RESUMEN
Eukaryotic gene regulation and pre-mRNA transcription depend on the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase (Pol) II. Due to its highly repetitive, intrinsically disordered sequence, the CTD enables clustering and phase separation of Pol II. The molecular interactions that drive CTD phase separation and Pol II clustering are unclear. Here, we show that multivalent interactions involving tyrosine impart temperature- and concentration-dependent self-coacervation of the CTD. NMR spectroscopy, molecular ensemble calculations and all-atom molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate the presence of diverse tyrosine-engaging interactions, including tyrosine-proline contacts, in condensed states of human CTD and other low-complexity proteins. We further show that the network of multivalent interactions involving tyrosine is responsible for the co-recruitment of the human Mediator complex and CTD during phase separation. Our work advances the understanding of the driving forces of CTD phase separation and thus provides the basis to better understand CTD-mediated Pol II clustering in eukaryotic gene transcription.
Asunto(s)
ARN Polimerasa II , Transcripción Genética , Humanos , Núcleo Celular , Análisis por Conglomerados , Dieta con Restricción de Proteínas , EucariontesRESUMEN
Non-membrane-bound biomolecular condensates have been proposed to represent an important mode of subcellular organization in diverse biological settings. However, the fundamental principles governing the spatial organization and dynamics of condensates at the atomistic level remain unclear. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae Lge1 protein is required for histone H2B ubiquitination and its N-terminal intrinsically disordered fragment (Lge11-80) undergoes robust phase separation. This study connects single- and multi-chain all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of Lge11-80 with the in vitro behavior of Lge11-80 condensates. Analysis of modeled protein-protein interactions elucidates the key determinants of Lge11-80 condensate formation and links configurational entropy, valency, and compactness of proteins inside the condensates. A newly derived analytical formalism, related to colloid fractal cluster formation, describes condensate architecture across length scales as a function of protein valency and compactness. In particular, the formalism provides an atomistically resolved model of Lge11-80 condensates on the scale of hundreds of nanometers starting from individual protein conformers captured in simulations. The simulation-derived fractal dimensions of condensates of Lge11-80 and its mutants agree with their in vitro morphologies. The presented framework enables a multiscale description of biomolecular condensates and embeds their study in a wider context of colloid self-organization.
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Condensados Biomoleculares , Proteínas Fúngicas , Entropía , Fractales , Simulación de Dinámica MolecularRESUMEN
Constitutive activation of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) via different mutations has a strong impact on the development of severe human disorders, including cancer. Here we propose a putative activation scenario of RTKs, whereby transmembrane (TM) mutations can also promote higher-order oligomerization of the receptors that leads to the subsequent ligand-free activation. We illustrate this scenario using a computational modelling framework comprising sequence-based structure prediction and all-atom 1 µs molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in a lipid membrane for a previously characterised oncogenic TM mutation V536E in platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA). We show that in the course of MD simulations the mutant TM tetramer retains stable and compact configuration strengthened by tight protein-protein interactions, while the wild type TM tetramer demonstrates looser packing and a tendency to dissociate. Moreover, the mutation affects the characteristic motions of mutated TM helical segments by introducing additional non-covalent crosslinks in the middle of the TM tetramer, which operate as mechanical hinges. This leads to dynamic decoupling of the C-termini from the rigidified N-terminal parts and facilitates more pronounced possible displacement between the C-termini of the mutant TM helical regions that can provide more freedom for mutual rearrangement of the kinase domains located downstream. Our results for the V536E mutation in the context of PDGFRA TM tetramer allow for the possibility that the effect of oncogenic TM mutations can go beyond alternating the structure and dynamics of TM dimeric states and might also promote the formation of higher-order oligomers directly contributing to ligand-independent signalling effectuated by PDGFRA and other RTKs.
