scholarly journals Computational design of symmetrical eight-bladed β-propeller proteins

IUCrJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroki Noguchi ◽  
Christine Addy ◽  
David Simoncini ◽  
Staf Wouters ◽  
Bram Mylemans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Enzymatic Activity ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Protein Complexes ◽  
Protein A ◽  
Protein Structures ◽  
Computational Design ◽  
Computational Approach ◽  
Modular Architecture ◽  
Cellular Processes ◽  
History Of

β-Propeller proteins form one of the largest families of protein structures, with a pseudo-symmetrical fold made up of subdomains called blades. They are not only abundant but are also involved in a wide variety of cellular processes, often by acting as a platform for the assembly of protein complexes. WD40 proteins are a subfamily of propeller proteins with no intrinsic enzymatic activity, but their stable, modular architecture and versatile surface have allowed evolution to adapt them to many vital roles. By computationally reverse-engineering the duplication, fusion and diversification events in the evolutionary history of a WD40 protein, a perfectly symmetrical homologue called Tako8 was made. If two or four blades of Tako8 are expressed as single polypeptides, they do not self-assemble to complete the eight-bladed architecture, which may be owing to the closely spaced negative charges inside the ring. A different computational approach was employed to redesign Tako8 to create Ika8, a fourfold-symmetrical protein in which neighbouring blades carry compensating charges. Ika2 and Ika4, carrying two or four blades per subunit, respectively, were found to assemble spontaneously into a complete eight-bladed ring in solution. These artificial eight-bladed rings may find applications in bionanotechnology and as models to study the folding and evolution of WD40 proteins.

scholarly journals Structural Changes and Adaptative Evolutionary Constraints In FLOWERING LOCUS T and TERMINAL FLOWER1-Like Genes of Flowering Plants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deivid Almeida de Jesus ◽  
Darlisson Mesquista Batista ◽  
Shayla Salzman ◽  
Lucas Miguel Carvalho ◽  
Kaue Santana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Protein Structures ◽  
Flowering Phenology ◽  
Flowering Locus T ◽  
Ancestral Sequences ◽  
Terminal Flower 1 ◽  
History Of ◽  
Flowering Locus ◽  
Complex Signaling

Abstract Regulation of flowering is a crucial event in the evolutionary history of angiosperms. The production of flowers is regulated through the integration of different environmental and endogenous stimuli, many of which involve the activation of different genes in a hierarchical and complex signaling network. The FLOWERING LOCUS T/TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (FT/TFL1) gene family is known to regulate important aspects of flowering in plants. To better understand the pivotal events that changed FT and TFL1 functions during the evolution of angiosperms, we reconstructed the ancestral sequences of FT/TFL1-like genes and predicted protein structures to identify determinant sites that evolved in both proteins and allowed the adaptative diversification in the flowering phenology and developmental processes. Residues from the P-loop domain of the analyzed FT structures showed predominantly high destabilizing mutations which is consistent with constant selective pressure found for this region. In addition, we demonstrate that the occurrence of destabilizing mutations in residues located at the phosphatidylcholine binding sites of FT structure experience positive selection, and some residues of 4th exon are under negative selection, which is compensated by the occurrence of stabilizing mutations in key regions and the P-loop to maintain the overall protein stability. Our results shed light on the evolutionary history of key genes involved in the diversification of angiosperms.

scholarly journals Independent accretion of TIM22 complex subunits in the animal and fungal lineages

F1000Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 1060
Author(s):  
Sergio A. Muñoz-Gómez ◽  
Shannon N. Snyder ◽  
Samantha J. Montoya ◽  
Jeremy G. Wideman
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Protein Import ◽  
Protein Complexes ◽  
Mitochondrial Protein ◽  
Mitochondrial Protein Import ◽  
Mutation Pressure ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Fungal Evolution ◽  
Structural Divergence ◽  
History Of

Background: The mitochondrial protein import complexes arose early in eukaryogenesis. Most of the components of the protein import pathways predate the last eukaryotic common ancestor. For example, the carrier-insertase TIM22 complex comprises the widely conserved Tim22 channel core. However, the auxiliary components of fungal and animal TIM22 complexes are exceptions to this ancient conservation. Methods: Using comparative genomics and phylogenetic approaches, we identified precisely when each TIM22 accretion occurred. Results: In animals, we demonstrate that Tim29 and Tim10b arose early in the holozoan lineage. Tim29 predates the metazoan lineage being present in the animal sister lineages, choanoflagellate and filastereans, whereas the erroneously named Tim10b arose from a duplication of Tim9 at the base of metazoans. In fungi, we show that Tim54 has representatives present in every holomycotan lineage including microsporidians and fonticulids, whereas Tim18 and Tim12 appeared much later in fungal evolution. Specifically, Tim18 and Tim12 arose from duplications of Sdh3 and Tim10, respectively, early in the Saccharomycotina. Surprisingly, we show that Tim54 is distantly related to AGK suggesting that AGK and Tim54 are extremely divergent orthologues and the origin of AGK/Tim54 interaction with Tim22 predates the divergence of animals and fungi. Conclusions: We argue that the evolutionary history of the TIM22 complex is best understood as the neutral structural divergence of an otherwise strongly functionally conserved protein complex. This view suggests that many of the differences in structure/subunit composition of multi-protein complexes are non-adaptive. Instead, most of the phylogenetic variation of functionally conserved molecular machines, which have been under stable selective pressures for vast phylogenetic spans, such as the TIM22 complex, is most likely the outcome of the interplay of random genetic drift and mutation pressure.

