Coiled coils and SAH domains in cytoskeletal molecular motors

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 1142-1148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Peckham
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Motors ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Coiled Coils ◽  
Helical Domain ◽  
Cytoskeletal Motors ◽  
In Cells

Cytoskeletal motors include myosins, kinesins and dyneins. Myosins move along tracks of actin filaments, whereas kinesins and dyneins move along microtubules. Many of these motors are involved in trafficking cargo in cells. However, myosins are mostly monomeric, whereas kinesins are mostly dimeric, owing to the presence of a coiled coil. Some myosins (myosins 6, 7 and 10) contain an SAH (single α-helical) domain, which was originally thought to be a coiled coil. These myosins are now known to be monomers, not dimers. The differences between SAH domains and coiled coils are described and the potential roles of SAH domains in molecular motors are discussed.

scholarly journals Coiled-coil networking shapes cell molecular machinery

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (19) ◽  
pp. 3911-3922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongqiang Wang ◽  
Xinlei Zhang ◽  
Hong Zhang ◽  
Yi Lu ◽  
Haolong Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protein Interactions ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Coiled Coils ◽  
Protein Protein Interactions ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Kinetochore Assembly ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Molecular Machinery ◽  
Systematic Understanding

The highly abundant α-helical coiled-coil motif not only mediates crucial protein–protein interactions in the cell but is also an attractive scaffold in synthetic biology and material science and a potential target for disease intervention. Therefore a systematic understanding of the coiled-coil interactions (CCIs) at the organismal level would help unravel the full spectrum of the biological function of this interaction motif and facilitate its application in therapeutics. We report the first identified genome-wide CCI network in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which consists of 3495 pair-wise interactions among 598 predicted coiled-coil regions. Computational analysis revealed that the CCI network is specifically and functionally organized and extensively involved in the organization of cell machinery. We further show that CCIs play a critical role in the assembly of the kinetochore, and disruption of the CCI network leads to defects in kinetochore assembly and cell division. The CCI network identified in this study is a valuable resource for systematic characterization of coiled coils in the shaping and regulation of a host of cellular machineries and provides a basis for the utilization of coiled coils as domain-based probes for network perturbation and pharmacological applications.

scholarly journals ARCIMBOLDOon coiled coils

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iracema Caballero ◽  
Massimo Sammito ◽  
Claudia Millán ◽  
Andrey Lebedev ◽  
Nicolas Soler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Coiled Coils ◽  
Translational Symmetry ◽  
Command Line ◽  
Phase Problem ◽  
Final Solution ◽  
Resolution Limit ◽  
Helical Structures ◽  
Small Model ◽  
Test Pool

ARCIMBOLDOsolves the phase problem by combining the location of small model fragments usingPhaserwith density modification and autotracing usingSHELXE. Mainly helical structures constitute favourable cases, which can be solved using polyalanine helical fragments as search models. Nevertheless, the solution of coiled-coil structures is often complicated by their anisotropic diffraction and apparent translational noncrystallographic symmetry. Long, straight helices have internal translational symmetry and their alignment in preferential directions gives rise to systematic overlap of Patterson vectors. This situation has to be differentiated from the translational symmetry relating different monomers.ARCIMBOLDO_LITEhas been run on single workstations on a test pool of 150 coiled-coil structures with 15–635 amino acids per asymmetric unit and with diffraction data resolutions of between 0.9 and 3.0 Å. The results have been used to identify and address specific issues when solving this class of structures usingARCIMBOLDO. Features fromPhaserv.2.7 onwards are essential to correct anisotropy and produce translation solutions that will pass the packing filters. As the resolution becomes worse than 2.3 Å, the helix direction may be reversed in the placed fragments. Differentiation between true solutions and pseudo-solutions, in which helix fragments were correctly positioned but in a reverse orientation, was found to be problematic at resolutions worse than 2.3 Å. Therefore, after every new fragment-placement round, complete or sparse combinations of helices in alternative directions are generated and evaluated. The final solution is once again probed by helix reversal, refinement and extension. To conclude, density modification andSHELXEautotracing incorporating helical constraints is also exploited to extend the resolution limit in the case of coiled coils and to enhance the identification of correct solutions. This study resulted in a specialized mode withinARCIMBOLDOfor the solution of coiled-coil structures, which overrides the resolution limit and can be invoked from the command line (keyword coiled_coil) orARCIMBOLDO_LITEtask interface inCCP4i.