RESUMEN
Covalent modifications of standard DNA/RNA nucleobases affect epigenetic regulation of gene expression by modulating interactions between nucleic acids and protein readers. We derive here the absolute binding free energies and analyze the binding modalities between key modified nucleobases 5-methylcytosine (5mC), 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) and N6-methyladenine (m6A) and all non-prolyl/non-glycyl protein side chains using molecular dynamics simulations and umbrella sampling in both water and methanol, the latter mimicking the low dielectric environment at the dehydrated nucleic-acid/protein interfaces. We verify the derived affinities by comparing against a comprehensive set of high-resolution structures of nucleic-protein complexes involving 5mC. Our analysis identifies protein side chains that are highly tuned for detecting cytosine methylation as a function of the environment and can thus serve as microscopic readers of epigenetic marks. Conversely, we show that the relative ordering of sidechain affinities for 5hmC and m6A does not differ significantly from those for their precursor bases, cytosine and adenine, respectively, especially in the low dielectric environment. For those two modified bases, the effect is more nuanced and manifests itself primarily at the level of absolute changes in the binding free energy. Our results contribute towards establishing a quantitative foundation for understanding, predicting and modulating the interactions between modified nucleic acids and proteins at the atomistic level.
Asunto(s)
5-Metilcitosina , Epigénesis Genética , 5-Metilcitosina/metabolismo , Citosina/metabolismo , Proteínas/metabolismo , Metilación de ADN , ADN/químicaRESUMEN
Understanding fusion mechanisms employed by SARS-CoV-2 spike protein entails realistic transmembrane domain (TMD) models, while no reliable approaches towards predicting the 3D structure of transmembrane (TM) trimers exist. Here, we propose a comprehensive computational framework to model the spike TMD only based on its primary structure. We performed amino acid sequence pattern matching and compared the molecular hydrophobicity potential (MHP) distribution on the helix surface against TM homotrimers with known 3D structures and selected an appropriate template for homology modeling. We then iteratively built a model of spike TMD, adjusting "dynamic MHP portraits" and residue variability motifs. The stability of this model, with and without palmitoyl modifications downstream of the TMD, and several alternative configurations (including a recent NMR structure), was tested in all-atom molecular dynamics simulations in a POPC bilayer mimicking the viral envelope. Our model demonstrated unique stability under the conditions applied and conforms to known basic principles of TM helix packing. The original computational framework looks promising and could potentially be employed in the construction of 3D models of TM trimers for a wide range of membrane proteins.
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SARS-CoV-2 , Glicoproteína de la Espiga del Coronavirus , Simulación de Dinámica Molecular , Dominios Proteicos , Glicoproteína de la Espiga del Coronavirus/químicaRESUMEN
Whole-exome sequencing of two patients with idiopathic complex neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) identified biallelic variants of unknown significance within FIBCD1, encoding an endocytic acetyl group-binding transmembrane receptor with no known function in the central nervous system. We found that FIBCD1 preferentially binds and endocytoses glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chondroitin sulphate-4S (CS-4S) and regulates GAG content of the brain extracellular matrix (ECM). In silico molecular simulation studies and GAG binding analyses of patient variants determined that such variants are loss-of-function by disrupting FIBCD1-CS-4S association. Gene knockdown in flies resulted in morphological disruption of the neuromuscular junction and motor-related behavioural deficits. In humans and mice, FIBCD1 is expressed in discrete brain regions, including the hippocampus. Fibcd1 KO mice exhibited normal hippocampal neuronal morphology but impaired hippocampal-dependent learning. Further, hippocampal synaptic remodelling in acute slices from Fibcd1 KO mice was deficient but restored upon enzymatically modulating the ECM. Together, we identified FIBCD1 as an endocytic receptor for GAGs in the brain ECM and a novel gene associated with an NDD, revealing a critical role in nervous system structure, function and plasticity.
