Observation of CH⋅⋅⋅π Interactions between Methyl and Carbonyl Groups in Proteins

Protein structure and function is dependent on myriad noncovalent interactions. Direct detection and characterization of these weak interactions in large biomolecules, such as proteins, is experimentally challenging. Herein, we report the first observation and measurement of long-range “through-space” scalar couplings between methyl and backbone carbonyl groups in proteins. These J couplings are indicative of the presence of noncovalent C−H⋅⋅⋅π hydrogen-bond-like interactions involving the amide π network. Experimentally detected scalar couplings were corroborated by a natural bond orbital analysis, which revealed the orbital nature of the interaction and the origins of the through-space J couplings. The experimental observation of this type of CH⋅⋅⋅π interaction adds a new dimension to the study of protein structure, function, and dynamics by NMR spectroscopy.     

Quantitative approach to conformations of proteins

A quantitative conformational theory of proteins is developed that enables one to predict the native structure of a protein from its amino acid sequence. The theory is based on the following principles: (1) the spatial structure and conformational properties of a protein are predetermined by its amino acid sequence; (2) the native conformation of a protein corresponds to the free energy minimum; (3) all interactions within a protein molecule are specified as short-, mediumy-, and long-range types, interactions of different types being consistent with each other. The role of the short-, medium-, and long-range interactions in the spatial organization of a protein globule is discussed, and a step-by-step analysis of amino acid sequences with gradually increasing lengths is presented. The proposed theory is based on a semiempirical computational method that involves quantitative evaluation of all pairwise atomic interactions within a protein molecule in an aqueous medium. Examples illustrating the suggested approach are presented.     

蛋白质结构的“限域下最低能量结构片段”假说与蛋白质进化的“石器时代”

蛋白质折叠问题被称为第二遗传密码,至今未破译;蛋白质序列的天书仍然是"句读之不知,惑之不解"。在最近工作的基础上,我们提出了蛋白质结构的"限域下最低能量结构片段"假说。这一假说指出,蛋白质中存在一些关键的长程强相互作用位点,这些位点相当于标点符号,将蛋白质序列的天书变成可读的句子(多肽片段)。这些片段的天然结构是在这些强长程相互作用位点限域下的能量最低状态。完整的蛋白质结构由这些"限域下最低能量结构片段"拼合而成,而蛋白质整体结构并不一定是全局性的能量最低状态。在蛋白质折叠过程中,局部片段的天然结构倾向性为强长程相互作用的形成提供主要基于焓效应的驱动力,而天然强长程相互作用的形成为局部片段的天然结构提供主要基于熵效应的稳定性。在蛋白质进化早期,可能存在一个"石器时代",即依附不同界面(比如岩石)的限域作用而稳定的多肽片段先进化出来,后由这些片段逐步进化(包括拼合)而成蛋白质。     

Correlation of the side-chain hubs with the functional residues in DNA binding protein structures

The structure networks of DNA-binding proteins have been constructed and analyzed. The detailed analysis of the networks indicates a strong relation between the positions of the residues interacting with DNA and those that form extensive interactions within the protein structure (called hubs). This study shows that the functional residues in these proteins are held in place by efficient scaffolding of the structure using side-chain interactions, thus highlighting the role of these side-chain hubs with respect to the functional residues in the protein structure.     

(α/β)_8桶状蛋白质中紧密接触对的统计性质研究

在计算蛋白质分子中的氨基酸紧密接触对时采用以氨基酸的重心代替Cα 原子的新方法 ,通过计算(α/β) 8桶状蛋白质中的中程和远程紧密接触对的数目 ,研究了不同氨基酸在形成紧密接触对时所具有的不同能力以及在蛋白质结构稳定性中所起的不同作用 .发现在 (α β) 8桶状蛋白质中氨基酸形成的远程紧密接触对数目与它的Fauchere Pliska疏水性实验数值 (FPH)存在着非常好的线性关系 ,而对于氨基酸所形成的中程紧密接触对数目不存在这种关系 .同时还研究了 (α β) 8桶状蛋白质分子大小 ,发现其回转半径大小与表示远程接触对数目的远程次序值LRO存在着关系 .表明这一类 (α β) 8桶状蛋白质具有相似的结构 ,分子的远程接触对数目越多 ,分子越紧密 ,分子尺寸就越小 .同时还研究了不同氨基酸之间形成紧密接触对的能力 .     

