scholarly journals Prediction of the effect of pH on the aggregation and conditional folding of intrinsically disordered proteins with SolupHred and DispHred.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Iglesias ◽  
Carlos Pintado-Grima ◽  
Jaime Santos ◽  
Marc Fornt ◽  
Salvador Ventura
Keyword(s):  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Net Charge ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Binding Partners ◽  
Dissolved Ions ◽  
Ph Dependent ◽  
User Friendly

Proteins microenvironments modulate their structures. Binding partners, organic molecules, or dissolved ions can alter the protein's compaction, inducing aggregation or order-disorder conformational transitions. Surprisingly, bioinformatic platforms often disregard the protein context in their modeling. In recent work, we proposed that modeling how pH affects protein net charge and hydrophobicity might allow us to forecast pH-dependent aggregation and conditional disorder in intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). As these approaches showed remarkable success in recapitulating the available bibliographical data, we made these prediction methods available for the scientific community as two user-friendly web servers. SolupHred is the first dedicated software to predict pH-dependent aggregation, and DispHred is the first pH-dependent predictor of protein disorder. Here we dissect the features of these two software applications to train and assist scientists in studying pH-dependent conformational changes in IDPs.

scholarly journals DispHred: A Server to Predict pH-Dependent Order–Disorder Transitions in Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Santos ◽  
Valentín Iglesias ◽  
Carlos Pintado ◽  
Juan Santos-Suárez ◽  
Salvador Ventura
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Protein Disorder ◽  
Net Charge ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Linear Boundary Condition ◽  
Natively Unfolded ◽  
Ph Dependent ◽  
Very High

The natively unfolded nature of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) relies on several physicochemical principles, of which the balance between a low sequence hydrophobicity and a high net charge appears to be critical. Under this premise, it is well-known that disordered proteins populate a defined region of the charge–hydropathy (C–H) space and that a linear boundary condition is sufficient to distinguish between folded and disordered proteins, an approach widely applied for the prediction of protein disorder. Nevertheless, it is evident that the C–H relation of a protein is not unalterable but can be modulated by factors extrinsic to its sequence. Here, we applied a C–H-based analysis to develop a computational approach that evaluates sequence disorder as a function of pH, assuming that both protein net charge and hydrophobicity are dependent on pH solution. On that basis, we developed DispHred, the first pH-dependent predictor of protein disorder. Despite its simplicity, DispHred displays very high accuracy in identifying pH-induced order/disorder protein transitions. DispHred might be useful for diverse applications, from the analysis of conditionally disordered segments to the synthetic design of disorder tags for biotechnological applications. Importantly, since many disorder predictors use hydrophobicity as an input, the here developed framework can be implemented in other state-of-the-art algorithms.

Current Challenges and Limitations in the Studies of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins in Neurodegenerative Diseases by Computer Simulations

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Yagiz Akbayrak ◽  
Sule Irem Caglayan ◽  
Zilan Ozcan ◽  
Vladimir N. Uversky ◽  
Orkid Coskuner-Weber
Keyword(s):  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Computer Simulations ◽  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Computational Studies ◽  
Accurate Data ◽  
Aggregation Propensity ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Future Developments

: Experiments face challenges in the analysis of intrinsically disordered proteins in solution due to fast conformational changes and enhanced aggregation propensity. Computational studies complement experiments, being widely used in the analyses of intrinsically disordered proteins, especially those positioned at the centers of neurodegenerative diseases. However, recent investigations – including our own – revealed that computer simulations face significant challenges and limitations themselves. In this review, we introduced and discussed some of the scientific challenges and limitations of computational studies conducted on intrinsically disordered proteins. We also outlined the importance of future developments in the areas of computational chemistry and computational physics that would be needed for generating more accurate data for intrinsically disordered proteins from computer simulations. Additional theoretical strategies that can be developed are discussed herein.

scholarly journals The Disordered Cellular Multi-Tasker WIP and Its Protein–Protein Interactions: A Structural View

Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1084 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chana G. Sokolik ◽  
Nasrin Qassem ◽  
Jordan H. Chill
Keyword(s):  
Protein Interactions ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Actin Binding ◽  
Structural Description ◽  
Protein Protein Interactions ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Terminal Domain ◽  
Binding Partners

