scholarly journals Living in Promiscuity: The Multiple Partners of Alpha-Synuclein at the Synapse in Physiology and Pathology

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Longhena ◽  
Gaia Faustini ◽  
Maria Grazia Spillantini ◽  
Arianna Bellucci
Keyword(s):  
Lipid Membranes ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Lipid Membrane ◽  
Lewy Bodies ◽  
Alpha Synuclein ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Monoamine Transporters ◽  
Post Translational Modification ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Multiple Partners

Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) is a small protein that, in neurons, localizes predominantly to presynaptic terminals. Due to elevated conformational plasticity, which can be affected by environmental factors, in addition to undergoing disorder-to-order transition upon interaction with different interactants, α-syn is counted among the intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) family. As with many other IDPs, α-syn is considered a hub protein. This function is particularly relevant at synaptic sites, where α-syn is abundant and interacts with many partners, such as monoamine transporters, cytoskeletal components, lipid membranes, chaperones and synaptic vesicles (SV)-associated proteins. These protein–protein and protein–lipid membrane interactions are crucial for synaptic functional homeostasis, and alterations in α-syn can cause disruption of this complex network, and thus a failure of the synaptic machinery. Alterations of the synaptic environment or post-translational modification of α-syn can induce its misfolding, resulting in the formation of oligomers or fibrillary aggregates. These α-syn species are thought to play a pathological role in neurodegenerative disorders with α-syn deposits such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy (MSA), which are referred to as synucleinopathies. Here, we aim at revising the complex and promiscuous role of α-syn at synaptic terminals in order to decipher whether α-syn molecular interactants may influence its conformational state, contributing to its aggregation, or whether they are just affected by it.

scholarly journals The Distinct Properties of the Consecutive Disordered Regions Inside or Outside Protein Domains and Their Functional Significance

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (19) ◽  
pp. 10677
Author(s):  
Huqiang Wang ◽  
Haolin Zhong ◽  
Chao Gao ◽  
Jiayin Zang ◽  
Dong Yang
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Protein Domains ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Functional Constraints ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
Post Translational Modification ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
And Function ◽  
Disordered Regions

The consecutive disordered regions (CDRs) are the basis for the formation of intrinsically disordered proteins, which contribute to various biological functions and increasing organism complexity. Previous studies have revealed that CDRs may be present inside or outside protein domains, but a comprehensive analysis of the property differences between these two types of CDRs and the proteins containing them is lacking. In this study, we investigated this issue from three viewpoints. Firstly, we found that in-domain CDRs are more hydrophilic and stable but have less stickiness and fewer post-translational modification sites compared with out-domain CDRs. Secondly, at the protein level, we found that proteins with only in-domain CDRs originated late, evolved rapidly, and had weak functional constraints, compared with the other two types of CDR-containing proteins. Proteins with only in-domain CDRs tend to be expressed spatiotemporal specifically, but they tend to have higher abundance and are more stable. Thirdly, we screened the CDR-containing protein domains that have a strong correlation with organism complexity. The CDR-containing domains tend to be evolutionarily young, or they changed from a domain without CDR to a CDR-containing domain during evolution. These results provide valuable new insights about the evolution and function of CDRs and protein domains.

scholarly journals The impact of O-glycan chemistry on the stability of intrinsically disordered proteins

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (15) ◽  
pp. 3710-3715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica T. Prates ◽  
Xiaoyang Guan ◽  
Yaohao Li ◽  
Xinfeng Wang ◽  
Patrick K. Chaffey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Protein Glycosylation ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
Post Translational Modification ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
P Protein ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Impact

Protein glycosylation is a diverse post-translational modification that serves myriad biological functions.

scholarly journals Identifying sequence perturbations to an intrinsically disordered protein that determine its phase-separation behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (21) ◽  
pp. 11421-11431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin S. Schuster ◽  
Gregory L. Dignon ◽  
Wai Shing Tang ◽  
Fleurie M. Kelley ◽  
Aishwarya Kanchi Ranganath ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Separation ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Lipid Membrane ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Sequence Features ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Arginine Residues

Phase separation of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) commonly underlies the formation of membraneless organelles, which compartmentalize molecules intracellularly in the absence of a lipid membrane. Identifying the protein sequence features responsible for IDP phase separation is critical for understanding physiological roles and pathological consequences of biomolecular condensation, as well as for harnessing phase separation for applications in bioinspired materials design. To expand our knowledge of sequence determinants of IDP phase separation, we characterized variants of the intrinsically disordered RGG domain from LAF-1, a model protein involved in phase separation and a key component of P granules. Based on a predictive coarse-grained IDP model, we identified a region of the RGG domain that has high contact probability and is highly conserved between species; deletion of this region significantly disrupts phase separation in vitro and in vivo. We determined the effects of charge patterning on phase behavior through sequence shuffling. We designed sequences with significantly increased phase separation propensity by shuffling the wild-type sequence, which contains well-mixed charged residues, to increase charge segregation. This result indicates the natural sequence is under negative selection to moderate this mode of interaction. We measured the contributions of tyrosine and arginine residues to phase separation experimentally through mutagenesis studies and computationally through direct interrogation of different modes of interaction using all-atom simulations. Finally, we show that despite these sequence perturbations, the RGG-derived condensates remain liquid-like. Together, these studies advance our fundamental understanding of key biophysical principles and sequence features important to phase separation.