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Trastornos del Neurodesarrollo , Receptores de Superficie Celular , Animales , Humanos , Ratones , Endocitosis , Matriz Extracelular/metabolismo , Trastornos del Neurodesarrollo/genética , Receptores de Superficie Celular/metabolismoRESUMEN
During packaging in positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) viruses, coat proteins (CPs) interact directly with multiple regions in genomic RNA (gRNA), but the underlying physicochemical principles remain unclear. Here we analyze the high-resolution cryo-EM structure of bacteriophage MS2 and show that the gRNA/CP binding sites, including the known packaging signal, overlap significantly with regions where gRNA nucleobase-density profiles match the corresponding CP nucleobase-affinity profiles. Moreover, we show that the MS2 packaging signal corresponds to the global minimum in gRNA/CP interaction energy in the unstructured state as derived using a linearly additive model and knowledge-based nucleobase/amino-acid affinities. Motivated by this, we predict gRNA/CP interaction sites for a comprehensive set of 1082 +ssRNA viruses. We validate our predictions by comparing them with site-resolved information on gRNA/CP interactions derived in SELEX and CLIP experiments for 10 different viruses. Finally, we show that in experimentally studied systems CPs frequently interact with autologous coding regions in gRNA, in agreement with both predicted interaction energies and a recent proposal that proteins in general tend to interact with own mRNAs, if unstructured. Our results define a self-consistent framework for understanding packaging in +ssRNA viruses and implicate interactions between unstructured gRNA and CPs in the process.
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Virus ARN , Virus , Proteínas de la Cápside/metabolismo , Virus ARN/genética , ARN Guía de Kinetoplastida , ARN Viral/química , Ensamble de Virus/genética , Virus/genéticaRESUMEN
To address the structural and dynamical consequences of amino-acid attachment at 2'- or 3'-hydroxyls of the terminal ribose in oligoribonucleotides, we have performed an extensive set of molecular dynamics simulations of model aminoacylated RNA trinucleotides. Our simulations suggest that 3'-modified trinucleotides exhibit higher solvent exposure of the aminoacylester bond and may be more susceptible to hydrolysis than their 2' counterparts. Moreover, we observe an invariant adoption of well-defined collapsed and extended conformations for both stereoisomers. We show that the average conformational preferences of aminoacylated trinucleotides are determined by their nucleotide composition and are fine-tuned by amino-acid attachment. Conversely, solvent exposure of the aminoacylester bond depends on the attachment site, the nature of attached amino acid and the strength of its interactions with the bases. Importantly, aminoacylated CCA trinucleotides display a systematically higher solvent exposure of the aminoacylester bond and a weaker dependence of such exposure on sidechain interactions than other trinucleotides. These features could facilitate hydrolytic release of the amino acid, especially for 3' attachment, and may have contributed to CCA becoming the universal acceptor triplet in tRNAs. Our results provide novel atomistic details about fundamental aspects of biological translation and furnish clues about its primordial origins.
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Simulación de Dinámica Molecular , Conformación de Ácido Nucleico , Oligorribonucleótidos/química , Aminoacil-ARN de Transferencia/química , Aminoácidos/metabolismo , Estereoisomerismo , Especificidad por Sustrato , Aminoacilación de ARN de TransferenciaRESUMEN
Single-point mutations in the transmembrane (TM) region of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) can lead to abnormal ligand-independent activation. We use a combination of computational modeling, NMR spectroscopy and cell experiments to analyze in detail the mechanism of how TM domains contribute to the activation of wild-type (WT) PDGFRA and its oncogenic V536E mutant. Using a computational framework, we scan all positions in PDGFRA TM helix for identification of potential functional mutations for the WT and the mutant and reveal the relationship between the receptor activity and TM dimerization via different interfaces. This strategy also allows us design a novel activating mutation in the WT (I537D) and a compensatory mutation in the V536E background eliminating its constitutive activity (S541G). We show both computationally and experimentally that single-point mutations in the TM region reshape the TM dimer ensemble and delineate the structural and dynamic determinants of spontaneous activation of PDGFRA via its TM domain. Our atomistic picture of the coupling between TM dimerization and PDGFRA activation corroborates the data obtained for other RTKs and provides a foundation for developing novel modulators of the pathological activity of PDGFRA.
