scholarly journals Conformational changes in the GTPase modules of the signal reception particle and its receptor drive initiation of protein translocation

2007 ◽  
Vol 178 (4) ◽  
pp. 611-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-ou Shan ◽  
Sowmya Chandrasekar ◽  
Peter Walter

During cotranslational protein targeting, two guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) in the signal recognition particle (SRP) and its receptor (SR) form a unique complex in which hydrolyses of both guanosine triphosphates (GTP) are activated in a shared active site. It was thought that GTP hydrolysis drives the recycling of SRP and SR, but is not crucial for protein targeting. Here, we examined the translocation efficiency of mutant GTPases that block the interaction between SRP and SR at specific stages. Surprisingly, mutants that allow SRP–SR complex assembly but block GTPase activation severely compromise protein translocation. These mutations map to the highly conserved insertion box domain loops that rearrange upon complex formation to form multiple catalytic interactions with the two GTPs. Thus, although GTP hydrolysis is not required, the molecular rearrangements that lead to GTPase activation are essential for protein targeting. Most importantly, our results show that an elaborate rearrangement within the SRP–SR GTPase complex is required to drive the unloading and initiate translocation of cargo proteins.

2010 ◽  
Vol 190 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinh Q. Lam ◽  
David Akopian ◽  
Michael Rome ◽  
Doug Henningsen ◽  
Shu-ou Shan

The signal recognition particle (SRP) and SRP receptor comprise the major cellular machinery that mediates the cotranslational targeting of proteins to cellular membranes. It remains unclear how the delivery of cargos to the target membrane is spatially coordinated. We show here that phospholipid binding drives important conformational rearrangements that activate the bacterial SRP receptor FtsY and the SRP–FtsY complex. This leads to accelerated SRP–FtsY complex assembly, and allows the SRP–FtsY complex to more efficiently unload cargo proteins. Likewise, formation of an active SRP–FtsY GTPase complex exposes FtsY’s lipid-binding helix and enables stable membrane association of the targeting complex. Thus, membrane binding, complex assembly with SRP, and cargo unloading are inextricably linked to each other via conformational changes in FtsY. These allosteric communications allow the membrane delivery of cargo proteins to be efficiently coupled to their subsequent unloading and translocation, thus providing spatial coordination during protein targeting.


2013 ◽  
Vol 200 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Akopian ◽  
Kush Dalal ◽  
Kuang Shen ◽  
Franck Duong ◽  
Shu-ou Shan

Signal recognition particle (SRP) and its receptor (SR) comprise a highly conserved cellular machine that cotranslationally targets proteins to a protein-conducting channel, the bacterial SecYEG or eukaryotic Sec61p complex, at the target membrane. Whether SecYEG is a passive recipient of the translating ribosome or actively regulates this targeting machinery remains unclear. Here we show that SecYEG drives conformational changes in the cargo-loaded SRP–SR targeting complex that activate it for GTP hydrolysis and for handover of the translating ribosome. These results provide the first evidence that SecYEG actively drives the efficient delivery and unloading of translating ribosomes at the target membrane.


2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 2728-2734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Bradshaw ◽  
Peter Walter

The RNA component of the signal recognition particle (SRP) is universally required for cotranslational protein targeting. Biochemical studies have shown that SRP RNA participates in the central step of protein targeting by catalyzing the interaction of the SRP with the SRP receptor (SR). SRP RNA also accelerates GTP hydrolysis in the SRP·SR complex once formed. Using a reverse-genetic and biochemical analysis, we identified mutations in the E. coli SRP protein, Ffh, that abrogate the activity of the SRP RNA and cause corresponding targeting defects in vivo. The mutations in Ffh that disrupt SRP RNA activity map to regions that undergo dramatic conformational changes during the targeting reaction, suggesting that the activity of the SRP RNA is linked to the major conformational changes in the signal sequence-binding subunit of the SRP. In this way, the SRP RNA may coordinate the interaction of the SRP and the SR with ribosome recruitment and transfer to the translocon, explaining why the SRP RNA is an indispensable component of the protein targeting machinery.


2009 ◽  
Vol 390 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Przemyslaw Grudnik ◽  
Gert Bange ◽  
Irmgard Sinning

Abstract Protein targeting by the signal recognition particle (SRP) is universally conserved and starts with the recognition of a signal sequence in the context of a translating ribosome. SRP54 and FtsY, two multidomain proteins with guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) activity, are the central elements of the SRP system. They have to coordinate the presence of a signal sequence with the presence of a vacant translocation channel in the membrane. For coordination the two GTPases form a unique, nearly symmetric heterodimeric complex in which the activation of GTP hydrolysis plays a key role for membrane insertion of substrate proteins. Recent results are integrated in an updated perception of the order of events in SRP-mediated protein targeting.


Science ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 344 (6179) ◽  
pp. 101-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Timo Grotwinkel ◽  
Klemens Wild ◽  
Bernd Segnitz ◽  
Irmgard Sinning

The signal recognition particle (SRP) is central to membrane protein targeting; SRP RNA is essential for SRP assembly, elongation arrest, and activation of SRP guanosine triphosphatases. In eukaryotes, SRP function relies on the SRP68-SRP72 heterodimer. We present the crystal structures of the RNA-binding domain of SRP68 (SRP68-RBD) alone and in complex with SRP RNA and SRP19. SRP68-RBD is a tetratricopeptide-like module that binds to a RNA three-way junction, bends the RNA, and inserts an α-helical arginine-rich motif (ARM) into the major groove. The ARM opens the conserved 5f RNA loop, which in ribosome-bound SRP establishes a contact to ribosomal RNA. Our data provide the structural basis for eukaryote-specific, SRP68-driven RNA remodeling required for protein translocation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (12) ◽  
pp. 3260-3267 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Wesley Rose ◽  
Mechthild Pohlschröder

