Cross-Linked α-Synuclein as Inhibitor of Amyloid Formation.

The aggregation and amyloid formation of α-synuclein is associated with Parkinson's disease and other synucleinopathies. In its native, monomeric form α-synuclein is an intrinsically disordered protein represented by highly dynamic conformational ensembles. Inhibition of α-synuclein aggregation using small molecules, peptides, or proteins has been at the center of interest in recent years. Our aim was to explore the effects of cross-linking on the structure and aggregation/amyloid formation properties of α-synuclein. Comparative analysis of available high-resolution amyloid structures and representative structural models and MD trajectory of monomeric α-synuclein revealed that potential cross-links in the monomeric protein are mostly incompatible with the amyloid forms and thus might inhibit fibrillation. Monomeric α-synuclein has been intramolecularly chemically cross-linked under various conditions using different cross-linkers. We determined the location of cross-links and their frequency using mass spectrometry and found that most of them cannot be realized in the amyloid structures. The inhibitory potential of cross-linked proteins has been experimentally investigated using various methods, including thioflavin-T fluorescence and transmission electron microscopy. We found that conformational constraints applied by cross-linking fully blocked α-synuclein amyloid formation. Moreover, DTSSP-cross-linked molecules exhibited an inhibitory effect on the aggregation of unmodified α-synuclein as well.

Multiple Timescale Dynamic Analysis of Functionally-Impairing Mutations in Human Ileal Bile Acid-Binding Protein.

Human ileal bile acid-binding protein (hI-BABP) has a key role in the enterohepatic circulation of bile salts. Its two internal binding sites exhibit positive cooperativity accompanied by a site-selectivity of glycocholate (GCA) and glycochenodeoxycholate (GCDA), the two most abundant bile salts in humans. To improve our understanding of the role of dynamics in ligand binding, we introduced functionally impairing single-residue mutations at two key regions of the protein and subjected the mutants to NMR relaxation analysis and MD simulations. According to our results, mutation in both the vicinity of the C/D (Q51A) and the G/H (Q99A) turns results in a redistribution of motional freedom in apo hI-BABP. Mutation Q51A, deteriorating the site-selectivity of GCA and GCDA, results in the channeling of ms fluctuations into faster motions in the binding pocket hampering the realization of key side chain interactions. Mutation Q99A, abolishing positive binding cooperativity for GCDA, leaves ms motions in the C-terminal half unchanged but by decoupling ßD from a dynamic cluster of the N-terminal half displays an increased flexibility in the vicinity of site 1. MD simulations of the variants indicate structural differences in the portal region and mutation-induced changes in dynamics, which depend on the protonation state of histidines. A dynamic coupling between the EFGH portal, the C/D-region, and the helical cap is evidenced highlighting the interplay of structural and dynamic effects in bile salt recognition in hI-BABP.

Arg236 in human chymotrypsin B2 (CTRB2) is a key determinant of high enzyme activity, trypsinogen degradation capacity, and protection against pancreatitis.

Pancreatic chymotrypsins (CTRs) are digestive proteases that in humans include CTRB1, CTRB2, CTRC, and CTRL. The highly similar CTRB1 and CTRB2 are the products of gene duplication. A common inversion at the CTRB1-CTRB2 locus reverses the expression ratio of these isoforms in favor of CTRB2. Carriers of the inversion allele are protected against the inflammatory disorder pancreatitis presumably via their increased capacity for CTRB2-mediated degradation of harmful trypsinogen. To reveal the protective molecular determinants of CTRB2, we compared enzymatic properties of CTRB1, CTRB2, and bovine CTRA (bCTRA). By evolving substrate-like Schistocerca gregaria proteinase inhibitor 2 (SGPI-2) inhibitory loop variants against the chymotrypsins, we found that the substrate binding groove of the three enzymes had overlapping specificities. Based on the selected sequences, we produced eight SGPI-2 variants. Remarkably, CTRB2 and bCTRA bound these inhibitors with significantly higher affinity than CTRB1. Moreover, digestion of peptide substrates, beta casein, and human anionic trypsinogen unequivocally confirmed that CTRB2 is a generally better enzyme than CTRB1 while the potency of bCTRA lies between those of the human isoforms. Unexpectedly, mutation D236R alone converted CTRB1 to a CTRB2-like high activity protease. Modeling indicated that in CTRB1 Met210 partially obstructed the substrate binding groove, which was relieved by the D236R mutation. Taken together, we identify CTRB2 Arg236 as a key positive determinant, while CTRB1 Asp236 as a negative determinant for chymotrypsin activity. These findings strongly support the concept that in carriers of the CTRB1-CTRB2 inversion allele, the superior trypsinogen degradation capacity of CTRB2 protects against pancreatitis.

