scholarly journals Molecular and Biochemical Techniques for Deciphering p53-MDM2 Regulatory Mechanisms

Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Karakostis ◽  
Ignacio López ◽  
Ana M. Peña-Balderas ◽  
Robin Fåhareus ◽  
Vanesa Olivares-Illana

The p53 and Mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) proteins are hubs in extensive networks of interactions with multiple partners and functions. Intrinsically disordered regions help to adopt function-specific structural conformations in response to ligand binding and post-translational modifications. Different techniques have been used to dissect interactions of the p53-MDM2 pathway, in vitro, in vivo, and in situ each having its own advantages and disadvantages. This review uses the p53-MDM2 to show how different techniques can be employed, illustrating how a combination of in vitro and in vivo techniques is highly recommended to study the spatio-temporal location and dynamics of interactions, and to address their regulation mechanisms and functions. By using well-established techniques in combination with more recent advances, it is possible to rapidly decipher complex mechanisms, such as the p53 regulatory pathway, and to demonstrate how protein and nucleotide ligands in combination with post-translational modifications, result in inter-allosteric and intra-allosteric interactions that govern the activity of the protein complexes and their specific roles in oncogenesis. This promotes elegant therapeutic strategies that exploit protein dynamics to target specific interactions.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolai N. Sluchanko ◽  
Kristina V. Tugaeva ◽  
Alfred A. Antson

ABSTRACTIn eukaryotes, several proteins act as “hubs”, integrating signals from a variety of interacting partners that bind to the hub through intrinsically disordered regions. Not surprisingly, one of the major hubs, the 14-3-3 protein, that plays wide-ranging roles in cellular processes, has been linked with a number of disorders including neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. A partner protein usually binds with its phosphopeptide accommodated in an amphipathic groove (AG) of 14-3-3, a promising platform for therapeutic intervention. Protein plasticity in the groove allows to accommodate a range of phosphopeptides with different sequences. So far, in spite of mammoth effort, accurate structural information has been derived only for few 14-3-3 complexes with phosphopeptide-containing proteins or various short synthetic peptides. The progress has been prevented by intrinsic disorder of partner proteins and, in case of transient interactions, by the low affinity of phosphopeptides. We reasoned that these problems could be resolved by using chimeric 14-3-3 proteins with incorporated peptide sequences. We tested this hypothesis and found that such chimeric proteins are easy to design, express, purify and crystallize. We show that when attached to the C terminus of 14-3-3 via an optimal linker, peptides become stoichiometrically phosphorylated by protein kinase A during bacterial co-expression. We determined crystal structures for complexes of chimeric 14-3-3 protein fused with three different peptides. In most of the cases, the phosphopeptide is bound inside the AG, providing invaluable information on its interaction with the protein. This approach can reinvigorate studies of 14-3-3 protein complexes, including those with otherwise challenging low affinity phosphopeptides. Furthermore, 14-3-3-phosphopeptide chimeras can be useful for the design of novel biosensors for in vitro and in vivo imaging experiments.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Manuel Valverde ◽  
Geronimo Dubra ◽  
Henk van den Toorn ◽  
Guido van Mierlo ◽  
Michiel Vermeulen ◽  
...  

Switch-like cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)-1 activation is thought to underlie the abruptness of mitotic onset, but how CDKs can simultaneously phosphorylate many diverse substrates is unknown, and direct evidence for such phosphorylation dynamics in vivo is lacking. Here, we analysed protein phosphorylation states in single Xenopus embryos throughout synchronous cell cycles. Over a thousand phosphosites were dynamic in vivo, and assignment of cell cycle phases using egg extracts revealed hundreds of S-phase phosphorylations. Targeted phosphoproteomics in single embryos showed switch-like mitotic phosphorylation of diverse protein complexes. The majority of cell cycle-regulated phosphosites occurred in CDK consensus motifs, and 72% located to intrinsically disordered regions. Dynamically phosphorylated proteins, and documented substrates of cell cycle kinases, are significantly more disordered than phosphoproteins in general. Furthermore, 30-50% are components of membraneless organelles. Our results suggest that phosphorylation of intrinsically disordered proteins by cell cycle kinases, particularly CDKs, allows switch-like mitotic cellular reorganisation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Courchaine ◽  
Martin Machyna ◽  
Korinna Straube ◽  
Sarah Sauyet ◽  
Jade Enright ◽  
...  

