Emergence of fractal geometries in the evolution of a metabolic enzyme.

Fractals are patterns that are self-similar across multiple length-scales1. Macroscopic fractals are common in nature2-4; however, so far, molecular assembly into fractals is restricted to synthetic systems5-12. Here we report the discovery of a natural protein, citrate synthase from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus, which self-assembles into Sierpinski triangles. Using cryo-electron microscopy, we reveal how the fractal assembles from a hexameric building block. Although different stimuli modulate the formation of fractal complexes and these complexes can regulate the enzymatic activity of citrate synthase in vitro, the fractal may not serve a physiological function in vivo. We use ancestral sequence reconstruction to retrace how the citrate synthase fractal evolved from non-fractal precursors, and the results suggest it may have emerged as a harmless evolutionary accident. Our findings expand the space of possible protein complexes and demonstrate that intricate and regulatable assemblies can evolve in a single substitution.

Detecting and exploring partially unfolded states of proteins using a sensor with chaperone bound to its surface.

We have developed a sensor concept capable of discriminating environments that induce proteins to enter unfolding intermediate states. Such a sensor detects the presence of environmental stressors such as chemical agents in aqueous media, thermal stress or the presence of ionizing or non-ionizing radiation by monitoring the conformation state of a "sensor protein". In this paper, we demonstrate the concept by using surface plasmon resonance to monitor binding of thermally and chemically stressed sensor proteins to a chaperone, alpha-crystallin, bound to the sensor surface. Citrate synthase and insulin were used as example sensor proteins to detect the presence of thermal stress and chemical stress, respectively. It was shown that alpha-crystallin retained its chaperone action after immobilization on the Biacore sensor chip. The binding of early and late unfolding intermediates of citrate synthase was discriminated using the association and dissociation behaviour of the binding. The sensor is therefore capable of assessing the severity of an environmental stress.

Age-induced morphological, biochemical, and functional alterations in isolated mitochondria from murine skeletal muscle.

Several in vitro studies about age-associated skeletal muscle mitochondrial dysfunction are somewhat conflicting, and this might be related to different normalization procedures. The objective of this study was to normalize the functional and biochemical data per number of mitochondria present in a mitochondrial suspension. Functional and biochemical parameters were obtained in mitochondrial suspensions from murine skeletal muscle of different ages. Mitochondrial respiratory function was polarographically measured using a Clark-type oxygen electrode. Biochemical analyses included determination of citrate synthase (CS) activity and total protein content in the mitochondrial suspension. Electron microscopy analysis of the suspensions allowed calculation of the number of mitochondria per milligram of protein. Our results conclude that advanced age is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction; moreover, from the correlation between morphological and biochemical data, it is evident that CS activity in the mitochondrial suspensions is a more accurate marker of mitochondrial mass than is total protein content.

Enzymatic form and cytoskeletal form of bifunctional Tetrahymena 49kDa protein is regulated by phosphorylation.

Tetrahymena 49kDa protein functions as a citrate synthase (CS) and also assembles to 14-nm filament during cell mating. Bifunctional property of 49kDa protein is suggested to be maintained by the difference of post-translational modification(s). We have found that phosphorylation is present on all three isoforms of 49kDa protein. Dephosphorylation of citrate synthase type isoforms of 49kDa protein, composing pl 7.7 and 8.0 isoforms, reduced its enzymatic activity, shifting these isoforms to basic side. In a course of dephosphorylation, isoform of pl 8.4 appeared with pl 7.7 and 8.0 isoforms, which correspond to the isoforms of 14-nm filament assembling type. With this dephosphorylation, the citrate synthase type isoforms obtained the ability to assemble 14-nm filaments. We propose that enzyme form and cytoskeletal form of 49kDa protein were maintained simply by phosphorylation.

Chaperone properties of bacterial elongation factor EF-Tu.

Elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) is involved in the binding and transport of the appropriate codon-specified aminoacyl-tRNA to the aminoacyl site of the ribosome. We report herewith that the Escherichia coli EF-Tu interacts with unfolded and denatured proteins as do molecular chaperones that are involved in protein folding and protein renaturation after stress. EF-Tu promotes the functional folding of citrate synthase and alpha-glucosidase after urea denaturation. It prevents the aggregation of citrate synthase under heat shock conditions, and it forms stable complexes with several unfolded proteins such as reduced carboxymethyl alpha-lactalbumin and unfolded bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. The EF-Tu.GDP complex is much more active than EF-Tu.GTP in stimulating protein renaturation. These chaperone-like functions of EF-Tu occur at concentrations that are at least 20-fold lower than the cellular concentration of this factor. These results suggest that EF-Tu, in addition to its function in translation elongation, might be implicated in protein folding and protection from stress.

Atomic force microscopy detects changes in the interaction forces between GroEL and substrate proteins.

