Structure of a cyclic peptide with a catalytic triad, determined by computer simulation and NMR spectroscopy.

We report the design of a cyclic, eight-residue peptide that possesses the catalytic triad residues of the serine proteases. A manually built model has been relaxed by 0.3 ns of molecular dynamics simulation at room temperature, during which no major changes occurred in the peptide. The molecule has been synthesised and purified. Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy provided 35 distance and 7 torsion angle constraints, which were used to determine the three-dimensional structure. The experimental conformation agrees with the predicted one at the beta-turn, but deviates in the arrangement of the disulphide bridge that closes the backbone to a ring. A 1.2 ns simulation at 600 K provided extended sampling of conformation space. The disulphide bridge reoriented into the experimental arrangement, producing a minimum backbone rmsd from the experimental conformation of 0.8 A. At a later stage in the simulation, a transition at Ser3 produced more pronounced high-temperature behaviour. The peptide hydrolyses p-nitrophenyl acetate about nine times faster than free histidine.

A simplified amino acid potential for use in structure predictions of proteins.

A simplified description and a corresponding force field for polypeptides is introduced. Each amino acid residue is reduced to one interaction site, representing the backbone, and one or two side chain sites depending on its size and complexity. Site-site interactions are parameterized after a hydrophobicity criterium. The treatment of backbone sites is in addition designed to reproduce typical polypeptide hydrogen bonding patterns, as well as yielding conformations in accord with the allowed phi and psi angles through an effective angle potential. There are no explicit charges in the model. The derived energy functions, which are based on thermodynamic data and sterical consideration of allowed backbone conformations, correspond to the introduction of an effective potential. The model is tested on two small proteins, avian pancreatic polypeptide and a parathyroid hormone-related protein, by simulating folding from an initially extended state using Monte Carlo methods. The reduced amino acid description is able to satisfactorily reproduce the experimentally determined native structures.

The solution structures of mutant calbindin D9k's, as determined by NMR, show that the calcium-binding site can adopt different folds.

The complete 1H NMR assignments have been obtained for five mutant proteins of calbindin D9k and the three-dimensional solution structures determined for two of the mutants. The structures have been determined using distance geometry and simulated annealing, with distance constraints from NMR. All mutants have modifications in the first calcium-binding site of calbindin (the N-terminal site designated the pseudo-EF-hand). The 3D structure of the mutant with the most extensive modifications in the pseudo-EF-hand shows that the site has turned inside-out and coordinates calcium as in the normal EF-hand (the C-terminal site). In a pseudo-EF-hand loop the calcium is coordinated by main-chain carbonyls, whereas calcium in the normal EF-hand is coordinated by side-chain carboxylates. The 3D structures and 1H NMR assignments show that in order to accomplish a change in the coordinating ligands of the pseudo-EF-hand the loop must be 12 residues long and have glycine in the sixth position. It does, however, seem possible to have alanine instead of aspartic acid in the first calcium coordinating position. The overall global fold of the proteins has not been affected by the mutations in the calcium-binding site, as compared to the wild-type calbindin D9k [Kördel, J., Skelton, N. J., Akke, M., & Chazin, W. J. (1993) J. Mol. Biol. (in press)]. The structures consist of two helix-calcium-binding loop-helix motifs, the so called EF-hands, and the loops are connected by a short antiparallel beta-sheet. All helices are pairwise in an antiparallel orientation.

How an epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like domain binds calcium. High resolution NMR structure of the calcium form of the NH2-terminal EGF-like domain in coagulation factor X.

Domains homologous to the epidermal growth factor (EGF) are important building blocks for extracellular proteins. Proteins containing these domains have been shown to function in such diverse biological processes as blood coagulation, complement activation, and the developmental determination of embryonic cell fates. Many of these proteins require calcium for their biological function. In the case of coagulation factors IX and X and anticoagulants proteins C and S, calcium has been found to bind to the EGF-like domains. We have now determined the three-dimensional structure of the calcium-bound form of the NH2-terminal EGF-like domain in coagulation factor X by two-dimensional NMR and simulated folding. Ligands to the calcium ion are the two backbone carbonyls in Gly-47 and Gly-64, as well as the side chains in Gln-49, erythro-beta-hydroxyaspartic acid (Hya) 63, and possibly Asp-46. The conserved Asp-48 is not a ligand in our present structures. The remaining ligands are assumed to be solvent molecules or, in the intact protein, ligands from neighboring domains. Other proteins interacting in a calcium-dependent manner may also contribute ligands. A comparison with the calcium-free form shows that calcium binding induces strictly local structural changes in the domain. Residues corresponding to the side chain ligands in factor X are conserved in many other proteins, such as the integral membrane protein TAN-1 of human lymphocytes and its developmentally important homolog, Notch, in Drosophila. Calcium binding to EGF-like domains may be crucial for numerous protein-protein interactions involving EGF-like domains in coagulation factors, plasma proteins, and membrane proteins. Therefore, there is reason to believe that this novel calcium site plays an important role in the biochemistry of extracellular proteins.

Three-dimensional structure of the apo form of the N-terminal EGF-like module of blood coagulation factor X as determined by NMR spectroscopy and simulated folding.

The three-dimensional structure of a 42-residue fragment containing the N-terminal EGF-like module of blood coagulation factor X was determined by means of 2D NMR spectroscopy and computer simulation. The spectroscopic data consisted of 370 NOE distances and 27 dihedral angle constraints. These were used to generate peptide conformations by molecular dynamics simulation. The simulations used a novel functional form for the constraint potentials and were performed with two time steps to ensure rapid execution. Apart from preliminary runs to aid assignment of NOEs, 60 runs resulted in 13 accepted structures, which have two antiparallel beta sheets, no alpha helices, and five tight turns. There is no hydrophobic cluster. The root mean square deviation for the backbone of the 13 conformations is 0.65 +/- 0.11 A against their mean conformation. About half of the side chains have well-defined structure. The overall conformation is similar to that of murine EGF.