scholarly journals The novel proteins Rng8 and Rng9 regulate the myosin-V Myo51 during fission yeast cytokinesis

2014 ◽  
Vol 205 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Wang ◽  
Libera Lo Presti ◽  
Yi-Hua Zhu ◽  
Minhee Kang ◽  
Zhengrong Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fission Yeast ◽  
Molecular Motors ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Myosin V ◽  
Contractile Ring ◽  
Novel Proteins ◽  
Ring Assembly ◽  
Actin Cables ◽  
Order Complexes

The myosin-V family of molecular motors is known to be under sophisticated regulation, but our knowledge of the roles and regulation of myosin-Vs in cytokinesis is limited. Here, we report that the myosin-V Myo51 affects contractile ring assembly and stability during fission yeast cytokinesis, and is regulated by two novel coiled-coil proteins, Rng8 and Rng9. Both rng8Δ and rng9Δ cells display similar defects as myo51Δ in cytokinesis. Rng8 and Rng9 are required for Myo51’s localizations to cytoplasmic puncta, actin cables, and the contractile ring. Myo51 puncta contain multiple Myo51 molecules and walk continuously on actin filaments in rng8+ cells, whereas Myo51 forms speckles containing only one dimer and does not move efficiently on actin tracks in rng8Δ. Consistently, Myo51 transports artificial cargos efficiently in vivo, and this activity is regulated by Rng8. Purified Rng8 and Rng9 form stable higher-order complexes. Collectively, we propose that Rng8 and Rng9 form oligomers and cluster multiple Myo51 dimers to regulate Myo51 localization and functions.

scholarly journals Peroxisomes move by hitchhiking on early endosomes using the novel linker protein PxdA

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Salogiannis ◽  
Martin J. Egan ◽  
Samara L. Reck-Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Motors ◽  
Intracellular Transport ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Early Endosome ◽  
Organelle Transport ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Coiled Coil Region ◽  
Early Endosomes

Eukaryotic cells use microtubule-based intracellular transport for the delivery of many subcellular cargos, including organelles. The canonical view of organelle transport is that organelles directly recruit molecular motors via cargo-specific adaptors. In contrast to this view, we show here that peroxisomes move by hitchhiking on early endosomes, an organelle that directly recruits the transport machinery. Using the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans we find that hitchhiking is mediated by a novel endosome-associated linker protein, PxdA. PxdA is required for normal distribution and long-range movement of peroxisomes, but not early endosomes or nuclei. Using simultaneous time-lapse imaging we find that early endosome-associated PxdA localizes to the leading edge of moving peroxisomes. We identify a coiled-coil region within PxdA that is necessary and sufficient for early endosome localization and peroxisome distribution and motility. These results present a new mechanism of microtubule-based organelle transport where peroxisomes hitchhike on early endosomes and identify PxdA as the novel linker protein required for this coupling.

scholarly journals α/β coiled coils

eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus D Hartmann ◽  
Claudia T Mendler ◽  
Jens Bassler ◽  
Ioanna Karamichali ◽  
Oswin Ridderbusch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Repeat Unit ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Coiled Coils ◽  
Heptad Repeat ◽  
Protein Fold ◽  
Local Formation ◽  
Unexpected Formation ◽  
New Type ◽  
Backbone Structure ◽  
Level Of Understanding

