The 3' splice site of pre-messenger RNA is recognized by a small nuclear ribonucleoprotein.

A component present in splicing extracts selectively binds the 3' splice site of a precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) transcript of a human beta-globin gene. Since this component can be immunoprecipitated by either autoantibodies of the Sm class or antibodies specifically directed against trimethylguanosine, it is a small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP). Its interaction with the 3' splice site occurs rapidly even at 0 degrees C, does not require adenosine triphosphate, and is altered by certain mutations in the 3' splice site region. Binding is surprisingly insensitive to treatment of the extract with micrococcal nuclease. The U5 particle is the only abundant Sm snRNP with a capped 5' end that is equally resistant to micrococcal nuclease. This suggests that, in addition to the U1 and U2 snRNP's, U5 snRNP's participate in pre-mRNA splicing.

Crystal structure of thioredoxin from Escherichia coli at 1.68 A resolution.

The crystal structure of thioredoxin from Escherichia coli has been refined by the stereochemically restrained least-squares procedure to a crystallographic R-factor of 0.165 at 1.68 A resolution. In the final model, the root-mean-square deviation from ideality for bond distances is 0.015 A and for angle distances 0.035 A. The structure contains 1644 protein atoms from two independent molecules, two Cu2+, 140 water molecules and seven methylpentanediol molecules. Ten residues have been modeled in two alternative conformations. E. coli thioredoxin is a compact molecule with 90% of its residues in helices, beta-strands or reverse turns. The molecule consists of two conformational domains, beta alpha beta alpha beta and beta beta alpha, connected by a single-turn alpha-helix and a 3(10) helix. The beta-sheet forms the core of the molecule packed on either side by clusters of hydrophobic residues. Helices form the external surface. The active site disulfide bridge between Cys32 and Cys35 is located at the amino terminus of the second alpha-helix. The positive electrostatic field due to the helical dipole is probably important for stabilizing the anionic intermediate during the disulfide reductase function of the protein. The more reactive cysteine, Cys32, has its sulfur atom exposed to solvent and also involved in a hydrogen bond with a backbone amide group. Residues 29 to 37, which include the active site cysteine residues, form a protrusion on the surface of the protein and make relatively fewer interactions with the rest of the structure. The disulfide bridge exhibits a right-handed conformation with a torsion angle of 81 degrees and 72 degrees about the S-S bond in the two molecules. Twenty-five pairs of water molecules obey the noncrystallographic symmetry. Most of them are involved in establishing intramolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions between protein atoms and thus serve as integral parts of the folded protein structure. Methylpentanediol molecules often pack against the loops and stabilize their structure. Cu2+ used for crystallization exhibit a distorted octahedral square bipyramid co-ordination and provide essential packing interactions in the crystal. The two independent protein molecules are very similar in conformation but distinctly different in atomic detail (root-mean-square = 0.94 A). The differences, which may be related to the crystal contacts, are localized mostly to regions far from the active site.

Protein NMR resonance assignment by isotropic mixing experiments on random fractionally deuterated samples.

The 108-residue protein E. coli thioredoxin has been uniformly enriched to 50% with deuterium at all carbon-bound hydrogen positions. Isotropic mixing (i.e. TOCSY) experiments have been conducted for both the deuterated and natural-abundance samples. Using a 54 ms mixing time correlation peaks can be seen for all four protons on the benzenoid ring of tryptophan in both samples. The deuteration results in an average decrease in cross-sectional area of a factor of 2-3 for the TOCSY cross-peaks. The cross-peak intensities for the deuterated sample systematically decrease as a function of the number of protons involved in the transfer process thus overcoming a common ambiguity in the TOCSY experiment.

Chiral beta and random fractional deuteration for the determination of protein sidechain conformation by NMR.

