Mechanism of protein-guided folding of the active site U2/U6 RNA during spliceosome activation

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. eabc3753
Author(s):  
Cole Townsend ◽  
Majety N. Leelaram ◽  
Dmitry E. Agafonov ◽  
Olexandr Dybkov ◽  
Cindy L. Will ◽  
...  

Spliceosome activation involves extensive protein and RNA rearrangements that lead to formation of a catalytically-active U2/U6 RNA structure. At present, little is known about the assembly pathway of the latter and the mechanism whereby proteins aid its proper folding. Here we report the cryo-electron microscopy structures of two human pre-Bact complexes at core resolutions of 3.9-4.2 Å. These structures elucidate the order of the numerous protein exchanges that occur during activation, the mutually-exclusive interactions that ensure the correct order of ribonucleoprotein rearrangements needed to form the U2/U6 catalytic RNA, and the stepwise folding pathway of the latter. Structural comparisons with mature Bact complexes reveal the molecular mechanism whereby a conformational change in the scaffold protein PRP8 facilitates final 3D folding of the U2/U6 catalytic RNA.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riley B. Peacock ◽  
Taylor McGrann ◽  
Marco Tonelli ◽  
Elizabeth A. Komives

AbstractSerine proteases catalyze a multi-step covalent catalytic mechanism of peptide bond cleavage. It has long been assumed that serine proteases including thrombin carry-out catalysis without significant conformational rearrangement of their stable two-β-barrel structure. We present nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) experiments on the thrombin-thrombomodulin (TM) complex. Thrombin promotes procoagulative fibrinogen cleavage when fibrinogen engages both the anion binding exosite 1 (ABE1) and the active site. It is thought that TM promotes cleavage of protein C by engaging ABE1 in a similar manner as fibrinogen. Thus, the thrombin-TM complex may represent the catalytically active, ABE1-engaged thrombin. Compared to apo- and active site inhibited-thrombin, we show that thrombin-TM has reduced μs-ms dynamics in the substrate binding (S1) pocket consistent with its known acceleration of protein C binding. Thrombin-TM has increased μs-ms dynamics in a β-strand connecting the TM binding site to the catalytic aspartate. Finally, thrombin-TM had doublet peaks indicative of dynamics that are slow on the NMR timescale in residues along the interface between the two β-barrels. Such dynamics may be responsible for facilitating the N-terminal product release and water molecule entry that are required for hydrolysis of the acyl-enzyme intermediate.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 6156-6167
Author(s):  
Chih-Jung Chen ◽  
Chih-Sheng Huang ◽  
Yu-Cheng Huang ◽  
Fu-Ming Wang ◽  
Xing-Chun Wang ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mélanie Roch ◽  
Emmanuelle Lelong ◽  
Olesya O. Panasenko ◽  
Roberto Sierra ◽  
Adriana Renzoni ◽  
...  

AbstractStaphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen and represents a clinical challenge because of widespread antibiotic resistance. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is particularly problematic and originates by the horizontal acquisition of mecA encoding PBP2a, an extracellular membrane anchored transpeptidase, which confers resistance to β-lactam antibiotics by allosteric gating of its active site channel. Herein, we show that dual disruption of PrsA, a lipoprotein chaperone displaying anti-aggregation activity, together with HtrA1, a membrane anchored chaperone/serine protease, resulted in severe and synergistic attenuation of PBP2a folding that restores sensitivity to β-lactams such as oxacillin. Purified PBP2a has a pronounced unfolding transition initiating at physiological temperatures that leads to irreversible precipitation and complete loss of activity. The concordance of genetic and biochemical data highlights the necessity for extracellular protein folding factors governing MRSA β-lactam resistance. Targeting the PBP2a folding pathway represents a particularly attractive adjuvant strategy to combat antibiotic resistance.


Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 368 (6496) ◽  
pp. 1211-1219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Yao Zhao ◽  
Yan Gao ◽  
Lijie Wu ◽  
Ruogu Gao ◽  
...  