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Mutación Puntual , Dominios Proteicos , Receptor alfa de Factor de Crecimiento Derivado de Plaquetas/química , Receptor alfa de Factor de Crecimiento Derivado de Plaquetas/genética , Sitio Alostérico , Biología Computacional , Simulación por Computador , Humanos , Ligandos , Espectroscopía de Resonancia Magnética , Modelos Moleculares , Mutagénesis , Fosfatidilcolinas/química , Multimerización de ProteínaRESUMEN
Despite their importance, our understanding of noncovalent RNA-protein interactions is incomplete. This especially concerns the binding between RNA and unstructured protein regions, a widespread class of such interactions. Here, we review the recent experimental and computational work on RNA-protein interactions in an unstructured context with a particular focus on how such interactions may be shaped by the intrinsic interaction affinities between individual nucleobases and protein side chains. Specifically, we articulate the claim that the universal genetic code reflects the binding specificity between nucleobases and protein side chains and that, in turn, the code may be seen as the Rosetta stone for understanding RNA-protein interactions in general.
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Proteínas/química , Proteínas/metabolismo , ARN/química , ARN/metabolismo , Secuencias de Aminoácidos , Animales , Sitios de Unión , Biología Computacional , Código Genético , Humanos , Unión ProteicaRESUMEN
The recently developed NMR techniques enable estimation of protein configurational entropy change from the change in the average methyl order parameters. This experimental observable, however, does not directly measure the contribution of intramolecular couplings, protein main-chain motions, or angular dynamics. Here, we carry out a self-consistent computational analysis of the impact of these missing contributions on an extensive set of molecular dynamics simulations of different proteins undergoing binding. Specifically, we compare the configurational entropy change in protein complex formation as obtained by the maximum information spanning tree approximation (MIST), which treats the above entropy contributions directly, and the change in the average NMR methyl and NH order parameters. Our parallel implementation of MIST allows us to treat hard angular degrees of freedom as well as couplings up to full pairwise order explicitly, while still involving a high degree of sampling and tackling molecules of biologically relevant sizes. First, we demonstrate a remarkably strong linear relationship between the total configurational entropy change and the average change in both methyl and backbone-NH order parameters. Second, in contrast to canonical assumptions, we show that the main-chain and angular terms contribute significantly to the overall configurational entropy change and also scale linearly with it. Consequently, linear models starting from the average methyl order parameters are able to capture the contribution of main-chain and angular terms well. After applying the quantum-mechanical harmonic oscillator entropy formalism, we establish a similarly strong linear relationship for X-ray crystallographic B-factors. Finally, we demonstrate that the observed linear relationships remain robust against drastic undersampling and argue that they reflect an intrinsic property of compact proteins. Despite their remarkable strength, however, the above linear relationships yield estimates of configurational entropy change whose accuracy appears to be sufficient for qualitative applications only.
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Entropía , Simulación de Dinámica Molecular , Proteínas/química , Cristalografía por Rayos X , Bases de Datos de Proteínas , Conformación ProteicaRESUMEN
Poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (PARG) regulates cellular poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR) levels by rapidly cleaving glycosidic bonds between ADP-ribose units. PARG interacts with proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and is strongly recruited to DNA damage sites in a PAR- and PCNA-dependent fashion. Here we identified PARG acetylation site K409 that is essential for its interaction with PCNA, its localization within replication foci and its recruitment to DNA damage sites. We found K409 to be part of a non-canonical PIP-box within the PARG disordered regulatory region. The previously identified putative N-terminal PIP-box does not bind PCNA directly but contributes to PARG localization within replication foci. X-ray structure and MD simulations reveal that the PARG non-canonical PIP-box binds PCNA in a manner similar to other canonical PIP-boxes and may represent a new type of PIP-box. While the binding of previously described PIP-boxes is based on hydrophobic interactions, PARG PIP-box binds PCNA via both stabilizing hydrophobic and fine-tuning electrostatic interactions. Our data explain the mechanism of PARG-PCNA interaction through a new PARG PIP-box that exhibits non-canonical sequence properties but a canonical mode of PCNA binding.
