分子内分子伴侣--Pro肽在蛋白质折叠中的作用

在体内,许多蛋白质,如很多胞外蛋白酶、某些多肽激素等都以含前导肽的前体形式合成,前导肽在蛋白质折叠中具有分子伴侣的功能。为了与一般意义上的分子伴侣相区别,人们将对蛋白质折叠有帮助的前导肽称为分子内分子伴侣,分子内分子伴侣帮助蛋白质在折叠过程中克服高的能量障碍,某些蛋白质的分子内分子伴侣甚至促进其在氧化性折叠中二硫键的正确配对。     

前导肽切割位点对Ⅱ类羊毛硫细菌素切割酶活性的影响

【背景】Ⅱ类羊毛硫细菌素大多是由革兰氏阳性菌的核糖体合成并经过翻译后修饰产生的小肽,其生物合成的最后一步是由转运蛋白LanTN端的肽酶结构域对前导肽进行切割,释放出有活性的羊毛硫细菌素,但目前关于该类羊毛硫细菌素前导肽的切割机制尚不清楚。【目的】考察前导肽切割位点对不同链球菌来源的肽酶结构域BovT150和SboT150酶切活性的影响。【方法】运用不依赖连接酶的定点突变技术构建前导肽切割位点突变的前体蛋白表达载体,在大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli)中分别表达纯化野生型前体(Bov Am和Sbo Am)、突变型前体及对应的切割酶(Bov T150和Sbo T150),构建体外酶切体系,利用HPLC、抑菌活性分析和MALDI-TOF MS检测前导肽的切除情况。【结果】BovT150不仅能够切割Bov Am的GG和GA位点,也能切割Sbo Am的GG和GA位点,并且对切割位点为Gly的前体切割活性较高;Sbo T150仅能切割Sbo Am的GG和GA位点,而对切割位点为Ala的活性较高。【结论】II类羊毛硫细菌素前导肽切割位点氨基酸残基的改变不同程度地影响切割酶的切割效率。     

包含体的体外复性策略

外源基因在大肠杆菌中高水平表达时,通常会形成不溶性、无活性的蛋白聚集体即包含体。包含体富含表达的重组蛋白,经分离、变性溶解后须再经过一个合适的复性过程实现变性蛋白的重折叠,才能够得到生物活性蛋白。近年来,发展了许多特异的策略和方法来从包含体中复性重组蛋白。介绍稀释法、透析及分子排阻、固定化金属离子亲和层析、疏水层析复性等策略和进展;物理化学因素、前导肽协助蛋白折叠;人工分子伴侣辅助蛋白折叠及反胶束、多聚物用于蛋白复性。     

华根霉前导肽和成熟肽脂肪酶基因的克隆表达及性质研究

以华根霉(Rhizopus chinensis CCTCCM201021)为出发菌株,提取总DNA,PCR扩增出前导肽脂肪酶基因(proRCL)及成熟肽脂肪酶基因(mRCL),克隆到原核载体pET-28a,转化E-coli BL21(DE3),诱导表达并纯化出活性目的蛋白.经SDS-PAGE分析,重组蛋白ProRCL和MRCL的分子量分别约43 kD和33 kD.两重组脂肪酶主要酶学性质基本相似,最适反应温度均为35℃,40℃下较为稳定;最适反应pH相近,分别为8.0和8.5;以pNP脂肪酸酯为底物,均对短链脂肪酸酯底物特异性较高.MPCL上述性质与野生型RCL基本一致.研究结果表明,通过条件控制可以利用E.coli表达系统表达具有活性的华根霉前导肽脂肪酶ProRCL和成熟肽脂肪酶MRCL.与米根霉脂肪酶(ROL)不同,前导序列对华根霉脂肪酶的主要酶学特性没有显著影响.     

源于红树林的新型脂肪酶Lip906生物信息学分析

本研究利用生物信息学在线软件对脂肪酶Lip906的二级结构和模体信息进行预测,同时对其三级结构进行同源建模和模建结果质量评价,预测该蛋白质的活性位点信息,旨在从蛋白质序列特征和分子结构水平理解其在酯类水解过程中的作用。结果表明,模建的Lip906蛋白结构品质较高,具有7段α-螺旋和2组β-折叠结构,是一个典型的α/β类蛋白,表面呈弱负电势分布;Lip906蛋白具有5个不同模体,可能参与不同生化反应或执行不同的功能。这些研究结果对理解Lip906蛋白功能以及配基结合位点定位非常重要,也为脂肪酶Lip906的突变设计提供了理论基础。     