Stereospecific assignments of the aspartic acid and asparagine beta-protons of the 108 residue protein E. coli thioredoxin have been obtained by the use of chiral deuteration. In addition protein samples have been prepared in which all carbon bound hydrogen positions are substituted to an extent of 75% with deuterium. These random fractionally deuterated samples significantly facilitate the measurement of coupling constants and intraresidue NOE intensities which combined with the stereospecific assignments have provided determination of the first sidechain dihedral angle chi 1 for all four asparagine residues and eight of the ten assigned aspartic acid residues.

Protein dynamics and distance determination by NOE measurements.

Present analysis procedures for NMR structure determination of macromolecules presuppose fixed internuclear distances. Improvement of the precision of the requisite NOE information has stimulated the use of more quantitative distance constraints thus necessitating examination as to whether the assumption of a rigid model systematically biases the distance estimates. Analysis using the simple (r-6) dependence of NOE buildup rates seriously underestimates the correct distance for spatially proximal proton pairs having fluctuations comparable to those observed in X-ray temperature factor analysis. However, by calculating the proper generalized order parameter it is shown that for nuclei undergoing rapid isotropic uncorrelated fluctuations the effective distance is identical to the distance between the mean positions of the nuclei. Similar analysis of molecular dynamics simulation data from bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor indicates that the distance obtained from the generalized order parameter predicts the distance between the mean positions to within a few percent regardless of the degree of correlation of the pairwise motion for virtually all main chain and dynamically constrained side chain protons.

Larmor frequency selective model free analysis of protein NMR relaxation.

The Lipari-Szabo dynamical formalism is extended by setting the time constants of the Lorentzian terms to [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. This analysis is compared to the earlier proposed three-parameter [Formula: see text] extended model free formalism with regard to the range of equivalence and the advantages of the simplified two-parameter (S (inff) (sup2) ,S (infH) (sup2) ) and (S (inff) (sup2) ,S (infN) (sup2) ) representations. Spectral density components are calculated and compared to those obtained from the spectral density analysis formalism. Protein relaxation data, commonly analyzed in terms of the two-parameter [Formula: see text] representation, may correspond to a dynamically heterogeneous behaviour that is more appropriately represented in terms of a fast limit order parameter and a second, lower frequency order parameter.

Nucleotide sequence and protein overproduction of bacteriophage T4 thioredoxin.

The bacteriophage T4 thioredoxin gene was cloned and physically mapped to 47.6 kilobases from the reference BamHI site. The DNA sequence is consistent with that reported from earlier protein sequence studies. The gene was subcloned into a lambda pL overexpression vector which allowed for the isolation of approximately 5 mg/liter.

Structural determinants of the catalytic reactivity of the buried cysteine of Escherichia coli thioredoxin.

The structurally homologous thioredoxins and thioltransferases/glutaredoxins possess a solvent-exposed cysteine sulfur which carries out a nucleophilic attack on the target disulfide as well as a structurally adjacent solvent inaccessible thiol. The mechanistic basis of the essentially exclusive redox reactivity of the thioredoxins in contrast to the thiol-disulfide exchange reactions characteristic of the thioltransferases lies in the relative reactivity of the buried cysteine. A stable analog of the mixed disulfide state of Escherichia coli thioredoxin is used to demonstrate a pK value of 11.1 for the solvent inaccessible Cys 35 thiol. NMR chemical shift pH titration analysis indicates a very low dielectric surrounding the Cys 35 sulfur providing a basis for both the elevated pK and the enhanced apparent nucleophilicity. The buried Asp 26 likely serves as the proton sink for the (de)protonation of Cys 35. Relevance to the reactivity of the mammalian protein isomerases is discussed.

Assessment of protein solution versus crystal structure determination using spin-diffusion-suppressed NOE and heteronuclear relaxation data.