Neuronal-specific septin-3 binds Atg8/LC3B, accumulates and localizes to autophagosomes during induced autophagy.

In synapses that show signs of local apoptosis and mitochondrial stress and undergo neuro-immunological synapse pruning, an increase in the levels of the presynaptic protein, neuronal-specific septin-3 can be observed. Septin-3 is a member of the septin GTPase family with the ability to form multimers and contribute to the cytoskeleton. However, the function of septin-3 remains elusive. Here, we provide evidence that septin-3 is capable of binding the most-studied autophagy protein Atg8 homolog microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3B (LC3B), besides another homolog, GABA receptor-associated protein-like 2 (GABARAPL2). Moreover, we demonstrate that colocalization of septin-3 and LC3B increases upon chemical autophagy induction in primary neuronal cells. Septin-3 is accumulated in primary neurons upon autophagy enhancement or blockade, similar to autophagy proteins. Using electron microscopy, we also show that septin-3 localizes to LC3B positive membranes and can be found at mitochondria. However, colocalization results of septin-3 and the early mitophagy marker PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) do not support that binding of septin-3 to mitochondria is mitophagy related. We conclude that septin-3 correlates with synaptic/neuronal autophagy, binds Atg8 and localizes to autophagic membranes that can be enhanced with chemical autophagy induction. Based on our results, elevated septin-3 levels might indicate enhanced or impeded autophagy in neurons.

Competitive inhibition of the classical complement pathway using exogenous single-chain C1q recognition proteins.

Complement component C1q is a protein complex of the innate immune system with well-characterized binding partners that constitutes part of the classical complement pathway. In addition, C1q was recently described in the central nervous system as having a role in synapse elimination both in the healthy brain and in neurodegenerative diseases. However, the molecular mechanism of C1q-associated synapse phagocytosis is still unclear. Here, we designed monomer and multimer protein constructs, which comprised the globular interaction recognition parts of mouse C1q (globular part of C1q [gC1q]) as single-chain molecules (sc-gC1q proteins) lacking the collagen-like effector region. These molecules, which can competitively inhibit the function of C1q, were expressed in an Escherichia coli expression system, and their structure and capabilities to bind known complement pathway activators were validated by mass spectrometry, analytical size-exclusion chromatography, analytical ultracentrifugation, CD spectroscopy, and ELISA. We further characterized the interactions between these molecules and immunoglobulins and neuronal pentraxins using surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy. We demonstrated that sc-gC1qs potently inhibited the function of C1q. Furthermore, these sc-gC1qs competed with C1q in binding to the embryonal neuronal cell membrane. We conclude that the application of sc-gC1qs can reveal neuronal localization and functions of C1q in assays in vivo and might serve as a basis for engineering inhibitors for therapeutic purposes.

BeStSel: webserver for secondary structure and fold prediction for protein CD spectroscopy.

Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is widely used to characterize the secondary structure composition of proteins. To derive accurate and detailed structural information from the CD spectra, we have developed the Beta Structure Selection (BeStSel) method (PNAS, 112, E3095), which can handle the spectral diversity of ß-structured proteins. The BeStSel webserver provides this method with useful accessories to the community with the main goal to analyze single or multiple protein CD spectra. Uniquely, BeStSel provides information on eight secondary structure components including parallel ß-structure and antiparallel ß-sheets with three different groups of twist. It overperforms any available method in accuracy and information content, moreover, it is capable of predicting the protein fold down to the topology/homology level of the CATH classification. A new module of the webserver helps to distinguish intrinsically disordered proteins by their CD spectrum. Secondary structure calculation for uploaded PDB files will help the experimental verification of protein MD and in silico modelling using CD spectroscopy. The server also calculates extinction coefficients from the primary sequence for CD users to determine the accurate protein concentrations which is a prerequisite for reliable secondary structure determination. The BeStSel server can be freely accessed at https://bestsel.elte.hu.

Disordered-Ordered Protein Binary Classification by Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy.

