Analysis of alpha-helical coiled coils with the program TWISTER reveals a structural mechanism for stutter compensation

Alpha-helical coiled coils represent a widespread protein structure motif distinguished by a seven-residue periodicity of apolar residues in the primary sequence. A characteristic "knobs-into-holes" packing of these residues into a hydrophobic core results in a superhelical, usually left-handed, rope of two or more alpha-helices. Such a geometry can be parameterized. For this purpose, a new computer program, TWISTER, was developed. With the three-dimensional coordinates as input, TWISTER uses an original algorithm to determine the local coiled-coil parameters as a function of residue number. In addition, heptad positions are assigned based on structural criteria. It is known that frequently encountered discontinuities in the heptad repeat, such as stutters and skips, can be tolerated within a continuous coiled coil but result in a local distortion of its geometry. This was explored in detail with the help of TWISTER for several two- and three-stranded coiled coils. Depending on the particular protein, stutters were found to be compensated locally by an unwinding of the superhelix, alpha-helical unwinding, or both. In the first case, there is often a local switch from a left-handed to a right-handed superhelix. In general, the geometrical distortion is confined to about two alpha-helical turns at either side of the stutter. Furthermore, stutters result in a local increase of the coiled-coil radius.     

Effect of chain length on coiled-coil stability: decreasing stability with increasing chain length

The de novo design and biophysical characterization of three series of two-stranded alpha-helical coiled coils with different chain lengths are described. Our goal was to examine how increasing chain length would affect protein folding and stability when one or more heptad repeat(s) of K-A-E-A-L-E-G (gabcdef) was inserted into the central region of different coiled-coil host proteins. This heptad was designed to maintain the continuous 3-4 hydrophobic repeat of the coiled-coil host and introduce an Ala and Leu residue in the hydrophobic core at the a and d position, respectively, and a pair of stabilizing interchain ionic i to i' + 5 (g to e') interactions per heptad inserted. The secondary structures of the three series of disulfide-bridged polypeptides were studied by CD spectroscopy and their stabilities determined by chemical and thermal denaturation. The results showed that successive insertions of this heptad systematically decreased the stability of all the coiled coils studied regardless of the overall initial stability of the host coiled coil. These observations are in contrast to the generally accepted implication that the folding and stability of coiled coils are enhanced with increasing chain length. Our results imply that, in these examples where an Ala and Leu hydrophobic residue were introduced into the coiled-coil core per inserted heptad, there was still insufficient stability to overcome unfavorable entropy associated with chain length extension, even though the inserted heptad contained the most stabilizing hydrophobic residue (Leu) at position d and stabilizing ionic attractions.     

Structural characterization of the SARS-coronavirus spike S fusion protein core

The spike (S) glycoprotein of coronaviruses mediates viral entry into host cells. It is a type 1 viral fusion protein that characteristically contains two heptad repeat regions, denoted HR-N and HR-C, that form coiled-coil structures within the ectodomain of the protein. Previous studies have shown that the two heptad repeat regions can undergo a conformational change from their native state to a 6-helix bundle (trimer of dimers), which mediates fusion of viral and host cell membranes. Here we describe the biophysical analysis of the two predicted heptad repeat regions within the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus S protein. Our results show that in isolation the HR-N region forms a stable alpha-helical coiled coil that associates in a tetrameric state. The HR-C region in isolation formed a weakly stable trimeric coiled coil. When mixed together, the two peptide regions (HR-N and HR-C) associated to form a very stable alpha-helical 6-stranded structure (trimer of heterodimers). Systematic peptide mapping showed that the site of interaction between the HR-N and HR-C regions is between residues 916-950 of HR-N and residues 1151-1185 of HR-C. Additionally, interchain disulfide bridge experiments showed that the relative orientation of the HR-N and HR-C helices in the complex was antiparallel. Overall, the structure of the hetero-stranded complex is consistent with the structures observed for other type 1 viral fusion proteins in their fusion-competent state.     

Generalized Crick equations for modeling noncanonical coiled coils

Crick envisaged the alpha-helical coiled coil to result from systematic bending of an alpha-helix such that every seventh residue was structurally equivalent, and he derived equations for the coordinates of the backbone atoms. Crick's predictions were vindicated experimentally and coiled-coil sequences were shown to have hydrophobic residues alternately spaced 3 and 4 residues apart. Nonetheless, in some coiled coils such canonical heptad repeats are interrupted by inserts of 3 or 4 residues generating decad and hendecad motifs. The supercoiling of the coiled coils varies with the sequence pattern, being left- or right-handed in purely heptad-based or hendecad-based motifs, respectively. To model coiled coils with a mixture of motifs, we describe how Crick's equations can be modified for cases where the pitch is not constant. Using the analogy of the bending of a beam, we took the tilt angle to change linearly with distance along the major helix and the pitch of a motif to be affected by neighboring motifs depending on the rigidity of the alpha-helical strands. We tested our approach by fitting the two-, three-, and four-stranded noncanonical coiled coils of GrpE, hemagglutinin, and tetrabrachion. The backbone atoms of the model and crystal structures agreed with root mean square deviations of <1.1 A.     