The arabinosyltransferases EmbA, EmbB, and EmbC are involved in Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall synthesis and are recognized as targets for the anti-tuberculosis drug ethambutol. In this study, we determined cryo–electron microscopy and x-ray crystal structures of mycobacterial EmbA-EmbB and EmbC-EmbC complexes in the presence of their glycosyl donor and acceptor substrates and with ethambutol. These structures show how the donor and acceptor substrates bind in the active site and how ethambutol inhibits arabinosyltransferases by binding to the same site as both substrates in EmbB and EmbC. Most drug-resistant mutations are located near the ethambutol binding site. Collectively, our work provides a structural basis for understanding the biochemical function and inhibition of arabinosyltransferases and the development of new anti-tuberculosis agents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (45) ◽  
pp. 27989-27996
Author(s):  
Yasushi Daimon ◽  
Shin-ichiro Narita ◽  
Ryoji Miyazaki ◽  
Yohei Hizukuri ◽  
Hiroyuki Mori ◽  
...  

Escherichia coliperiplasmic zinc-metallopeptidase BepA normally functions by promoting maturation of LptD, a β-barrel outer-membrane protein involved in biogenesis of lipopolysaccharides, but degrades it when its membrane assembly is hampered. These processes should be properly regulated to ensure normal biogenesis of LptD. The underlying mechanism of regulation, however, remains to be elucidated. A recently solved BepA structure has revealed unique features: In particular, the active site is buried in the protease domain and conceivably inaccessible for substrate degradation. Additionally, the His-246 residue in the loop region containing helix α9 (α9/H246 loop), which has potential flexibility and covers the active site, coordinates the zinc ion as the fourth ligand to exclude a catalytic water molecule, thereby suggesting that the crystal structure of BepA represents a latent form. To examine the roles of the α9/H246 loop in the regulation of BepA activity, we constructed BepA mutants with a His-246 mutation or a deletion of the α9/H246 loop and analyzed their activities in vivo and in vitro. These mutants exhibited an elevated protease activity and, unlike the wild-type BepA, degraded LptD that is in the normal assembly pathway. In contrast, tethering of the α9/H246 loop repressed the LptD degradation, which suggests that the flexibility of this loop is important to the exhibition of protease activity. Based on these results, we propose that the α9/H246 loop undergoes a reversible structural change that enables His-246–mediated switching (histidine switch) of its protease activity, which is important for regulated degradation of stalled/misassembled LptD.


2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (20) ◽  
pp. 6972-6982
Author(s):  
Dakshinamurthy Sivakumar ◽  
Vikash Kumar ◽  
Michael Naumann ◽  
Matthias Stein

The ovarian tumor domain (OTU) deubiquitinylating cysteine proteases OTUB1 and OTUB2 (OTU ubiquitin aldehyde binding 1 and 2) are representative members of the OTU subfamily of deubiquitinylases. Deubiquitinylation critically regulates a multitude of important cellular processes, such as apoptosis, cell signaling, and growth. Moreover, elevated OTUB expression has been observed in various cancers, including glioma, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, and breast cancer. Here, using molecular dynamics simulation approaches, we found that both OTUB1 and OTUB2 display a catalytic triad characteristic of proteases but differ in their configuration and protonation states. The OTUB1 protein had a prearranged catalytic site, with strong electrostatic interactions between the active-site residues His265 and Asp267. In OTUB2, however, the arrangement of the catalytic triad was different. In the absence of ubiquitin, the neutral states of the catalytic-site residues in OTUB2 were more stable, resulting in larger distances between these residues. Only upon ubiquitin binding did the catalytic triad in OTUB2 rearrange and bring the active site into a catalytically feasible state. An analysis of water access channels revealed only a few diffusion trajectories for the catalytically active form of OTUB1, whereas in OTUB2 the catalytic site was solvent-accessible, and a larger number of water molecules reached and left the binding pocket. Interestingly, in OTUB2, the catalytic residues His224 and Asn226 formed a stable hydrogen bond. We propose that the observed differences in activation kinetics, protonation states, water channels, and active-site accessibility between OTUB1 and OTUB2 may be relevant for the selective design of OTU inhibitors.


