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The transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) is an essential machine of the adaptive immune system that translocates antigenic peptides from the cytosol into the endoplasmic reticulum lumen for loading of major histocompatibility class I molecules. To examine this ABC transport complex in mechanistic detail, we have established, after extensive screening and optimization, the solubilization, purification, and reconstitution for TAP to preserve its function in each step. This allowed us to determine the substrate-binding stoichiometry of the TAP complex by fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy. In addition, the TAP complex shows strict coupling between peptide binding and ATP hydrolysis, revealing no basal ATPase activity in the absence of peptides. These results represent an optimal starting point for detailed mechanistic studies of the transport cycle of TAP by single molecule experiments to analyze single steps of peptide translocation and the stoichiometry between peptide transport and ATP hydrolysis.
We compiled an NMR data set consisting of exact nuclear Overhauser enhancement (eNOE) distance limits, residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) and scalar (J) couplings for GB3, which forms one of the largest and most diverse data set for structural characterization of a protein to date. All data have small experimental errors, which are carefully estimated. We use the data in the research article Vogeli et al., 2015, Complementarity and congruence between exact NOEs and traditional NMR probes for spatial decoding of protein dynamics, J. Struct. Biol., 191, 3, 306–317, doi:10.1016/j.jsb.2015.07.008 [1] for cross-validation in multiple-state structural ensemble calculation. We advocate this set to be an ideal test case for molecular dynamics simulations and structure calculations.
Folding of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) according to the two-stage model (Popot, J. L., and Engelman, D. M. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 4031–4037) is postulated to proceed in 2 steps: partitioning of the polypeptide into the membrane followed by diffusion until native contacts are formed. Herein we investigate conformational preferences of fragments of the yeast Ste2p receptor using NMR. Constructs comprising the first, the first two, and the first three transmembrane (TM) segments, as well as a construct comprising TM1–TM2 covalently linked to TM7 were examined. We observed that the isolated TM1 does not form a stable helix nor does it integrate well into the micelle. TM1 is significantly stabilized upon interaction with TM2, forming a helical hairpin reported previously (Neumoin, A., Cohen, L. S., Arshava, B., Tantry, S., Becker, J. M., Zerbe, O., and Naider, F. (2009) Biophys. J. 96, 3187–3196), and in this case the protein integrates into the hydrophobic interior of the micelle. TM123 displays a strong tendency to oligomerize, but hydrogen exchange data reveal that the center of TM3 is solvent exposed. In all GPCRs so-far structurally characterized TM7 forms many contacts with TM1 and TM2. In our study TM127 integrates well into the hydrophobic environment, but TM7 does not stably pack against the remaining helices. Topology mapping in microsomal membranes also indicates that TM1 does not integrate in a membrane-spanning fashion, but that TM12, TM123, and TM127 adopt predominantly native-like topologies. The data from our study would be consistent with the retention of individual helices of incompletely synthesized GPCRs in the vicinity of the translocon until the complete receptor is released into the membrane interior.
The solution structure of the lantibiotic immunity protein NisI and its interactions with nisin
(2015)
Many Gram-positive bacteria produce lantibiotics, genetically encoded and posttranslationally modified peptide antibiotics, which inhibit the growth of other Gram-positive bacteria. To protect themselves against their own lantibiotics these bacteria express a variety of immunity proteins including the LanI lipoproteins. The structural and mechanistic basis for LanI-mediated lantibiotic immunity is not yet understood. Lactococcus lactis produces the lantibiotic nisin, which is widely used as a food preservative. Its LanI protein NisI provides immunity against nisin but not against structurally very similar lantibiotics from other species such as subtilin from Bacillus subtilis. To understand the structural basis for LanI-mediated immunity and their specificity we investigated the structure of NisI. We found that NisI is a two-domain protein. Surprisingly, each of the two NisI domains has the same structure as the LanI protein from B. subtilis, SpaI, despite the lack of significant sequence homology. The two NisI domains and SpaI differ strongly in their surface properties and function. Additionally, SpaI-mediated lantibiotic immunity depends on the presence of a basic unstructured N-terminal region that tethers SpaI to the membrane. Such a region is absent from NisI. Instead, the N-terminal domain of NisI interacts with membranes but not with nisin. In contrast, the C-terminal domain specifically binds nisin and modulates the membrane affinity of the N-terminal domain. Thus, our results reveal an unexpected structural relationship between NisI and SpaI and shed light on the structural basis for LanI mediated lantibiotic immunity.