Intrinsically disordered proteins lack a stable tertiary structure and form dynamic conformational ensembles due to their characteristic physicochemical properties and amino acid composition. They are abundant in nature and responsible for a large variety of cellular functions. While numerous bioinformatics tools have been developed for in silico disorder prediction in the last decades, there is a need for experimental methods to verify the disordered state. CD spectroscopy is widely used for protein secondary structure analysis. It is usable in a wide concentration range under various buffer conditions. Even without providing high-resolution information, it is especially useful when NMR, X-ray, or other techniques are problematic or one simply needs a fast technique to verify the structure of proteins. Here, we propose an automatized binary disorder-order classification method by analyzing far-UV CD spectroscopy data. The method needs CD data at only three wavelength points, making high-throughput data collection possible. The mathematical analysis applies the k-nearest neighbor algorithm with cosine distance function, which is independent of the spectral amplitude and thus free of concentration determination errors. Moreover, the method can be used even for strong absorbing samples, such as the case of crowded environmental conditions, if the spectrum can be recorded down to the wavelength of 212 nm. We believe the classification method will be useful in identifying disorder and will also facilitate the growth of experimental data in IDP databases. The method is implemented on a webserver and freely available for academic users.

The Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analysis of Prefrontal Pyramidal Cells and Interneurons Reveals the Neuronal Expression of Genes Encoding Antimicrobial Peptides and Immune Proteins.

The investigation of the molecular background of direct communication of neurons and immune cells in the brain is an important issue for understanding physiological and pathological processes in the nervous system. Direct contacts between brain-infiltrating immune cells and neurons, and the neuromodulatory effect of immune cell-derived regulatory peptides are well established. Several aspects of the role of immune and glial cells in the direct neuro-immune communication are also well known; however, there remain many questions regarding the molecular details of signaling from neurons to immune cells. Thus, we report here on the neuronal expression of genes encoding antimicrobial and immunomodulatory peptides, as well as proteins of immune cell-specific activation and communication mechanisms. In the present study, we analyzed the single-cell sequencing data of our previous transcriptomic work, obtained from electrophysiologically identified pyramidal cells and interneurons of the murine prefrontal cortex. We filtered out the genes that may be associated with the direct communication between immune cells and neurons and examined their expression pattern in the neuronal transcriptome. The expression of some of these genes by cortical neurons has not yet been reported. The vast majority of antimicrobial (~53%) and immune cell protein (~94%) transcripts was identified in the transcriptome of the 84 cells, owing to the high sensitivity of ultra-deep sequencing. Several of the antimicrobial and immune process-related protein transcripts showed cell type-specific or enriched expression. Individual neurons transcribed only a fraction of the investigated genes with low copy numbers probably due to the bursting kinetics of gene expression; however, the comparison of our data with available transcriptomic datasets from immune cells and neurons suggests the functional relevance of the reported findings. Accordingly, we propose further experimental and in silico studies on the neuronal expression of immune system-related genes and the potential role of the encoded proteins in neuroimmunological processes.

Pathogenic D76N Variant of ß2-Microglobulin: Synergy of Diverse Effects in Both the Native and Amyloid States.

ß2-microglobulin (ß2m), the light chain of the MHC-I complex, is associated with dialysis-related amyloidosis (DRA). Recently, a hereditary systemic amyloidosis was discovered, caused by a naturally occurring D76N ß2m variant, which showed a structure remarkably similar to the wild-type (WT) protein, albeit with decreased thermodynamic stability and increased amyloidogenicity. Here, we investigated the role of the D76N mutation in the amyloid formation of ß2m by point mutations affecting the Asp76-Lys41 ion-pair of WT ß2m and the charge cluster on Asp38. Using a variety of biophysical techniques, we investigated the conformational stability and partial unfolding of the native state of the variants, as well as their amyloidogenic propensity and the stability of amyloid fibrils under various conditions. Furthermore, we studied the intermolecular interactions of WT and mutant proteins with various binding partners that might have in vivo relevance. We found that, relative to WT ß2m, the exceptional amyloidogenicity of the pathogenic D76N ß2m variant is realized by the deleterious synergy of diverse effects of destabilized native structure, higher sensitivity to negatively charged amphiphilic molecules (e.g., lipids) and polyphosphate, more effective fibril nucleation, higher conformational stability of fibrils, and elevated affinity for extracellular components, including extracellular matrix proteins.

Cellular Chaperone Function of Intrinsically Disordered Dehydrin ERD14.

