentile GL, Rupert AS, Carrasco LI, Garcia EM, Kumar NG, Walsh SW, Jefferson KK. Identification of a Cytopathogenic Toxin from Sneathia amnii. J Bacteriol 2020; 202:e00162-20. [PMID: 32291280 DOI: 10.1128/JB.00162-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2020] [Accepted: 04/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Sneathia amnii is a poorly characterized emerging pathogen that has been implicated in amnionitis and urethritis. We found that S. amnii damages fetal membranes, and we identified and purified a cytotoxic exotoxin that lyses human red blood cells and damages cells from fetal membranes. The gene appears to be cotranscribed with a second gene that encodes a protein with identity to two-partner system transporters, suggesting that it is the "A," or secreted component of a type Vb system. The toxin is 1,881 amino acids with a molecular weight of approximately 200 kDa. It binds to red blood cell membranes and forms pores with a diameter of 2.0 to 3.0 nm, resulting in osmolysis. Because it appears to be the "A" or passenger component of a two-partner system, we propose to name this novel cytotoxin/hemolysin CptA for cytopathogenic toxin component A.IMPORTANCE Sneathia amnii is a very poorly characterized emerging pathogen that can affect pregnancy outcome and cause urethritis and other infections. To date, nothing is known about its virulence factors or pathogenesis. We have identified and isolated a cytotoxin, named CptA for cytopathogenic toxin, component A, that is produced by S. amnii CptA is capable of permeabilizing chorionic trophoblasts and lysing human red blood cells and, thus, may play a role in virulence. Except for small domains conserved among two-partner secretion system passenger proteins, the cytotoxin exhibits little amino acid sequence homology to known toxins. In this study, we demonstrate the pore-forming activity of this novel toxin.
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Merski M, Młynarczyk K, Ludwiczak J, Skrzeczkowski J, Dunin-Horkawicz S, Górna MW. Self-analysis of repeat proteins reveals evolutionarily conserved patterns. BMC Bioinformatics 2020; 21:179. [PMID: 32381046 PMCID: PMC7204011 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-020-3493-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2019] [Accepted: 04/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Protein repeats can confound sequence analyses because the repetitiveness of their amino acid sequences lead to difficulties in identifying whether similar repeats are due to convergent or divergent evolution. We noted that the patterns derived from traditional "dot plot" protein sequence self-similarity analysis tended to be conserved in sets of related repeat proteins and this conservation could be quantitated using a Jaccard metric. RESULTS Comparison of these dot plots obviated the issues due to sequence similarity for analysis of repeat proteins. A high Jaccard similarity score was suggestive of a conserved relationship between closely related repeat proteins. The dot plot patterns decayed quickly in the absence of selective pressure with an expected loss of 50% of Jaccard similarity due to a loss of 8.2% sequence identity. To perform method testing, we assembled a standard set of 79 repeat proteins representing all the subgroups in RepeatsDB. Comparison of known repeat and non-repeat proteins from the PDB suggested that the information content in dot plots could be used to identify repeat proteins from pure sequence with no requirement for structural information. Analysis of the UniRef90 database suggested that 16.9% of all known proteins could be classified as repeat proteins. These 13.3 million putative repeat protein chains were clustered and a significant amount (82.9%) of clusters containing between 5 and 200 members were of a single functional type. CONCLUSIONS Dot plot analysis of repeat proteins attempts to obviate issues that arise due to the sequence degeneracy of repeat proteins. These results show that this kind of analysis can efficiently be applied to analyze repeat proteins on a large scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Merski
- Structural Biology Group, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Krzysztof Młynarczyk
- Structural Biology Group, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jan Ludwiczak
- Laboratory of Structural Bioinformatics, Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jakub Skrzeczkowski
- Structural Biology Group, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Stanisław Dunin-Horkawicz
- Laboratory of Structural Bioinformatics, Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Maria W. Górna
- Structural Biology Group, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
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Zheng Z, Wang X, Li M, Li Y, Yang Z, Wang X, Pan X, Gong M, Zhang Y, Guo Y, Wang Y, Liu J, Cai Y, Chen Q, Okpeku M, Colli L, Cai D, Wang K, Huang S, Sonstegard TS, Esmailizadeh A, Zhang W, Zhang T, Xu Y, Xu N, Yang Y, Han J, Chen L, Lesur J, Daly KG, Bradley DG, Heller R, Zhang G, Wang W, Chen Y, Jiang Y. The origin of domestication genes in goats. Sci Adv 2020; 6:eaaz5216. [PMID: 32671210 PMCID: PMC7314551 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz5216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2019] [Accepted: 03/06/2020] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Goat domestication was critical for agriculture and civilization, but its underlying genetic changes and selection regimes remain unclear. Here, we analyze the genomes of worldwide domestic goats, wild caprid species, and historical remains, providing evidence of an ancient introgression event from a West Caucasian tur-like species to the ancestor of domestic goats. One introgressed locus with a strong signature of selection harbors the MUC6 gene, which encodes a gastrointestinally secreted mucin. Experiments revealed that the nearly fixed introgressed haplotype confers enhanced immune resistance to gastrointestinal pathogens. Another locus with a strong signal of selection may be related to behavior. The selected alleles at these two loci emerged in domestic goats at least 7200 and 8100 years ago, respectively, and increased to high frequencies concurrent with the expansion of the ubiquitous modern mitochondrial haplogroup A. Tracking these archaeologically cryptic evolutionary transformations provides new insights into the mechanisms of animal domestication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuqing Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Xihong Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Ming Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Yunjia Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Zhirui Yang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Xiaolong Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Xiangyu Pan
