The Ubiquitous Buried Water in the beta‐Trefoil Architecture Contributes to the Folding Nucleus and ~20% of the Folding Enthalpy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph B. Parker ◽  
Connie A. Tenorio ◽  
Michael Blaber
Keyword(s):  
Folding Nucleus

scholarly journals Plasticity Within the Obligatory Folding Nucleus of an Immunoglobulin-like Domain

2008 ◽  
Vol 375 (2) ◽  
pp. 547-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilkka Lappalainen ◽  
Michael G. Hurley ◽  
Jane Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Folding Nucleus

scholarly journals Rational design of protein-specific folding modifiers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anirban Das ◽  
Anju Yadav ◽  
Mona Gupta ◽  
R Purushotham ◽  
Vishram L. Terse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Molecule ◽  
Rational Design ◽  
Resonance Energy Transfer ◽  
Resonance Energy ◽  
Force Measurements ◽  
Folding Nucleus ◽  
Dynamics Simulations ◽  
General Method

AbstractProtein folding can go wrong in vivo and in vitro, with significant consequences for the living cell and the pharmaceutical industry, respectively. Here we propose a general design principle for constructing small peptide-based protein-specific folding modifiers. We construct a ‘xenonucleus’, which is a pre-folded peptide that resembles the folding nucleus of a protein, and demonstrate its activity on the folding of ubiquitin. Using stopped-flow kinetics, NMR spectroscopy, Förster Resonance Energy transfer, single-molecule force measurements, and molecular dynamics simulations, we show that the ubiquitin xenonucleus can act as an effective decoy for the native folding nucleus. It can make the refolding faster by 33 ± 5% at 3 M GdnHCl. In principle, our approach provides a general method for constructing specific, genetically encodable, folding modifiers for any protein which has a well-defined contiguous folding nucleus.

scholarly journals Cooperativity and modularity in protein folding

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaki Sasai ◽  
George Chikenji ◽  
Tomoki P. Terada
Keyword(s):  
Protein Folding ◽  
Mechanical Model ◽  
Energy Landscape ◽  
Native Conformation ◽  
Folding Nucleus ◽  
Modern Methods ◽  
Complex Topology ◽  
Statistical Mechanical Model ◽  
Statistical Mechanical ◽  
Dynamical Features

AbstractA simple statistical mechanical model proposed by Wako and Saitô has explained the aspects of protein folding surprisingly well. This model was systematically applied to multiple proteins by Muñoz and Eaton and has since been referred to as the Wako-Saitô-Muñoz-Eaton (WSME) model. The success of the WSME model in explaining the folding of many proteins has verified the hypothesis that the folding is dominated by native interactions, which makes the energy landscape globally biased toward native conformation. Using the WSME and other related models, Saitô emphasized the importance of the hierarchical pathway in protein folding; folding starts with the creation of contiguous segments having a native-like configuration and proceeds as growth and coalescence of these segments. The ϕ-values calculated for barnase with the WSME model suggested that segments contributing to the folding nucleus are similar to the structural modules defined by the pattern of native atomic contacts. The WSME model was extended to explain folding of multi-domain proteins having a complex topology, which opened the way to comprehensively understanding the folding process of multi-domain proteins. The WSME model was also extended to describe allosteric transitions, indicating that the allosteric structural movement does not occur as a deterministic sequential change between two conformations but as a stochastic diffusive motion over the dynamically changing energy landscape. Statistical mechanical viewpoint on folding, as highlighted by the WSME model, has been renovated in the context of modern methods and ideas, and will continue to provide insights on equilibrium and dynamical features of proteins.

scholarly journals The Folding Nucleus of the Insulin Superfamily

2006 ◽  
Vol 281 (38) ◽  
pp. 28131-28142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing-xin Hua ◽  
John P. Mayer ◽  
Wenhua Jia ◽  
Jingwen Zhang ◽  
Michael A. Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Insulin Superfamily ◽  
Folding Nucleus

Protein intrachain contact prediction with most interacting residues (MIR)