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Glicósido Hidrolasas/metabolismo , Antígeno Nuclear de Célula en Proliferación/metabolismo , Acetilación , Calorimetría/métodos , Cromatina/metabolismo , Cristalografía por Rayos X , Daño del ADN , Transferencia Resonante de Energía de Fluorescencia , Glicósido Hidrolasas/química , Glicósido Hidrolasas/genética , Células HeLa , Humanos , Inmunoprecipitación , Rayos Láser , Lisina/genética , Lisina/metabolismo , Simulación de Dinámica Molecular , Antígeno Nuclear de Célula en Proliferación/química , Conformación Proteica , Fase S/genética , Electricidad EstáticaRESUMEN
In order to fully understand the microscopic origins of binding specificity between nucleic acids and proteins, it is imperative to study the dependence of the binding preferences between nucleobases and protein side chains on the properties of the environment. Here, we employ molecular dynamics simulations and umbrella sampling to derive the potentials of mean force and the associated absolute binding free energies between the four standard RNA nucleobases and the side chains of aspartic acid and tryptophan in water/methanol mixtures exhibiting a wide range of dielectric constants. In addition to their opposing character when it comes to hydrophobicity, aspartate and tryptophan side chains were chosen because they exhibit the greatest change in binding free energies with nucleobases between pure water and methanol environments. We exploit a strong linear dependence of the derived ΔG values on the mole fraction of methanol to estimate the binding free energies of all possible combinations of different standard RNA nucleobases and side chains at multiple values of dielectric constants. Finally, we critically assess the recently proposed complementarity hypothesis concerning direct, coaligned binding between mRNAs and their cognate proteins in light of the present results.
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Proteínas de Unión al ARN/metabolismo , ARN/metabolismo , Termodinámica , Ácido Aspártico/química , Ácido Aspártico/metabolismo , Conductividad Eléctrica , Simulación del Acoplamiento Molecular , Simulación de Dinámica Molecular , Unión Proteica , Conformación Proteica , ARN/química , ARN Mensajero/química , ARN Mensajero/metabolismo , Proteínas de Unión al ARN/química , Programas Informáticos , Triptófano/química , Triptófano/metabolismoRESUMEN
SUMMARY: The currently available functional enrichment software focuses mostly on gene expression analysis, whereby server- and graphical-user-interface-based tools with specific scope dominate the field. Here we present an efficient, user-friendly, multifunctional command-line-based functional enrichment tool (fu-en-to), tailored for the bioinformatics researcher. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: Source code and binaries freely available for download at github.com/DavidWeichselbaum/fuento, implemented in C ++ and supported on Linux and OS X. CONTACT: newant@gmail.com or bojan.zagrovic@univie.ac.at.
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Biología Computacional/métodos , Proteínas/metabolismo , Programas Informáticos , Humanos , Proteínas/fisiologíaRESUMEN
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family is an important class of receptor tyrosine kinases, mediating a variety of cellular responses in normal biological processes and in pathological states of multicellular organisms. Different modes of dimerization of the human EGFR transmembrane domain (TMD) in different membrane mimetics recently prompted us to propose a novel signal transduction mechanism based on protein-lipid interaction. However, the experimental evidence for it was originally obtained with slightly different TMD fragments used in the two different mimetics, compromising the validity of the comparison. To eliminate ambiguity, we determined the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structure of the bicelle-incorporated dimer of the EGFR TMD fragment identical to the one previously used in micelles. The NMR results augmented by molecular dynamics simulations confirm the mutual influence of the TMD and lipid environment, as is required for the proposed lipid-mediated activation mechanism. They also reveal the possible functional relevance of a subtle interplay between the concurrent processes in the lipid and protein during signal transduction.