The structure of the Escherichia coli chaperonin GroEL has been investigated by tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) under liquid. High-resolution images can be obtained, which show the up-right position of GroEL adsorbed on mica with the substrate-binding site on top. Because of this orientation, the interaction between GroEL and two substrate proteins, citrate synthase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae with a destabilizing Gly-->Ala mutation and RTEM beta-lactamase from Escherichia coli with two Cys-->Ala mutations, could be studied by force spectroscopy under different conditions. The results show that the interaction force decreases in the presence of ATP (but not of ATPgammaS) and that the force is smaller for native-like proteins than for the fully denatured ones. It also demonstrates that the interaction energy with GroEL increases with increasing molecular weight. By measuring the interaction force changes between the chaperonin and the two different substrate proteins, we could specifically detect GroEL conformational changes upon nucleotide binding.

A very short hydrogen bond provides only moderate stabilization of an enzyme-inhibitor complex of citrate synthase.

Two extremely potent inhibitors of citrate synthase, carboxyl and primary amide analogues of acetyl coenzyme A, have been synthesized. The ternary complexes of these inhibitors with oxaloacetate and citrate synthase have been crystallized and their structures analyzed at 1.70- and 1.65-A resolution, respectively. The inhibitors have dissociation constants in the nanomolar range, with the carboxyl analogue binding more tightly (Ki = 1.6 nM at pH 6.0) than the amide analogue (28 nM), despite the unfavorable requirement for proton uptake by the former. The carboxyl group forms a shorter hydrogen bond with the catalytic Asp 375 (distance < 2.4 A) than does the amide group (distance approximately 2.5 A). Particularly with the carboxylate inhibitor, the very short hydrogen bond distances measured suggest a low barrier or short strong hydrogen bond. However, the binding constants differ by only a factor of 20 at pH 6.0, corresponding to an increase in binding energy for the carboxyl analogue on the enzyme of about 2 kcal/mol more than the amide analogue, much less than has been proposed for short strong hydrogen bonds based on gas phase measurements [> 20 kcal/mol (Gerlt & Gassman, 1993a,b)]. The inhibitor complexes support proposals that Asp 375 and His 274 work in concert to form an enolized form of acetyl-coenzyme A as the first step in the reaction.

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic study of citrate synthase from the thermophilic Archaeon Thermoplasma acidophilum.

Single crystals of citrate synthase from the Archaeon Thermoplasma acidophilum were obtained in two forms using the hanging drop vapour diffusion method and polyethylene glycol 3350 as precipitant. Type 1 crystals belong to the orthorhombic space group P222(1), with unit cell dimensions a = 80.9 A, b = 103.8 A, c = 98.3 A and one dimer in the asymmetric unit. Type 2 crystals belong to the monoclinic space group P2(1), with unit cell dimensions a = 53.8 A, b = 173.8 A, c = 86.7 A and beta = 97.1 degrees and two dimers in the asymmetric unit.

Conformational stability of pig citrate synthase and some active-site mutants.

The conformational stabilities of native pig citrate synthase (PCS), a recombinant wild-type PCS, and six active-site mutant pig citrate synthases were studied in thermal denaturation experiments by circular dichroism and in urea denaturation experiments by using DTNB to measure the appearance of latent SH groups. His274 and Asp375 are conserved active-site residues in pig citrate synthase that bind to substrates and are implicated in the catalytic mechanism of the enzyme. By site-directed mutagenesis, His274 was replaced with Gly and Arg, while Asp375 was replaced with Gly, Asn, Glu, or Gln. These modifications were previously shown to result in 10(3)-10(4)-fold reductions in enzyme specific activities. The thermal unfolding of pig citrate synthase and the six mutants in the presence and absence of substrates showed large differences in the thermal stabilities of mutant proteins compared to the wild-type pig citrate synthase. The functions of His274 and Asp375 in ligand binding were measured by oxalacetate protection against urea denaturation. These data indicate that active-site mutations that decrease the specific activity of pig citrate synthase also cause an increase in the conformational stability of the protein. These results suggest that specific electrostatic interactions in the active site of citrate synthase are important in the catalytic mechanism in the chemical transformations as well as the conformational flexibility of the protein, both of which are important for the overall catalytic efficiency of the enzyme.

The influence of proline residues on alpha-helical structure.

Proline lacks an amide proton when found within proteins. This precludes hydrogen bonding between it and hydrogen bond acceptors, and thus often restricts the residue to the first four positions of an alpha-helix. Helices with proline after position four have a pronounced kink [(1988) J. Mol. Biol. 203, 601-619]. In these cases, we find that the proline residue almost almost always occurs on the solvent exposed face of each helix. This positioning facilitates the compensatory hydrogen bonding between solvent and residues P-3 and P-4 (relative to proline, P), through the formation of the kink. Further, it aids in the packing of long helical structures around globular protein structures.