Application of sparse NMR restraints to large-scale protein structure prediction

The protein structure prediction algorithm TOUCHSTONEX that uses sparse distance restraints derived from NMR nuclear Overhauser enhancement (NOE) data to predict protein structures at low-to-medium resolution was evaluated as follows: First, a representative benchmark set of the Protein Data Bank library consisting of 1365 proteins up to 200 residues was employed. Using N/8 simulated long-range restraints, where N is the number of residues, 1023 (75%) proteins were folded to a C(alpha) root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) from native <6.5 A in one of the top five models. The average RMSD of the models for all 1365 proteins is 5.0 A. Using N/4 simulated restraints, 1206 (88%) proteins were folded to a RMSD <6.5 A and the average RMSD improved to 4.1 A. Then, 69 proteins with experimental NMR data were used. Using long-range NOE-derived restraints, 47 proteins were folded to a RMSD <6.5 A with N/8 restraints and 61 proteins were folded to a RMSD <6.5 A with N/4 restraints. Thus, TOUCHSTONEX can be a tool for NMR-based rapid structure determination, as well as used in other experimental methods that can provide tertiary restraint information.     

TOUCHSTONE II: a new approach to ab initio protein structure prediction

We have developed a new combined approach for ab initio protein structure prediction. The protein conformation is described as a lattice chain connecting C(alpha) atoms, with attached C(beta) atoms and side-chain centers of mass. The model force field includes various short-range and long-range knowledge-based potentials derived from a statistical analysis of the regularities of protein structures. The combination of these energy terms is optimized through the maximization of correlation for 30 x 60,000 decoys between the root mean square deviation (RMSD) to native and energies, as well as the energy gap between native and the decoy ensemble. To accelerate the conformational search, a newly developed parallel hyperbolic sampling algorithm with a composite movement set is used in the Monte Carlo simulation processes. We exploit this strategy to successfully fold 41/100 small proteins (36 approximately 120 residues) with predicted structures having a RMSD from native below 6.5 A in the top five cluster centroids. To fold larger-size proteins as well as to improve the folding yield of small proteins, we incorporate into the basic force field side-chain contact predictions from our threading program PROSPECTOR where homologous proteins were excluded from the data base. With these threading-based restraints, the program can fold 83/125 test proteins (36 approximately 174 residues) with structures having a RMSD to native below 6.5 A in the top five cluster centroids. This shows the significant improvement of folding by using predicted tertiary restraints, especially when the accuracy of side-chain contact prediction is >20%. For native fold selection, we introduce quantities dependent on the cluster density and the combination of energy and free energy, which show a higher discriminative power to select the native structure than the previously used cluster energy or cluster size, and which can be used in native structure identification in blind simulations. These procedures are readily automated and are being implemented on a genomic scale.     

Structure determination of symmetric homo-oligomers by a complete search of symmetry configuration space, using NMR restraints and van der Waals packing

Structural studies of symmetric homo-oligomers provide mechanistic insights into their roles in essential biological processes, including cell signaling and cellular regulation. This paper presents a novel algorithm for homo-oligomeric structure determination, given the subunit structure, that is both complete, in that it evaluates all possible conformations, and data-driven, in that it evaluates conformations separately for consistency with experimental data and for quality of packing. Completeness ensures that the algorithm does not miss the native conformation, and being data-driven enables it to assess the structural precision possible from data alone. Our algorithm performs a branch-and-bound search in the symmetry configuration space, the space of symmetry axis parameters (positions and orientations) defining all possible C(n) homo-oligomeric complexes for a given subunit structure. It eliminates those symmetry axes inconsistent with intersubunit nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) distance restraints and then identifies conformations representing any consistent, well-packed structure to within a user-defined similarity level. For the human phospholamban pentamer in dodecylphosphocholine micelles, using the structure of one subunit determined from a subset of the experimental NMR data, our algorithm identifies a diverse set of complex structures consistent with the nine intersubunit NOE restraints. The distribution of determined structures provides an objective characterization of structural uncertainty: backbone RMSD to the previously determined structure ranges from 1.07 to 8.85 A, and variance in backbone atomic coordinates is an average of 12.32 A(2). Incorporating vdW packing reduces structural diversity to a maximum backbone RMSD of 6.24 A and an average backbone variance of 6.80 A(2). By comparing data consistency and packing quality under different assumptions of oligomeric number, our algorithm identifies the pentamer as the most likely oligomeric state of phospholamban, demonstrating that it is possible to determine the oligomeric number directly from NMR data. Additional tests on a number of homo-oligomers, from dimer to heptamer, similarly demonstrate the power of our method to provide unbiased determination and evaluation of homo-oligomeric complex structures.     