WASp-interacting protein (WIP), a regulator of actin cytoskeleton assembly and remodeling, is a cellular multi-tasker and a key member of a network of protein–protein interactions, with significant impact on health and disease. Here, we attempt to complement the well-established understanding of WIP function from cell biology studies, summarized in several reviews, with a structural description of WIP interactions, highlighting works that present a molecular view of WIP’s protein–protein interactions. This provides a deeper understanding of the mechanisms by which WIP mediates its biological functions. The fully disordered WIP also serves as an intriguing example of how intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) exert their function. WIP consists of consecutive small functional domains and motifs that interact with a host of cellular partners, with a striking preponderance of proline-rich motif capable of interactions with several well-recognized binding partners; indeed, over 30% of the WIP primary structure are proline residues. We focus on the binding motifs and binding interfaces of three important WIP segments, the actin-binding N-terminal domain, the central domain that binds SH3 domains of various interaction partners, and the WASp-binding C-terminal domain. Beyond the obvious importance of a more fundamental understanding of the biology of this central cellular player, this approach carries an immediate and highly beneficial effect on drug-design efforts targeting WIP and its binding partners. These factors make the value of such structural studies, challenging as they are, readily apparent.

scholarly journals Charge fluctuation effects on the shape of flexible polyampholytes with applications to Intrinsically disordered proteins

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Himadri S. Samanta ◽  
Debayan Chakraborty ◽  
D. Thirumalai
Keyword(s):  
Electrostatic Interactions ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Debye Length ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Radius Of Gyration ◽  
Charge Fluctuation ◽  
Net Charge ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
X Ray Scattering ◽  
Theoretical Predictions

Random polyampholytes (PAs) contain positively and negatively charged monomers that are distributed randomly along the polymer chain. The interaction between charges is assumed to be given by the Debye-Huckel potential. We show that the size of the PA is determined by an interplay between electrostatic interactions, giving rise to the polyelectrolyte (PE) effect due to net charge per monomer (σ), and an effective attractive PA interaction due to charge fluctuations, δσ. The interplay between these terms gives rise to non-monotonic dependence of the radius of gyration, Rg on the inverse Debye length, κ when PA effects are important . In the opposite limit, Rg decreases monotonically with increasing κ. Simulations of PA chains, using a charged bead-spring model, further corroborates our theoretical predictions. The simulations unambiguously show that conformational heterogeneity manifests itself among sequences that have identical PA parameters. A clear implication is that the phases of PA sequences, and by inference IDPs, cannot be determined using only the bare PA parameters (σ and δσ).The theory is used to calculate the changes in Rg on N, the number of residues for a set of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (IDPs). For a certain class of IDPs, with N between 24 to 441, the size grows as Rg ~ N0.6, which agrees with data from Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) experiments.

scholarly journals Multisite Phosphorylation and Binding Alter Conformational Dynamics of the 4E-BP2 Protein

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spencer Smyth ◽  
Zhenfu Zhang ◽  
Alaji Bah ◽  
Thomas Tsangaris ◽  
Jennifer Dawson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Regulatory Protein ◽  
Conformational Dynamics ◽  
Correlation Spectroscopy ◽  
Terminal Region ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Initiation Factor ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) play critical roles in regulatory protein interactions, but detailed structural/dynamics characterization of their ensembles remain challenging, both in isolation and they form dynamic fuzzy complexes. Such is the case for mRNA cap-dependent translation initiation, which is regulated by the interaction of the predominantly folded eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) with the intrinsically disordered eIF4E binding proteins (4E-BPs) in a phosphorylation-dependent manner. Single-molecule Forster resonance energy transfer showed that the conformational changes of 4E-BP2 induced by binding to eIF4E are non-uniform along the sequence; while a central region containing both motifs that bind to eIF4E expands and becomes stiffer, the C-terminal region is less affected. Fluorescence anisotropy decay revealed a nonuniform segmental flexibility around six different labelling sites along the chain. Dynamic quenching of these fluorescent probes by intrinsic aromatic residues measured via fluorescence correlation spectroscopy report on transient intra- and inter-molecular contacts on nanosecond-microsecond timescales. Upon hyperphosphorylation, which induces folding of ~40 residues in 4E-BP2, the quenching rates decreased at labelling sites closest to the phosphorylation sites and within the folded domain, and increased at the other sites. The chain dynamics around sites in the C-terminal region far away from the two binding motifs were significantly reduced upon binding to eIF4E, suggesting that this region is also involved in the highly dynamic 4E-BP2:eIF4E complex. Our time-resolved fluorescence data paint a sequence-level rigidity map of three states of 4E-BP2 differing in phosphorylation or binding status and distinguish regions that form contacts with eIF4E. This study adds complementary structural and dynamics information to recent studies of 4E-BP2, and it constitutes an important step towards a mechanistic understanding of this important IDP via integrative modelling.