Cajal bodies (CBs) are ubiquitous nuclear membraneless organelles (MLOs) that promote efficient biogenesis of RNA-protein complexes. Depletion of the CB scaffolding protein coilin is lethal for vertebrate embryogenesis, making CBs a strong model for understanding the structure and function of MLOs. Although it is assumed that CBs form through biomolecular condensation, the biochemical and biophysical principles that govern CB dynamics have eluded study. Here, we identify features of the coilin protein that drive CB assembly and shape. Focusing on coilin's N-terminal domain (NTD), we discovered its unexpected capacity for oligomerization in vivo. Single amino acid mutational analysis of coilin revealed distinct molecular interactions required for oligomerization and binding to the Nopp140 ligand, which facilitates CB assembly. We demonstrate that the intrinsically disordered regions of Nopp140 have substantial condensation properties and suggest that Nopp140 binding thereby remodels stable coilin oligomers to form a particle that recruits other functional components.


Author(s):  
Weirui Ma ◽  
Gang Zhen ◽  
Wei Xie ◽  
Christine Mayr

SummaryThe TIS granule network is a constitutively expressed membraneless organelle that concentrates mRNAs with AU-rich elements and interacts with the major site of protein synthesis, the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Most known biomolecular condensates are sphere-like, but TIS granules have a mesh-like morphology. Through in vivo and in vitro reconstitution experiments we discovered that this shape is generated by extensive intermolecular RNA-RNA interactions. They are mostly accomplished by mRNAs with large unstructured regions in their 3′UTRs that we call intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). As AU-rich RNA is a potent chaperone that suppresses protein aggregation and is overrepresented in mRNAs with IDRs, our data suggests that TIS granules concentrate mRNAs that assist protein folding. In addition, the proximity of translating mRNAs in TIS granule networks may enable co-translational protein complex formation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 477 (5) ◽  
pp. 971-983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prakash Kalwani ◽  
Devashish Rath ◽  
Anand Ballal

The cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120 shows the presence of Type I-D CRISPR system that can potentially confer adaptive immunity. The Cas7 protein (Alr1562), which forms the backbone of the type I-D surveillance complex, was characterized from Anabaena. Alr1562, showed the presence of the non-canonical RNA recognition motif and two intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). When overexpressed in E. coli, the Alr1562 protein was soluble and could be purified by affinity chromatography, however, deletion of IDRs rendered Alr1562 completely insoluble. The purified Alr1562 was present in the dimeric or a RNA-associated higher oligomeric form, which appeared as spiral structures under electron microscope. With RNaseA and NaCl treatment, the higher oligomeric form converted to the lower oligomeric form, indicating that oligomerization occurred due to the association of Alr1562 with RNA. The secondary structure of both these forms was largely similar, resembling that of a partially folded protein. The dimeric Alr1562 was more prone to temperature-dependent aggregation than the higher oligomeric form. In vitro, the Alr1562 bound more specifically to a minimal CRISPR unit than to the non-specific RNA. Residues required for binding of Alr1562 to RNA, identified by protein modeling-based approaches, were mutated for functional validation. Interestingly, these mutant proteins, showing reduced ability to bind RNA were predominantly present in dimeric form. Alr1562 was detected with specific antiserum in Anabaena, suggesting that the type I-D system is expressed and may be functional in vivo. This is the first report that describes the characterization of a Cas protein from any photosynthetic organism.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew W. Parker ◽  
Jonchee Kao ◽  
Alvin Huang ◽  
James M. Berger ◽  
Michael R. Botchan

ABSTRACTLiquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in proteins can drive the formation of membraneless compartments in cells. Phase-separated structures enrich for specific partner proteins and exclude others. We have shown that the IDRs of metazoan DNA replication initiators drive DNA-dependent phase separationin vitroand chromosome bindingin vivo, and that initiator condensates selectively recruit specific partner proteins. How initiator IDRs facilitate LLPS and maintain compositional specificity is unknown. UsingD. melanogaster (Dm)Cdt1 as a model initiation factor, we show that phase separation results from a synergy between electrostatic DNA-bridging interactions and hydrophobic inter-IDR contacts. Both sets of interactions depend on sequence composition (but not sequence order), are resistant to 1,6- hexanediol, and do not depend on aromaticity. These findings demonstrate that distinct sets of interactions drive self-assembly and condensate specificity across different phase-separating systems and advance efforts to predict IDR LLPS propensity and specificitya priori.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David-Paul Minde ◽  
Manasa Ramakrishna ◽  
Kathryn S. Lilley