Identification of a lysosomal peptide transport system induced during dendritic cell development
(2007)
The delivery of protein fragments to major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-loading compartments of professional antigen-presenting cells is essential in the adaptive immune response against pathogens. Apart from the crucial role of the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) for peptide loading of MHC class I molecules in the endoplasmic reticulum, TAP-independent translocation pathways have been proposed but not identified so far. Based on its overlapping substrate specificity with TAP, we herein investigated the ABC transporter ABCB9, also named TAP-like (TAPL). Remarkably, TAPL expression is strongly induced during differentiation of monocytes to dendritic cells and to macrophages. TAPL does not, however, restore MHC class I surface expression in TAP-deficient cells, demonstrating that TAPL alone or in combination with single TAP subunits does not form a functional transport complex required for peptide loading of MHC I in the endoplasmic reticulum. In fact, by using quantitative immunofluorescence and subcellular fractionation, TAPL was detected in the lysosomal compartment co-localizing with the lysosome-associated membrane protein LAMP-2. By in vitro assays, we demonstrate a TAPL-specific translocation of peptides into isolated lysosomes, which strictly requires ATP hydrolysis. These results suggest a mechanism by which antigenic peptides have access to the lysosomal compartment in professional antigen-presenting cells.
LIN-2/7 (L27) domains are protein interaction modules that preferentially hetero-oligomerize, a property critical for their function in directing specific assembly of supramolecular signaling complexes at synapses and other polarized cell-cell junctions. We have solved the solution structure of the heterodimer composed of the L27 domains from LIN-2 and LIN-7. Comparison of this structure with other L27 domain structures has allowed us to formulate a general model for why most L27 domains form an obligate heterodimer complex. L27 domains can be divided in two types (A and B), with each heterodimer comprising an A/B pair. We have identified two keystone positions that play a central role in discrimination. The residues at these positions are energetically acceptable in the context of an A/B heterodimer, but would lead to packing defects or electrostatic repulsion in the context of A/A and B/B homodimers. As predicted by the model, mutations of keystone residues stabilize normally strongly disfavored homodimers. Thus, L27 domains are specifically optimized to avoid homodimeric interactions.
Determining the structure and mechanisms of all individual functional modules of cells at high molecular detail has often been seen as equal to understanding how cells work. Recent technical advances have led to a flush of high-resolution structures of various macromolecular machines, but despite this wealth of detailed information, our understanding of cellular function remains incomplete. Here, we discuss present-day limitations of structural biology and highlight novel technologies that may enable us to analyze molecular functions directly inside cells. We predict that the progression toward structural cell biology will involve a shift toward conceptualizing a 4D virtual reality of cells using digital twins. These will capture cellular segments in a highly enriched molecular detail, include dynamic changes, and facilitate simulations of molecular processes, leading to novel and experimentally testable predictions. Transferring biological questions into algorithms that learn from the existing wealth of data and explore novel solutions may ultimately unveil how cells work.