scholarly journals Ensemble allosteric model: energetic frustration within the intrinsically disordered glucocorticoid receptor

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1749) ◽  
pp. 20170175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan T. White ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Emily Grasso ◽  
James O. Wrabl ◽  
Vincent J. Hilser
Keyword(s):  
Glucocorticoid Receptor ◽  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Coupling Energy ◽  
Precise Control ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Protein Allostery ◽  
Multiple Interfaces ◽  
Allosteric Model

Allostery is an important regulatory phenomenon enabling precise control of biological function. Initial understanding of allostery was gained from seminal work on conformational changes exhibited by structured proteins. Within the last decade, protein allostery has also been demonstrated to occur within intrinsically disordered proteins. This emerging concept of disorder-mediated allostery can be usefully understood in the context of a thermodynamic ensemble. The advantage of this ensemble allosteric model is that it unifies the explanations of allostery occurring within both structured and disordered proteins. One central finding from this model is that energetic coupling, the transmission of a signal between separate regions (or domains) of a protein, is maximized when one or more domains are disordered. This is due to a disorder–order transition that contributes additional coupling energy to the allosteric system through formation of a molecular interaction surface or interface. A second key finding is that multiple interfaces may constructively or destructively interfere with each other, resulting in a new form of allosteric regulation called ‘energetic frustration’. Articulating protein allostery in terms of the thermodynamic ensemble permits formulation of experimentally testable hypotheses which can increase fundamental understanding and direct drug-design efforts. These ideas are illustrated here with the specific case of human glucocorticoid receptor, a medically important multi-domain allosteric protein that contains both structured and disordered regions and exemplifies ‘energetic frustration’. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Allostery and molecular machines’.

scholarly journals Energetics and kinetics of substrate analog-coupled staphylococcal nuclease folding revealed by a statistical mechanical approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (33) ◽  
pp. 19953-19962
Author(s):  
Takuya Mizukami ◽  
Shunta Furuzawa ◽  
Satoru G. Itoh ◽  
Saho Segawa ◽  
Teikichi Ikura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Flux Ratio ◽  
Staphylococcal Nuclease ◽  
Binding Energies ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Flux Analysis ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Substrate Analog ◽  
Statistical Mechanical

Protein conformational changes associated with ligand binding, especially those involving intrinsically disordered proteins, are mediated by tightly coupled intra- and intermolecular events. Such reactions are often discussed in terms of two limiting kinetic mechanisms, conformational selection (CS), where folding precedes binding, and induced fit (IF), where binding precedes folding. It has been shown that coupled folding/binding reactions can proceed along both CS and IF pathways with the flux ratio depending on conditions such as ligand concentration. However, the structural and energetic basis of such complex reactions remains poorly understood. Therefore, we used experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches to explore structural and energetic aspects of the coupled-folding/binding reaction of staphylococcal nuclease in the presence of the substrate analog adenosine-3′,5′-diphosphate. Optically monitored equilibrium and kinetic data, combined with a statistical mechanical model, gave deeper insight into the relative importance of specific and Coulombic protein–ligand interactions in governing the reaction mechanism. We also investigated structural aspects of the reaction at the residue level using NMR and all-atom replica-permutation molecular dynamics simulations. Both approaches yielded clear evidence for accumulation of a transient protein–ligand encounter complex early in the reaction under IF-dominant conditions. Quantitative analysis of the equilibrium/kinetic folding revealed that the ligand-dependent CS-to-IF shift resulted from stabilization of the compact transition state primarily by weakly ligand-dependent Coulombic interactions with smaller contributions from specific binding energies. At a more macroscopic level, the CS-to-IF shift was represented as a displacement of the reaction “route” on the free energy surface, which was consistent with a flux analysis.