A spin-diffusion-suppressed NOE buildup series has been measured for E. coli thioredoxin. The extensive 13C and 15N relaxation data previously reported for this protein allow for direct interpretation of dynamical contributions to the 1H-1H cross-relaxation rates for a large proportion of the NOE cross peaks. Estimates of the average accuracy for these derived NOE distances are bounded by 4% and 10%, based on a comparison to the corresponding X-ray distances. An independent fluctuation model is proposed for prediction of the dynamical corrections to 1H-1H cross-relaxation rates, based solely on experimental structural and heteronuclear relaxation data. This analysis is aided by the demonstration that heteronuclear order parameters greater than 0.6 depend only on the variance of the H-X bond orientation, independent of the motional model in either one- or two-dimensional diffusion (i.e., 1-S2 = 3/4 sin2 2 theta sigma). The combination of spin-diffusion-suppressed NOE data and analysis of dynamical corrections to 1H-1H cross-relaxation rates based on heteronuclear relaxation data has allowed for a detailed interpretation of various discrepancies between the reported solution and crystal structures.

Resolution and sensitivity enhancement of heteronuclear correlation for methylene resonances via 2H enrichment and decoupling.

Monodeuterated methylene positions exhibit substantially superior spectral characteristics in 1H-13C correlation experiments as compared to diprotio signals. A combination of 2H decoupling and multiplet editing of HMQC and HSQC experiments provides resolution enhancement for both stereoselective and random fractionally deuterated samples. For HMQC experiments with [2-2HR,2-13C]glycine-labeled E. coli thioredoxin (11.7 kDa), 3-fold increases in both 1H and 13C resolution result in a complementary 9-fold enhancement in sensitivity. Owing to a smaller improvement in 13C resolution, the corresponding enhancements for the HSQC experiment are 2-fold less.

NMR sequential assignment of Escherichia coli thioredoxin utilizing random fractional deuteriation.

All non-proline residues except for the N-terminal dipeptide have been assigned in the 108-residue protein Escherichia coli thioredoxin. Central to these experiments has been the use of protein samples in which all carbon-bound hydrogen positions are substituted to 75% with deuterium by bacterial growth on partially deuteriated carbon sources and media. The dilution of the local proton density gives rise to narrower line widths with little loss in sensitivity. In addition, passive or secondary coupling to protons not directly involved in the coherence transfer process of correlation experiments is largely suppressed, thus significantly improving the resolution for side-chain couplings. Simultaneous multiresidue-type assignments have been obtained by incorporation of several amino acids with differing selective alpha- and/or beta-deuteriation into a fractionally deuteriated background. Combined with several single residue type labeling experiments, these selective labelings have yielded direct residue type assignments for two-thirds of the protein. In addition to improved resolution, the amide to carbon-bound proton NOESY spectra offered equivalent sensitivity while the amide to amide NOESY spectra offered superior sensitivity to that observed for natural abundance samples. The resultant sequential assignment has an average number of nearest-neighbor NOE connectivities of 2.35 out of the possible 3 alpha-amide, beta-amide, and amide-amide connectivities.

Biosynthetic production of 13C-labeled amino acids with site-specific enrichment.

We have developed two Escherichia coli strains for the production of specifically labeled amino acids suitable for high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. The 13C atoms from the enriched carbon sources, [1-13C]lactate, [1,4-13C2]succinate, and [1-13C]-acetate, are incorporated into the amino acids producing multilabeled molecules with relatively few instances of adjacent enriched carbons. This greatly simplifies the resultant spectra as compared to the extensively spin-coupled spectra of uniformly enriched samples. No isotopic enrichment was found at carbon positions expected to be unenriched by consideration of the major biosynthetic pathways. Utilizing 90% enriched precursors, most positions were enriched to approximately 85% except for those positions derived from acetate and those affected by the carbon interchange of the pentose phosphate shunt. In both of these cases, the enrichment level fell to 70%. The only result enrichment at the delta-methyl carbon of isoleucine. For the bacterial strain in question, the main pathway of isoleucine biosynthesis appears not to be from threonine but from an alternate precursor, possibly glutamate.

Reduced temperature dependence of collective conformational opening in a hyperthermophile rubredoxin.

