Role of salt bridges in the dimer interface of 14-3-3ζ in dimer dynamics, N-terminal α-helical order, and molecular chaperone activity.

The 14-3-3 family of intracellular proteins are dimeric, multifunctional adaptor proteins that bind to and regulate the activities of many important signaling proteins. The subunits within 14-3-3 dimers are predicted to be stabilized by salt bridges that are largely conserved across the 14-3-3 protein family and allow the different isoforms to form heterodimers. Here, we have examined the contributions of conserved salt-bridging residues in stabilizing the dimeric state of 14-3-3ζ. Using analytical ultracentrifugation, our results revealed that Asp21 and Glu89 both play key roles in dimer dynamics and contribute to dimer stability. Furthermore, hydrogen-deuterium exchange coupled with mass spectrometry showed that mutation of Asp21 promoted disorder in the N-terminal helices of 14-3-3ζ, suggesting that this residue plays an important role in maintaining structure across the dimer interface. Intriguingly, a D21N 14-3-3ζ mutant exhibited enhanced molecular chaperone ability that prevented amorphous protein aggregation, suggesting a potential role for N-terminal disorder in 14-3-3ζ's poorly understood chaperone action. Taken together, these results imply that disorder in the N-terminal helices of 14-3-3ζ is a consequence of the dimer-monomer dynamics and may play a role in conferring chaperone function to 14-3-3ζ protein.

NMR spectroscopy of 14-3-3ζ reveals a flexible C-terminal extension: differentiation of the chaperone and phosphoserine-binding activities of 14-3-3ζ.

Intracellular 14-3-3 proteins bind to many proteins, via a specific phosphoserine motif, regulating diverse cellular tasks including cell signalling and disease progression. The 14-3-3ζ isoform is a molecular chaperone, preventing the stress-induced aggregation of target proteins in a manner comparable with that of the unrelated sHsps (small heat-shock proteins). 1H-NMR spectroscopy revealed the presence of a flexible and unstructured C-terminal extension, 12 amino acids in length, which protrudes from the domain core of 14-3-3ζ and is similar in structure and length to the C-terminal extension of mammalian sHsps. The extension stabilizes 14-3-3ζ, but has no direct role in chaperone action. Lys(49) is an important functional residue within the ligand-binding groove of 14-3-3ζ with K49E 14-3-3ζ exhibiting markedly reduced binding to phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated ligands. The R18 peptide binds to the binding groove of 14-3-3ζ with high affinity and also reduces the interaction of 14-3-3ζ ligands. However, neither the K49E mutation nor the presence of the R18 peptide affected the chaperone activity of 14-3-3ζ, implying that the C-terminal extension and binding groove of 14-3-3ζ do not mediate interaction with target proteins during chaperone action. Other region(s) in 14-3-3ζ are most likely to be involved, i.e. the protein's chaperone and phosphoserine-binding activities are functionally and structurally separated.

Destabilisation of dimeric 14-3-3 proteins as a novel approach to anti-cancer therapeutics.

14-3-3 proteins play a pivotal role in controlling cell proliferation and survival, two commonly dysregulated hallmarks of cancers. 14-3-3 protein expression is enhanced in many human cancers and correlates with more aggressive tumors and poor prognosis, suggesting a role for 14-3-3 proteins in tumorigenesis and/or progression. We showed previously that the dimeric state of 14-3-3 proteins is regulated by the lipid sphingosine, a physiological inducer of apoptosis. As the functions of 14-3-3 proteins are dependent on their dimeric state, this sphingosine-mediated 14-3-3 regulation provides a possible means to target dimeric 14-3-3 for therapeutic effect. However, sphingosine mimics are needed that are not susceptible to sphingolipid metabolism. We show here the identification and optimization of sphingosine mimetics that render dimeric 14-3-3 susceptible to phosphorylation at a site buried in the dimer interface and induce mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis. Two such compounds, RB-011 and RB-012, disrupt 14-3-3 dimers at low micromolar concentrations and induce rapid down-regulation of Raf-MAPK and PI3K-Akt signaling in Jurkat cells. Importantly, both RB-011 and RB-012 induce apoptosis of human A549 lung cancer cells and RB-012, through disruption of MAPK signaling, reduces xenograft growth in mice. Thus, these compounds provide proof-of-principle for this novel 14-3-3-targeting approach for anti-cancer drug discovery.