Stabilization centers and protein stability

The well-balanced stability of protein structures allows large-scale fluctuations, which are indispensable in many biochemical functions, ensures the long-term persistence of the equilibrium structure and it regulates the degradation of proteins to provide amino acids for biosynthesis. This balance is studied in the present work with two sets of proteins by analyzing stabilization centers, defined as certain clusters of residues involved in cooperative long-range interactions. One data set contains 56 proteins, which belong to 16 families of homologous proteins, derived from organisms of various physiological temperatures. The other set is composed of 31 major histocompatibility complex (MHC)–peptide complexes, which represent peptide transporters complexed with peptide ligands that apparently contribute to the stabilization of the MHC proteins themselves. We show here that stabilization centers, which had been identified as special clusters of residues that protect the protein structure, evolved to serve also as regulators of function – related degradation of useless protein as part of protein housekeeping. Received: 25 August 2000 / Accepted: 6 September 2000 / Published online: 21 December 2000     

Aromatic-aromatic interactions in proteins: beyond the dimer

Aromatic residues are key widespread elements of protein structures and have been shown to be important for structure stability, folding, protein-protein recognition, and ligand binding. The interactions of pairs of aromatic residues (aromatic dimers) have been extensively studied in protein structures. Isolated aromatic molecules tend to form higher order clusters, like trimers, tetramers, and pentamers, that adopt particular well-defined structures. Taking this into account, we have surveyed protein structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank in order to find clusters of aromatic residues in proteins larger than dimers and characterized them. Our results show that larger clusters are found in one of every two unique proteins crystallized so far, that the clusters are built adopting the same trimer motifs found for benzene clusters in vacuum, and that they are clearly nonlocal brining primary structure distant sites together. We extensively analyze the trimers and tetramers conformations and found two main cluster types: a symmetric cluster and an extended ladder. Finally, using calmodulin as a test case, we show aromatic clsuters possible role in folding and protein-protein interactions. All together, our study highlights the relevance of aromatic clusters beyond the dimer in protein function, stability, and ligand recognition.     

Protein reconstitution and 3D domain swapping

The native structures of proteins are governed by a large number of non-covalent interactions yielding a high specificity for the native packing of structural elements. This allows for the reconstitution of proteins from disconnected polypeptide fragments. The specificity for the native arrangement also enables interchange of structural elements with another identical protein chain resulting in dimers with swapped segments. Proteins are not static structures, but open up repetitively on a timescale of minutes to years depending on the identity of the protein and solution conditions. The open protein may self-close and return to the native state, or it may close with another polypeptide chain leading to 3D domain swapping. The term describes two or more protein molecules swapping identical domains or smaller secondary structure elements. The non-covalent intra-molecular interactions between domains in the monomer are thus broken and restored in the oligomer by identical inter-molecular contacts. This review will discuss 3D domain swapping in relation to protein reconstitution and fibril formation. Examples of reconstituted and domain-swapped proteins will be given. The physiological benefits of 3D domain swapping will be discussed, as well as its role in the evolution of proteins and pathology.     

Metal ligand aromatic cation-pi interactions in metalloproteins: ligands coordinated to metal interact with aromatic residues

Cation-pi interactions between aromatic residues and cationic amino groups in side chains and have been recognized as noncovalent bonding interactions relevant for molecular recognition and for stabilization and definition of the native structure of proteins. We propose a novel type of cation-pi interaction in metalloproteins; namely interaction between ligands coordinated to a metal cation--which gain positive charge from the metal--and aromatic groups in amino acid side chains. Investigation of crystal structures of metalloproteins in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) has revealed that there exist quite a number of metalloproteins in which aromatic rings of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan are situated close to a metal center interacting with coordinated ligands. Among these ligands are amino acids such as asparagine, aspartate, glutamate, histidine, and threonine, but also water and substrates like ethanol. These interactions play a role in the stability and conformation of metalloproteins, and in some cases may also be directly involved in the mechanism of enzymatic reactions, which occur at the metal center. For the enzyme superoxide dismutase, we used quantum chemical computation to calculate that Trp163 has an interaction energy of 10.09 kcal mol(-1) with the ligands coordinated to iron.     