Spatially localized differences in the conformational dynamics of the rubredoxins from the hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus (Pf) and the mesophile Clostridium pasteurianum (Cp) are monitored via amide exchange measurements. As shown previously for the hyperthermophile protein, nearly all backbone amides of the Cp rubredoxin exhibit EX(2) hydrogen exchange kinetics with conformational opening rates of >1 s(-)(1). Significantly slower amide exchange is observed for Pf rubredoxin in the region surrounding the metal site and the proximal end of the three-stranded beta-sheet, while for the rest of the structure, the exchange rates at 23 degrees C are similar for both proteins. For the multiple-turn region comprising residues 14-32 in both rubredoxins, the uniformity of both the exchange rate constants and the values of the activation energy at the slowly exchanging sites is consistent with a model of solvent exposure via a subglobal cooperative conformational opening. In contrast to the common expectation of increased rigidity in the hyperthermophile proteins, below room temperature Pf rubredoxin exhibits a larger apparent flexibility in this multiple-turn region. The smaller enthalpy for the conformational opening process of this region in Pf rubredoxin reflects the much weaker temperature dependence of the underlying conformational equilibrium in the hyperthermophile protein.

1H-15N heteronuclear NMR studies of Escherichia coli thioredoxin in samples isotopically labeled by residue type.

Ten samples of Escherichia coli thioredoxin were individually isotopically enriched by residue type via growth of an appropriate auxotrophic strain on media supplemented with one 2H, 15N-enriched amino acid. 1H observe-heteronuclear decoupling experiments were conducted on these samples making use of the 95-Hz 1H-15N amide J1 coupling. Subtraction of near-resonance from off-resonance 15N decoupled spectra generated difference patterns corresponding only to protons directly bonded to 15N nuclei. For the ten different enriched residue types observed to date, every labeled position (60) has been observed as a resolved resonance. The spectral dispersion in both the 1H and the 15N dimensions was roughly 1500 Hz (at 500-MHz field strength) with rather little apparent dependence on residue type. With the exception of the glycine-enriched sample, the range of the J1 coupling constants was not much greater than the precision of the measurements (1.5-2.0 Hz). However, for the glycine residues the J1 amide coupling values varied over a range of 10 Hz.

Differential deuterium isotope shifts and one-bond 1H-13C scalar couplings in the conformational analysis of protein glycine residues.

The one-bond deuterium isotope shift effect for glycine C alpha resonances exhibits a conformational dependence comparable to that of the corresponding 1JHC scalar coupling in both magnitude (approximately 11 Hz at 14.1 T) and dihedral angle dependence. The similarity in the conformational dependence of the 1JHC and deuterium isotope shift values suggests a common physical basis. Given the known distribution of (phi, psi) main-chain dihedral angles for glycine residues, the deuterium isotope shifts and the 1JHC scalar couplings can determine conformations in the left- and right-handed helical-to-bridge regions of the (phi, psi) plane to an accuracy of approximately 13 degrees. In the absence of stereochemical assignments, the differential deuterium isotope shifts and the 1JHC scalar couplings can be combined with limited independent structural information (e.g., the sign of phi) to determine the chirality of the deuterium substitution.

The use of cystathionine gamma-synthase in the production of alpha and chiral beta deuterated amino acids.

Chiral exchange at the alpha hydrogen position can be carried out on gram scale in 2H2O for all of the standard amino acids utilizing Escherichia coli cystathionine gamma-synthase. The alpha hydrogen exchange of glycine is highly stereoselective. The amino acids fall into four classes with respect to the selectivity of exchange at the beta position: beta'/beta rate approximately 50 (arginine, glutamine, histidine, homoserine, and lysine), beta'/beta rate approximately 8 (asparagine, glutamate, methionine, ornithine, and S-methyl cysteine), beta'/beta approximately 1 (leucine, aspartate, and alanine), and those seemingly too slow for large-scale exchange (isoleucine, phenylalanine, O-methyl tyrosine, serine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine). The stereochemistry of selective beta exchange is the same for all cases studied.