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Membrana Celular/química , Receptores ErbB/química , Membrana Dobles de Lípidos/química , Péptidos/química , Transducción de Señal/genética , Secuencia de Aminoácidos , Membrana Celular/metabolismo , Clonación Molecular , Dimiristoilfosfatidilcolina/química , Dimiristoilfosfatidilcolina/metabolismo , Receptores ErbB/genética , Receptores ErbB/metabolismo , Escherichia coli/genética , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Expresión Génica , Humanos , Interacciones Hidrofóbicas e Hidrofílicas , Membrana Dobles de Lípidos/metabolismo , Micelas , Simulación de Dinámica Molecular , Péptidos/genética , Péptidos/metabolismo , Éteres Fosfolípidos/química , Éteres Fosfolípidos/metabolismo , Dominios Proteicos , Multimerización de Proteína , Estructura Secundaria de Proteína , Proteínas Recombinantes/química , Proteínas Recombinantes/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes/metabolismoRESUMEN
Cotranscriptional ubiquitination of histone H2B is key to gene regulation. The yeast E3 ubiquitin ligase Bre1 (human RNF20/40) pairs with the E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme Rad6 to monoubiquitinate H2B at Lys123. How this single lysine residue on the nucleosome core particle (NCP) is targeted by the Rad6-Bre1 machinery is unknown. Using chemical cross-linking and mass spectrometry, we identified the functional interfaces of Rad6, Bre1, and NCPs in a defined in vitro system. The Bre1 RING domain cross-links exclusively with distinct regions of histone H2B and H2A, indicating a spatial alignment of Bre1 with the NCP acidic patch. By docking onto the NCP surface in this distinct orientation, Bre1 positions the Rad6 active site directly over H2B Lys123. The Spt-Ada-Gcn5 acetyltransferase (SAGA) H2B deubiquitinase module competes with Bre1 for binding to the NCP acidic patch, indicating regulatory control. Our study reveals a mechanism that ensures site-specific NCP ubiquitination and fine-tuning of opposing enzymatic activities.
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Histonas/química , Proteínas de Saccharomyces cerevisiae/química , Enzimas Ubiquitina-Conjugadoras/química , Ubiquitinación/genética , Regulación Enzimológica de la Expresión Génica , Histonas/genética , Humanos , Simulación del Acoplamiento Molecular , Nucleosomas/química , Nucleosomas/genética , Conformación Proteica , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/química , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genética , Proteínas de Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genética , Ubiquitina/química , Ubiquitina/genética , Enzimas Ubiquitina-Conjugadoras/genética , Ubiquitina-Proteína Ligasas/química , Ubiquitina-Proteína Ligasas/genéticaRESUMEN
A central intermediate in purine catabolism, the inosine nucleobase hypoxanthine is also one of the most abundant modified nucleobases in RNA and plays key roles in the regulation of gene expression and determination of cell fate. It is known that hypoxanthine acts as guanine when interacting with other nucleobases and base pairs most favorably with cytosine. However, its preferences when it comes to interactions with amino acids remain unknown. Here we present for the first time the absolute binding free energies and the associated interaction modes between hypoxanthine and all standard, non-glycyl/non-prolyl amino acid side chain analogs as derived from molecular dynamics simulations and umbrella sampling in high- and low-dielectric environments. We illustrate the biological relevance of the derived affinities by providing a quantitative explanation for the specificity of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase, a key enzyme in the purine salvage pathway. Our results demonstrate that in its affinities for protein side chains, hypoxanthine closely matches guanine, much more so than its precursor adenine.