Solution-state structure by NMR of zinc-substituted rubredoxin from the marine hyperthermophilic archaebacterium Pyrococcus furiosus.

The three-dimensional solution-state structure is reported for the zinc-substituted form of rubredoxin (Rd) from the marine hyperthermophilic archaebacterium Pyrococcus furiosus, an organism that grows optimally at 100 degrees C. Structures were generated with DSPACE by a hybrid distance geometry (DG)-based simulated annealing (SA) approach that employed 403 nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE)-derived interproton distance restraints, including 67 interresidue, 124 sequential (i-j = 1), 75 medium-range (i-j = 2-5), and 137 long-range (i-j > 5) restraints. All lower interproton distance bounds were set at the sum of the van Der Waals radii (1.8 A), and upper bounds of 2.7 A, 3.3 A, and 5.0 A were employed to represent qualitatively observed strong, medium, and weak NOE cross peak intensities, respectively. Twenty-three backbone-backbone, six backbone-sulfur (Cys), two backbone-side chain, and two side chain-side chain hydrogen bond restraints were include for structure refinement, yielding a total of 436 nonbonded restraints, which averages to > 16 restraints per residue. A total of 10 structures generated from random atom positions and 30 structures generated by molecular replacement using the backbone coordinates of Clostridium pasteurianum Rd converged to a common conformation, with the average penalty (= sum of the square of the distance bounds violations; +/- standard deviation) of 0.024 +/- 0.003 A2 and a maximum total penalty of 0.035 A2. Superposition of the backbone atoms (C, C alpha, N) of residues A1-L51 for all 40 structures afforded an average pairwise root mean square (rms) deviation value (+/- SD) of 0.42 +/- 0.07 A. Superposition of all heavy atoms for residues A1-L51, including those of structurally undefined external side chains, afforded an average pairwise rms deviation of 0.72 +/- 0.08 A. Qualitative comparison of back-calculated and experimental two-dimensional NOESY spectra indicate that the DG/SA structures are consistent with the experimental spectra. The global folding of P. furiosus Zn(Rd) is remarkably similar to the folding observed by X-ray crystallography for native Rd from the mesophilic organism C. pasteurianum, with the average rms deviation value for backbone atoms of residues A1-L51 of P. furiosus Zn(Rd) superposed with respect to residues K2-V52 of C. pasteurianum Rd of 0.77 +/- 0.06 A. The conformations of aromatic residues that compose the hydrophobic cores of the two proteins are also similar. However, P. furiosus Rd contains several unique structural elements, including at least four additional hydrogen bonds and three potential electrostatic interactions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Simultaneous determination of disulphide bridge topology and three-dimensional structure using ambiguous intersulphur distance restraints: Possibilities and limitations

Knowledge of the native disulphide bridge topology allows the introduction of conformational restraints between remote parts of the peptide chain. This information is therefore of great importance for the successful determination of the three-dimensional structure of cysteine-rich proteins by NMR spectroscopy. In this paper we investigate the limitations of using ambiguous intersulphur restraints [Nilges, M. (1995) J. Mol. Biol., 245, 645–660] associated with NMR experimental information to determine the native disulphide bridge pattern. Using these restraints in a simulated annealing protocol we have determined the correct topology of numerous examples, including a protein with seven disulphide bridges (phospholipase A₂) and a protein in which 25% of the total number of residues are cysteines (-conotoxin GIIIB). We have also characterised the behaviour of the method when only limited experimental data is available, and find that the proposed protocol permits disulphide bridge determination even with a small number of restraints (around 5 NOEs – including a long-range restraint – per residue). In addition, we have shown that under these conditions the use of a reduced penalty function allows the identification of misassigned NOE restraints. These results indicate that the use of ambiguous intersulphur distances with the proposed simulated annealing protocol is a general method for the determination of disulphide bridge topology, particularly interesting in the first steps of NMR study of cysteine-rich proteins. Comparison with previously proposed protocols indicates that the presented method is more reliable and the interpretation of results is straightforward.     

