Binding determinants of the small heat shock protein, αB-crystallin: recognition of the 'IxI' motif.

Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) play a central role in protein homeostasis under conditions of stress by binding partly unfolded, aggregate-prone proteins and keeping them soluble. Like many sHSPs, the widely expressed human sHSP, αB-crystallin ('αB'), forms large polydisperse multimeric assemblies. Molecular interactions involved in both sHSP function and oligomer formation remain to be delineated. A growing database of structural information reveals that a central conserved α-crystallin domain (ACD) forms dimeric building blocks, while flanking N- and C-termini direct the formation of larger sHSP oligomers. The most commonly observed inter-subunit interaction involves a highly conserved C-terminal 'IxI/V' motif and a groove in the ACD that is also implicated in client binding. To investigate the inherent properties of this interaction, peptides mimicking the IxI/V motif of αB and other human sHSPs were tested for binding to dimeric αB-ACD. IxI-mimicking peptides bind the isolated ACD at 22°C in a manner similar to interactions observed in the oligomer at low temperature, confirming these interactions are likely to exist in functional αB oligomers.

Structural and functional specificity of small heat shock protein HspB1 and HspB4, two cellular partners of HspB5: role of the in vitro hetero-complex formation in chaperone activity.

The ubiquitous small heat shock proteins are essential elements in cellular protection, through a molecular chaperone activity. Among them, human small heat shock protein HspB1, HspB4 and HspB5 are involved in oncogenesis, anti-apoptotic activity and lens transparency. Therefore, these proteins are potential therapeutic targets in many diseases. Their general chaperone activity is related to their dynamic and multiple oligomeric structures, which are still poorly understood. The tissue selective distribution of HspB1 and HspB4, two cellular partners of HspB5, suggests that these two proteins might have evolved to play distinct physiological functions. Moreover, hetero-complex formation seems to be favoured in vivo, yet the functional specificity of the HspB1-HspB5 and HspB4-HspB5 hetero-complexes compared to the homo-oligomers remains unclear in the stress response pathway. A powerful approach combining biochemistry, biophysics and bioinformatics, allowed us to compare the different assemblies, with a special emphasis on the structural data, subunit exchange properties, activity and sequence evolution. We showed that they all exhibit different properties, from structural organization in physiological versus stress conditions, to chaperone-like activity, whatever the level of sequence conservation. Subunit exchange kinetics leading to HspB1-HspB5 or HspB4-HspB5 hetero-complex formation is also different between these two complexes: HspB5 exchanges more rapidly subunits with HspB1 than with HspB4. The relative sequence conservation in the sHSP superfamily does hide important structural heterogeneity and flexibility, which confer an enlarged range of different surface necessary to efficiently form complexes with various stress-induced cellular targets. Our data suggest that the formation of hetero-complexes could be an original evolutionary strategy to gain new cellular functions.

Matrix metalloproteinase-1 induces cleavage of exogenous alphaB-crystallin transduced by a cell-penetrating peptide.

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), including TAT-CPP, have been used to deliver exogenous proteins into living cells. Although a number of proteins fused to TAT-CPP can be delivered into various cells, little is known about the proteolytic cleavage of TAT-fusion proteins in cells. In this study, we demonstrate that a small heat shock protein (sHSP), alphaB-crystallin (αB-crystallin), delivered by TAT-CPP is susceptible to proteolytic cleavage by matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) in cardiac myoblast H9c2 cells. Recombinant TAT-αB-crystallin was efficiently transduced into H9c2 cells. For a few hours following protein transduction, generation of a 14-kDa fragment, a cleavage band of TAT-αB-crystallin, increased in a time-dependent manner. This fragment was observed only in detergent-insoluble fractions. Interestingly, treatment with MMP inhibitors blocked the cleavage of TAT-αB-crystallin. In test tubes, recombinant MMP-1 processed TAT-αB-crystallin to generate the major cleavage fragment 14-kDa, as observed in the cells treated with TAT-αB-crystallin. The N-terminal sequences of the 14-kDa fragment were identified as Leu-Arg-Ala-Pro-Ser-Trp-Phe, indicating that this fragment is generated by cleavage at Phe54-Leu55 of αB-crystallin. The MMP-1-selective inhibitor abolished the production of 14-kDa fragments in cells. In addition, the cleaved fragment of TAT-αB-crystallin was significantly reduced in cells transfected with MMP-1 siRNA. Moreover, the enzymatic activity of MMP-1 was markedly increased in TAT-αB-crystallin-treated cells. TAT-αB-crystallin has a cytoprotective effect on H9c2 cells under hypoxic insult, moreover, MMP-1-selective inhibitor treatment led to even increased cell viability. These results suggest that MMP-1 is responsible for proteolytic cleavage of TAT-αB-crystallin during its intracellular transduction in H9c2 cells.

