Logan W. Donaldson

The phage λ major tail protein structure reveals a common evolution for long-tailed phages and the type VI bacterial secretion system

Most bacteriophages possess long tails, which serve as the conduit for genome delivery. We report the solution structure of the N-terminal domain of gpV, the protein comprising the major portion of the noncontractile phage λ tail tube. This structure is very similar to a previously solved tail tube protein from a contractile-tailed phage, providing the first direct evidence of an evolutionary connection between these 2 distinct types of phage tails. A remarkable structural similarity is also seen to Hcp1, a component of the bacterial type VI secretion system. The hexameric structure of Hcp1 and its ability to form long tubes are strikingly reminiscent of gpV when it is polymerized into a tail tube. These data coupled with other similarities between phage and type VI secretion proteins support an evolutionary relationship between these systems. Using Hcp1 as a model, we propose a polymerization mechanism for gpV involving several disorder-to-order transitions.

Structure of a regulatory complex involving the Abl SH3 domain, the Crk SH2 domain, and a Crk-derived phosphopeptide

On phosphorylation of Y221 by Abelson (Abl) kinase, the Crk-II adapter protein undergoes an intramolecular reorganization initiated by the binding of its own Src homology 2 (SH2) domain to the pY221 site. Conformational changes induced by phosphotyrosine recognition promote the binding of the Src homology 3 (SH3) domain of the Abl tyrosine kinase to a proline-rich loop located between the βD and βE strands of the SH2 domain (DE loop). We have determined the NMR solution structure of the ternary complex of the Abl SH3 domain with the Crk SH2 domain bound to a Crk pY221 phosphopeptide. The SH2 domain bridges two ligands that bind at distinct sites. The interaction between the Abl SH3 domain and the Crk SH2 domain is localized to a canonical eight-residue site within the DE loop. From 15N relaxation experiments, the DE loop of the SH2 domain in the complex displays a significant degree of conformational freedom. The structural and dynamic data therefore indicate that these SH2 and SH3 domains do not assume a unique orientation with respect to one another; rather, they appear to be only tethered via the DE loop. Thus, SH2 domain–SH3 domain interactions do not require additional tertiary contacts or restriction of domain orientation when a recognition motif is presented in a mobile loop. This complex between the Abl SH3 domain, Crk SH2 domain, and Crk phosphopeptide is an example of the extremely modular nature of regulatory proteins that provides a rich repertoire of mechanisms for control of biological function.

RNA recognition by the Vts1p SAM domain

The putative yeast post-transcriptional regulator Vts1p and its related protein Smaug, from Drosophila melanogaster, each use a sterile alpha motif (SAM) domain to bind an RNA hairpin termed the Smaug recognition element (SRE). Here, we present the NMR structures of the Vts1p–SRE complex and the free SRE. Structural highlights include the direct recognition of a guanine base and the formation or stabilization of a base pair in the SRE loop.

The X-Ray Crystal Structure of the Phage λ Tail Terminator Protein Reveals the Biologically Relevant Hexameric Ring Structure and Demonstrates a Conserved Mechanism of Tail Termination among Diverse Long-Tailed Phages

The tail terminator protein (TrP) plays an essential role in phage tail assembly by capping the rapidly polymerizing tail once it has reached its requisite length and serving as the interaction surface for phage heads. Here, we present the 2.7-A crystal structure of a hexameric ring of gpU, the TrP of phage lambda. Using sequence alignment analysis and site-directed mutagenesis, we have shown that this multimeric structure is biologically relevant and we have delineated its functional surfaces. Comparison of the hexameric crystal structure with the solution structure of gpU that we previously solved using NMR spectroscopy shows large structural changes occurring upon multimerization and suggests a mechanism that allows gpU to remain monomeric at high concentrations on its own, yet polymerize readily upon contact with an assembled tail tube. The gpU hexamer displays several flexible loops that play key roles in head and tail binding, implying a role for disorder-to-order transitions in controlling assembly as has been observed with other lambda morphogenetic proteins. Finally, we have found that the hexameric structure of gpU is very similar to the structure of a putative TrP from a contractile phage tail even though it displays no detectable sequence similarity. This finding coupled with further bioinformatic investigations has led us to conclude that the TrPs of non-contractile-tailed phages, such as lambda, are evolutionarily related to those of contractile-tailed phages, such as P2 and Mu, and that all long-tailed phages may utilize a conserved mechanism for tail termination.

The Solution Structure of the C-Terminal Ig-like Domain of the Bacteriophage λ Tail Tube Protein

Immunoglobulin (Ig)-like domains are found frequently on the surface of tailed double-stranded DNA bacteriophages, yet their functional role remains obscure. Here, we have investigated the structure and function of the C-terminal Ig-like domain of gpV (gpV(C)), the tail tube protein of phage λ. This domain has been predicted through sequence similarity to be a member of the bacterial Ig-like domain 2 (Big_2) family, which is composed of more than 1300 phage and bacterial sequences. Using trypsin proteolysis, we have delineated the boundaries of gpV(C) and have shown that its removal reduces the biological activity of gpV by 100-fold; thus providing a definitive demonstration of a functional role for this domain. Determination of the solution structure of gpV(C) by NMR spectroscopy showed that it adopts a canonical Ig-like fold of the I-set class. This represents the first structure of a phage-encoded Ig-like domain and only the second structure of a Big_2 domain. Structural and sequence comparisons indicate that the gpV(C) structure is more representative of both the phage-encoded Big_2 domains and Big_2 domains in general than the other available Big_2 structure. Bioinformatics analyses have identified two conserved clusters of residues on the surface of gpV(C) that may be important in mediating the function of this domain.