Importance of hydrophobic cluster formation through long-range contacts in the folding transition state of two-state proteins

Understanding the folding pathways of proteins is a challenging task. The Phi value approach provides a detailed understanding of transition-state structures of folded proteins. In this work, we have computed the hydrophobicity associated with each residue in the folded state of 16 two-state proteins and compared the Phi values of each mutant residue. We found that most of the residues with high Phi value coincide with local maximum in surrounding hydrophobicity, or have nearby residues that show such maximum in hydrophobicity, indicating the importance of hydrophobic interactions in the transition state. We have tested our approach to different structural classes of proteins, such as alpha-helical, SH3 domains of all-beta proteins, beta-sandwich, and alpha/beta proteins, and we observed a good agreement with experimental results. Further, we have proposed a hydrophobic contact network pattern to relate the Phi values with long-range contacts, which will be helpful to understand the transition-state structures of folded proteins. The present approach could be used to identify potential hydrophobic clusters that may form through long-range contacts during the transition state.     

BCL::Fold—Protein topology determination from limited NMR restraints

When experimental protein NMR data are too sparse to apply traditional structure determination techniques, de novo protein structure prediction methods can be leveraged. Here, we describe the incorporation of NMR restraints into the protein structure prediction algorithm BCL::Fold. The method assembles discreet secondary structure elements using a Monte Carlo sampling algorithm with a consensus knowledge‐based energy function. New components were introduced into the energy function to accommodate chemical shift, nuclear Overhauser effect, and residual dipolar coupling data. In particular, since side chains are not explicitly modeled during the minimization process, a knowledge based potential was created to relate experimental side chain proton–proton distances to C_β–C_β distances. In a benchmark test of 67 proteins of known structure with the incorporation of sparse NMR restraints, the correct topology was sampled in 65 cases, with an average best model RMSD100 of 3.4 ± 1.3 Å versus 6.0 ± 2.0 Å produced with the de novo method. Additionally, the correct topology is present in the best scoring 1% of models in 61 cases. The benchmark set includes both soluble and membrane proteins with up to 565 residues, indicating the method is robust and applicable to large and membrane proteins that are less likely to produce rich NMR datasets. Proteins 2014; 82:587–595. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Global folds of proteins with low densities of NOEs using residual dipolar couplings: application to the 370-residue maltodextrin-binding protein

The global fold of maltose-binding protein in complex with the substrate beta-cyclodextrin was determined by solution NMR methods. The two-domain protein is comprised of a single polypeptide chain of 370 residues, with a molecular mass of 42 kDa. Distance information in the form of H(N)-H(N), H(N)-CH(3) and CH(3)-CH(3) NOEs was recorded on (15)N, (2)H and (15)N, (13)C, (2)H-labeled proteins with methyl protonation in Val, Leu, and Ile (C(delta1) only) residues. Distances to methyl protons, critical for the structure determination, comprised 77 % of the long-range restraints. Initial structures were calculated on the basis of 1943 NOEs, 48 hydrogen bond and 555 dihedral angle restraints. A global pair-wise backbone rmsd of 5.5 A was obtained for these initial structures with rmsd values for the N and C domains of 2.4 and 3.8 A, respectively. Direct refinement against one-bond (1)H(N)-(15)N, (13)C(alpha)-(13)CO, (15)N-(13)CO, two-bond (1)H(N)-(13)CO and three-bond (1)H(N)-(13)C(alpha) dipolar couplings resulted in structures with large numbers of dipolar restraint violations. As an alternative to direct refinement against measured dipolar couplings we have developed an approach where discrete orientations are calculated for each peptide plane on the basis of the dipolar couplings described above. The orientation which best matches that in initial NMR structures calculated from NOE and dihedral angle restraints exclusively is used to refine further the structures using a new module written for CNS. Modeling studies from four different proteins with diverse structural motifs establishes the utility of the methodology. When applied to experimental data recorded on MBP the precision of the family of structures generated improves from 5.5 to 2.2 A, while the rmsd with respect to the X-ray structure (1dmb) is reduced from 5.1 to 3.3 A.     