Lens proteome map and alpha-crystallin profile of the catfish Rita rita.

Crystallins are a diverse group of proteins that constitute nearly 90% of the total soluble proteins of the vertebrate eye lens and these tightly packed crystallins are responsible for transparency of the lens. These proteins have been studied in different model and non-model species for understanding the modifications they undergo with ageing that lead to cataract, a disease of protein aggregation. In the present investigation, we studied the lens crystallin profile of the tropical freshwater catfish Rita rita. Profiles of lens crystallins were analyzed and crystallin proteome maps of Rita rita were generated for the first time. alphaA-crystallins, member of the alpha-crystallin family, which are molecular chaperons and play crucial role in maintaining lens transparency were identified by 1- and 2-D immunoblot analysis with anti-alphaA-crystallin antibody. Two protein bands of 19-20 kDa were identified as alphaA-crystallins on 1-D immunoblots and these bands separated into 10 discrete spots on 2-D immunoblot. However, anti-alphaB-crystallin and antiphospho-alphaB-crystallin antibodies were not able to detect any immunoreactive bands on 1- and 2-D immunoblots, indicating alphaB-crystallin was either absent or present in extremely low concentration in Rita rita lens. Thus, Rita rita alpha-crystallins are more like that of the catfish Clarias batrachus and the mammal kangaroo in its alphaA- and alphaB-crystallin content (contain low amount from 5-9% of alphaB-crystallin) and unlike the dogfish, zebrafish, human, bovine and mouse alpha-crystallins (contain higher amount of alphaB-crystallin from 25% in mouse and bovine to 85% in dogfish). Results of the present study can be the baseline information for stimulating further investigation on Rita rita lens crystallins for comparative lens proteomics. Comparing and contrasting the alpha-crystallins of the dogfish and Rita rita may provide valuable information on the functional attributes of alphaA- and alphaB-isoforms, as they are at the two extremes in terms of alphaA-and alphaB-crystallin content.

Understanding the α-crystallin cell membrane conjunction.

PURPOSE: It is well established that levels of soluble α-crystallin in the lens cytoplasm fall steadily with age, accompanied by a corresponding increase in the amount of membrane-bound α-crystallin. Less well understood, is the mechanism driving this age-dependent membrane association. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the membrane and its associated proteins and peptides in the binding of α-crystallin. METHODS: Fiber cell membranes from human and bovine lenses were separated from soluble proteins by centrifugation. Membranes were stripped of associated proteins with successive aqueous, urea, and alkaline solutions. Protein constituents of the respective membrane isolates were examined by SDS-PAGE and western immunoblotting. Recombinant αA- and αB-crystallins were fluorescently-labeled with Alexa350® dye and incubated with the membrane isolates and the binding capacity of membrane for α-crystallin was determined. RESULTS: The binding capacity of human membranes was consistently higher than that of bovine membranes. Urea- and alkali-treated membranes from the nucleus had similar binding capacities for αA-crystallin, which were significantly higher than both cortical membrane extracts. αB-Crystallin also had a higher affinity for nuclear membrane. However, urea-treated nuclear membrane had three times the binding capacity for αB-crystallin as compared to the alkali-treated nuclear membrane. Modulation of the membrane-crystallin interaction was achieved by the inclusion of an NH2-terminal peptide of αB-crystallin in the assays, which significantly increased the binding. Remarkably, following extraction with alkali, full length αA- and αB-crystallins were found to remain associated with both bovine and human lens membranes. CONCLUSIONS: Fiber cell membrane isolated from the lens has an inherent capacity to bind α-crystallin. For αB-crystallin, this binding was found to be proportional to the level of extrinsic membrane proteins in cells isolated from the lens nucleus, indicating these proteins may play a role in the recruitment of αB-crystallin. No such relationship was evident for αA-crystallin in the nucleus, or for cortical membrane binding. Intrinsic lens peptides, which increase in abundance with age, may also function to modulate the interaction between soluble α-crystallin and the membrane. In addition, the tight association between α-crystallin and the lens membrane suggests that the protein may be an intrinsic component of the membrane structure.