scholarly journals Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Phosphorylated Intrinsically Disordered Proteins: A Force Field Comparison

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (18) ◽  
pp. 10174
Author(s):  
Ellen Rieloff ◽  
Marie Skepö
Keyword(s):  
Force Field ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Conformational Ensemble ◽  
Salt Bridges ◽  
Post Translational Modification ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Disordered Peptides ◽  
Dynamics Simulations

Phosphorylation is a common post-translational modification among intrinsically disordered proteins and regions, which helps regulate function by changing the protein conformations, dynamics, and interactions with binding partners. To fully comprehend the effects of phosphorylation, computer simulations are a helpful tool, although they are dependent on the accuracy of the force field used. Here, we compared the conformational ensembles produced by Amber ff99SB-ILDN+TIP4P-D and CHARMM36m, for four phosphorylated disordered peptides ranging in length from 14–43 residues. CHARMM36m consistently produced more compact conformations with a higher content of bends, mainly due to more stable salt bridges. Based on comparisons with experimental size estimates for the shortest and longest peptide, CHARMM36m appeared to overestimate the compactness. The difference between the force fields was largest for the peptide showing the greatest separation between positively charged and phosphorylated residues, in line with the importance of charge distribution. For this peptide, the conformational ensemble did not change significantly upon increasing the ionic strength from 0 mM to 150 mM, despite a reduction of the salt-bridging probability in the CHARMM36m simulations, implying that salt concentration has negligible effects in this study.

scholarly journals Translation of the intrinsically disordered protein α-synuclein is inhibited by a small molecule targeting its structured mRNA

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 1457-1467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peiyuan Zhang ◽  
Hye-Jin Park ◽  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Eunsung Junn ◽  
Ryan J. Andrews ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Small Molecules ◽  
Small Molecule ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Lewy Bodies ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Lewy Neurites ◽  
Protein Levels ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
In Cells

Many proteins are refractory to targeting because they lack small-molecule binding pockets. An alternative to drugging these proteins directly is to target the messenger (m)RNA that encodes them, thereby reducing protein levels. We describe such an approach for the difficult-to-target protein α-synuclein encoded by the SNCA gene. Multiplication of the SNCA gene locus causes dominantly inherited Parkinson’s disease (PD), and α-synuclein protein aggregates in Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites in sporadic PD. Thus, reducing the expression of α-synuclein protein is expected to have therapeutic value. Fortuitously, the SNCA mRNA has a structured iron-responsive element (IRE) in its 5′ untranslated region (5′ UTR) that controls its translation. Using sequence-based design, we discovered small molecules that target the IRE structure and inhibit SNCA translation in cells, the most potent of which is named Synucleozid. Both in vitro and cellular profiling studies showed Synucleozid directly targets the α-synuclein mRNA 5′ UTR at the designed site. Mechanistic studies revealed that Synucleozid reduces α-synuclein protein levels by decreasing the amount of SNCA mRNA loaded into polysomes, mechanistically providing a cytoprotective effect in cells. Proteome- and transcriptome-wide studies showed that the compound’s selectivity makes Synucleozid suitable for further development. Importantly, transcriptome-wide analysis of mRNAs that encode intrinsically disordered proteins revealed that each has structured regions that could be targeted with small molecules. These findings demonstrate the potential for targeting undruggable proteins at the level of their coding mRNAs. This approach, as applied to SNCA, is a promising disease-modifying therapeutic strategy for PD and other α-synucleinopathies.

scholarly journals Salient Features of Monomeric Alpha-Synuclein Revealed by NMR Spectroscopy

Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 428
Author(s):  
Do-Hyoung Kim ◽  
Jongchan Lee ◽  
K. Mok ◽  
Jung Lee ◽  
Kyou-Hoon Han
Keyword(s):  
Structural Biology ◽  
Protein Function ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Alpha Synuclein ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Structural Details ◽  
The One

Elucidating the structural details of proteins is highly valuable and important for the proper understanding of protein function. In the case of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), however, obtaining the structural details is quite challenging, as the traditional structural biology tools have only limited use. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a unique experimental tool that provides ensemble conformations of IDPs at atomic resolution, and when studying IDPs, a slightly different experimental strategy needs to be employed than the one used for globular proteins. We address this point by reviewing many NMR investigations carried out on the α-synuclein protein, the aggregation of which is strongly correlated with Parkinson’s disease.

scholarly journals Coupling Bulk Phase Separation of Disordered Proteins to Membrane Domain Formation in Molecular Simulations on a Bespoke Compute Fabric

Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Julian C. Shillcock ◽  
David B. Thomas ◽  
Jonathan R. Beaumont ◽  
Graeme M. Bragg ◽  
Mark L. Vousden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Separation ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Lipid Membrane ◽  
Molecular Simulations ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Computational Techniques ◽  
Domain Formation ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Ideal Mixing

Phospholipid membranes surround the cell and its internal organelles, and their multicomponent nature allows the formation of domains that are important in cellular signalling, the immune system, and bacterial infection. Cytoplasmic compartments are also created by the phase separation of intrinsically disordered proteins into biomolecular condensates. The ubiquity of lipid membranes and protein condensates raises the question of how three-dimensional droplets might interact with two-dimensional domains, and whether this coupling has physiological or pathological importance. Here, we explore the equilibrium morphologies of a dilute phase of a model disordered protein interacting with an ideal-mixing, two-component lipid membrane using coarse-grained molecular simulations. We find that the proteins can wet the membrane with and without domain formation, and form phase separated droplets bound to membrane domains. Results from much larger simulations performed on a novel non-von-Neumann compute architecture called POETS, which greatly accelerates their execution compared to conventional hardware, confirm the observations. Reducing the wall clock time for such simulations requires new architectures and computational techniques. We demonstrate here an inter-disciplinary approach that uses real-world biophysical questions to drive the development of new computing hardware and simulation algorithms.

scholarly journals Disordered domains in chromatin-binding proteins

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Watson ◽  
Katherine Stott
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Basic Unit ◽  
Post Translational Modification ◽  
Histone Tails ◽  
Linker Histones ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Regions ◽  
Dna And Rna ◽  
Chromatin Organisation

Abstract Chromatin comprises proteins, DNA and RNA, and its function is to condense and package the genome in a way that allows the necessary transactions such as transcription, replication and repair to occur in a highly organised and regulated manner. The packaging of chromatin is often thought of in a hierarchical fashion starting from the most basic unit of DNA packaging, the nucleosome, to the condensation of nucleosomal ‘beads on a string’ by linker histones to form the 30-nm fibre and eventually large chromatin domains. However, a picture of a more heterogeneous, dynamic and liquid-like assembly is emerging, in which intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and proteins containing intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) play a central role. Disorder features at all levels of chromatin organisation, from the histone tails, which are sites of extensive post-translational modification (PTM) that change the fate of the underlying genomic information, right through to transcription hubs, and the recently elucidated roles of IDPs and IDRs in the condensation of large regions of the genome through liquid–liquid phase separation.

scholarly journals Exploring Potential Signals of Selection for Disordered Residues in Naturally Occurring Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Proteins

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arup Panda ◽  
Tamir Tuller
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Nucleotide Composition ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Post Translational Modification ◽  
Functional Importance ◽  
Random Sequences ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered ◽  
Eukaryotic Proteins ◽  
Disorder Potential

AbstractIntrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) were recognized as an important class of proteins in all domains of life for their functional importance. However, how nature has shaped the disorder potential of prokaryotic and eukaryotic proteins is still not clearly known. Randomly generated sequences are free of any selective constraints thus these sequences are commonly used as null models. Considering different types of random protein models here we seek to understand how disorder potential of natural eukaryotic and prokaryotic proteins differs from random sequences. Comparing proteome-wide disorder content between real and random sequences of 12 model organisms we noticed that while in eukaryotes natural sequences tend to be more disordered than random sequences prokaryotes follow an opposite trend. By analyzing position-wise disorder profile, here we showed that there is a general trend of higher disorder near the N and C-terminal regions of eukaryotic proteins as compared to the random models; however, either no or a weak such trend was found in prokaryotic proteins. Moreover here we showed that this preference is not due to the biases either in the amino acid or nucleotide composition or other factors at the respective sites. Instead, these regions were found to be endowed with a higher fraction of protein-protein binding sites suggesting their functional importance. Here, we proposed various explanations for this pattern such as improving the efficiency of protein-protein interaction, ribosome movement, and post-translational modification, etc. However, further studies are needed to clearly understand the biophysical mechanisms causing the trend.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE POTENTIAL RNA EDITING SITES FOR GENES OF INTRINSICALLY DISORDERED PROTEINS ASSOCIATED WITH NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES

2020 ◽  
pp. 104-106
Author(s):  
M. Medvedeva ◽  
V. Muronetz
Keyword(s):  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Cell Line ◽  
Rna Editing ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered Proteins ◽  
Alpha Synuclein ◽  
Disordered Proteins ◽  
Unfolded Proteins ◽  
Adenosine Deaminases ◽  
Intrinsically Disordered

A search for genes of naturally unfolded proteins associated with neurodegeneration containing tyrosine codons with the potential for editing RNA by adenosine deaminases was performed, and such sites were tested for the alpha - synuclein gene in the SH-SY5Y cell line.

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