Algorithm for selection of optimized EPR distance restraints for de novo protein structure determination

A hybrid protein structure determination approach combining sparse Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) distance restraints and Rosetta de novo protein folding has been previously demonstrated to yield high quality models (Alexander et al. (2008)). However, widespread application of this methodology to proteins of unknown structures is hindered by the lack of a general strategy to place spin label pairs in the primary sequence. In this work, we report the development of an algorithm that optimally selects spin labeling positions for the purpose of distance measurements by EPR. For the α-helical subdomain of T4 lysozyme (T4L), simulated restraints that maximize sequence separation between the two spin labels while simultaneously ensuring pairwise connectivity of secondary structure elements yielded vastly improved models by Rosetta folding. 54% of all these models have the correct fold compared to only 21% and 8% correctly folded models when randomly placed restraints or no restraints are used, respectively. Moreover, the improvements in model quality require a limited number of optimized restraints, which is determined by the pairwise connectivities of T4L α-helices. The predicted improvement in Rosetta model quality was verified by experimental determination of distances between spin labels pairs selected by the algorithm. Overall, our results reinforce the rationale for the combined use of sparse EPR distance restraints and de novo folding. By alleviating the experimental bottleneck associated with restraint selection, this algorithm sets the stage for extending computational structure determination to larger, traditionally elusive protein topologies of critical structural and biochemical importance.     

Solution structure and backbone dynamics of the TGFbeta type II receptor extracellular domain

Isoforms of transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) are 25 kDa homodimeric polypeptides that signal by binding and bringing together two related, functionally distinct cell surface receptors designated as TbetaR1 and TbetaR2. Here, we report the solution structure of the 13.8 kDa extracellular domain of human TbetaR2 (ecTbetaR2) as calculated from N(N)-H(N), C(alpha)-H(alpha), and C(alpha)-C(O) residual dipolar coupling restraints in conjunction with NOE distance, dihedral angle, and scalar coupling restraints. Comparison of the free ecTbetaR2 solution structure with the TGFbeta3-bound ecTbetaR2 crystal structure reveals backbone conformations that superimpose with RMSDs of 1.0 A over the regions of regular secondary structure and 1.4 A overall. The differences in structure fall mainly in loop regions that are either poorly defined by the available NMR data or are involved in crystal contacts. The noted similarities between the NMR structure of the free form and the crystal structure of the TGFbeta-bound form are also consistent with the close correspondence, 0.16 A RMSD for regions of secondary structure and 0.51 A RMSD overall, for the crystal structure of free ecTbetaR2 as compared to the crystal structure of TGFbeta3-bound ecTbetaR2. Despite the apparent similarities between the free and the bound forms, there appears to be small but significant differences in structure involving the interfacial contact region of the receptor. Measurements of backbone (15)N relaxation times and interpretation of these by the model-free formalism with axial diffusional anisotropy further reveal significant ms to micros time scale motions centered about two of the conserved disulfide bonds and in several residues that comprise the TGFbeta binding surface. Together, these observations indicate that binding likely occurs through a mechanism with a small component of induced fit character, whereby flexibility within the receptor facilitates the transition to the TGFbeta-bound state.     

Solution structure of Syrian hamster prion protein rPrP(90-231)