scholarly journals Signalling Properties of Inositol Polyphosphates

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (22) ◽  
pp. 5281
Author(s):  
Tania Maffucci ◽  
Marco Falasca
Keyword(s):  
Enzymatic Activity ◽  
Protein Complexes ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Pharmacological Interventions ◽  
Inositol Polyphosphates ◽  
Cellular Processes ◽  
New Information ◽  
Different Cell Types

Several studies have identified specific signalling functions for inositol polyphosphates (IPs) in different cell types and have led to the accumulation of new information regarding their cellular roles as well as new insights into their cellular production. These studies have revealed that interaction of IPs with several proteins is critical for stabilization of protein complexes and for modulation of enzymatic activity. This has not only revealed their importance in regulation of several cellular processes but it has also highlighted the possibility of new pharmacological interventions in multiple diseases, including cancer. In this review, we describe some of the intracellular roles of IPs and we discuss the pharmacological opportunities that modulation of IPs levels can provide.

scholarly journals A brief history of thylakoid biogenesis

Open Biology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 180237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annabel Mechela ◽  
Serena Schwenkert ◽  
Jürgen Soll
Keyword(s):  
Thylakoid Membrane ◽  
Protein Complexes ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Molecular Processes ◽  
Strongly Coupled ◽  
Cellular Processes ◽  
Thylakoid Biogenesis ◽  
Target Membrane ◽  
History Of ◽  
Life On Earth

The thylakoid membrane network inside chloroplasts harbours the protein complexes that are necessary for the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis. Cellular processes for building and altering this membrane network are therefore essential for life on Earth. Nevertheless, detailed molecular processes concerning the origin and synthesis of the thylakoids remain elusive. Thylakoid biogenesis is strongly coupled to the processes of chloroplast differentiation. Chloroplasts develop from special progenitors called proplastids. As many of the needed building blocks such as lipids and pigments derive from the inner envelope, the question arises how these components are recruited to their target membrane. This review travels back in time to the beginnings of thylakoid membrane research to summarize findings, facts and fictions on thylakoid biogenesis and structure up to the present state, including new insights and future developments in this field.

scholarly journals Inferring the Evolutionary History of Your Favorite Protein: A Guide for Molecular Biologists

BioEssays ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 1900006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolien J.E. Hooff ◽  
Eelco Tromer ◽  
Teunis J.P. Dam ◽  
Geert J.P.L. Kops ◽  
Berend Snel
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Protein A ◽  
History Of

Elaborating the role of reflection and individual differences in the study of folk-economic beliefs

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arceneaux
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Beliefs

AbstractIntuitions guide decision-making, and looking to the evolutionary history of humans illuminates why some behavioral responses are more intuitive than others. Yet a place remains for cognitive processes to second-guess intuitive responses – that is, to be reflective – and individual differences abound in automatic, intuitive processing as well.

E3 ubiquitin ligases

2005 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen C. Ardley ◽  
Philip A. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Protein Complexes ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Direct Role ◽  
Cellular Processes ◽  
Substrate Protein ◽  
Protein Ubiquitination ◽  
C Terminus ◽  
Full Complement ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Eukaryotic Organisms

The selectivity of the ubiquitin–26 S proteasome system (UPS) for a particular substrate protein relies on the interaction between a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2, of which a cell contains relatively few) and a ubiquitin–protein ligase (E3, of which there are possibly hundreds). Post-translational modifications of the protein substrate, such as phosphorylation or hydroxylation, are often required prior to its selection. In this way, the precise spatio-temporal targeting and degradation of a given substrate can be achieved. The E3s are a large, diverse group of proteins, characterized by one of several defining motifs. These include a HECT (homologous to E6-associated protein C-terminus), RING (really interesting new gene) or U-box (a modified RING motif without the full complement of Zn2+-binding ligands) domain. Whereas HECT E3s have a direct role in catalysis during ubiquitination, RING and U-box E3s facilitate protein ubiquitination. These latter two E3 types act as adaptor-like molecules. They bring an E2 and a substrate into sufficiently close proximity to promote the substrate's ubiquitination. Although many RING-type E3s, such as MDM2 (murine double minute clone 2 oncoprotein) and c-Cbl, can apparently act alone, others are found as components of much larger multi-protein complexes, such as the anaphase-promoting complex. Taken together, these multifaceted properties and interactions enable E3s to provide a powerful, and specific, mechanism for protein clearance within all cells of eukaryotic organisms. The importance of E3s is highlighted by the number of normal cellular processes they regulate, and the number of diseases associated with their loss of function or inappropriate targeting.

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