Partially folded aggregation intermediates of human gammaD-, gammaC-, and gammaS-crystallin are recognized and bound by human alphaB-crystallin chaperone.

Human gamma-crystallins are long-lived, unusually stable proteins of the eye lens exhibiting duplicated, double Greek key domains. The lens also contains high concentrations of the small heat shock chaperone alpha-crystallin, which suppresses aggregation of model substrates in vitro. Mature-onset cataract is believed to represent an aggregated state of partially unfolded and covalently damaged crystallins. Nonetheless, the lack of cell or tissue culture for anucleate lens fibers and the insoluble state of cataract proteins have made it difficult to identify the conformation of the human gamma-crystallin substrate species recognized by human alpha-crystallin. The three major human lens monomeric gamma-crystallins, gammaD, gammaC, and gammaS, all refold in vitro in the absence of chaperones, on dilution from denaturant into buffer. However, off-pathway aggregation of the partially folded intermediates competes with productive refolding. Incubation with human alphaB-crystallin chaperone during refolding suppressed the aggregation pathways of the three human gamma-crystallin proteins. The chaperone did not dissociate or refold the aggregated chains under these conditions. The alphaB-crystallin oligomers formed long-lived stable complexes with their gammaD-crystallin substrates. Using alpha-crystallin chaperone variants lacking tryptophans, we obtained fluorescence spectra of the chaperone-substrate complex. Binding of substrate gamma-crystallins with two or three of the four buried tryptophans replaced by phenylalanines showed that the bound substrate remained in a partially folded state with neither domain native-like. These in vitro results provide support for protein unfolding/protein aggregation models for cataract, with alpha-crystallin suppressing aggregation of damaged or unfolded proteins through early adulthood but becoming saturated with advancing age.

COOH-terminal truncations and site-directed mutations enhance thermostability and chaperone-like activity of porcine alphaB-crystallin.

PURPOSE: The COOH-terminal extension segment of alphaB-crystallin, a member of small heat shock protein (sHSP) family, appears to be a flexible polypeptide segment susceptible to proteolytic truncation and modifications under physiological conditions. To investigate its role on the structure and chaperone-like activity, we constructed various mutants of porcine alphaB-crystallin with either COOH-terminal serial truncations or site-specific mutagenesis on the last two residues. METHODS: The structures of these mutants were analyzed by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, fluorescence spectra, mass spectrometry, Gel-permeation FPLC, and dynamic light-scattering spectrophotometry. Chaperone activity assays were performed under thermal and non-thermal stresses. The stability of proteins was examined by turbidity assays and CD spectra. RESULTS: All mutants showed similar secondary and tertiary structural features to the wild-type alphaB-crystallin as revealed by circular dichroism. However, truncations of the COOH-terminal segment generated crystallin aggregates with a molecular size slightly smaller than that of the wild-type alphaB-crystallin. The deletion of 12 residues from the COOH-terminal end greatly reduced the solubility, thermostability, and chaperone activity of alphaB-crystallin. On the contrary, the truncation of only 10 residues or less resulted in increased thermostability and enhanced anti-aggregation chaperone activity of alphaB-crystallin, with a maximal effect occurring on elimination of the last two residues. Moreover, displacing the last two lysines with glutamates or other neutral amino acids tended to show even higher chaperone activity than the deletion mutants. CONCLUSIONS: Our study clearly demonstrated that both the length and electrostatic charge of the COOH-terminal segment play crucial roles in governing the structural stability and chaperone activity of alphaB-crystallin.

Role of alphaBI5 and alphaBT162 residues in subunit interaction during oligomerization of alphaB-crystallin.