NMR has been used to refine the structure of Syrian hamster (SHa) prion protein rPrP(90-231), which is commensurate with the infectious protease-resistant core of the scrapie prion protein PrPSc. The structure of rPrP(90-231), refolded to resemble the normal cellular isoform PrPC spectroscopically and immunologically, has been studied using multidimensional NMR; initial results were published [James et al. (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 94, 10086-10091]. We now report refinement with better definition revealing important structural and dynamic features which can be related to biological observations pertinent to prion diseases. Structure refinement was based on 2778 unambiguously assigned nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) connectivities, 297 ambiguous NOE restraints, and 63 scalar coupling constants (3JHNHa). The structure is represented by an ensemble of 25 best-scoring structures from 100 structures calculated using ARIA/X-PLOR and further refined with restrained molecular dynamics using the AMBER 4.1 force field with an explicit shell of water molecules. The rPrP(90-231) structure features a core domain (residues 125-228), with a backbone atomic root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) of 0.67 A, consisting of three alpha-helices (residues 144-154, 172-193, and 200-227) and two short antiparallel beta-strands (residues 129-131 and 161-163). The N-terminus (residues 90-119) is largely unstructured despite some sparse and weak medium-range NOEs implying the existence of bends or turns. The transition region between the core domain and flexible N-terminus, i.e., residues 113-128, consists of hydrophobic residues or glycines and does not adopt any regular secondary structure in aqueous solution. There are about 30 medium- and long-range NOEs within this hydrophobic cluster, so it clearly manifests structure. Multiple discrete conformations are evident, implying the possible existence of one or more metastable states, which may feature in conversion of PrPC to PrPSc. To obtain a more comprehensive picture of rPrP(90-231), dynamics have been studied using amide hydrogen-deuterium exchange and 15N NMR relaxation times (T1 and T2) and 15N{1H} NOE measurements. Comparison of the structure with previous reports suggests sequence-dependent features that may be reflected in a species barrier to prion disease transmission.     

Determination of three-dimensional protein structures from nuclear magnetic resonance data using fragments of known structures

A method to build a three-dimensional protein model from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data using fragments from a data base of crystallographically determined protein structures is presented. The interproton distances derived from the nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) data are compared to the precalculated distances in the known protein structures. An efficient search algorithm is used, which arranges the distances in matrices akin to a C alpha diagonal distance plot, and compares the NOE distance matrices for short sequential zones of the protein to the data base matrices. After cluster analysis of the fragments found in this way, the structure is built by aligning fragments in overlapping zones. The sequentially long-range NOEs cannot be used in the initial fragments search but are vital to discriminate between several possible combinations of different groups of fragments. The method has been tested on one simulated NOE data set derived from a crystal structure and one experimental NMR data set. The method produces models that have good local structure, but may contain larger global errors. These models can be used as the starting point for further refinement, e.g., by restrained molecular dynamics or interactive graphics.     

Solution structure and backbone dynamics of Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV) nucleocapsid protein.

Retroviral nucleocapsid proteins (NCPs) are CCHC-type zinc finger proteins that mediate virion RNA binding activities associated with retrovirus assembly and genomic RNA encapsidation. Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV), a type D retrovirus, encodes a 96-amino acid nucleocapsid protein, which contains two Cys-X2-Cys-X4-His-X4-Cys (CCHC) zinc fingers connected by an unusually long 15-amino acid linker. Homonuclear, two-dimensional sensitivity-enhanced 15N-1H, three-dimensional 15N-1H, and triple resonance NMR spectroscopy have been used to determine the solution structure and residue-specific backbone dynamics of the structured core domain of MPMV NCP containing residues 21-80. Structure calculations and spectral density mapping of N-H bond vector mobility reveal that MPMV NCP 21-80 is best described as two independently folded, rotationally uncorrelated globular domains connected by a seven-residue flexible linker consisting of residues 42-48. The N-terminal CCHC zinc finger domain (residues 24-37) appears to adopt a fold like that described previously for HIV-1 NCP; however, residues within this domain and the immediately adjacent linker region (residues 38-41) are characterized by extensive conformational averaging on the micros-ms time scale at 25 degrees C. In contrast to other NCPs, residues 49-77, which includes the C-terminal CCHC zinc-finger (residues 53-66), comprise a well-folded globular domain with the Val49-Pro-Gly-Leu52 sequence and C-terminal tail residues 67-77 characterized by amide proton exchange properties and 15N R1, R2, and (1H-15N) NOE values indistinguishable to residues in the core C-terminal finger. Twelve refined structural models of MPMV NCP residues 49-80 (pairwise backbone RMSD of 0.77 A) reveal that the side chains of the conserved Pro50 and Trp62 are in van der Waals contact with one another. Residues 70-73 in the C-terminal tail adopt a reverse turn-like structure. Ile77 is involved in extensive van der Waals contact with the core finger domain, while the side chains of Ser68 and Asn75 appear to form hydrogen bonds that stabilize the overall fold of this domain. These residues outside of the core finger structure are conserved in D-type and related retroviral NCPs, e.g., MMTV NCP, suggesting that the structure of MPMV NCP may be representative of this subclass of retroviral NCPs.     

