Search for: All records

Morphological complexity and plasticity are hallmarks of polyextremotolerant fungi. Septins are conserved cytoskeletal proteins and key contributors to cell polarity and morphogenesis. They sense membrane curvature, coordinate cell division, and influence diffusion at the plasma membrane. Four septin homologues are conserved from yeasts to humans, the systems in which septins have been most studied. But there is also a fifth family of opisthokont septins that remain biochemically mysterious. Members of this family, Group 5 septins, appear in the genomes of filamentous fungi, but are understudied due to their absence from ascomycete yeasts. Knufia petricola is an emerging model polyextremotolerant black fungus that can also serve as a model system for Group 5 septins. We have recombinantly expressed and biochemically characterized KpAspE, a Group 5 septin from K. petricola. This septin––by itself in vitro––recapitulates many functions of canonical septin hetero-octamers. KpAspE is an active GTPase that forms diverse homo-oligomers, binds shallow membrane curvatures, and interacts with the terminal subunit of canonical septin hetero-octamers. These findings raise the possibility that Group 5 septins govern the higher-order structures formed by canonical septins, which in K. petricola cells form extended filaments, and provide insight into how septin hetero-oligomers evolved from ancient homomers. 

Abstract Morphological complexity and plasticity are hallmarks of polyextremotolerant fungi. Septins are conserved cytoskeletal proteins and key contributors to cell polarity and morphogenesis. They sense membrane curvature, coordinate cell division, and influence diffusion at the plasma membrane. Four septins homologs are conserved from yeasts to humans, the two systems in which septins have been studied most extensively. But there is also a fifth family of septin proteins that remain biochemically mysterious. Members of this family, known as Group 5 septins, appear in the genomes of filamentous fungi, and thus have been understudied due to their absence from ascomycete yeasts.Knufia petricolais an emerging model polyextremotolerant black fungus that can serve as a model system for understudied Group 5 septins. We have recombinantly expressed and biochemically characterizedKpAspE, a Group 5 septin fromK. petricola, demonstrating that this septin––by itselfin vitro–– recapitulates many of the functions of canonical septin hetero-octamers.KpAspE is an active GTPase that forms diverse homo-oligomers, senses membrane curvature, and interacts with the terminal subunit of canonical septin hetero-octamers. These findings raise the possibility that Group 5 septins govern the higher order structures formed by canonical septins, which inK. petricolacells form extended filaments. These findings provide insight into how septin hetero-oligomers evolved from ancient homomers and raise the possibility that Group 5 septins govern the higher order structures formed by canonical septins. Significance StatementSeptins are understudied cytoskeletal proteins. Here, we biochemically characterizedKpAspE, a novel Group 5 septin from a polyextremotolerant black fungus.KpAspE in isolation recapitulates many properties of canonical septin hetero-octamersin vitroand interacts with the Cdc11, the terminal subunit of those octamers.These findings provide insight into how ancient septins may have evolved and diversified from homopolymers and suggest that many of the septin functions were present in the ancestral protein. 

S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) is an abundant biomolecule used by methyltransferases to regulate a wide range of essential cellular processes such as gene expression, cell signaling, protein functions, and metabolism. Despite considerable effort, there remain many specificity challenges associated with designing small molecule inhibitors for methyltransferases, most of which exhibit off-target effects. Interestingly, NMR evidence suggests that SAM undergoes conformeric exchange between several states when free in solution. Infrared spectroscopy can detect different conformers of molecules if present in appreciable populations. When SAM is noncovalently bound within enzyme active sites, the nature and the number of different conformations of the molecule are likely to be altered from when it is free in solution. If there are unique structures or different numbers of conformers between different methyltransferase active sites, solution-state information may provide promising structural leads to increase inhibitor specificity for a particular methyltransferase. Toward this goal, frequencies measured in SAM’s infrared spectra must be assigned to the motions of specific atoms via isotope incorporation at discrete positions. The incorporation of isotopes into SAM’s structure can be accomplished via an established enzymatic synthesis using isotopically labeled precursors. However, published protocols produced an intense and highly variable IR signal which overlapped with many of the signals from SAM rendering comparison between isotopes challenging. We observed this intense absorption to be from co-purifying salts and the SAM counterion, producing a strong, broad signal at 1100 cm−1. Here, we report a revised SAM purification protocol that mitigates the contaminating salts and present the first IR spectra of isotopically labeled CD3-SAM. These results provide a foundation for isotopic labeling experiments of SAM that will define which atoms participate in individual molecular vibrations, as a means to detect specific molecular conformations.