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben Acuña ◽  
Zoé Lacroix ◽  
Nikolaos Papandreou ◽  
Jacques Chomilier
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Hydrophobic Interactions ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Accessible Surface Area ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Closed Loops ◽  
Folding Process ◽  
Folding Nucleus ◽  
Accessible Surface ◽  
The Stability

AbstractThe transition state ensemble during the folding process of globular proteins occurs when a sufficient number of intrachain contacts are formed, mainly, but not exclusively, due to hydrophobic interactions. These contacts are related to the folding nucleus, and they contribute to the stability of the native structure, although they may disappear after the energetic barrier of transition states has been passed. A number of structure and sequence analyses, as well as protein engineering studies, have shown that the signature of the folding nucleus is surprisingly present in the native three-dimensional structure, in the form of closed loops, and also in the early folding events. These findings support the idea that the residues of the folding nucleus become buried in the very first folding events, therefore helping the formation of closed loops that act as anchor structures, speed up the process, and overcome the Levinthal paradox. We present here a review of an algorithm intended to simulate in a discrete space the early steps of the folding process. It is based on a Monte Carlo simulation where perturbations, or moves, are randomly applied to residues within a sequence. In contrast with many technically similar approaches, this model does not intend to fold the protein but to calculate the number of non-covalent neighbors of each residue, during the early steps of the folding process. Amino acids along the sequence are categorized as most interacting residues (MIRs) or least interacting residues. The MIR method can be applied under a variety of circumstances. In the cases tested thus far, MIR has successfully identified the exact residue whose mutation causes a switch in conformation. This follows with the idea that MIR identifies residues that are important in the folding process. Most MIR positions correspond to hydrophobic residues; correspondingly, MIRs have zero or very low accessible surface area. Alongside the review of the MIR method, we present a new postprocessing method called smoothed MIR (SMIR), which refines the original MIR method by exploiting the knowledge of residue hydrophobicity. We review known results and present new ones, focusing on the ability of MIR to predict structural changes, secondary structure, and the improved precision with the SMIR method.

scholarly journals A folding nucleus and minimal ATP binding domain of Hsp70 identified by single-molecule force spectroscopy

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (18) ◽  
pp. 4666-4671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Bauer ◽  
Sarah Meinhold ◽  
Roman P. Jakob ◽  
Johannes Stigler ◽  
Ulrich Merkel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Tweezers ◽  
Single Molecule ◽  
Chimeric Protein ◽  
Nucleotide Binding ◽  
Binding Domain ◽  
Folding Intermediate ◽  
Transient Nature ◽  
Folding Nucleus ◽  
Folding Pathways ◽  
Sugar Kinase

The folding pathways of large proteins are complex, with many of them requiring the aid of chaperones and others folding spontaneously. Along the folding pathways, partially folded intermediates are frequently populated; their role in the driving of the folding process is unclear. The structures of these intermediates are generally not amenable to high-resolution structural techniques because of their transient nature. Here we employed single-molecule force measurements to scrutinize the hierarchy of intermediate structures along the folding pathway of the nucleotide binding domain (NBD) of Escherichia coli Hsp70 DnaK. DnaK-NBD is a member of the sugar kinase superfamily that includes Hsp70s and the cytoskeletal protein actin. Using optical tweezers, a stable nucleotide-binding competent en route folding intermediate comprising lobe II residues (183–383) was identified as a critical checkpoint for productive folding. We obtained a structural snapshot of this folding intermediate that shows native-like conformation. To assess the fundamental role of folded lobe II for efficient folding, we turned our attention to yeast mitochondrial NBD, which does not fold without a dedicated chaperone. After replacing the yeast lobe II residues with stable E. coli lobe II, the obtained chimeric protein showed native-like ATPase activity and robust folding into the native state, even in the absence of chaperone. In summary, lobe II is a stable nucleotide-binding competent folding nucleus that is the key to time-efficient folding and possibly resembles a common ancestor domain. Our findings provide a conceptual framework for the folding pathways of other members of this protein superfamily.

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