Time- and ensemble-averaged direct NOE restraints

Summary NMR data are collected as time- and ensemble-averaged quantities. Yet, in commonly used methods for structure determination of biomolecules, structures are required to satisfy simultaneously a large number of constrainsts. Recently, however, methods have been developed that allow a better fit of the experimental data by the use of time- or ensemble-averaged restraints. Thus far, these methods have been applied to structure refinement using distance and J-coupling restraints. In this paper, time and ensemble averaging is extended to the direct refinement with experimental NOE data. The implementation of time- and ensemble-averaged NOE restraints in DINOSAUR is described and illustrated with experimental NMR data for crambin, a 46-residue protein. Structure refinement with both time- and ensemble-averaged NOE restraints results in lower R-factors, indicating a better fit of the experimental NOE data.     

GENFOLD: a genetic algorithm for folding protein structures using NMR restraints.

We report the development and validation of the program GENFOLD, a genetic algorithm that calculates protein structures using restraints obtained from NMR, such as distances derived from nuclear Overhauser effects, and dihedral angles derived from coupling constants. The program has been tested on three proteins: the POU domain (a small three-helix DNA-binding protein), bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), and the starch-binding domain from Aspergillus niger glucoamylase I, a 108-residue beta-sheet protein. Structures were calculated for each protein using published NMR restraints. In addition, structures were calculated for BPTI using artificial restraints generated from a high-resolution crystal structure. In all cases the fittest calculated structures were close to the target structure, and could be refined to structures indistinguishable from the target structures by means of a low-temperature simulated annealing refinement. The effectiveness of the program is similar to that of distance geometry and simulated annealing methods, and it is capable of using a very wide range of restraints as input. It can thus be readily extended to the calculation of structures of large proteins, for which few NOE restraints may be available.     

ABACUS, a direct method for protein NMR structure computation via assembly of fragments

The ABACUS algorithm obtains the protein NMR structure from unassigned NOESY distance restraints. ABACUS works as an integrated approach that uses the complete set of available NMR experimental information in parallel and yields spin system typing, NOE spin pair identities, sequence specific resonance assignments, and protein structure, all at once. The protocol starts from unassigned molecular fragments (including single amino acid spin systems) derived from triple-resonance (1)H/(13)C/(15)N NMR experiments. Identifications of connected spin systems and NOEs precede the full sequence specific resonance assignments. The latter are obtained iteratively via Monte Carlo-Metropolis and/or probabilistic sequence selections, molecular dynamics structure computation and BACUS filtering (A. Grishaev and M. Llinás, J Biomol NMR 2004;28:1-10). ABACUS starts from scratch, without the requirement of an initial approximate structure, and improves iteratively the NOE identities in a self-consistent fashion. The procedure was run as a blind test on data recorded on mth1743, a 70-amino acid genomic protein from M. thermoautotrophicum. It converges to a structure in ca. 15 cycles of computation on a 3-GHz processor PC. The calculated structures are very similar to the ones obtained via conventional methods (1.22 A backbone RMSD). The success of ABACUS on mth1743 further validates BACUS as a NOESY identification protocol.     

Tertiary structure predictions on a comprehensive benchmark of medium to large size proteins

We evaluate tertiary structure predictions on medium to large size proteins by TASSER, a new algorithm that assembles protein structures through rearranging the rigid fragments from threading templates guided by a reduced Calpha and side-chain based potential consistent with threading based tertiary restraints. Predictions were generated for 745 proteins 201-300 residues in length that cover the Protein Data Bank (PDB) at the level of 35% sequence identity. With homologous proteins excluded, in 365 cases, the templates identified by our threading program, PROSPECTOR_3, have a root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) to native < 6.5 angstroms, with >70% alignment coverage. After TASSER assembly, in 408 cases the best of the top five full-length models has a RMSD < 6.5 angstroms. Among the 745 targets are 18 membrane proteins, with one-third having a predicted RMSD < 5.5 A. For all representative proteins less than or equal to 300 residues that have corresponding multiple NMR structures in the Protein Data Bank, approximately 20% of the models generated by TASSER are closer to the NMR structure centroid than the farthest individual NMR model. These results suggest that reasonable structure predictions for nonhomologous large size proteins can be automatically generated on a proteomic scale, and the application of this approach to structural as well as functional genomics represent promising applications of TASSER.     

