Structural Basis for YjbH Adaptor-Mediated Recognition of Transcription Factor Spx.

YjbH is a bacterial adaptor protein required for efficient proteolysis of the RNA polymerase-binding transcription factor Spx by the ClpXP protease. We report the structure of YjbH in complex with Spx. YjbH comprises a DsbA-like thioredoxin domain connected via a linker to a C-terminal domain reminiscent of the winged helix-turn-helix fold. The interaction between YjbH and Spx involves a large surface area. Binding to YjbH stabilizes the C-terminal ClpX recognition region of Spx. We show that mutation of critical YjbH contact residues abrogates Spx recognition. Small-angle X-ray scattering and hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry analyses determined the existence of a stable heterodimeric complex in solution and provide evidence that binding of Spx to YjbH reduces the overall conformational flexibility of Spx. Our findings provide insights into the molecular basis for Spx recognition and suggest a model for how YjbH stabilizes Spx and displays the C terminus of Spx for engagement by ClpXP.

Exploring structure and interactions of the bacterial adaptor protein YjbH by crosslinking mass spectrometry.

Adaptor proteins assist proteases in degrading specific proteins under appropriate conditions. The adaptor protein YjbH promotes the degradation of an important global transcriptional regulator Spx, which controls the expression of hundreds of genes and operons in response to thiol-specific oxidative stress in Bacillus subtilis. Under normal growth conditions, the transcription factor is bound to the adaptor protein and therefore degraded by the AAA+ protease ClpXP. If this binding is alleviated during stress, the transcription factor accumulates and turns on genes encoding stress-alleviating proteins. The adaptor protein YjbH is thus a key player involved in these interactions but its structure is unknown. To gain insight into its structure and interactions we have used chemical crosslinking mass spectrometry. Distance constraints obtained from the crosslinked monomer were used to select and validate a structure model of YjbH and then to probe its interactions with other proteins. The core structure of YjbH is reminiscent of DsbA family proteins. One lysine residue in YjbH (K177), located in one of the α-helices outside the thioredoxin fold, crosslinked to both Spx K99 and Spx K117, thereby suggesting one side of the YjbH for the interaction with Spx. Another lysine residue that crosslinked to Spx was YjbH K5, located in the long and presumably very flexible N-terminal arm of YjbH. Our crosslinking data lend support to a model proposed based on site-directed mutagenesis where the YjbH interaction with Spx can stabilize and present the C-terminal region of Spx for protease recognition and proteolysis. Proteins 2016; 84:1234-1245. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Functional role of the MrpA- and MrpD-homologous protein subunits in enzyme complexes evolutionary related to respiratory chain complex I.

NADH:quinone oxidoreductase or complex I is a large membrane bound enzyme complex that has evolved from the combination of smaller functional building blocks. Intermediate size enzyme complexes exist in nature that comprise some, but not all of the protein subunits in full size 14-subunit complex I. The membrane spanning complex I subunits NuoL, NuoM and NuoN are homologous to each other and to two proteins from one particular class of Na(+)/H(+) antiporters, denoted MrpA and MrpD. In complex I, these ion transporter protein subunits are prime candidates for harboring important parts of the proton pumping machinery. Using a model system, consisting of Bacillus subtilis MrpA and MrpD deletion strains and a low copy expression plasmid, it was recently demonstrated that NuoN can rescue the strain deleted for MrpD but not that deleted for MrpA, whereas the opposite tendency was seen for NuoL. This demonstrated that the MrpA-type and MrpD-type proteins have unique functional specializations. In this work, the corresponding antiporter-like protein subunits from the smaller enzymes evolutionarily related to complex I were tested in the same model system. The subunits from 11-subunit complex I from Bacillus cereus behaved essentially as those from full size complex I, corroborating that this enzyme should be regarded as a bona fide complex I. The hydrogenase-3 and hydrogenase-4 antiporter-like proteins on the other hand, could substitute equally well for MrpA or MrpD at pH7.4, suggesting that these enzymes have intermediate forms of the antiporter-like proteins, which seemingly lack the functional specificity.

Structure and function of the C-terminal domain of MrpA in the Bacillus subtilis Mrp-antiporter complex--the evolutionary progenitor of the long horizontal helix in complex I.

MrpA and MrpD are homologous to NuoL, NuoM and NuoN in complex I over the first 14 transmembrane helices. In this work, the C-terminal domain of MrpA, outside this conserved area, was investigated. The transmembrane orientation was found to correspond to that of NuoJ in complex I. We have previously demonstrated that the subunit NuoK is homologous to MrpC. The function of the MrpA C-terminus was tested by expression in a previously used Bacillus subtilis model system. At neutral pH, the truncated MrpA still worked, but at pH 8.4, where Mrp-complex formation is needed for function, the C-terminal domain of MrpA was absolutely required.