scholarly journals Single-Molecule Conformational Dynamics of a Biologically Functional Hydroxocobalamin Riboswitch

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (48) ◽  
pp. 16832-16843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik D. Holmstrom ◽  
Jacob T. Polaski ◽  
Robert T. Batey ◽  
David J. Nesbitt
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Carl DeHaven

This thesis contains four topic areas: a review of single-molecule microscropy methods and splicing, conformational dynamics of stem II of the U2 snRNA, the impact of post-transcriptional modifications on U2 snRNA folding dynamics, and preliminary findings on Mango aptamer folding dynamics.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000370282110099
Author(s):  
Ziyu Yang ◽  
Haiqi Xu ◽  
Jiayu Wang ◽  
Wei Chen ◽  
Meiping Zhao

Fluorescence-based single molecule techniques, mainly including fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET), are able to analyze the conformational dynamics and diversity of biological macromolecules. They have been applied to analysis of the dynamics of membrane proteins, such as membrane receptors and membrane transport proteins, due to their superior ability in resolving spatio-temporal heterogeneity and the demand of trace amounts of analytes. In this review, we first introduced the basic principle involved in FCS and smFRET. Then we summarized the labelling and immobilization strategies of membrane protein molecules, the confocal-based and TIRF-based instrumental configuration, and the data processing methods. The applications to membrane protein dynamics analysis are described in detail with the focus on how to select suitable fluorophores, labelling sites, experimental setup and analysis methods. In the last part, the remaining challenges to be addressed and further development in this field are also briefly discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (45) ◽  
pp. 11525-11530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo E. Guerin ◽  
Guillaume Stirnemann ◽  
David Giganti

An immense repertoire of protein chemical modifications catalyzed by enzymes is available as proteomics data. Quantifying the impact of the conformational dynamics of the modified peptide remains challenging to understand the decisive kinetics and amino acid sequence specificity of these enzymatic reactions in vivo, because the target peptide must be disordered to accommodate the specific enzyme-binding site. Here, we were able to control the conformation of a single-molecule peptide chain by applying mechanical force to activate and monitor its specific cleavage by a model protease. We found that the conformational entropy impacts the reaction in two distinct ways. First, the flexibility and accessibility of the substrate peptide greatly increase upon mechanical unfolding. Second, the conformational sampling of the disordered peptide drives the specific recognition, revealing force-dependent reaction kinetics. These results support a mechanism of peptide recognition based on conformational selection from an ensemble that we were able to quantify with a torsional free-energy model. Our approach can be used to predict how entropy affects site-specific modifications of proteins and prompts conformational and mechanical selectivity.


2013 ◽  
Vol 117 (50) ◽  
pp. 16105-16109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Tsukanov ◽  
Toma E. Tomov ◽  
Yaron Berger ◽  
Miran Liber ◽  
Eyal Nir

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco A Diaz-Salinas ◽  
Qi Li ◽  
Monir Ejemel ◽  
Yang Wang ◽  
James B Munro

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infects host cells through binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is mediated by the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the viral spike (S) glycoprotein. Structural data and real-time analysis of conformational dynamics have shown that S can adopt multiple conformations, which mediate the exposure of the ACE2-binding site in the RBD. Here, using single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) imaging we report the effects of ACE2 and antibody binding on the conformational dynamics of S from the Wuhan-1 strain and the B.1 variant (D614G). We found that antibodies that target diverse epitopes, including those distal to the RBD, stabilize the RBD in a position competent for ACE2 binding. Parallel solution-based binding experiments using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) indicated antibody-mediated enhancement of ACE2 binding. These findings inform on novel strategies for therapeutic antibody cocktails.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Quast ◽  
Fataneh Fatemi ◽  
Michel Kranendonk ◽  
Emmanuel Margeat ◽  
Gilles Truan

ABSTRACTConjugation of fluorescent dyes to proteins - a prerequisite for the study of conformational dynamics by single molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) - can lead to substantial changes of the dye’s photophysical properties, ultimately biasing the quantitative determination of inter-dye distances. In particular the popular cyanine dyes and their derivatives, which are by far the most used dyes in smFRET experiments, exhibit such behavior. To overcome this, a general strategy to site-specifically equip proteins with FRET pairs by chemo-selective reactions using two distinct non-canonical amino acids simultaneously incorporated through genetic code expansion in Escherichia coli was developed. Applied to human NADPH- cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR), the importance of homogenously labeled samples for accurate determination of FRET efficiencies was demonstrated. Furthermore, the effect of NADP+ on the ionic strength dependent modulation of the conformational equilibrium of CPR was unveiled. Given its generality and accuracy, the presented methodology establishes a new benchmark to decipher complex molecular dynamics on single molecules.


2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (21) ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Husada ◽  
Kiran Bountra ◽  
Konstantinos Tassis ◽  
Marijn Boer ◽  
Maria Romano ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenico Salerno ◽  
Francesco Mantegazza ◽  
Valeria Cassina ◽  
Matteo Cristofalo ◽  
Qing Shao ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTSingle molecule experiments have demonstrated a progressive transition from a B- to an L-form helix as DNA is gently stretched and progressively unwound. Since the particular sequence of a DNA segment influences both base stacking and hydrogen bonding, the conformational dynamics of B-to-L transitions should be tunable. To test this idea, DNA with diaminopurine replacing adenine was synthesized to produce linear fragments with triply hydrogen-bonded A:T base pairs. Triple hydrogen bonding stiffened the DNA by 30% flexurally. In addition, DAP-substituted DNA formed plectonemes with larger gyres for both B- and L-form helices. Both unmodified and DAP-substituted DNA transitioned from a B- to an L-helix under physiological conditions of mild tension and unwinding. This transition avoids writhing by DNA stretched and unwound by enzymatic activity. The intramolecular nature and ease of this transition likely prevent cumbersome topological rearrangements in genomic DNA that would require topoisomerase activity to resolve. L-DNA displayed about tenfold lower persistence length indicating it is much more contractile and prone to sharp bends and kinks. However, left-handed DAP DNA was twice as stiff as unmodified L-DNA. Thus, significantly doubly and triply hydrogen bonded segments have very distinct mechanical dynamics at physiological levels of negative supercoiling and tension.


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