ERROR TOLERANT NMR BACKBONE RESONANCE ASSIGNMENT AND AUTOMATED STRUCTURE GENERATION

Error tolerant backbone resonance assignment is the cornerstone of the NMR structure determination process. Although a variety of assignment approaches have been developed, none works sufficiently well on noisy fully automatically picked peaks to enable the subsequent automatic structure determination steps. We have designed an integer linear programming (ILP) based assignment system (IPASS) that has enabled fully automatic protein structure determination for four test proteins. IPASS employs probabilistic spin system typing based on chemical shifts and secondary structure predictions. Furthermore, IPASS extracts connectivity information from the inter-residue information and the (automatically picked) (15)N-edited NOESY peaks which are then used to fix reliable fragments. When applied to automatically picked peaks for real proteins, IPASS achieves an average precision and recall of 82% and 63%, respectively. In contrast, the next best method, MARS, achieves an average precision and recall of 77% and 36%, respectively. The assignments generated by IPASS are then fed into our protein structure calculation system, FALCON-NMR, to determine the 3D structures without human intervention. The final models have backbone RMSDs of 1.25Å, 0.88Å, 1.49Å, and 0.67Å to the reference native structures for proteins TM1112, CASKIN, VRAR, and HACS1, respectively. The web server is publicly available at http://monod.uwaterloo.ca/nmr/ipass.

A nuclear localization signal at the SAM-SAM domain interface of AIDA-1 suggests a requirement for domain uncoupling prior to nuclear import.

The neuronal scaffolding protein AIDA-1 is believed to act as a convener of signals arising at postsynaptic densities. Among the readily identifiable domains in AIDA-1, two closely juxtaposed sterile alpha motif (SAM) domains and a phosphotyrosine binding domain are located within the C-terminus of the longest splice variant and exclusively in four shorter splice variants. As a first step towards understanding the possible emergent properties arising from this assembly of ligand binding domains, we have used NMR methods to solve the first structure of a SAM domain tandem. Separated by a 15-aa linker, the two SAM domains are fused in a head-to-tail orientation that has been observed in other hetero- and homotypic SAM domain structures. The basic nuclear import signal for AIDA-1 is buried at the interface between the two SAM domains. An observed disparity between the thermal stabilities of the two SAM domains suggests a mechanism whereby the second SAM domain decouples from the first SAM domain to facilitate translocation of AIDA-1 to the nucleus.

Determining protein structures from NOESY distance constraints by semidefinite programming.

Contemporary practical methods for protein nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structure determination use molecular dynamics coupled with a simulated annealing schedule. The objective of these methods is to minimize the error of deviating from the nuclear overhauser effect (NOE) distance constraints. However, the corresponding objective function is highly nonconvex and, consequently, difficult to optimize. Euclidean distance matrix (EDM) methods based on semidefinite programming (SDP) provide a natural framework for these problems. However, the high complexity of SDP solvers and the often noisy distance constraints provide major challenges to this approach. The main contribution of this article is a new SDP formulation for the EDM approach that overcomes these two difficulties. We model the protein as a set of intersecting two- and three-dimensional cliques. Then, we adapt and extend a technique called semidefinite facial reduction to reduce the SDP problem size to approximately one quarter of the size of the original problem. The reduced SDP problem can be solved approximately 100 times faster, and it is also more resistant to numerical problems from erroneous and inexact distance bounds.

Solution structure of the carboxy-terminal Tudor domain from human Coilin

The Cajal body is a dynamic eukaryotic nuclear organelle that is known primarily as an organizational center for the assembly of snRNAs involved in transcript splicing. One of the most critical components of the Cajal body is the scaffolding protein, Coilin. Here, we demonstrate by NMR methods that the carboxy‐terminal region contains a Tudor domain. The Tudor domain is atypical due to the presence of several unstructured loops, one greater than thirty amino acids in length. Tudor domains have been noted previously to bind DNA, RNA and modified amino acids. The absence of these sequence and structural signatures in the Coilin Tudor domain supporting these established functions suggests an alternative role.

The NMR structure of the murine DLC2 SAM domain reveals a variant fold that is similar to a four-helix bundle

BackgroundThe tumor suppressor DLC2 (Deleted in Liver Cancer -2) participates in cell signaling at the mitochondrial membrane. DLC2 is characterized by a SAM (sterile alpha motif) domain, a Rho GTPase activating protein (GAP) domain, and a START lipid transfer domain.ResultsTowards understanding the function of DLC2, we have solved the NMR solution structure of the SAM domain. The DLC2-SAM domain structure reveals an atypical four-helix composition that is distinct from the five-helix SAM domain structures that have been determined to date. From structural alignments, helix 3 of the canonical SAM domain appears to be replaced by shorter, extended secondary structure that follows a similar path. Another difference is demonstrated by helices 1 and 2 that form a helical hairpin that is situated approximately parallel to the canonical helix 5.ConclusionThe DLC2-SAM domain adopts a structure that is topologically more similar to an anti-parallel four-helix bundle than a canonical SAM domain. This alternate topology may allow the DLC2-SAM domain to interact with a novel set of ligands.