Coiled coils are the best-understood protein fold, as their backbone structure can uniquely be described by parametric equations. This level of understanding has allowed their manipulation in unprecedented detail. They do not seem a likely source of surprises, yet we describe here the unexpected formation of a new type of fiber by the simple insertion of two or six residues into the underlying heptad repeat of a parallel, trimeric coiled coil. These insertions strain the supercoil to the breaking point, causing the local formation of short β-strands, which move the path of the chain by 120° around the trimer axis. The result is an α/β coiled coil, which retains only one backbone hydrogen bond per repeat unit from the parent coiled coil. Our results show that a substantially novel backbone structure is possible within the allowed regions of the Ramachandran space with only minor mutations to a known fold.

scholarly journals Integration of Rotation and Piston Motions in Coiled-Coil Signal Transduction

2007 ◽  
Vol 189 (16) ◽  
pp. 6048-6056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Gao ◽  
David G. Lynn
Keyword(s):  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Dynamic Environment ◽  
Coiled Coils ◽  
Signal Integration ◽  
Signaling Mechanisms ◽  
Protein Receptor ◽  
Single Protein ◽  
Environmental Responses ◽  
Multiple Signaling ◽  
Host Signals

ABSTRACT A coordinated response to a complex and dynamic environment requires an organism to simultaneously monitor and interpret multiple signaling cues. In bacteria and some eukaryotes, environmental responses depend on the histidine autokinases (HKs). For example, VirA, a large integral membrane HK from Agrobacterium tumefaciens, regulates the expression of virulence genes in response to signals from multiple molecular classes (phenol, pH, and sugar). The ability of this pathogen to perceive inputs from different known host signals within a single protein receptor provides an opportunity to understand the mechanisms of signal integration. Here we exploited the conserved domain organization of the HKs and engineered chimeric kinases to explore the signaling mechanisms of phenol sensing and pH/sugar integration. Our data implicate a piston-assisted rotation of coiled coils for integration of multiple inputs and regulation of critical responses during pathogenesis.

scholarly journals Coiled-Coils: The Molecular Zippers that Self-Assemble Protein Nanostructures

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 3584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Won Min Park
Keyword(s):  
Modular Design ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Molecular Complexes ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Coiled Coils ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Protein Motifs ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Current Design

Coiled-coils, the bundles of intertwined helical protein motifs, have drawn much attention as versatile molecular toolkits. Because of programmable interaction specificity and affinity as well as well-established sequence-to-structure relationships, coiled-coils have been used as subunits that self-assemble various molecular complexes in a range of fields. In this review, I describe recent advances in the field of protein nanotechnology, with a focus on programming assembly of protein nanostructures using coiled-coil modules. Modular design approaches to converting the helical motifs into self-assembling building blocks are described, followed by a discussion on the molecular basis and principles underlying the modular designs. This review also provides a summary of recently developed nanostructures with a variety of structural features, which are in categories of unbounded nanostructures, discrete nanoparticles, and well-defined origami nanostructures. Challenges existing in current design strategies, as well as desired improvements for controls over material properties and functionalities for applications, are also provided.

Hierarchical nanomechanics of vimentin alpha helical coiled-coil proteins

2006 ◽  
Vol 978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodor Ackbarow ◽  
Markus J. Buehler
Keyword(s):  
Atomistic Simulation ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Tensile Tests ◽  
Coiled Coils ◽  
Atomistic Modeling ◽  
Alpha Helices ◽  
Hierarchical Assembly ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Elementary Building

AbstractCoiled-coil alpha-helical dimers are the elementary building blocks of intermediate filaments (IFs), an important component of the cell's cytoskeleton. Therefore, IFs play a leading role in the mechanical integrity of the cells. Here we use atomistic simulation to carry out tensile tests on coiled-coils as well as on single alpha-helices of the 2B segment of the vimentin dimer that has been shown to control the large-deformation behavior of cells. We compare the characteristic force-strain curves of both structures and suggest explanations for the differences on this fundamental level of hierarchical assembly. We further systematically explore the strain rate dependence of the mechanical properties of the vimentin coiled-coil protein. We develop a simple continuum model capable of reproducing the atomistic modeling results. The model enables us to extrapolate to much lower deformation rates approaching those used in experiment.