Disordered plant chaperones play key roles in helping plants survive in harsh conditions, and they are indispensable for seeds to remain viable. Aside from well-known and thoroughly characterized globular chaperone proteins, there are a number of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) that can also serve as highly effective protecting agents in the cells. One of the largest groups of disordered chaperones is the group of dehydrins, proteins that are expressed at high levels under different abiotic stress conditions, such as drought, high temperature, or osmotic stress. Dehydrins are characterized by the presence of different conserved sequence motifs that also serve as the basis for their categorization. Despite their accepted importance, the exact role and relevance of the conserved regions have not yet been formally addressed. Here, we explored the involvement of each conserved segment in the protective function of the intrinsically disordered stress protein (IDSP) A. thaliana's Early Response to Dehydration (ERD14). We show that segments that are directly involved in partner binding, and others that are not, are equally necessary for proper function and that cellular protection emerges from the balanced interplay of different regions of ERD14.

BeStSel: From Secondary Structure Analysis to Protein Fold Prediction by Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy.

Far-UV circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is a classical method for the study of the secondary structure of polypeptides in solution. It has been the general view that the α-helix content can be estimated accurately from the CD spectra. However, the technique was less reliable to estimate the ß-sheet contents as a consequence of the structural variety of the ß-sheets, which is reflected in a large spectral diversity of the CD spectra of proteins containing this secondary structure component. By taking into account the parallel or antiparallel orientation and the twist of the ß-sheets, the Beta Structure Selection (BeStSel) method provides an improved ß-structure determination and its performance is more accurate for any of the secondary structure types compared to previous CD spectrum analysis algorithms. Moreover, BeStSel provides extra information on the orientation and twist of the ß-sheets which is sufficient for the prediction of the protein fold.The advantage of CD spectroscopy is that it is a fast and inexpensive technique with easy data processing which can be used in a wide protein concentration range and under various buffer conditions. It is especially useful when the atomic resolution structure is not available, such as the case of protein aggregates, membrane proteins or natively disordered chains, for studying conformational transitions, testing the effect of the environmental conditions on the protein structure, for verifying the correct fold of recombinant proteins in every scientific fields working on proteins from basic protein science to biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Here, we provide a brief step-by-step guide to record the CD spectra of proteins and their analysis with the BeStSel method.

Interplay of Structural Disorder and Short Binding Elements in the Cellular Chaperone Function of Plant Dehydrin ERD14.

Details of the functional mechanisms of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) in living cells is an area not frequently investigated. Here, we dissect the molecular mechanism of action of an IDP in cells by detailed structural analyses based on an in-cell nuclear magnetic resonance experiment. We show that the ID stress protein (IDSP) A. thaliana Early Response to Dehydration (ERD14) is capable of protecting E. coli cells under heat stress. The overexpression of ERD14 increases the viability of E. coli cells from 38.9% to 73.9% following heat stress (50 °C × 15 min). We also provide evidence that the protection is mainly achieved by protecting the proteome of the cells. In-cell NMR experiments performed in E. coli cells show that the protective activity is associated with a largely disordered structural state with conserved, short sequence motifs (K- and H-segments), which transiently sample helical conformations in vitro and engage in partner binding in vivo. Other regions of the protein, such as its S segment and its regions linking and flanking the binding motifs, remain unbound and disordered in the cell. Our data suggest that the cellular function of ERD14 is compatible with its residual structural disorder in vivo.

Synaptic mitochondrial dysfunction and septin accumulation are linked to complement-mediated synapse loss in an Alzheimer's disease animal model.

Synaptic functional disturbances with concomitant synapse loss represent central pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Excessive accumulation of cytotoxic amyloid oligomers is widely recognized as a key event that underlies neurodegeneration. Certain complement components are crucial instruments of widespread synapse loss because they can tag synapses with functional impairments leading to their engulfment by microglia. However, an exact understanding of the affected synaptic functions that predispose to complement-mediated synapse elimination is lacking. Therefore, we conducted systematic proteomic examinations on synaptosomes prepared from an amyloidogenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (APP/PS1). Synaptic fractions were separated according to the presence of the C1q-tag using fluorescence-activated synaptosome sorting and subjected to proteomic comparisons. The results raised the decline of mitochondrial functions in the C1q-tagged synapses of APP/PS1 mice based on enrichment analyses, which was verified using flow cytometry. Additionally, proteomics results revealed extensive alterations in the level of septin protein family members, which are known to dynamically form highly organized pre- and postsynaptic supramolecular structures, thereby affecting synaptic transmission. High-resolution microscopy investigations demonstrated that synapses with considerable amounts of septin-3 and septin-5 show increased accumulation of C1q in APP/PS1 mice compared to the wild-type ones. Moreover, a strong positive correlation was apparent between synaptic septin-3 levels and C1q deposition as revealed via flow cytometry and confocal microscopy examinations. In sum, our results imply that deterioration of synaptic mitochondrial functions and alterations in the organization of synaptic septins are associated with complement-dependent synapse loss in Alzheimer's disease.