Solution structure and dynamics of a designed monomeric variant of the lambda Cro repressor.

The solution structure of a monomeric variant of the lambda Cro repressor has been determined by multidimensional NMR. Cro K56[DGEVK] differs from wild-type Cro by the insertion of five amino acids at the center of the dimer interface. 1H and 15N resonances for 70 of the 71 residues have been assigned. Thirty-two structures were calculated by hybrid distance geometry/simulated annealing methods using 463 NOE-distance restraints, 26 hydrogen-bond, and 39 dihedral-angle restraints. The root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) from the average structure for atoms in residues 3-60 is 1.03 +/- 0.44 A for the peptide backbone and 1.6 +/- 0.73 A for all nonhydrogen atoms. The overall structure conforms very well to the original design. Although the five inserted residues form a beta hairpin as expected, this engineered turn as well as other turns in the structure are not well defined by the NMR data. Dynamics studies of backbone amides reveal T1/T2 ratios of residues in the alpha2-alpha3, beta2-beta3, and engineered turn that are reflective of chemical exchange or internal motion. The solution structure and dynamics are discussed in light of the conformational variation that has been observed in other Cro structures, and the importance of flexibility in DNA recognition.     

C-terminal retroviral-type zinc finger domain from the HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein is structurally similar to the N-terminal zinc finger domain

Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopic and computational methods were employed for the structure determination of an 18-residue peptide with the amino acid sequence of the C-terminal retroviral-type (r.t.) zinc finger domain from the nucleocapsid protein (NCP) of HIV-1 [Zn(HIV1-F2)]. Unlike results obtained for the first retroviral-type zinc finger peptide, Zn(HIV1-F1), [Summers et al. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 329], broad signals indicative of conformational lability were observed in the 1H NMR spectrum of Zn-(HIV1-F2) at 25 degrees C. The NMR signals narrowed upon cooling to -2 degrees C, enabling complete 1H NMR signal assignment via standard two-dimensional (2D) NMR methods. Distance restraints obtained from qualitative analysis of 2D nuclear Overhauser effect (NOESY) data were used to generate 30 distance geometry (DG) structures with penalties (penalty = sum of the squared differences between interatomic distances defined in the restraints file and in the DG structures) in the range 0.02-0.03 A2. All structures were qualitatively consistent with the experimental NOESY spectrum based on comparisons with 2D NOESY back-calculated spectra. Superposition of the backbone atoms (C, C alpha, N) for residues C(1)-C(14) gave pairwise RMSD values in the range 0.16-0.75 A. The folding of Zn(HIV1-F2) is very similar to that observed for Zn(HIV1-F1). Small differences observed between the two finger domains are localized to residues between His(9) and Cys(14), with residues M(11)-C(14) forming a 3(10) helical corner.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

NMR structural characterization of the N-terminal domain of the adenylyl cyclase-associated protein (CAP) from Dictyostelium discoideum

Cyclase-associated proteins (CAPs) are highly conserved, ubiquitous actin binding proteins that are involved in microfilament reorganization. The N-termini of CAPs play a role in Ras signaling and bind adenylyl cyclase; the C-termini bind to G-actin. We report here the NMR characterization of the amino-terminal domain of CAP from Dictyostelium discoideum (CAP(1-226)). NMR data, including the steady state (1)H-(15)N heteronuclear NOE experiments, indicate that the first 50 N-terminal residues are unstructured and that this highly flexible serine-rich fragment is followed by a stable, folded core starting at Ser 51. The NMR structure of the folded core is an alpha-helix bundle composed of six antiparallel helices, in a stark contrast to the recently determined CAP C-terminal domain structure, which is solely built by beta-strands.