ABSTRACT The evolutionarily conserved signal recognition particle (SRP) plays an integral role in Sec-mediated cotranslational protein translocation and membrane protein insertion, as it has been shown to target nascent secretory and membrane proteins to the bacterial and eukaryotic translocation pores. However, little is known about its function in archaea, since characterization of the SRP in this domain of life has thus far been limited to in vitro reconstitution studies of heterologously expressed archaeal SRP components identified by sequence comparisons. In the present study, the genes encoding the SRP54, SRP19, and 7S RNA homologs (hv54h, hv19h, and hv7Sh, respectively) of the genetically and biochemically tractable archaeon Haloferax volcanii were cloned, providing the tools to analyze the SRP in its native host. As part of this analysis, an hv54h knockout strain was created. In vivo characterization of this strain revealed that the archaeal SRP is required for viability, suggesting that cotranslational protein translocation is an essential process in archaea. Furthermore, a method for the purification of this SRP employing nickel chromatography was developed in H. volcanii, allowing the successful copurification of (i) Hv7Sh with a histidine-tagged Hv54h, as well as (ii) Hv54h and Hv7Sh with a histidine-tagged Hv19h. These results provide the first in vivo evidence that these components interact in archaea. Such copurification studies will provide insight into the significance of the similarities and differences of the protein-targeting systems of the three domains of life, thereby increasing knowledge about the recognition of translocated proteins in general.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aileen R. Ariosa ◽  
Stacy S. Duncan ◽  
Ishu Saraogi ◽  
Xiaodong Lu ◽  
April Brown ◽  
...  

During cotranslational protein targeting by the signal recognition particle (SRP), information about signal sequence binding in the SRP's M domain must be effectively communicated to its GTPase domain to turn on its interaction with the SRP receptor (SR) and thus deliver the cargo proteins to the membrane. A universally conserved “fingerloop” lines the signal sequence–binding groove of SRP; the precise role of this fingerloop in protein targeting has remained elusive. In this study, we show that the fingerloop plays important roles in SRP function by helping to induce the SRP into a more active conformation that facilitates multiple steps in the pathway, including efficient recruitment of SR, GTPase activation in the SRP•SR complex, and most significantly, the unloading of cargo onto the target membrane. On the basis of these results and recent structural work, we propose that the fingerloop is the first structural element to detect signal sequence binding; this information is relayed to the linker connecting the SRP's M and G domains and thus activates the SRP and SR for carrying out downstream steps in the pathway.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (23) ◽  
pp. 12757
Author(s):  
Sung-jun Jung ◽  
Hyun Kim

Most secreted and membrane proteins are targeted to and translocated across the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane through the Sec61 protein-conducting channel. Evolutionarily conserved Sec62 and Sec63 associate with the Sec61 channel, forming the Sec complex and mediating translocation of a subset of proteins. For the last three decades, it has been thought that ER protein targeting and translocation occur via two distinct pathways: signal recognition particle (SRP)-dependent co-translational or SRP-independent, Sec62/Sec63 dependent post-translational translocation pathway. However, recent studies have suggested that ER protein targeting and translocation through the Sec translocon are more intricate than previously thought. This review summarizes the current understanding of the molecular functions of Sec62/Sec63 in ER protein translocation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Ho Lee ◽  
SangYoon Chung ◽  
Yu-Hsien Hwang Fu ◽  
Ruilin Qian ◽  
Xuemeng Sun ◽  
...  

AbstractSignal recognition particle (SRP) is a universally conserved targeting machine that couples the synthesis of ~30% of the proteome to their proper membrane localization1,2. In eukaryotic cells, SRP recognizes translating ribosomes bearing hydrophobic signal sequences and, through interaction with SRP receptor (SR), delivers them to the Sec61p translocase on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane1,2. How SRP ensures efficient and productive initiation of protein translocation at the ER is not well understood. Here, single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy demonstrates that cargo-loaded SRP induces a global compaction of SR, driving a >90 Å movement of the SRP•SR GTPase complex from the vicinity of the ribosome exit, where it initially assembles, to the distal site of SRP. These rearrangements bring translating ribosomes near the membrane, expose conserved Sec61p docking sites on the ribosome and weaken SRP’s interaction with the signal sequence on the nascent polypeptide, thus priming the translating ribosome for engaging the translocation machinery. Disruption of these rearrangements severely impairs cotranslational protein translocation and is the cause of failure in an SRP54 mutant linked to severe congenital neutropenia. Our results demonstrate that multiple largescale molecular motions in the SRP•SR complex are required to drive the transition from protein targeting to translocation; these post-targeting rearrangements provide potential new points for biological regulation as well as disease intervention.


Archaea ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Zwieb ◽  
Jerry Eichler

Protein translocation begins with the efficient targeting of secreted and membrane proteins to complexes embedded within the membrane. In Eukarya and Bacteria, this is achieved through the interaction of the signal recognition particle (SRP) with the nascent polypeptide chain. In Archaea, homologs of eukaryal and bacterial SRP-mediated translocation pathway components have been identified. Biochemical analysis has revealed that although the archaeal system incorporates various facets of the eukaryal and bacterial targeting systems, numerous aspects of the archaeal system are unique to this domain of life. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that elucidation of the archaeal SRP pathway will provide answers to basic questions about protein targeting that cannot be obtained from examination of eukaryal or bacterial models. In this review, recent data regarding the molecular composition, functional behavior and evolutionary significance of the archaeal signal recognition particle pathway are discussed.


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