| 1. |
- Baeza-Delgado, Carlos, et al.
(författare)
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Biological insertion of computationally designed short transmembrane segments
- 2016
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The great majority of helical membrane proteins are inserted co-translationally into the ER membrane through a continuous ribosome-translocon channel. The efficiency of membrane insertion depends on transmembrane (TM) helix amino acid composition, the helix length and the position of the amino acids within the helix. In this work, we conducted a computational analysis of the composition and location of amino acids in transmembrane helices found in membrane proteins of known structure to obtain an extensive set of designed polypeptide segments with naturally occurring amino acid distributions. Then, using an in vitro translation system in the presence of biological membranes, we experimentally validated our predictions by analyzing its membrane integration capacity. Coupled with known strategies to control membrane protein topology, these findings may pave the way to de novo membrane protein design.
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| 2. |
- Bano-Polo, Manuel, et al.
(författare)
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Charge Pair Interactions in Transmembrane Helices and Turn Propensity of the Connecting Sequence Promote Helical Hairpin Insertion
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Molecular Biology. - : Elsevier. - 0022-2836 .- 1089-8638. ; 425:4, s. 830-840
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- alpha-Helical hairpins, consisting of a pair of closely spaced transmembrane (TM) helices that are connected by a short interfacial turn, are the simplest structural motifs found in multi-spanning membrane proteins. In naturally occurring hairpins, the presence of polar residues is common and predicted to complicate membrane insertion. We postulate that the pre-packing process offsets any energetic cost of allocating polar and charged residues within the hydrophobic environment of biological membranes. Consistent with this idea, we provide here experimental evidence demonstrating that helical hairpin insertion into biological membranes can be driven by electrostatic interactions between closely separated, poorly hydrophobic sequences. Additionally, we observe that the integral hairpin can be stabilized by a short loop heavily populated by turn-promoting residues. We conclude that the combined effect of TM-TM electrostatic interactions and tight turns plays an important role in generating the functional architecture of membrane proteins and propose that helical hairpin motifs can be acquired within the context of the Sec61 translocon at the early stages of membrane protein biosynthesis. Taken together, these data further underline the potential complexities involved in accurately predicting TM domains from primary structures.
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| 3. |
- Bañó-Polo, Manuel, et al.
(författare)
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Transmembrane but not soluble helices fold inside the ribosome tunnel
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Integral membrane proteins are assembled into the ER membrane via a continuous ribosome-translocon channel. The hydrophobicity and thickness of the core of the membrane bilayer leads to the expectation that transmembrane (TM) segments minimize the cost of harbouring polar polypeptide backbones by adopting a regular pattern of hydrogen bonds to form a-helices before integration. Co-translational folding of nascent chains into an a-helical conformation in the ribosomal tunnel has been demonstrated previously, but the features governing this folding are not well understood. In particular, little is known about what features influence the propensity to acquire a-helical structure in the ribosome. Using in vitro translation of truncated nascent chains trapped within the ribosome tunnel and molecular dynamics simulations, we show that folding in the ribosome is attained for TM helices but not for soluble helices, presumably facilitating SRP (signal recognition particle) recognition and/or a favourable conformation for membrane integration upon translocon entry.
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| 4. |
- Duart, Gerard, et al.
(författare)
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Intra-helical salt bridge contribution to membrane protein insertion
- 2024
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Salt bridges between negatively (D, E) and positively charged (K, R, H) amino acids play an important role in protein stabilization. This has a more prevalent effect in membrane proteins where polar amino acids are exposed to a very hydrophobic environment. In transmembrane (TM) helices the presence of charged residues can hinder the insertion of the helices into the membrane. This can sometimes be avoided by TM region rearrangements after insertion, but it is also possible that the formation of salt bridges could decrease the cost of membrane integration. However, the presence of intra-helical salt bridges in TM domains and their effect on insertion has not been properly studied yet. In this work, we use an analytical pipeline to study the prevalence of charged pairs of amino acid residues in TM α-helices, which shows that potentially salt-bridge forming pairs are statistically over-represented. We then selected some candidates to experimentally determine the contribution of these electrostatic interactions to the translocon-assisted membrane insertion process. Using both in vitro and in vivo systems, we confirm the presence of intra-helical salt bridges in TM segments during biogenesis and determined that they contribute between 0.5-0.7 kcal/mol to the apparent free energy of membrane insertion (ΔGapp). Our observations suggest that salt bridge interactions can be stabilized during translocon-mediated insertion and thus could be relevant to consider for the future development of membrane protein prediction software.