The membrane-bound heterotrimeric nitrate reductase A (NarGHI) catalyzes the oxidation of quinols in the cytoplasmic membrane of Escherichia coli and reduces nitrate to nitrite in the cytoplasm. The enzyme strongly stabilizes a menasemiquinone intermediate at a quinol oxidation site (Q(D)) located in the vicinity of the distal heme b(D). Here molecular details of the interaction between the semiquinone radical and the protein environment have been provided using advanced multifrequency pulsed EPR methods. (14)N and (15)N ESEEM and HYSCORE measurements carried out at X-band ( approximately 9.7 GHz) on the wild-type enzyme or the enzyme uniformly labeled with (15)N nuclei reveal an interaction between the semiquinone and a single nitrogen nucleus. The isotropic hyperfine coupling constant A(iso)((14)N) approximately 0.8 MHz shows that it occurs via an H-bond to one of the quinone carbonyl group. Using (14)N ESEEM and HYSCORE spectroscopies at a lower frequency (S-band, approximately 3.4 GHz), the (14)N nuclear quadrupolar parameters of the interacting nitrogen nucleus (kappa = 0.49, eta = 0.50) were determined and correspond to those of a histidine N(delta), assigned to the heme b(D) ligand His-66 residue. Moreover S-band (15)N ESEEM spectra enabled us to directly measure the anisotropic part of the nitrogen hyperfine interaction (T((15)N) = 0.16 MHz). A distance of approximately 2.2 Abetween the carbonyl oxygen and the nitrogen could then be calculated. Mechanistic implications of these results are discussed in the context of the peculiar properties of the menasemiquinone intermediate stabilized at the Q(D) site of NarGHI.
Escherichia coli nitrate reductase A (NarGHI) is a membrane-bound enzyme that couples quinol oxidation at a periplasmically oriented Q-site (Q(D)) to proton release into the periplasm during anaerobic respiration. To elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying such a coupling, endogenous menasemiquinone-8 intermediates stabilized at the Q(D) site (MSQ(D)) of NarGHI have been studied by high-resolution pulsed EPR methods in combination with (1)H2O/2H2O exchange experiments. One of the two non-exchangeable proton hyperfine couplings resolved in hyperfine sublevel correlation (HYSCORE) spectra of the radical displays characteristics typical from quinone methyl protons. However, its unusually small isotropic value reflects a singularly low spin density on the quinone carbon α carrying the methyl group, which is ascribed to a strong asymmetry of the MSQ(D) binding mode and consistent with single-sided hydrogen bonding to the quinone oxygen O1. Furthermore, a single exchangeable proton hyperfine coupling is resolved, both by comparing the HYSCORE spectra of the radical in 1H2O and 2H2O samples and by selective detection of the exchanged deuterons using Q-band 2H Mims electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectroscopy. Spectral analysis reveals its peculiar characteristics, i.e. a large anisotropic hyperfine coupling together with an almost zero isotropic contribution. It is assigned to a proton involved in a short ∼1.6 Å in-plane hydrogen bond between the quinone O1 oxygen and the Nδ of the His-66 residue, an axial ligand of the distal heme b(D). Structural and mechanistic implications of these results for the electron-coupled proton translocation mechanism at the Q(D) site are discussed, in light of the unusually high thermodynamic stability of MSQ(D).
The core of photosystem I (PS1) is composed of the two related integral membrane polypeptides, PsaA and PsaB, which bind two symmetrical branches of cofactors, each consisting of two chlorophylls and a phylloquinone, that potentially link the primary electron donor and the tertiary acceptor. In an effort to identify amino acid residues near the phylloquinone binding sites, all tryptophans and histidines that are conserved between PsaA and PsaB in the region of the 10th and 11th transmembrane alpha-helices were mutated in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The mutant PS1 reaction centers appear to assemble normally and possess photochemical activity. An electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal attributed to the phylloquinone anion radical (A(1)(-)) can be observed either transiently or after illumination of reaction centers with pre-reduced iron-sulfur clusters. Mutation of PsaA-Trp(693) to Phe resulted in an inability to photo-accumulate A(1)(-), whereas mutation of the analogous tryptophan in PsaB (PsaB-Trp(673)) did not produce this effect. The PsaA-W693F mutation also produced spectral changes in the time-resolved EPR spectrum of the P(700)(+) A(1)(-) radical pair, whereas the analogous mutation in PsaB had no observable effect. These observations indicate that the A(1)(-) phylloquinone radical observed by EPR occupies the phylloquinone-binding site containing PsaA-Trp(693). However, mutation of either tryptophan accelerated charge recombination from the terminal Fe-S clusters.