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Guanina/química , Inosina/química , Proteínas/química , Hipoxantina Fosforribosiltransferasa/químicaRESUMEN
Accurate estimation of configurational entropy from the in silico-generated biomolecular ensembles, e.g., from molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories, is dependent strongly on exhaustive sampling for physical reasons. This, however, creates a major computational problem for the subsequent estimation of configurational entropy using the Maximum Information Spanning Tree (MIST) or Mutual Information Expansion (MIE) approaches for internal molecular coordinates. In particular, the available software for such estimation exhibits serious limitations when it comes to molecules with hundreds or thousands of atoms, because of its reliance on a serial program architecture. To overcome this problem, we have developed a parallel, hybrid MPI/openMP C++ implementation of MIST and MIE, called PARENT, which is particularly optimized for high-performance computing and provides efficient estimation of configurational entropy in different biological processes (e.g., protein-protein interactions). In addition, PARENT also allows for a detailed mapping of intramolecular allosteric networks. Here, we benchmark the program on a set of 1-µs-long MD trajectories of 10 different protein complexes and their components, demonstrating robustness and good scalability. A direct comparison between MIST and MIE on the same dataset demonstrates a superior convergence behavior for the former approach, when it comes to total simulation length and configurational-space binning.
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Entropía , Proteínas/química , Programas Informáticos , Algoritmos , Simulación de Dinámica Molecular , Conformación Proteica , Mapas de Interacción de Proteínas , Proteínas/metabolismoRESUMEN
The cell membrane is "stuffed" with proteins, whose transmembrane (TM) helical domains spontaneously associate to form functionally active complexes. For a number of membrane receptors, a modulation of TM domains' oligomerization has been shown to contribute to the development of severe pathological states, thus calling for detailed studies of the atomistic aspects of the process. Despite considerable progress achieved so far, several crucial questions still remain: How do the helices recognize each other in the membrane? What is the driving force of their association? Here, we assess the dimerization free energy of TM helices along with a careful consideration of the interplay between the structure and dynamics of protein and lipids using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations in the hydrated lipid bilayer for three different model systems - TM fragments of glycophorin A, polyalanine and polyleucine peptides. We observe that the membrane driven association of TM helices exhibits a prominent entropic character, which depends on the peptide sequence. Thus, a single TM peptide of a given composition induces strong and characteristic perturbations in the hydrophobic core of the bilayer, which may facilitate the initial "communication" between TM helices even at the distances of 20-30 Å. Upon tight helix-helix association, the immobilized lipids accommodate near the peripheral surfaces of the dimer, thus disturbing the packing of the surrounding. The dimerization free energy of the modeled peptides corresponds to the strength of their interactions with lipids inside the membrane being the lowest for glycophorin A and similarly higher for both homopolymers. We propose that the ability to accommodate lipid tails determines the dimerization strength of TM peptides and that the lipid matrix directly governs their association.
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Glicoforinas/química , Membrana Dobles de Lípidos/química , Lípidos/química , Péptidos/química , Simulación de Dinámica Molecular , Unión Proteica , TermodinámicaRESUMEN
PR homology domain-containing member 12 (PRDM12) belongs to a family of conserved transcription factors implicated in cell fate decisions. Here we show that PRDM12 is a key regulator of sensory neuronal specification in Xenopus. Modeling of human PRDM12 mutations that cause hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy (HSAN) revealed remarkable conservation of the mutated residues in evolution. Expression of wild-type human PRDM12 in Xenopus induced the expression of sensory neuronal markers, which was reduced using various human PRDM12 mutants. In Drosophila, we identified Hamlet as the functional PRDM12 homolog that controls nociceptive behavior in sensory neurons. Furthermore, expression analysis of human patient fibroblasts with PRDM12 mutations uncovered possible downstream target genes. Knockdown of several of these target genes including thyrotropin-releasing hormone degrading enzyme (TRHDE) in Drosophila sensory neurons resulted in altered cellular morphology and impaired nociception. These data show that PRDM12 and its functional fly homolog Hamlet are evolutionary conserved master regulators of sensory neuronal specification and play a critical role in pain perception. Our data also uncover novel pathways in multiple species that regulate evolutionary conserved nociception.