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| 5. |
- Duart, Gerard, et al.
(författare)
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Intra-Helical Salt Bridge Contribution to Membrane Protein Insertion
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Molecular Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-2836 .- 1089-8638. ; 434:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Salt bridges between negatively (D, E) and positively charged (K, R, H) amino acids play an important role in protein stabilization. This has a more prevalent effect in membrane proteins where polar amino acids are exposed to a hydrophobic environment. In transmembrane (TM) helices the presence of charged residues can hinder the insertion of the helices into the membrane. It is possible that the formation of salt bridges could decrease the cost of membrane integration. However, the presence of intra-helical salt bridges in TM domains and their effect on insertion has not been properly studied yet. In this work, we show that potentially salt-bridge forming pairs are statistically over-represented in TM-helices. We then selected some candidates to experimentally determine the contribution of these electrostatic interactions to the translocon-assisted membrane insertion process. Using both in vitro and whole cell systems, we confirm the presence of intra-helical salt bridges in TM segments during biogenesis and determined that they contribute ~0.5 kcal/mol to the apparent free energy of membrane insertion (delta G(app)). Our observations suggest that salt bridge interactions can be stabilized during translocon-mediated insertion and thus could be relevant to consider for the future development of membrane protein prediction software.
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| 6. |
- Hedin, Linnea E, 1981-
(författare)
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Intra- and intermolecular interactions in proteins : Studies of marginally hydrophobic transmembrane alpha-helices and protein-protein interactions.
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Most of the processes in a living cell are carried out by proteins. Depending on the needs of the cell, different proteins will interact and form the molecular machines demanded for the moment. A subset of proteins called integral membrane proteins are responsible for the interchange of matter and information across the biological membrane, the lipid bilayer enveloping and defining the cell. Most of these proteins are co-translationally integrated into the membrane by the Sec translocation machinery. This thesis addresses two questions that have emerged during the last decade. The first concerns membrane proteins: a number of α-helices have been observed to span the membrane in the obtained three-dimensional structures even though these helices are predicted not to be hydrophobic enough to be recognized by the translocon for integration. We show for a number of these marginally hydrophobic protein segments that they indeed do not insert well outside of their native context, but that their local sequence context can improve the level of integration mediated by the translocon. We also find that many of these helices are overlapped by more hydrophobic segments. We propose, supported by experimental results, that the latter are initially integrated into the membrane, followed by post-translational structural rearrangements. Finally, we investigate whether the integration of the marginally hydrophobic TMHs of the lactose permease of Escherichia coli is facilitated by the formation of hairpin structures. However our combined efforts of computational simulations and experimental investigations find no evidence for this. The second question addressed in this thesis is that of the interpretation of the large datasets on which proteins that interact with each other in a cell. We have analyzed the results from several large-scale investigations concerning protein interactions in yeast and draw conclusions regarding the biases, strengths and weaknesses of these datasets and the methods used to obtain them.