PURPOSE: To determine whether the residues in the NH(2)- and COOH-terminal extensions interact with one another during oligomerization of alphaB-crystallin. METHODS: Site-directed mutagenesis was used to mutate alphaBI5 and alphaBT162 residues to Cys. The recombinant I5C and T162C proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli cells and purified using chromatographic techniques. These proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and mass spectrometry and characterized by multi-angle light scattering and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy methods. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) assay was used to determine the interaction between the subunits. RESULTS: Dimer formation was observed in both alphaBI5C and alphaBT162C in storage at 4 degrees C. During air oxidation at room temperature, alphaBT162C formed dimers to a greater extent than alphaBI5C. The average molar masses, secondary structures, and chaperone-like activities of the reduced forms of I5C and T162C were comparable to that of wild type alphaB-crystallin. The oligomeric assembly of reduced forms of I5C and T162C appeared homogenous under JEOL 1200EX Electron microscope whereas the oxidized proteins appeared as irregular aggregates. FRET assay demonstrated interactions between alphaBI5C-alphaBI5C and alphaBT162C-alphaBT162C. However, there was no evidence of an interaction between alphaBI5C and alphaBT162C residues during oligomerization. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that residues from the NH(2)- and COOH-terminal regions in alphaB-crystallin interact with residues from the corresponding regions of another subunit, but there exists no interaction between the residues at the COOH-terminal extension region and the residues at the NH(2)-terminal region.

Study of subunit interactions of alpha A- and alpha B-crystallins and the effects of gamma-irradiation on their interactions by surface plasmon resonance.

Alpha-crystallin, a major protein of mammalian lens, consists of two subunits, alpha A-crystallin and alpha B-crystallin. They interact to form an aggregate and play a prominent role in the maintenance of lens transparency. We evaluated the interaction between these subunits via surface plasmon resonance (SPR) using four combinations of immobilized protein and analyte: 1) AA: alpha A-crystallin was ligand immobilized onto the sensor and alpha A-crystallin was passed over the ligand, 2) AB: ligand - alpha A-crystallin, analyte - alpha B-crystallin, 3) BB: ligand - alpha B-crystallin, analyte- alpha B-crystallin, 4) BA: ligand - alpha B-crystallin, analyte - alpha A-crystallin. The order of rate of dissociation was AA approximately BA>BB approximately AB. We also examined the dissociation of gamma irradiated alpha A- and alpha B-crystallins. As radiation dose increased, so did the dissociation rate of all of the crystallins. The order of rate of dissociation of irradiated crystallins was BB>AB approximately BA>AA. The results indicate that BB is the most susceptible to gamma-irradiation and that alpha B-crystallin forms a more stable aggregate than alpha A-crystallin under normal conditions. However, when alpha B is irradiated the aggregate becomes unstable.

UV-A-induced structural and functional changes in human lens deamidated alphaB-crystallin.

PURPOSE: To determine comparative effects of ultraviolet (UV)-A irradiation on structural and functional properties of wild type (WT) alphaB-crystallin and its three deamidated mutant proteins (alphaB-Asn78Asp, alphaB-Asn146Asp, and alphaB-Asn78/146Asp). METHODS: Three deamidated mutants previously generated from recombinant WT alphaB-crystallin, using a site-specific mutagenesis procedure as previously described [32], were used. The WT alphaB-crystallin and its three deamidated species were exposed to UV-A light (320-400 nm) at intensities of 20 or 50 J/cm(2). The UV-A-unexposed and UV-A-exposed preparations were examined for their chaperone activity, and their activities were correlated with the UV-A-induced structural changes. The structural properties studied included dimerization and degradation, intrinsic tryptophan (Trp) fluorescence, ANS (8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfate)-binding, far ultraviolet circular dichroism (UV-CD) spectral analysis, molecular sizes by dynamic light scattering, and oxidation of Trp and methionine (Met) residues. RESULTS: The WT alphaB-crystallin and its three deamidated mutant proteins showed enhanced dimerization to 40 kDa species and partial degradation with increasing doses during UV-A-exposure. Compared to the deamidation of asparagines (Asn) 78 residue to aspartic acid (Asp) or both Asn78 and Asn146 residues to Asp, the deamidation of Asn146 residue to Asp resulted in a greater loss of chaperone activity. The UV-A-induced loss of chaperone activity due to structural changes was studied. The ANS-binding data suggested that the alphaB-Asn146Asp mutant protein had a relatively compact structure and an increase in surface hydrophobic patches compared to WT and two other deamidated proteins. Similarly, UV-A-exposure altered the Trp microenvironment in the deamidated mutant proteins compared to the WT alphaB-crystallin. Far-UV CD spectral analyses showed almost no changes among WT and deamidated species on UV-A-exposure except that the alphaB-Asn146Asp mutant protein showed maximum changes in the random coil structure relative to WT alphaB-crystallin and two other deamidated proteins. The UV-A-exposure also resulted in the aggregation of WT and the three deamidated mutant proteins with species of greater mass compared to the non-UV-A exposed species. Among the four spots recovered after two-dimensional (2D)-gel electrophoresis from WT and the three deamidated species, the Met and Trp residues of alphaB-Asn146Asp mutant showed maximum oxidation after UV-A exposure, which might account for its greater loss in chaperone activity compared to WT alphaB-crystallin and two other deamidated species. CONCLUSIONS: After UV-A-exposure, the deamidated alphaB-Asn146Asp mutant protein showed a complete loss of chaperone activity compared to WT alphaB and alphaB-Asn78Asp and alphaB-Asn78/146Asp deamidated species. Apparently, this loss of chaperone activity was due to oxidative changes leading to its greater structural alteration compared to other alphaB-species.