Dynamics of noncovalent interactions in all-α and all-β class proteins: implications for the stability of amyloid aggregates

A fully folded functional protein is stabilized by several noncovalent interactions. When a protein undergoes conformational motions, the existing noncovalent interactions may be maintained. They may also break or new interactions may be formed. Knowledge of the dynamical nature of the different types of noncovalent interactions is extremely important to understand the structural stability, function, and folding of a protein. There are experimental limitations to investigate the dynamics of different noncovalent interactions simultaneously in a biomolecule. We have carried out molecular dynamics simulations on four different proteins, two belonging to all-α class proteins and the other two are representatives of all-β class proteins. The dynamical nature of eight different noncovalent interactions was studied by monitoring the maximum residence time (MRT) and lifetime (LT). The conventional hydrogen bonds are the dominant interactions in all four proteins, and the majority of those formed between the main-chain atoms were maintained during most of the simulation time with MRT greater than 10 ns. Such interactions with more than 1 ns lifetime provide stability to the secondary structures, and hence they are responsible for the overall stability of the protein. The weak C-H···O hydrogen bond is the next major type of interactions. However, a large number of such interactions are observed between the main-chain atoms only in all-β proteins as interstrand interactions, and, surprisingly, they are observed during most part of the simulation although their average lifetime is only about 20 to 30 ps. The strong cation···π and salt-bridge interactions are present few in number. However, in many cases they are almost uninterrupted indicating the higher strength of these interactions. Four other interactions involving the π-electron cloud of aromatic rings are very small in number, and, in many cases, their presence is not maintained throughout the simulation. Our results clearly indicate that the weak C-H···O interactions between the main-chain atoms are the distinguishing factor between the all-α and all-β class of proteins, and these interstrand interactions can provide additional stability to all-β protein structures. Based on these results, we hypothesize that such weak C-H···O interstrand interactions could play a major role in providing stability to amyloid type of aggregates that are responsible for the pathological state of many proteins.     

Observation of CH⋅⋅⋅π Interactions between Methyl and Carbonyl Groups in Proteins

Protein structure and function is dependent on myriad noncovalent interactions. Direct detection and characterization of these weak interactions in large biomolecules, such as proteins, is experimentally challenging. Herein, we report the first observation and measurement of long‐range “through‐space” scalar couplings between methyl and backbone carbonyl groups in proteins. These J couplings are indicative of the presence of noncovalent C−H⋅⋅⋅π hydrogen‐bond‐like interactions involving the amide π network. Experimentally detected scalar couplings were corroborated by a natural bond orbital analysis, which revealed the orbital nature of the interaction and the origins of the through‐space J couplings. The experimental observation of this type of CH⋅⋅⋅π interaction adds a new dimension to the study of protein structure, function, and dynamics by NMR spectroscopy.     

STATISTICAL PROPERTIES OF LONG-RANGE CONTACTS IN GLOBULAR PROTEINS

The analysis of residue-residue contacts in protein structures can shed some light on our understanding of the folding and stability of proteins. In this paper, we study the statistical properties of long-range and short-range residue-residue contacts of 91 globular proteins using CSU software and analyze the importance of long-range contacts in globular protein structure. There are many short-range and long-range contacts in globular proteins, and it is found that the average number of long-range contacts per residue is 5.63 and the percentage of residue-residue contacts which are involved in long-range ones is 59.4%. In more detail, the distribution of long-range contacts in different residue intervals is investigated and it is found that the residues occurring in the interval range of 4-10 residues apart in the sequence contribute more long-range contacts to the stability of globular protein. The number of long-range contacts per residue, which is a measure of ability toform residue-residue contacts, is also calculated for 20 different amino acid residues. It is shown that hydrophobic residues (including Leu, Val, Ile, Met, Phe, Tyr, Cys and Trp) having a large number of long-range contacts easily form long-range contacts, while the hydrophilic amino acids (including Ala, Gly, Thr, His, Glu, Gln, Asp, Asn, Lys, Ser, Arg, and Pro) form long-range contacts with more difficulty. The relationship between the Fauchere-Pliska hydrophobicity scale (FPH) and the number of short-range and long-range contacts per residue for 20 amino acid residues is also studied. An approximately linear relationship between the Fauchere-Pliska hydrophobicity scale (FPH) and the number of long-range contacts per residue CL is found and can be expressed as     