Selenomethionyl proteins produced for analysis by multiwavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD): a vehicle for direct determination of three-dimensional structure.

An expression system has been established for the incorporation of selenomethionine into recombinant proteins produced from plasmids in Escherichia coli. Replacement of methionine by selenomethionine is demonstrated at the level of 100% for both T4 and E. coli thioredoxins. The natural recombinant proteins and the selenomethionyl variants of both thioredoxins crystallize isomorphously. Anomalous scattering factors were deduced from synchrotron X-ray absorption measurements of crystals of the selenomethionyl proteins. Taken with reference to experience in the structural analysis of selenobiotinyl streptavidin by the method of multiwavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD), these data indicate that recombinant selenomethionyl proteins analyzed by MAD phasing offer a rather general means for the elucidation of atomic structures.

Two-dimensional NMR studies of staphylococcal nuclease. 1. Sequence-specific assignments of hydrogen-1 signals and solution structure of the nuclease H124L-thymidine 3',5'-bisphosphate-Ca2+ ternary complex.

Staphylococcal nuclease H124L is a recombinant protein produced in Escherichia coli whose sequence is identical with that of the nuclease produced by the V8 variant of Staphylococcus aureus. The enzyme-metal ion activator-nucleotide inhibitor ternary complex, nuclease H124L-thymidine 3',5'-bisphosphate-Ca2+, was investigated by two-dimensional (2D) NMR techniques. Efficient overproduction of the enzyme facilitated the production of random fractionally deuterated protein, which proved essential for detailed NMR analysis. 1H NMR spin systems were analyzed by conventional 2D 1H[1H] methods: COSY, relayed COSY, HOHAHA, and NOESY. Assignments obtained by 1H NMR experiments were confirmed and extended by 1H-13C and 1H-15N heteronuclear NMR experiments [Wang, J., Hinck, A. P., Loh, S. N., & Markley, J. L. (1990) Biochemistry (following paper in this issue)]. Spectra of the ternary complexes prepared with protein at natural abundance and at 50% random fractional deuteration provided the information needed for sequence-specific assignments of 121 of the 149 amino acid residues. Short- and intermediate-range NOE connectivities allowed the determination of secondary structural features of the ternary complex: three alpha-helical domains and three antiparallel beta-pleated sheets with several reverse turns. A number of nonsequential long-range HN-HN and H alpha-HN connectivities revealed additional information about the spatial arrangement of these secondary structural elements. The solution structure of this ternary complex shows a close correspondence to the crystal structure of the nuclease wt-thymidine 3',5'-bisphosphate-Ca2+ ternary complex [Cotton, F. A., Hazen, E. E., & Legg, M. J. (1979) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 76, 2551-2555].

The role of the buried aspartate of Escherichia coli thioredoxin in the activation of the mixed disulfide intermediate.

The structurally homologous protein disulfide isomerases and thioredoxins exhibit a 10(5) variation of redox equilibria. It is demonstrated that the kinetic distinction among these protein family members lies primarily in the rate of breakdown of the mixed disulfide intermediate. The conserved buried acid group serves as a proton transfer catalyst for the buried active site cysteine in the formation and breakdown of the mixed disulfide. The reduction rate of Escherichia coli thioredoxin by dithiothreitol is directly proportional to the fraction of Asp-26 in the protonated form over the pH range of 6-9. The kinetic role of Asp-26 is further probed via differential solvent kinetic isotope effect measurements versus a D26N variant. The differential solvent isotope effect of 0.6 is consistent with a direct proton donation to the thiolate leaving group (Cys-35) via an enforced general acid catalysis by trapping mechanism. Such a donation necessitates a structural rearrangement as these two buried side chains are separated by 6 A in both the oxidized and reduced forms of the protein.