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Mian Gong
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Yu Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Yingwei Guo
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Yu Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Jing Liu
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Yudong Cai
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Qiuming Chen
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Moses Okpeku
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
- Discipline of Genetics, School of Life Science, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban 4000, South Africa
| | - Licia Colli
- Dipartimento di Scienze Animali, della Nutrizione e degli Alimenti, Facoltà di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali, Università Cattolica del S. Cuore, via Emilia Parmense n. 84, 29122, Piacenza (PC), Italy
- BioDNA–Centro di Ricerca sulla Biodiversità e sul DNA Antico, Facoltà di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali, Università Cattolica del S. Cuore, via Emilia Parmense n. 84, 29122, Piacenza (PC), Italy
| | - Dawei Cai
- Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
| | - Kun Wang
- Center for Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
| | - Shisheng Huang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | | | - Ali Esmailizadeh
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, PB 76169-133, Iran
| | - Wenguang Zhang
- College of Animal Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
| | - Tingting Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Yangbin Xu
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Naiyi Xu
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Yi Yang
- Institute of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Jianlin Han
- CAAS-ILRI Joint Laboratory on Livestock and Forage Genetic Resources, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China
- International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi 00100, Kenya
| | - Lei Chen
- Center for Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
| | | | - Kevin G. Daly
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Daniel G. Bradley
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Rasmus Heller
- Section for Computational and RNA Biology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen N 2200, Denmark
| | - Guojie Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
- China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
- Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
| | - Wen Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
- Center for Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
- Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China
| | - Yulin Chen
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
| | - Yu Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
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Alvarez-Carreño C, Coello G, Arciniega M. FiRES: A computational method for the de novo identification of internal structure similarity in proteins. Proteins 2020; 88:1169-1179. [PMID: 32112578 DOI: 10.1002/prot.25886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2019] [Revised: 11/12/2019] [Accepted: 02/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Internal structure similarity in proteins can be observed at the domain and subdomain levels. From an evolutionary perspective, structurally similar elements may arise divergently by gene duplication and fusion events but may also be the product of convergent evolution under physicochemical constraints. The characterization of proteins that contain repeated structural elements has implications for many fields of protein science including protein domain evolution, structure classification, structure prediction, and protein engineering. FiRES (Find Repeated Elements in Structure) is an algorithm that relies on a topology-independent structure alignment method to identify repeating elements in protein structure. FiRES was tested against two hand curated databases of protein repeats: MALIDUP, for very divergent duplicated domains; and RepeatsDB for short tandem repeats. The performance of FiRES was compared to that of lalign, RADAR, HHrepID, CE-symm, ReUPred, and Swelfe. FiRES was the method that most accurately detected proteins either with duplicated domains (accuracy = 0.86) or with multiple repeated units (accuracy = 0.92). FiRES is a new methodology for the discovery of proteins containing structurally similar elements. The FiRES web server is publicly available at http://fires.ifc.unam.mx. The scripts, results, and benchmarks from this study can be downloaded from https://github.com/Claualvarez/fires.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Alvarez-Carreño
- Department of Bioquímica y Biología Estructural, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.,School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Gerardo Coello
- Unidad de Cómputo, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Marcelino Arciniega
- Department of Bioquímica y Biología Estructural, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