1977 ◽  
Vol 161 (3) ◽  
pp. 643-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
D P Bloxham ◽  
D C Wilton

Methyl methanethiosulphonate was used to produce a modification of the essential thiol group in lactate dehydrogenase which leaves the enzyme catalytically active. Methyl methanethiosulphonate produced a progressive inhibition of enzyme activity, with 2mM-pyruvate and 0.14mM-NADH as substrates, which ceased once the enzyme had lost 70-90% of its activity. In contrast, with 10mM-lactate and 0.4mM-NAD+ as substrates the enzyme was virtually completely inhibited. The observed inhibition was critically dependent on the chosen substrate concentration, since methanethiolation with methyl methanethiosulphonate resulted in a large decrease in affinity for pyruvate. At 0.14mM-NADH, methanethiolation increased the apparent KmPyr from from 40micronM for the control enzyme to 12mM for the modified enzyme. Steady-state kinetics showed that there was not a statistically significant change in either KmNADH or KsNADH. At saturating NADH and pyruvate concentrations, the Vmax. was virtually unaffected for the methanethiolated enzyme. However, a decrease in Vmax. was observed when the modified enzyme was incubated in dilute solution. The modification of lactate dehydrogenase by methyl methanethiosulphonate involved the active site, since inhibition was completely prevented by substrate-analogue pairs such as NADH and oxamate or NAD+ and oxalate. The formation of complexes between methanethiolated lactate dehydrogenase and substrates or substrate analogues can also be shown by re-activation experiments. The methanethiolated enzyme was re-activated in a time-dependent reaction by dithiothreitol and this was prevented by oxamate, by NADH and by NADH plus oxamate in increasing order of effectiveness. The results of this work are interpreted in terms of a role for the essential thiol group in the binding of substrates.


1988 ◽  
Vol 254 (3) ◽  
pp. 693-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
D J Buttle ◽  
B C Bonner ◽  
D Burnett ◽  
A J Barrett

A cysteine proteinase from purulent sputum was partially purified by a method involving affinity chromatography on Sepharose-aminohexanoylphenylalanylglycinaldehyde semicarbazone. It was immunologically related to lysosomal cathepsin B from human liver and was similar in many, but not all, other aspects. It was catalytically active, as demonstrated by active-site-directed radioiodination, and hydrolysed three cathepsin B substrates, two with Km values similar to those of lysosomal cathepsin B. In addition, the rates of inactivation of the sputum and lysosomal forms of the enzyme by L-3-carboxy-2,3-transepoxypropionyl-leucylamido(4-guanidino) butane (Compound E-64) were very similar. However, the sputum enzyme differed from lysosomal cathepsin B in the following respects. Inhibition by chicken cystatin was much weaker for sputum cathepsin B than for the lysosomal enzyme. Sputum cathepsin B had greater stability at pH 7.5 and a higher apparent Mr, even after deglycosylation, than lysosomal cathepsin B. We conclude that the form of cathepsin B found in sputum is probably a truncated form of human procathepsin B, with some differences in properties that could be of physiological importance.


2007 ◽  
Vol 407 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria J. Just ◽  
Matthew R. Burrell ◽  
Laura Bowater ◽  
Iain McRobbie ◽  
Clare E. M. Stevenson ◽  
...  

Oxalate decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.2) catalyses the conversion of oxalate into carbon dioxide and formate. It requires manganese and, uniquely, dioxygen for catalysis. It forms a homohexamer and each subunit contains two similar, but distinct, manganese sites termed sites 1 and 2. There is kinetic evidence that only site 1 is catalytically active and that site 2 is purely structural. However, the kinetics of enzymes with mutations in site 2 are often ambiguous and all mutant kinetics have been interpreted without structural information. Nine new site-directed mutants have been generated and four mutant crystal structures have now been solved. Most mutants targeted (i) the flexibility (T165P), (ii) favoured conformation (S161A, S164A, D297A or H299A) or (iii) presence (Δ162–163 or Δ162–164) of a lid associated with site 1. The kinetics of these mutants were consistent with only site 1 being catalytically active. This was particularly striking with D297A and H299A because they disrupted hydrogen bonds between the lid and a neighbouring subunit only when in the open conformation and were distant from site 2. These observations also provided the first evidence that the flexibility and stability of lid conformations are important in catalysis. The deletion of the lid to mimic the plant oxalate oxidase led to a loss of decarboxylase activity, but only a slight elevation in the oxalate oxidase side reaction, implying other changes are required to afford a reaction specificity switch. The four mutant crystal structures (R92A, E162A, Δ162–163 and S161A) strongly support the hypothesis that site 2 is purely structural.


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