Improved greedy algorithm for protein structure reconstruction

This article concerns the development of an improved greedy algorithm for protein structure reconstruction. Our stochastic greedy algorithm, which attempts to locate the ground state of an approximate energy function, exploits the fact that protein structures consist of overlapping structural building blocks that are not independent. Application of this approach to a series of 16 proteins with 50-250 amino acids leads to predicted models deviating from the experimental structures by 0.5 A RMSD using an RMSD-based energy function and within 1.5 to 4.8 A RMSD using a Go-based energy function. The Go-based results are significant because they illustrate the strength of combining structural fragments and stochastic greedy algorithms in capturing the native structures of proteins stabilized by long-range interactions separated by more than 30 amino acids. These results clearly open the door to less computationally demanding solutions to predict structures from sequences.     

Correlations Between Amino Acids at Different Sites in Local Sequences of Protein Fragments with Given Structural Patterns

Ample evidence suggests that the local structures of peptide fragments in native proteins are to some extent encoded by their local sequences. Detecting such local correlations is important but it is still an open question what would be the most appropriate method. This is partly because conventional sequence analyses treat amino acid preferences at each site of a protein sequence independently, while it is often the inter-site interactions that bring about local sequence-structure correlations. Here a new scheme is introduced to capture the correlation between amino acid preferences at different sites for different local structure types. A library of nine-residue fragments is constructed, and the fragments are divided into clusters based on their local structures. For each local structure cluster or type, chi-square tests are used to identify correlated preferences of amino acid combinations at pairs of sites. A score function is constructed including both the single site amino acid preferences and the dual-site amino acid combination preferences, which can be used to identify whether a sequence fragment would have a strong tendency to form a particular local structure in native proteins. The results show that, given a local structure pattern, dual-site amino acid combinations contain different information from single site amino acid preferences. Representative examples show that many of the statistically identified correlations agree with previously-proposed heuristic rules about local sequence-structure correlations, or are consistent with physical-chemical interactions required to stabilize particular local structures. Results also show that such dual-site correlations in the score function significantly improves the Z-score matching a sequence fragment to its native local structure relative to nonnative local structures, and certain local structure types are highly predictable from the local sequence alone if inter-site correlations are considered.     

Electrospray Mass Spectrometry of Biomacromolecular Complexes with Noncovalent Interactions—New Analytical Perspectives for Supramolecular Chemistry and Molecular Recognition Processes

The development of “soft” ionization methods in recent years has enabled substantial progress in the mass spectrometric characterization of macromolecules, in particular important biopolymers such as proteins and nucleic acids. In contrast to the still existing limitations for the determination of molecular weights by other ionization methods such as fast atom bombardment and plasma desorption, electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption have provided a breakthrough to macromolecules larger than 100 kDa. Whereas these methods have been successfully applied to determine the molecular weight and primary structure of biopolymers, the recently discovered direct characterization by ESI-MS of complexes containing noncovalent interactions (“noncovalent complexes”) opens new perspectives for supramolecular chemistry and analytical biochemistry. Unlike other ionization methods ESI-MS can be performed in homogeneous solution and under nearly physiological conditions of pH, concentration, and temperature. ESI mass spectra of biopolymers, particularly proteins, exhibit series of multiply charged macromolecular ions with charge states and distributions (“charge structures”) characteristic of structural states in solution, which enable a differentiation between native and denatured tertiary structures. In the first part of this article, fundamental principles, the present knowledge about ion formation mechanism(s) of ESI-MS, the relations between tertiary structures in solution and charge structures of macro-ions in the gas phase, and experimental preconditions for the identification of noncovalent complexes are described. The hitherto successful applications to the identification of enzyme–substrate and –inhibitor complexes, supramolecular protein–and protein–nucleotide complexes, double-stranded polynucleotides, as well as synthetic self-assembled complexes demonstrate broad potential for the direct analysis of specific noncovalent interactions. The present results suggest new applications for the characterization of supramolecular structures and molecular recognition processes that previously have not been amenable to mass spectrometry; for example, the sequence-specific oligomerization of polypeptides, antigen–antibody complexes, enzyme–and receptor–ligand interactions, and the evaluation of molecular specificity in combinatorial syntheses and self-assembled systems.     