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Popov AV, Grin IR, Dvornikova AP, Matkarimov BT, Groisman R, Saparbaev M, Zharkov DO. Reading Targeted DNA Damage in the Active Demethylation Pathway: Role of Accessory Domains of Eukaryotic AP Endonucleases and Thymine-DNA Glycosylases. J Mol Biol 2020; 432:1747-68. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2019.12.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2019] [Revised: 11/24/2019] [Accepted: 12/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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Rajathei DM, Parthasarathy S, Selvaraj S. Identification and Analysis of Long Repeats of Proteins at the Domain Level. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2019; 7:250. [PMID: 31649924 PMCID: PMC6795024 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2019.00250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2019] [Accepted: 09/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Amino acid repeats play an important role in the structure and function of proteins. Analysis of long repeats in protein sequences enables one to understand their abundance, structure and function in the protein universe. In the present study, amino acid repeats of length >50 (long repeats) were identified in a non-redundant set of UniProt sequences using the RADAR program. The underlying structures and functions of these long repeats were carried out using the Gene3D for structural domains, Pfam for functional domains and enzyme and non-enzyme functional classification for catalytic and binding of the proteins. From a structural perspective, these long repeats seem to predominantly occur in certain architectures such as sandwich, bundle, barrel, and roll and within these architectures abundant in the superfolds. The lengths of the repeats within each fold are not uniform exhibiting different structures for different functions. We also observed that long repeats are in the domain regions of the family and are involved in the function of the proteins. After grouping based on enzyme and non-enzyme classes, we observed the abundant occurrence of long repeats in specific catalytic and binding of the proteins. In this study, we have analyzed the occurrence of long repeats in the protein sequence universe apart from well-characterized short tandem repeats in sequences and their structures and functions of the proteins at the domain level. The present study suggests that long repeats may play an important role in the structure and function of domains of the proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Mary Rajathei
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India
| | - Subbiah Parthasarathy
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India
| | - Samuel Selvaraj
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India
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Rout AK, Paramanik S, Dehury B, Acharya V, Swain HS, Pradhan SK, Behera B, Pati SK, Behera BK, Das BK. Elucidating the molecular interaction of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) peptidoglycan recognition protein 2 with diaminopimelic acid and lysine type peptidoglycans using in silico approaches. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2019; 38:3687-3699. [DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2019.1666742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Ajaya Kumar Rout
- Biotechnology Laboratory, ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata, India
| | - Sunanda Paramanik
- Department of Bioinformatics, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, India
| | - Budheswar Dehury
- Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Varsha Acharya
- Biotechnology Laboratory, ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata, India
| | - Himanshu Sekhar Swain
- Biotechnology Laboratory, ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata, India
| | - Sukanta Kumar Pradhan
- Department of Bioinformatics, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, India
| | - Bhaskar Behera
- Department of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Fakir Mohan University, Balasore, India
| | - Soumen Kumar Pati
- Department of Bioinformatics, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, Haringhata, India
| | - Bijay Kumar Behera
- Biotechnology Laboratory, ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata, India
| | - Basanta Kumar Das
- Biotechnology Laboratory, ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata, India
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48
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Kamel M, Mier P, Tari A, Andrade-Navarro MA. Repeatability in protein sequences. J Struct Biol 2019; 208:86-91. [PMID: 31408700 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2019.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2019] [Revised: 08/06/2019] [Accepted: 08/08/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Low complexity regions (LCRs) in protein sequences have special properties that are very different from those of globular proteins. The rules that define secondary structure elements do not apply when the distribution of amino acids becomes biased. While there is a tendency towards structural disorder in LCRs, various examples, and particularly homorepeats of single amino acids, suggest that very short repeats could adopt structures very difficult to predict. These structures are possibly variable and dependant on the context of intra- or inter-molecular interactions. In general, short repeats in LCRs can induce structure. This could explain the observation that very short (non-perfect) repeats are widespread and many define regions with a function in protein interactions. For these reasons, we have developed an algorithm to quickly analyze local repeatability along protein sequences, that is, how close a protein fragment is from a perfect repeat. Using this algorithm we identified that the proteins of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are depleted in short repeats (approximate or not) of odd-length, while the human proteins are not, that the fish Danio rerio has many proteins with repeats of length two and that the plant Arabidopsis thaliana has an unusually large amount of repeats of length seven. Our method (REpeatability Scanner, RES, accessible at http://cbdm-01.zdv.uni-mainz.de/~munoz/res/) allows to find regions with approximate short repeats in protein sequences, and helps to characterize the variable use of LCRs and compositional bias in different organisms.