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| 7. |
- Lara Vasquez, Patricia, 1982-
(författare)
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Integration and topology of membrane proteins related to diseases
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Membranes are boundaries that separate the cell from the external environment. Membrane proteins can function as e.g. receptors and channels, allowing cells to communicate with the exterior and molecules to pass through the membrane. The biogenesis of membrane proteins involves a protein-conducting channel that aids the hydrophobic segments to partition into the membrane and translocate the hydrophilic loops. Membrane proteins need to fold to its native conformation including post-translational modifications and assembly with other proteins and/or cofactors. If this regulated pathway goes wrong the degradation machinery degrades the protein. If the system is failing can result in serious disorders. The main focus in this thesis is membrane proteins associated to diseases.We have studied mutations in the gene of presenilin 1, which is involved in Alzheimer’s disease. We found that some mutations affect the structure and other the function of the PS1. URG7 is an unknown protein associated with liver cancer. We suggest it is localized and targeted to the ER membrane, having an NoutCin topology. SP-C is important for our lungs to function. Mutations can cause the protein to aggregate. We have studied the highly Val-rich transmembrane segment (poly-Val) and its analogue (poly-Leu) and show that poly-Leu folds into a more compact conformation than poly-Val. We show that the C-terminal chaperon-like BRICHOS domain interacts with the ER membrane, suggesting an involvement in poly-Val folding. We have also confirmed the topology of URG7, MRP6 and SP-C poly-Val/Leu using gGFP that is fused to the C-terminal of the protein.
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| 8. |
- Mingarro, Ismael, et al.
(författare)
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Different conformations of nascent polypeptides during translocation across the ER membrane
- 2000
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Ingår i: BMC Cell Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2121. ; 1:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundIn eukaryotic cells, proteins are translocated across the ER membrane through a continuous ribosome-translocon channel. It is unclear to what extent proteins can fold already within the ribosome-translocon channel, and previous studies suggest that only a limited degree of folding (such as the formation of isolated α-helices) may be possible within the ribosome.ResultsWe have previously shown that the conformation of nascent polypeptide chains in transit through the ribosome-translocon complex can be probed by measuring the number of residues required to span the distance between the ribosomal P-site and the lumenally disposed active site of the oligosaccharyl transferase enzyme (J. Biol. Chem 271: 6241-6244).Using this approach, we now show that model segments composed of residues with strong helix-forming properties in water (Ala, Leu) have a more compact conformation in the ribosome-translocon channel than model segments composed of residues with weak helix-forming potential (Val, Pro).ConclusionsThe main conclusions from the work reported here are (i) that the propensity to form an extended or more compact (possibly α-helical) conformation in the ribosome-translocon channel does not depend on whether or not the model segment has stop-transfer function, but rather seems to reflect the helical propensities of the amino acids as measured in an aqueous environment, and (ii) that stop-transfer sequences may adopt a helical structure and integrate into the ER membrane at different times relative to the time of glycan addition to nearby upstream glycosylation acceptor sites.
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| 9. |
- Nilsson, IngMarie, et al.
(författare)
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Distant downstream sequence determinants can control N-tail translocation during protein insertion into the endoplasmic reticulum membrane
- 2000
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Ingår i: Journal of Biological Chemistry. - : Elsevier BV. - 0021-9258 .- 1083-351X. ; 275:9, s. 6207-6213
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have studied the membrane insertion of ProW, an Escherichia coli inner membrane protein with seven transmembrane segments and a large periplasmic N-terminal tail, into endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-derived dog pancreas microsomes. Strikingly, significant levels of N-tail translocation is seen only when a minimum of four of the transmembrane segments are present; for constructs with fewer transmembrane segments, the N-tail remains mostly nontranslocated and the majority of the molecules adopt an "inverted" topology where normally nontranslocated parts are translocated and vice versa, N-tail translocation can also be promoted by shortening of the N-tail and by the addition of positively charged residues immediately downstream of the first transmembrane segment. We conclude that as many as four consecutive transmembrane segments may be collectively involved in determining membrane protein topology in the ER and that the effects of downstream sequence determinants may vary depending on the size and charge of the N-tail, We also provide evidence to suggest that the ProW N-tail is translocated across the ER membrane in a C-to-N-terminal direction.
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