热休克蛋白在阿尔茨海默病中的研究

热休克蛋白（heat shock protein,HSP）是一种重要的分子伴侣,它们参与辅助蛋白质合成、折叠、转运以及定位等过程,并且在协调蛋白质水解、阻止蛋白质错误折叠和聚积方面发挥重要作用。阿尔茨海默病（Alzheimer＇s disease,AD）是最常见的神经退行性疾病,以神经细胞内过度磷酸化的tau蛋白异常聚积形成神经原纤维缠结以及细胞外β淀粉样蛋白（β-amyloid,Aβ）异常折叠形成淀粉样斑为主要病理特征。研究表明HSP不但对tau蛋白的聚积／降解发挥重要作用,并且可抑制Aβ相关的毒性作用。这些研究结果提示了分子伴侣有可能成为AD治疗的新靶点,现对该方面的研究进展进行综述。     

氨基酸信号对mTOR和GCN2通路的影响研究进展

对氨基酸的精确感应是有效调控蛋白质或氨基酸合成与分解代谢及控制采食量的关键因素。雷帕霉素靶蛋白(mTOR)和一般性调控阻遏蛋白激酶2(GCN2)作为重要的信号转导分子,位于蛋白质合成与降解过程中整个信号通路的中心位点,是调控该过程的重要通路,并对蛋白质功能与作用的表达起到至关重要的作用。现主要围绕氨基酸信号对mTOR和GCN2通路的影响进行讨论,旨在阐述氨基酸信号如何在蛋白质合成和降解过程中发挥作用。     

介导新生肽链折叠的胞质分子伴侣结构、功能及作用机制研究进展

分子伴侣是一类能够识别非天然蛋白并能协助其正确折叠、组装和转运的功能蛋白。最新研究发现,在原核或真核细胞中,不同结构、不同种类的分子伴侣形成了一个复杂的折叠系统,通过这个系统,蛋白质完成了从初步合成到形成具有生物活性的三维构象的过程,避免了折叠过程中多肽链的错误折叠、蛋白沉淀和有害物质的产生。文章综述了蛋白质折叠过程中不同种类分子伴侣组件的结构、功能和作用机制的研究进展,这些分子伴侣包括Hsp70、核糖体结合因子、伴侣素、前折叠素与Hsp90,并阐述了它们在蛋白质内稳态中的作用。     

二硫键异构酶

天然二硫键的形成是许多蛋白正确折叠中的限速步骤,在稳定蛋白质构象和保持蛋白质活性方面起重要作用。讨论的二硫键异构酶是内质网中一种重要的蛋白折叠催化剂,它催化蛋白二硫键的形成和错误配对二硫键的重排,并有抑制错误折叠蛋白聚集的分子伴侣活性。PDI广泛应用于基因工程上提高外源蛋白表达水平。     

分子内分子伴侣机制的研究进展

在原核生物、真核生物及病毒中,一些蛋白质的折叠不符合Anfinsen原则,即依靠自身的氨基酸序列是不够的,还需一段被称为分子内分子伴侣(IMC)的肽段来协助折叠．根据机制不同,IMC可分为两类：第一类IMC引导成熟肽折叠为具有空间结构的蛋白质;第二类IMC协助成熟肽的多聚化而使其获得生物学功能．IMC能提供比分子伴侣更契合的结构,更有效地引导成熟肽折叠,是一种更优的折叠策略．研究IMC分子机制,不仅能够确定IMC上哪些残基的协同作用引导成熟肽折叠,而且可通过改变或修饰其侧链来改造成熟肽,拓展传统的蛋白质工程．     

Enhanced activity of Rhizomucor miehei lipase by directed evolution with simultaneous evolution of the propeptide

Propeptides are short sequences that facilitate the folding of their associated proteins. The present study found that the propeptide of Rhizomucor miehei lipase (RML) was not proteolytically removed in Escherichia coli. Moreover, RML was not expressed if the propeptide was removed artificially during the cloning process in E. coli. This behavior in E. coli permitted the application of directed evolution to full-length RML, which included both propeptide and catalytic domain, to explore the role played by the propeptide in governing enzyme activity. The catalytic rate constant, k (cat), of the most active mutant RML protein (Q5) was increased from 10.63?±?0.80 to 71.44?±?3.20?min(-1) after four rounds of screening. Sequence analysis of the mutant displayed three mutations in the propeptide (L57V, S65A, and V67A) and two mutations in the functional region (I111T and S168P). This result showed that improved activity was obtained with essential involvement by mutations in the propeptide, meaning that the majority of mutants with enhanced activity had simultaneous mutations in propeptide and catalytic domains. This observation leads to the hypothesis that directed evolution has simultaneous and synergistic effects on both functional and propeptide domains that arise from the role played by the propeptide in the folding and maturation of the enzyme. We suggest that directed evolution of full-length proteins including their propeptides is a strategy with general validity for extending the range of conformations available to proteins, leading to the enhancement of the catalytic rates of the enzymes.     