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Nováková E, Zablatzká L, Brus J, Nesrstová V, Hanáček P, Kalendar R, Cvrčková F, Majeský Ľ, Smýkal P. Allelic Diversity of Acetyl Coenzyme A Carboxylase accD/ bccp Genes Implicated in Nuclear-Cytoplasmic Conflict in the Wild and Domesticated Pea ( Pisum sp.). Int J Mol Sci 2019; 20:E1773. [PMID: 30974846 PMCID: PMC6480052 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20071773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2019] [Revised: 04/04/2019] [Accepted: 04/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Reproductive isolation is an important component of species differentiation. The plastid accD gene coding for the acetyl-CoA carboxylase subunit and the nuclear bccp gene coding for the biotin carboxyl carrier protein were identified as candidate genes governing nuclear-cytoplasmic incompatibility in peas. We examined the allelic diversity in a set of 195 geographically diverse samples of both cultivated (Pisum sativum, P. abyssinicum) and wild (P. fulvum and P. elatius) peas. Based on deduced protein sequences, we identified 34 accD and 31 bccp alleles that are partially geographically and genetically structured. The accD is highly variable due to insertions of tandem repeats. P. fulvum and P. abyssinicum have unique alleles and combinations of both genes. On the other hand, partial overlap was observed between P. sativum and P. elatius. Mapping of protein sequence polymorphisms to 3D structures revealed that most of the repeat and indel polymorphisms map to sequence regions that could not be modeled, consistent with this part of the protein being less constrained by requirements for precise folding than the enzymatically active domains. The results of this study are important not only from an evolutionary point of view but are also relevant for pea breeding when using more distant wild relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eliška Nováková
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences, Palacký University, 78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
| | - Lenka Zablatzká
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences, Palacký University, 78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
| | - Jan Brus
- Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Sciences, Palacký University, 78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
| | - Viktorie Nesrstová
- Department of Mathematical Analysis and Applications of Mathematics, Palacký University, 78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
| | - Pavel Hanáček
- Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Agronomy, Mendel University, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Ruslan Kalendar
- National Center for Biotechnology, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan.
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, Viikki Plant Science Centre and Helsinki Sustainability Centre, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Fatima Cvrčková
- Department of Experimental Plant Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Charles University, 12844 Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Ľuboš Majeský
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences, Palacký University, 78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
| | - Petr Smýkal
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences, Palacký University, 78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
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Muhammad SA, Fatima N, Paracha RZ, Ali A, Chen JY. A systematic simulation-based meta-analytical framework for prediction of physiological biomarkers in alopecia. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 26:2. [PMID: 30993080 PMCID: PMC6449998 DOI: 10.1186/s40709-019-0094-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2018] [Accepted: 03/20/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Background Alopecia or hair loss is a complex polygenetic and psychologically devastating disease affecting millions of men and women globally. Since the gene annotation and environmental knowledge is limited for alopecia, a systematic analysis for the identification of candidate biomarkers is required that could provide potential therapeutic targets for hair loss therapy. Results We designed an interactive framework to perform a meta-analytical study based on differential expression analysis, systems biology, and functional proteomic investigations. We analyzed eight publicly available microarray datasets and found 12 potential candidate biomarkers including three extracellular proteins from the list of differentially expressed genes with a p-value < 0.05. After expression profiling and functional analysis, we studied protein–protein interactions and observed functional associations of source proteins including WIF1, SPON1, LYZ, GPRC5B, PTPRE, ZFP36L2, HBB, PHF15, LMCD1, KRT35 and VAV3 with target proteins including APCDD1, WNT1, WNT3A, SHH, ESRI, TGFB1, and APP. Pathway analysis of these molecules revealed their role in major physiological reactions including protein metabolism, signal transduction, WNT, BMP, EDA, NOTCH and SHH pathways. These pathways regulate hair growth, hair follicle differentiation, pigmentation, and morphogenesis. We studied the regulatory role of β-catenin, Nf-kappa B, cytokines and retinoic acid in the development of hair growth. Therefore, the differential expression of these significant proteins would affect the normal level and could cause aberrations in hair growth. Conclusion Our integrative approach helps to prioritize the biomarkers that ultimately lessen the economic burden of experimental studies. It will also be valuable to discover mutants in genomic data in order to increase the identification of new biomarkers for similar problems. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40709-019-0094-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Syed Aun Muhammad
- 1Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, 60800 Pakistan
| | - Nighat Fatima
- 2Department of Pharmacy, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, 22060 Pakistan
| | - Rehan Zafar Paracha
- 3Research Center of Modeling and Simulation (RCMS), Department of Computational Sciences, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, 44000 Pakistan
| | - Amjad Ali
- 4Atta-ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences (ASAB), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, 44000 Pakistan
| | - Jake Y Chen
- 5Informatics Institute, School of Medicine, The University of Alabama (UAB), Birmingham, USA
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