AbstractFolded enzymes are essential for life, but there is limited in vivo information about how locally unfolded protein regions contribute to biological functions. Intrinsically Disordered Regions (IDRs) are enriched in disease-linked and multiply post-translationally modified proteins. The extent of foldability of predicted IDRs is difficult to measure due to significant technical challenges to survey in vivo protein conformations on a proteome-wide scale. We reasoned that IDRs should be more accessible to targeted in vivo biotinylation than more ordered protein regions, if they retain their flexibility in vivo. Indeed, we observed a positive correlation of predicted IDRs and biotinylation density across four independent large-scale proximity proteomics studies that together report >20 000 biotinylation sites. We show that biotin ‘painting’ is a promising approach to fill gaps in knowledge between static in vitro protein structures, in silico disorder predictions and in vivo condition-dependent subcellular plasticity using the 80S ribosome as an example.


eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew W Parker ◽  
Jonchee A Kao ◽  
Alvin Huang ◽  
James M Berger ◽  
Michael R Botchan

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in proteins can drive the formation of membraneless compartments in cells. Phase-separated structures enrich for specific partner proteins and exclude others. Previously, we showed that the IDRs of metazoan DNA replication initiators drive DNA-dependent phase separation in vitro and chromosome binding in vivo, and that initiator condensates selectively recruit replication-specific partner proteins (Parker et al., 2019). How initiator IDRs facilitate LLPS and maintain compositional specificity is unknown. Here, using D. melanogaster (Dm) Cdt1 as a model initiation factor, we show that phase separation results from a synergy between electrostatic DNA-bridging interactions and hydrophobic inter-IDR contacts. Both sets of interactions depend on sequence composition (but not sequence order), are resistant to 1,6-hexanediol, and do not depend on aromaticity. These findings demonstrate that distinct sets of interactions drive condensate formation and specificity across different phase-separating systems and advance efforts to predict IDR LLPS propensity and partner selection a priori.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Chen ◽  
Claudia Cattoglio ◽  
Gina Dailey ◽  
Qiulin Zhu ◽  
Robert Tjian ◽  
...  

Transcription factors (TFs) are classically attributed a modular construction, containing well-structured sequence specific DNA-binding domains (DBDs) paired with disordered activation domains (ADs) responsible for protein-protein interactions targeting cofactors or the core transcription initiation machinery. However, this simple division of labor model struggles to explain why TFs with identical DNA binding sequence specificity determined in vitro exhibit distinct non-overlapping binding profiles in vivo. The family of Hypoxia-Inducible Factors (HIFs) offer a stark example: aberrantly expressed in several cancer types, HIF-1α and HIF-2α subunit isoforms recognize the same DNA motif in vitro — the hypoxia response element (HRE) — but only share a subset of their target genes in vivo, while eliciting contrasting effects on cancer development and progression under certain circumstances. To probe the mechanisms mediating isoform-specific gene regulation, we used live cell single particle tracking (SPT) to investigate HIF nuclear dynamics and how they change upon genetic perturbation or drug treatment. We found that HIF-α subunits and their dimerization partner HIF-1β exhibit distinct diffusion and binding characteristics that are exquisitely sensitive to concentration and subunit stoichiometry. Using domain-swap variants, mutations, and a HIF-2α specific inhibitor, we found that although the DBD and dimerization domains are important, a major determinant of chromatin binding and diffusion behavior is dictated by the AD-containing intrinsically disordered regions. These findings reveal a previously unappreciated role of IDRs in regulating the TF search process that may play a role in selective functional target site binding on chromatin.


1972 ◽  
Vol 68 (2_Supplb) ◽  
pp. S285-S309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Ahrén ◽  
Per Olof Janson ◽  
Gunnar Selstam

ABSTRACT This paper discusses in vivo and in vitro ovarian perfusion systems described so far in the literature. The interest is not focussed primarily on the results of these studies but rather on the advantages and disadvantages of the techniques and methods used. Another part of the paper summarizes the points which are most important, in our opinion, to take into consideration when developing an in vitro perfusion technique of the ovary. The last part of the paper gives a description of and some preliminary results from an in vitro perfusion system of the rabbit ovary which is under development in this laboratory.


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