scholarly journals Depicting Conformational Ensembles of α-Synuclein by Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy and Native Mass Spectroscopy

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 5181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Corti ◽  
Claudia A. Marrano ◽  
Domenico Salerno ◽  
Stefania Brocca ◽  
Antonino Natalello ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Single Molecule ◽  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Force Spectroscopy ◽  
Native Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered

Description of heterogeneous molecular ensembles, such as intrinsically disordered proteins, represents a challenge in structural biology and an urgent question posed by biochemistry to interpret many physiologically important, regulatory mechanisms. Single-molecule techniques can provide a unique contribution to this field. This work applies single molecule force spectroscopy to probe conformational properties of α-synuclein in solution and its conformational changes induced by ligand binding. The goal is to compare data from such an approach with those obtained by native mass spectrometry. These two orthogonal, biophysical methods are found to deliver a complex picture, in which monomeric α-synuclein in solution spontaneously populates compact and partially compacted states, which are differently stabilized by binding to aggregation inhibitors, such as dopamine and epigallocatechin-3-gallate. Analyses by circular dichroism and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy show that these transitions do not involve formation of secondary structure. This comparative analysis provides support to structural interpretation of charge-state distributions obtained by native mass spectrometry and helps, in turn, defining the conformational components detected by single molecule force spectroscopy.

SolupHred: a server to predict the pH-dependent aggregation of intrinsically disordered proteins

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Pintado ◽  
Jaime Santos ◽  
Valentín Iglesias ◽  
Salvador Ventura
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Supplementary Information ◽  
Supplementary Data ◽  
Solution Ph ◽  
Predictive Tool ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Dependent Protein ◽  
Ph Dependent

Abstract Summary Polypeptides are exposed to changing environmental conditions that modulate their intrinsic aggregation propensities. Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) constitutively expose their aggregation determinants to the solvent, thus being especially sensitive to its fluctuations. However, solvent conditions are often disregarded in computational aggregation predictors. We recently developed a phenomenological model to predict IDPs' solubility as a function of the solution pH, which is based on the assumption that both protein lipophilicity and charge depend on this parameter. The model anticipated solubility changes in different IDPs accurately. In this application note, we present SolupHred, a web-based interface that implements the aforementioned theoretical framework into a predictive tool able to compute IDPs aggregation propensities as a function of pH. SolupHred is the first dedicated software for the prediction of pH-dependent protein aggregation. Availability and implementation The SolupHred web server is freely available for academic users at: https://ppmclab.pythonanywhere.com/SolupHred. It is platform-independent and does not require previous registration. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

scholarly journals pH-Dependent Aggregation in Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Is Determined by Charge and Lipophilicity

Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Santos ◽  
Valentín Iglesias ◽  
Juan Santos-Suárez ◽  
Marco Mangiagalli ◽  
Stefania Brocca ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Premature Aging ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Solution Ph ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Large Scale Analysis ◽  
Human Disorders ◽  
Ph Dependent

Protein aggregation is associated with an increasing number of human disorders and premature aging. Moreover, it is a central concern in the manufacturing of recombinant proteins for biotechnological and therapeutic applications. Nevertheless, the unique architecture of protein aggregates is also exploited by nature for functional purposes, from bacteria to humans. The relevance of this process in health and disease has boosted the interest in understanding and controlling aggregation, with the concomitant development of a myriad of algorithms aimed to predict aggregation propensities. However, most of these programs are blind to the protein environment and, in particular, to the influence of the pH. Here, we developed an empirical equation to model the pH-dependent aggregation of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) based on the assumption that both the global protein charge and lipophilicity depend on the solution pH. Upon its parametrization with a model IDP, this simple phenomenological approach showed unprecedented accuracy in predicting the dependence of the aggregation of both pathogenic and functional amyloidogenic IDPs on the pH. The algorithm might be useful for diverse applications, from large-scale analysis of IDPs aggregation properties to the design of novel reversible nanofibrillar materials.

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