scholarly journals Ubiquitination and Long Non-coding RNAs Regulate Actin Cytoskeleton Regulators in Cancer Progression

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 2997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuda Ma ◽  
Yamei Dang ◽  
Xiaowen Shao ◽  
Xuechun Chen ◽  
Fei Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Actin Cytoskeleton ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Rho Gtpases ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Cancer Metastasis ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Lim Domain ◽  
E3 Ligases ◽  
Protein Levels ◽  
Family Protein

Actin filaments are a major component of the cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cells and play an important role in cancer metastasis. Dynamics and reorganization of actin filaments are regulated by numerous regulators, including Rho GTPases, PAKs (p21-activated kinases), ROCKs (Rho-associated coiled-coil containing kinases), LIMKs (LIM domain kinases), and SSH1 (slingshot family protein phosphate 1). Ubiquitination, as a ubiquitous post-transcriptional modification, deceases protein levels of actin cytoskeleton regulatory factors and thereby modulates the actin cytoskeleton. There is increasing evidence showing cytoskeleton regulation by long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in cancer metastasis. However, which E3 ligases are activated for the ubiquitination of actin-cytoskeleton regulators involved in tumor metastasis remains to be fully elucidated. Moreover, it is not clear how lncRNAs influence the expression of actin cytoskeleton regulators. Here, we summarize physiological and pathological mechanisms of lncRNAs and ubiquitination control mediators of actin cytoskeleton regulators which that are involved in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Finally, we briefly discuss crosstalk between ubiquitination and lncRNA control mediators of actin-cytoskeleton regulators in cancer.

scholarly journals Suppressor screening reveals common kleisin–hinge interaction in condensin and cohesin, but different modes of regulation

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (22) ◽  
pp. 10889-10898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingya Xu ◽  
Mitsuhiro Yanagida
Keyword(s):  
Chromatin Remodeling ◽  
Chromosome Segregation ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Coiled Coils ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Chromatid Cohesion ◽  
Suppression Mechanism ◽  
Elimination Pathway ◽  
Extragenic Suppressors ◽  
Structural Maintenance Of Chromosomes

Cohesin and condensin play fundamental roles in sister chromatid cohesion and chromosome segregation, respectively. Both consist of heterodimeric structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) subunits, which possess a head (containing ATPase) and a hinge, intervened by long coiled coils. Non-SMC subunits (Cnd1, Cnd2, and Cnd3 for condensin; Rad21, Psc3, and Mis4 for cohesin) bind to the SMC heads. Here, we report a large number of spontaneous extragenic suppressors for fission yeast condensin and cohesin mutants, and their sites were determined by whole-genome sequencing. Mutants of condensin’s non-SMC subunits were rescued by impairing the SUMOylation pathway. Indeed, SUMOylation of Cnd2, Cnd3, and Cut3 occurs in midmitosis, and Cnd3 K870 SUMOylation functionally opposes Cnd subunits. In contrast, cohesin mutants rad21 and psc3 were rescued by loss of the RNA elimination pathway (Erh1, Mmi1, and Red1), and loader mutant mis4 was rescued by loss of Hrp1-mediated chromatin remodeling. In addition, distinct regulations were discovered for condensin and cohesin hinge mutants. Mutations in the N-terminal helix bundle [containing a helix–turn–helix (HTH) motif] of kleisin subunits (Cnd2 and Rad21) rescue virtually identical hinge interface mutations in cohesin and condensin, respectively. These mutations may regulate kleisin’s interaction with the coiled coil at the SMC head, thereby revealing a common, but previously unknown, suppression mechanism between the hinge and the kleisin N domain, which is required for successful chromosome segregation. We propose that in both condensin and cohesin, the head (or kleisin) and hinge may interact and collaboratively regulate the resulting coiled coils to hold and release chromosomal DNAs.

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