(6–4) photolyases are flavoproteins that belong to the photolyase/cryptochrome family. Their function is to repair DNA lesions using visible light. Here, crystal structures ofDrosophila melanogaster(6–4) photolyase [Dm(6–4)photolyase] at room and cryogenic temperatures are reported. The room-temperature structure was solved to 2.27 Å resolution and was obtained by serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) using an X-ray free-electron laser. The crystallization and preparation conditions are also reported. The cryogenic structure was solved to 1.79 Å resolution using conventional X-ray crystallography. The structures agree with each other, indicating that the structural information obtained from crystallography at cryogenic temperature also applies at room temperature. Furthermore, UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy confirms thatDm(6–4)photolyase is photoactive in the crystals, giving a green light to time-resolved SFX studies on the protein, which can reveal the structural mechanism of the photoactivated protein in DNA repair.
more »
« less
An expanded allosteric network in PTP1B by multitemperature crystallography, fragment screening, and covalent tethering
Allostery is an inherent feature of proteins, but it remains challenging to reveal the mechanisms by which allosteric signals propagate. A clearer understanding of this intrinsic circuitry would afford new opportunities to modulate protein function. Here, we have identified allosteric sites in protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) by combining multiple-temperature X-ray crystallography experiments and structure determination from hundreds of individual small-molecule fragment soaks. New modeling approaches reveal 'hidden' low-occupancy conformational states for protein and ligands. Our results converge on allosteric sites that are conformationally coupled to the active-site WPD loop and are hotspots for fragment binding. Targeting one of these sites with covalently tethered molecules or mutations allosterically inhibits enzyme activity. Overall, this work demonstrates how the ensemble nature of macromolecular structure, revealed here by multitemperature crystallography, can elucidate allosteric mechanisms and open new doors for long-range control of protein function.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1231306
- PAR ID:
- 10588848
- Publisher / Repository:
- eLife
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- eLife
- Volume:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 2050-084X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Understanding and controlling protein motion at atomic resolution is a hallmark challenge for structural biologists and protein engineers because conformational dynamics are essential for complex functions such as enzyme catalysis and allosteric regulation. Time-resolved crystallography offers a window into protein motions, yet without a universal perturbation to initiate conformational changes the method has been limited in scope. Here we couple a solvent-based temperature jump with time-resolved crystallography to visualize structural motions in lysozyme, a dynamic enzyme. We observed widespread atomic vibrations on the nanosecond timescale, which evolve on the submillisecond timescale into localized structural fluctuations that are coupled to the active site. An orthogonal perturbation to the enzyme, inhibitor binding, altered these dynamics by blocking key motions that allow energy to dissipate from vibrations into functional movements linked to the catalytic cycle. Because temperature jump is a universal method for perturbing molecular motion, the method demonstrated here is broadly applicable for studying protein dynamics.more » « less
-
CRISPR-Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat and associated Cas9 protein) is a molecular tool with transformative genome editing capabilities. At the molecular level, an intricate allosteric signaling is critical for DNA cleavage, but its role in the specificity enhancement of the Cas9 endonuclease is poorly understood. Here, multi-microsecond molecular dynamics is combined with solution NMR and graph theory-derived models to probe the allosteric role of key specificity-enhancing mutations. We show that mutations responsible for increasing the specificity of Cas9 alter the allosteric structure of the catalytic HNH domain, impacting the signal transmission from the DNA recognition region to the catalytic sites for cleavage. Specifically, the K855A mutation strongly disrupts the allosteric connectivity of the HNH domain, exerting the highest perturbation on the signaling transfer, while K810A and K848A result in more moderate effects on the allosteric communication. This differential perturbation of the allosteric signal correlates to the order of specificity enhancement (K855A > K848A ~ K810A) observed in biochemical studies, with the mutation achieving the highest specificity most strongly perturbing the signaling transfer. These findings suggest that alterations of the allosteric communication from DNA recognition to cleavage are critical to increasing the specificity of Cas9 and that allosteric hotspots can be targeted through mutational studies for improving the system’s function.more » « less
-
We integrate evolutionary predictions based on the neutral theory of molecular evolution with protein dynamics to generate mechanistic insight into the molecular adaptations of the SARS-COV-2 spike (S) protein. With this approach, we first identified candidate adaptive polymorphisms (CAPs) of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein and assessed the impact of these CAPs through dynamics analysis. Not only have we found that CAPs frequently overlap with well-known functional sites, but also, using several different dynamics-based metrics, we reveal the critical allosteric interplay between SARS-CoV-2 CAPs and the S protein binding sites with the human ACE2 (hACE2) protein. CAPs interact far differently with the hACE2 binding site residues in the open conformation of the S protein compared to the closed form. In particular, the CAP sites control the dynamics of binding residues in the open state, suggesting an allosteric control of hACE2 binding. We also explored the characteristic mutations of different SARS-CoV-2 strains to find dynamic hallmarks and potential effects of future mutations. Our analyses reveal that Delta strain-specific variants have non-additive (i.e., epistatic) interactions with CAP sites, whereas the less pathogenic Omicron strains have mostly additive mutations. Finally, our dynamics-based analysis suggests that the novel mutations observed in the Omicron strain epistatically interact with the CAP sites to help escape antibody binding.more » « less
-
Abstract RAS GTPases are proto‐oncoproteins that regulate cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation in response to extracellular signals. The signaling functions of RAS, and other small GTPases, are dependent on their ability to cycle between GDP‐bound and GTP‐bound states. Structural analyses suggest that GTP hydrolysis catalyzed by HRAS can be regulated by an allosteric site located between helices 3, 4, and loop 7. Here we explore the relationship between intrinsic GTP hydrolysis on HRAS and the position of helix 3 and loop 7 through manipulation of the allosteric site, showing that the two sites are functionally connected. We generated several hydrophobic mutations in the allosteric site of HRAS to promote shifts in helix 3 relative to helix 4. By combining crystallography and enzymology to study these mutants, we show that closure of the allosteric site correlates with increased hydrolysis of GTP on HRAS in solution. Interestingly, binding to the RAS binding domain of RAF kinase (RAF‐RBD) inhibits GTP hydrolysis in the mutants. This behavior may be representative of a cluster of mutations found in human tumors, which potentially cooperate with RAF complex formation to stabilize the GTP‐bound state of RAS.more » « less
An official website of the United States government