Generation of a Functionally Distinct Rhizopus oryzae Lipase through Protein Folding Memory

Rhizopus oryzae lipase (ROL) has a propeptide at its N-terminus that functions as an intramolecular chaperone and facilitates the folding of mature ROL (mROL). In this study, we successfully generated a functionally distinct imprinted mROL (mROL^imp) through protein folding memory using a mutated propeptide. The mutated propeptide left its structural memory on mROL and produced mROL^imp that exhibited different substrate specificities compared with mROL^WT (prepared from the wild type propeptide), although the amino acid sequences of both mROLs were the same. mROL^imp showed a preference for substrates with medium chain-length acyl groups and, noticeably, recognized a peptidase-specific substrate. In addition, ROL^imp was more stable than mROL^WT. These results strongly suggest that proteins with identical amino acid sequences can fold into different conformations and that mutations in intramolecular chaperones can dynamically induce changes in enzymatic activity.     

脂肪酶的特异性折叠酶

以Pseudomonas aeruginosa为代表的Ⅰ.1亚家族脂肪醇和以Burkholderia cepacia为代表的Ⅰ.2亚家族脂肪酶具有优良的手性化合物拆分性能,在绿色化工领域具有良好的开发潜力及其应用前景.Ⅰ.1亚家族脂肪酶和Ⅰ.2亚家族脂肪醇均采用Ⅱ型分泌机制进行分泌,其分泌依赖于一种分子伴侣--脂肪酶的特异性折叠酶(lipase specific foldase,Lif)的协助.从Lif蛋白的分类、结构特点、介导对应脂肪酶折叠的特异性及机制、lif基因表达调控机制及尚待探讨的问题等方面系统介绍Lif蛋白的研究进展.     

Folding competence of N-terminally truncated forms of human procathepsin B

Besides acting as an inhibitor, the propeptide of human cathepsin B exerts an important auxiliary function as a chaperone in promoting correct protein folding. To explore the ability of N-terminally truncated forms of procathepsin B to fold into enzymatically active proteins, we produced procathepsin B variants progressively lacking N-terminal structural elements in baculovirus-infected insect cells. N-terminal truncation of the propeptide by up to 22 amino acids did not impair the production of activable procathepsin B. Secreted forms lacking the first 20, 21, or 22 amino acids spontaneously generated mature cathepsin B through autocatalytic processing, demonstrating that the first alpha-helix (Asp11-Arg20) is necessary for efficient inhibition of the enzyme by its propeptide. In contrast, proenzymes lacking the N-terminal part including the first beta-sheet (Trp24-Ala26) of the propeptide or containing an amino acid mutation directly preceding this beta-sheet were no longer properly folded. This shows that interactions between Trp24 of the propeptide and Tyr183, Tyr188, and Phe180 of the mature enzyme are important for stabilization and essential for procathepsin B folding. Thus, proenzyme forms missing more than the N-terminal 22 amino acids of the propeptide (notably truncated cathepsin B produced by the mRNA splice variant lacking exons 2 and 3, resulting in a propeptide shortened by 34 amino acids) are devoid of proteolytic activity because they cannot fold correctly. Thus, any pathophysiological involvement of truncated cathepsin B must be ascribed to properties other than proteolysis.     

Engineering of a Staphylococcus carnosus surface display system by substitution or deletion of a Staphylococcus hyicus lipase propeptide

Surface display of recombinant proteins on bacteria and phages has become an important topic in bioscience. A system for the display of heterologous proteins on the surface of Staphylococcus carnosus employs the secretion signal and propeptide from a Staphylococcus hyicus lipase for translocation and since the propeptide is of considerable size (207 amino acids) and not processed in S. carnosus, we have investigated the possibility to delete or substitute the propeptide for smaller protein domains, to thereby improve the surface display system. A set of new vectors was constructed and the surface expression of model proteins was investigated by various methods, including fluorescence-activated cell sorting. The results suggest that the propeptide region indeed can be deleted when proteins which are easily secretable are displayed. In contrast, the propeptide seems to be advantageous for translocation of inefficiently secreted proteins. Moreover, our study also presents a rational strategy for how to monitor the engineering efforts for the optimization of a surface display system.     