De novo determination of protein backbone structure from residual dipolar couplings using Rosetta

As genome-sequencing projects rapidly increase the database of protein sequences, the gap between known sequences and known structures continues to grow exponentially, increasing the demand to accelerate structure determination methods. Residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) are an attractive source of experimental restraints for NMR structure determination, particularly rapid, high-throughput methods, because they yield both local and long-range orientational information and can be easily measured and assigned once the backbone resonances of a protein have been assigned. While very extensive RDC data sets have been used to determine the structure of ubiquitin, it is unclear to what extent such methods will generalize to larger proteins with less complete data sets. Here we incorporate experimental RDC restraints into Rosetta, an ab initio structure prediction method, and demonstrate that the combined algorithm provides a general method for de novo determination of a variety of protein folds from RDC data. Backbone structures for multiple proteins up to approximately 125 residues in length and spanning a range of topological complexities are rapidly and reproducibly generated using data sets that are insufficient in isolation to uniquely determine the protein fold de novo, although ambiguities and errors are observed for proteins with symmetry about an axis of the alignment tensor. The models generated are not high-resolution structures completely defined by experimental data but are sufficiently accurate to accelerate traditional high-resolution NMR structure determination and provide structure-based functional insights.     

Lipid-protein interactions in membranes: effect of lipid composition on mobility of spin-labeled cysteine residues in yeast plasma membrane.

In order to gain direct evidence for lipid-dependent protein conformation in membrane, effects of modification of lipid composition on mobility of spin-labeled cysteine residues were investigated in the plasma membrane of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Conversion of the bulk of phospholipids to diglycerides by treatment of the membrane with phospholipase C substantially enhanced spectral anisotropy. However, alterations of the viscosity of the lipid-bilayer by enriching the membrane with palmitelaidic or oleic acid had no effect on mobility of spin-labeled cysteine residues. These observations indicate that while the spin-labeled residues are not in direct contact with the lipid core of the membrane, there are lipid-protein interactions to the extent that removal of the polar portion of the bulk of phospholipids induces conformational changes in proteins, which in turn restrict mobility of these residues. It is concluded that conformation of membrane proteins on lipid structure and that phospholipids have a role in preserving the native conformation of proteins.     

Spatial geometric arrangements of disulfide-crosslinked loops in proteins

The classification of patterns of the three-dimensional folding of a covalently crosslinked polypeptide chain can be used to introduce long-range interactions into the theoretical search for the native conformation of a protein. This classification into Spatial Geometric Arrangements of Loops (SGAL) had been proposed earlier (H. Meirovitch and H. A. Scheraga, Macromolecules 14 , 1250, 1981). It is based on the subdivision of the protein molecule into closed loops, defined by covalent crosslinks (such as disulfide bonds). Various SGAL classes correspond to the presence or absence of mutual penetration of loops, called entanglements or thrustings. A systematic and objective method is developed here to enumerate all theoretically possible SGAL's for a protein, based only on its covalent structure, i.e., the pattern of disulfide bonds or other crosslinks, regardless of whether the three-dimensional structure is known or unknown. This information can be of use in structural predictions of folding patterns. Using a modification of the method, it is also possible to determine the SGAL class to which a protein of known structure belongs. Out of 18 proteins with known three-dimensional structure and containing more than two disulfide bonds, five have a native structure with at least one entanglement or thrusting. Thus, threaded SGAL's represent a significant structural feature of native proteins. All five involve neighboring loops in the sequences. Their presence in a protein can suggest restrictions on the possible ways of folding the protein.     

Colloidal aggregation induced by long range attractions

The structure of colloidal clusters formed by long-range attractive interactions under diluted conditions is studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. For a not-too-long attraction range, clusters show self-similar internal structure with lower density than that typical for diffusive aggregation. For long-range interactions, low kappa, nonfractal clusters are formed (dense at short scales but open at long ones). The dependence on the volume fraction shows that more-compact clusters are grown the higher the colloidal density for diffusive aggregation and attraction-driven aggregation in the fractal regime. The whole trend is explained in terms of the interpenetration among aggregates. In attraction-driven aggregations, the interpenetration of clusters competes with aggregation in the tips of the clusters, causing low-density clusters.