Ligand entry in human ileal bile acid-binding protein is mediated by histidine protonation.

Human ileal bile acid-binding protein (hI-BABP) has a key role in the intracellular transport of bile salts. To explore the role of histidine protonation in the binding process, the pH-dependence of bile salt binding and internal dynamics in hI-BABP was investigated using NMR spectroscopy and biophysical tools. Thermodynamic and kinetic measurements show an increase in the overall binding affinity and the association rate constant of the first binding step below the pKa of the histidines, suggesting that ligand binding is favoured by the protonated state. The overlap between residues exhibiting a high sensitivity to pH in their backbone amide chemical shifts and protein regions undergoing a global ms conformational exchange indicate a connection between the two processes. According to 15N NMR relaxation dispersion analysis, the slow motion is most pronounced at and above the pKa of the histidines. In agreement with the NMR measurements, MD simulations show a stabilization of the protein by histidine protonation. Hydrogen-bonding and van der Waals interactions mediating the flow of information between the C/D- and G/H-turn regions hosting the three histidines, suggest a complex way of pH-governed allosteric regulation of ligand entry involving a transition between a closed and a more open protein state.

Directed Evolution of Canonical Loops and Their Swapping between Unrelated Serine Proteinase Inhibitors Disprove the Interscaffolding Additivity Model.

Reversible serine proteinase inhibitors comprise 18 unrelated families. Each family has a distinct representative structure but contains a surface loop that adopts the same, canonical conformation in the enzyme-inhibitor complex. The Laskowski mechanism universally applies for the action of all canonical inhibitors independent of their scaffold, but it has two nontrivial extrapolations. Intrascaffolding additivity states that all enzyme-contacting loop residues act independently of each other, while interscaffolding additivity claims that these residues act independently of the scaffold. These theories have great importance for engineering proteinase inhibitors but have not been comprehensively challenged. Therefore, we tested the interscaffolding additivity theory by hard-randomizing all enzyme-contacting canonical loop positions of a Kazal- and a Pacifastin-scaffold inhibitor, displaying the variants on M13 phage, and selecting the libraries on trypsin and chymotrypsin. Directed evolution delivered different patterns on both scaffolds against both enzymes, which contradicts interscaffolding additivity. To quantitatively assess the extent of non-additivity, we measured the affinities of the optimal binding loop variants and their binding loop-swapped versions. While optimal variants have picomolar affinities, swapping the evolved loops results in up to 200,000-fold affinity loss. To decipher the underlying causes, we characterized the stability, overall structure and dynamics of the inhibitors with differential scanning calorimetry, circular dichroism and NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamic simulations. These studies revealed that the foreign loop destabilizes the lower-stability Pacifastin scaffold, while the higher-stability Kazal scaffold distorts the foreign loop. Our findings disprove interscaffolding additivity and show that loop and scaffold form one integrated unit that needs to be coevolved to provide high-affinity inhibition.

BeStSel: a web server for accurate protein secondary structure prediction and fold recognition from the circular dichroism spectra.

Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is a widely used method to study the protein secondary structure. However, for decades, the general opinion was that the correct estimation of ß-sheet content is challenging because of the large spectral and structural diversity of ß-sheets. Recently, we showed that the orientation and twisting of ß-sheets account for the observed spectral diversity, and developed a new method to estimate accurately the secondary structure (PNAS, 112, E3095). BeStSel web server provides the Beta Structure Selection method to analyze the CD spectra recorded by conventional or synchrotron radiation CD equipment. Both normalized and measured data can be uploaded to the server either as a single spectrum or series of spectra. The originality of BeStSel is that it carries out a detailed secondary structure analysis providing information on eight secondary structure components including parallel-ß structure and antiparallel ß-sheets with three different groups of twist. Based on these, it predicts the protein fold down to the topology/homology level of the CATH protein fold classification. The server also provides a module to analyze the structures deposited in the PDB for BeStSel secondary structure contents in relation to Dictionary of Secondary Structure of Proteins data. The BeStSel server is freely accessible at http://bestsel.elte.hu.

Local apoptotic-like mechanisms underlie complement-mediated synaptic pruning.

