| Abstract: | The presence of extensive reciprocal conformational freedom between the
catalytic and the hemopexin-like domains of full-length matrix
metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) is demonstrated by NMR and small angle x-ray
scattering experiments. This finding is discussed in relation to the
essentiality of the hemopexin-like domain for the collagenolytic activity of
MMP-1. The conformational freedom experienced by the present system, having
the shortest linker between the two domains, when compared with similar
findings on MMP-12 and MMP-9 having longer and the longest linker within the
family, respectively, suggests this type of conformational freedom to be a
general property of all MMPs.Matrix metalloproteinases
(MMP)2 are
extracellular hydrolytic enzymes involved in a variety of processes including
connective tissue cleavage and remodeling
(1–3).
All 23 members of the family are able to cleave simple peptides derived from
connective tissue components such as collagen, gelatin, elastin, etc. A subset
of MMPs is able to hydrolyze more resistant polymeric substrates, such as
cross-linked elastin, and partially degraded collagen forms, such as gelatin
and type IV collagens (4).
Intact triple helical type I–III collagen is only attacked by
collagenases MMP-1, MMP-8, and MMP-13 and by MMP-2 and MMP-14
(5–12).
Although the detailed mechanism of cleavage of single chain peptides by MMP
has been largely elucidated
(13–19),
little is known about the process of hydrolysis of triple helical collagen. In
fact, triple helical collagen cannot be accommodated in the substrate-binding
groove of the catalytic site of MMPs
(9).All MMPs (but MMP-7) in their active form are constituted by a catalytic
domain (CAT) and a hemopexin-like domain (HPX)
(20–22).
The CAT domain contains two zinc ions and one to three calcium ions. One zinc
ion is at the catalytic site and is responsible for the activity, whereas the
other metal ions have structural roles. The isolated CAT domains retain full
catalytic activity toward simple peptides and single chain polymeric
substrates such as elastin, whereas hydrolysis of triple helical collagen also
requires the presence of the HPX domain
(9,
23–25).
It has been shown that the isolated CAT domain regains a small fraction of the
activity of the full-length (FL) protein when high amounts of either
inactivated full-length proteins or isolated HPX domains are added to the
assay solution (9). Finally, it
has been shown that the presence of the HPX domain alone alters the CD
spectrum of triple helical collagen in a way that suggests its partial
unwinding (26,
27). It is tempting to
speculate that full-length collagenases attack collagen by first locally
unwinding the triple helical structure with the help of the HPX domain and
then cleaving the resulting, exposed, single filaments
(9,
28).Until 2007, three-dimensional structures of full-length MMPs had been
reported only for collagenase MMP-1
(29–31)
and gelatinase MMP-2 (32). The
structures of the two proteins are very similar and show a compact arrangement
of the two domains, which are connected by a short linker (14 and 20 amino
acids, respectively). It is difficult to envisage that rigid and compact
molecules of this type can interact with triple helical collagen in a way that
can lead to first unwinding and then cleavage of individual filaments. It has
been recently suggested that such concerted action could occur much more
easily if the two domains could enjoy at least a partial conformational
independence (9). Slight
differences in the reciprocal orientation of the CAT and HPX domains of MMP-1
in the presence (29) and
absence (30,
31) of the prodomain were
indeed taken as a hint that the two domains could experience relative mobility
(29).Two recent solution studies have shown that conformational independence is
indeed occurring in gelatinase MMP-9
(33) and elastase MMP-12
(34), whereas the x-ray
structure of the latter (34)
is only slightly less compact than those of MMP-1
(29–31)
and MMP-2 (32). Among MMPs,
MMP-9 features an exceptionally long linker (68 amino acid)
(33,
35), which in fact constitutes
a small domain by itself (the O-glycosylated domain)
(33), and therefore, this
inspiring observation can hardly be taken as evidence that conformational
freedom is a general characteristic of the two-domain MMPs. MMP-12 features a
much more normal 16-amino acid linker, thereby making more probable a general
functional role for this conformational freedom
(34). However, both MMP-9 and
MMP-12 retain their full catalytic activity against their substrates even when
deprived of the HPX domain (9).
Therefore, the question remains of whether conformational freedom is also a
required characteristic for those MMPs that are only active as full-length
proteins, i.e. collagenases. Interestingly, the three collagenases
(MMP-1, MMP-8, and MMP-13) have the shortest linker (14 amino acids) among all
MMPs. Demonstrating or negating the presence of conformational freedom in one
of these collagenases would therefore constitute a significant step forward to
formulate mechanistic hypotheses on their collagenolytic activity.Our recent studies on MMP-12 in solution
(34) have shown that a
combination of NMR relaxation studies and small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS)
is enough to show the presence and the extent of the relative conformational
freedom of the two domains of MMPs. Here we apply the same strategy to
full-length MMP-1 and show that sizable conformational freedom is indeed
experienced even by this prototypical collagenase, although somewhat less
pronounced than that observed for MMP-12. |