Autotomic behavior of the propeptide in propeptide-mediated folding of prosubtilisin E

The 77 residue propeptide at the N-terminal end of subtilisin E plays an essential role in subtilisin folding as a tailor-made intramolecular chaperone. Upon completion of folding, the propeptide is autoprocessed and removed by subtilisin digestion. This propeptide-mediated protein folding has been used as a paradigm for the study of protein folding. Here, we show by three independent methods, that the propeptide domain and the subtilisin domain show distinctive intrinsic stability that is obligatory for efficient autoprocessing of the propeptide domain. Two tryptophan residues, Trp106 and Trp113, on the surface of subtilisin located on one of the two helices that form the interface between the propeptide and the subtilisin domains play a key role in maintaining the distinctive instability of the propeptide domain, after completion of folding. When either of the Trp residues was substituted with Tyr, the characteristic biphasic heat denaturation profile of two domains unfolding was not observed, resulting in a single transition of denaturation. The results provide evidence that the propeptide not only plays an essential role in subtilisin folding, but upon completion of folding it behaves as an independent domain. Once the propeptide-mediated folding is completed, the propeptide domain is readily eliminated without interference from the subtilisin domain. This "autotomic" behavior of the propeptide may be a prevailing principle in propeptide-mediated protein folding.     

Secretion of human growth hormone by the food-grade bacterium Staphylococcus carnosus requires a propeptide irrespective of the signal peptide used

Staphylococcal exoproteins can be divided into two groups. One group comprises proteins bearing only a signal peptide, the other group requires an additional propeptide for secretion. The secretion signals of the propeptide-requiring lipase from Staphylococcus hyicus (Lip) have been frequently used to produce recombinant secretory proteins in the food-grade species Staphylococcus carnosus. However, it has been unclear whether recombinant proteins can be secreted using signal peptides of staphylococcal proteins without propeptide. The human growth hormone protein (hGH) was fused to various staphylococcal secretion signals of proteins without propeptide (Seb, SceA, and SceB) and of proteins requiring a propeptide (lipase, lysostaphin, and glycerol ester hydrolase). Secretory hGH was efficiently produced by S. carnosus after fusion with any propeptide-containing secretion signal, whereas precursor proteins were retained in the cells when only a signal peptide was used. Addition of the first six amino acid residues of mature SceA to the signal peptide did also not lead to secretion of hGH. It was concluded that the properties of the mature protein domains determine whether a propeptide is required for secretion or not. The Lip propeptide could be efficiently removed from hGH after introduction of an enterokinase cleavage site between the two protein domains.     

The peptidyl-prolyl isomerase motif is lacking in PmpA,the PrsA-like protein involved in the secretion machinery of Lactococcus lactis

The prsA-like gene from Lactococcus lactis encoding its single homologue to PrsA, an essential protein triggering the folding of secreted proteins in Bacillus subtilis, was characterized. This gene, annotated pmpA, encodes a lipoprotein of 309 residues whose expression is increased 7- to 10-fold when the source of nitrogen is limited. A slight increase in the expression of the PrsA-like protein (PLP) in L. lactis removed the degradation products previously observed with the Staphylococcus hyicus lipase used as a model secreted protein. This shows that PmpA either triggers the folding of the secreted lipase or activates its degradation by the cell surface protease HtrA. Unlike the case for B. subtilis, the inactivation of the gene encoding PmpA reduced only slightly the growth rate of L. lactis in standard conditions. However, it almost stopped its growth when the lipase was overexpressed in the presence of salt in the medium. Like PrsA of B. subtilis and PrtM of L. lactis, the L. lactis PmpA protein could thus have a foldase activity that facilitates protein secretion. These proteins belong to the third family of peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans-isomerases (PPIases) for which parvulin is the prototype. Almost all PLP from gram-positive bacteria contain a domain with the PPIase signature. An exception to this situation was found only in Streptococcaceae, the family to which L. lactis belongs. PLP from Streptococcus pneumoniae and Enterococcus faecalis possess this signature, but those of L. lactis, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Streptococcus mutans do not. However, secondary structure predictions suggest that the folding of PLP is conserved over the entire length of the proteins, including the unconserved signature region. The activity associated with the expression of PmpA in L. lactis and these genomic data show that either the PPIase motif is not necessary for PPIase activity or, more likely, PmpA foldase activity does not necessarily require PPIase activity.     

Cell surface display of recombinant proteins on Staphylococcus carnosus.

A novel expression system for surface display of heterologous proteins on Staphylococcus carnosus cells has been developed. Taking advantage of the promoter and secretion signals, including a propeptide region, from the lipase gene of Staphylococcus hyicus and the cell wall-spanning and membrane-binding region of protein A from Staphylococcus aureus, efficient surface display of an 80-amino-acid peptide from a malaria blood stage antigen could be achieved. A serum albumin binding protein from streptococcal protein G was used both as a general reporter molecule and to increase the accessibility of the surface-displayed proteins. Immunoblotting, immunogold staining, and immunofluorescence on intact recombinant S. carnosus cells verified the presence of the propeptide, the malaria antigen, and the albumin-binding reporter protein on the bacterial surface. For the first time, fluorescence-activated cell sorting was used to analyze the presence of surface-displayed hybrid receptors on gram-positive bacteria.