C1q, a member of the immune complement cascade, is implicated in the selective pruning of synapses by microglial phagocytosis. C1q-mediated synapse elimination has been shown to occur during brain development, while increased activation and complement-dependent synapse loss is observed in neurodegenerative diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying C1q-controlled synaptic pruning are mostly unknown. This study addresses distortions in the synaptic proteome leading to C1q-tagged synapses. Our data demonstrated the preferential localization of C1q to the presynapse. Proteomic investigation and pathway analysis of C1q-tagged synaptosomes revealed the presence of apoptotic-like processes in C1q-tagged synapses, which was confirmed experimentally with apoptosis markers. Moreover, the induction of synaptic apoptotic-like mechanisms in a model of sensory deprivation-induced synaptic depression led to elevated C1q levels. Our results unveiled that C1q label-based synaptic pruning is triggered by and directly linked to apoptotic-like processes in the synaptic compartment.

Atomistic Details of Chymotrypsin Conformational Changes upon Adsorption on Silica.

Adsorption of enzymes on solid surfaces may lead to conformational changes that reduce their catalytic conversion activity and are thus detrimental to the efficiency of biotechnology or biosensing applications. This work is a joint theoretical and experimental endeavor in which we identify and quantify the conformational changes that chymotrypsin undergoes when in contact with the surface of amorphous silica nanoparticles. For this purpose, we use circular dichroism spectroscopy, standard molecular dynamics, and advanced-sampling methods. Only the combination of these techniques allowed us to pinpoint a destabilization effect of silica on specific structural motifs of chymotrypsin. They are linked by the possibility of theoretically predicting CD spectra, allowing us to elucidate the source of the experimentally observed spectral changes. We find that chymotrypsin loses part of its helical content upon adsorption, with minor perturbation of its overall tertiary structure, associated with changes in the aromatic interactions. We demonstrate that the C-terminal helical fragment is unfolded as an isolated oligopeptide in pure water, folded as an α-helix as terminus of chymotrypsin in solution, and again partly disordered when the protein is adsorbed on silica. We believe that the joint methodology introduced in this manuscript has a direct general applicability to investigate any biomolecule-inorganic surface system. Methods to theoretically predict circular dichroism spectra from atomistic simulations were compared and improved. The drawbacks of the approaches are discussed; in particular, the limited capability of advanced-sampling MD schemes to explore the conformational phase space of large proteins and the dependency of the predicted ellipticity bands on the choice of calculation parameters.

Structural insight into a partially unfolded state preceding aggregation in an intracellular lipid-binding protein.

Human ileal bile acid-binding protein (I-BABP) has a key role in the intracellular transport and metabolic targeting of bile salts. Similar to other members of the family of intracellular lipid-binding proteins (iLBPs), disorder-order transitions and local unfolding processes are thought to mediate ligand entry and release in human I-BABP. To gain insight into the stability of various protein regions, the temperature response of human I-BABP was investigated using NMR, CD and fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. A joint analysis of NMR thermal melting and relaxation dispersion data indicates a complex pattern of internal dynamics with a dominating single barrier and a likely presence of rapidly exchanging conformational substates on both sides of the barrier. Moreover, our residue-specific analysis uncovers a partially unfolded U* state in which part of the helical region with three proximate ß-strands contains a substantial amount of residual structure, whereas several segments of the C-terminal half exhibit a high susceptibility to temperature elevation. Cluster analysis of atomic temperature responses indicates a thermodynamic coupling between distant protein sites including the bottom of the ß-barrel, the E-F region and part of the helical cap. MD simulations up to 1 µs show correlated motions in the same protein regions and together with the NMR data suggest a role for the highly dynamic D-E turn and E-F region in the initiation of unfolding. The response of human I-BABP to temperature elevation is discussed in the context of the folding/unfolding behaviour of different members of the iLBP family.

Structural plasticity of the Salmonella FliS flagellar export chaperone.

The Salmonella FliS flagellar export chaperone is a highly α-helical protein. Proteolytic experiments suggest that FliS has a compact core. However, the calorimetric melting profile of FliS does not show any melting transition in the 25-110 °C temperature range. Circular dichroism measurements reveal that FliS is losing its helical structure over a broad temperature range upon heating. These observations indicate that FliS unfolds in a noncooperative way and its native state shows features reminiscent of the molten globule state of proteins possessing substantial structural plasticity. As FliS has several binding partners within the cell, conformational adaptability seems to be an essential requirement to fulfill its multiple roles.