Mimicking phosphorylation of alphaB-crystallin affects its chaperone activity.

AlphaB-crystallin is a member of the sHsp (small heat-shock protein) family that prevents misfolded target proteins from aggregating and precipitating. Phosphorylation at three serine residues (Ser19, Ser45 and Ser59) is a major post-translational modification that occurs to alphaB-crystallin. In the present study, we produced recombinant proteins designed to mimic phosphorylation of alphaB-crystallin by incorporating a negative charge at these sites. We employed these mimics to undertake a mechanistic and structural investigation of the effect of phosphorylation on the chaperone activity of alphaB-crystallin to protect against two types of protein misfolding, i.e. amorphous aggregation and amyloid fibril assembly. We show that mimicking phosphorylation of alphaB-crystallin results in more efficient chaperone activity against both heat-induced and reduction-induced amorphous aggregation of target proteins. Mimick-ing phosphorylation increased the chaperone activity of alphaB-crystallin against one amyloid-forming target protein (kappa-casein), but decreased it against another (ccbeta-Trp peptide). We observed that both target protein identity and solution (buffer) conditions are critical factors in determining the relative chaperone ability of wild-type and phosphorylated alphaB-crystallins. The present study provides evidence for the regulation of the chaperone activity of alphaB-crystallin by phosphorylation and indicates that this may play an important role in alleviating the pathogenic effects associated with protein conformational diseases.

C-terminal truncation of alpha-crystallin in hereditary cataractous rat lens.

C-Terminal truncated alpha-crystallins have been found in lenses of hereditary cataractous rat ICR/f, including two truncated alphaB-crystallins and several truncated alphaA-crystallins. These truncated crystallins probably resulted from degradation by m-calpain and Lp82. The alphaB-crystallin with five amino acid residues deleted showed decreased chaperone activity. Compared with alpha-crystallins from the normal rat lenses, overall chaperone activity of alpha-crystallins from the mutant lenses, including the above truncated alphaB-crystallin, was remarkably reduced. The decreased chaperone activity accompanying the increase in C-terminal truncated alpha-crystallins may cause the insolubilization of many proteins in the mutant lenses, which it is likely to lead to the progression of cataract formation.

Evaluation of hydrophobicity versus chaperonelike activity of bovine alphaA- and alphaB-crystallin.

Calf lens alphaA-crystallin isolated by reversed-phase HPLC demonstrates a slightly more hydrophobic profile than alphaB-crystallin. Fluorescent probes in addition to bis-ANS, like cis-parinaric acid (PA) and pyrene, show higher quantum yields or Ham ratios when bound to alphaA-crystallin than to alphaB-crystallin at room temperature. Bis-ANS binding to both alphaA- and alphaB-crystallin decreases with increase in temperature. At room temperature, the chaperone-like activity of alphaA-crystallin is lower than that of alphaB-crystallin whereas at higher temperatures, alphaA-crystallin shows significantly higher protection against aggregation of substrate proteins compared to alphaB-crystallin. Therefore, calf lens alphaA-crystallin is more hydrophobic than alphaB-crystallin and chaperone-like activity of alpha-crystallin subunits is not quantitatively related to their hydrophobicity.