The coiled-coil trigger site of the rod domain of cortexillin I unveils a distinct network of interhelical and intrahelical salt bridges

BACKGROUND: The parallel two-stranded alpha-helical coiled coil is the most frequently encountered subunit-oligomerization motif in proteins. The simplicity and regularity of this motif have made it an attractive system to explore some of the fundamental principles of protein folding and stability and to test the principles of de novo design. RESULTS: The X-ray crystal structure of the 18-heptad-repeat alpha-helical coiled-coil domain of the actin-bundling protein cortexillin I from Dictyostelium discoideum is a tightly packed parallel two-stranded alpha-helical coiled coil. It harbors a distinct 14-residue sequence motif that is essential for coiled-coil formation, and is a prerequisite for the assembly of cortexillin I. The atomic structure reveals novel types of ionic coiled-coil interactions. In particular, the structure shows that a characteristic interhelical and intrahelical salt-bridge pattern, in combination with the hydrophobic interactions occurring at the dimer interface, is the key structural feature of its coiled-coil trigger site. CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge gained from the structure could be used in the de novo design of alpha-helical coiled coils for applications such as two-stage drug targeting and delivery systems, and in the design of coiled coils as templates for combinatorial helical libraries in drug discovery and as synthetic carrier molecules.     

Open-and-shut cases in coiled-coil assembly: alpha-sheets and alpha-cylinders

The coiled coil is a ubiquitous protein-folding motif. It generally is accepted that coiled coils are characterized by sequence patterns known as heptad repeats. Such patterns direct the formation and assembly of amphipathic alpha-helices, the hydrophobic faces of which interface in a specific manner first proposed by Crick and termed "knobs-into-holes packing". We developed software, SOCKET, to recognize this packing in protein structures. As expected, in a trawl of the protein data bank, we found examples of canonical coiled coils with a single contiguous heptad repeat. In addition, we identified structures with multiple, overlapping heptad repeats. This observation extends Crick's original postulate: Multiple, offset heptad repeats help explain assemblies with more than two helices. Indeed, we have found that the sequence offset of the multiple heptad repeats is related to the coiled-coil oligomer state. Here we focus on one particular sequence motif in which two heptad repeats are offset by two residues. This offset sets up two hydrophobic faces separated by approximately 150 degrees -160 degrees around the alpha-helix. In turn, two different combinations of these faces are possible. Either similar or opposite faces can interface, which leads to open or closed multihelix assemblies. Accordingly, we refer to these two forms as alpha-sheets and alpha-cylinders. We illustrate these structures with our own predictions and by reference to natural variants on these designs that have recently come to light.     

Conformational transition between four and five-stranded phenylalanine zippers determined by a local packing interaction

Alpha-helical coiled coils play a crucial role in mediating specific protein-protein interactions. However, the rules and mechanisms that govern helix-helix association in coiled coils remain incompletely understood. Here we have engineered a seven heptad "Phe-zipper" protein (Phe-14) with phenylalanine residues at all 14 hydrophobic a and d positions, and generated a further variant (Phe-14(M)) in which a single core Phe residue is substituted with Met. Phe-14 forms a discrete alpha-helical pentamer in aqueous solution, while Phe-14(M) folds into a tetrameric helical structure. X-ray crystal structures reveal that in both the tetramer and the pentamer the a and d side-chains interlock in a classical knobs-into-holes packing to produce parallel coiled-coil structures enclosing large tubular cavities. However, the presence of the Met residue in the apolar interface of the tetramer markedly alters its local coiled-coil conformation and superhelical geometry. Thus, short-range interactions involving the Met side-chain serve to preferentially select for tetramer formation, either by inhibiting a nucleation step essential for pentamer folding or by abrogating an intermediate required to form the pentamer. Although specific trigger sequences have not been clearly identified in dimeric coiled coils, higher-order coiled coils, as well as other oligomeric multi-protein complexes, may require such sequences to nucleate and direct their assembly.     

Pitch diversity in α-helical coiled coils

Two complementary methods for measuring local pitch based on heptad position in α-helical coiled coils are described and applied to six crystal structures. The results reveal a diversity of pitch values: two-stranded coiled coils appear to have pitch values near 150 Å the values for three- and four-stranded coiled coils range closer to 200 Å. The methods also provide a rapid and sensitive gauge of local coiled-coil conformation. Polar or charged residues in the apolar interface between coiled-coil helices markedly affect local pitch values, suggesting a connection between pitch uniformity and coiled-coil stability. Moreover, the identification of a skip residue (heptad frame shift) in the hemaglutinin glycoprotein of influenza virus (HA) allows interpretation of local pitch changes. These results on relatively short coiled-coil structures have relevance for the much longer fibrous proteins (many of which have skip residues) whose detailed structures are not yet established. We also show that local pitch values from molecular dynamics predictions of the GCN4 leucine zipper are in striking agreement with the high-resolution crystal structure—a result not readily discerned by direct comparison of atomic coordinates. Taken together, these methods reveal specific aspects of coiled-coil structure which may escape detection by global analyses of pitch. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Molecular dynamics guided study of salt bridge length dependence in both fluorinated and non-fluorinated parallel dimeric coiled-coils

The alpha-helical coiled-coil is one of the most common oligomerization motifs found in both native and engineered proteins. To better understand the stability and dynamics of the coiled-coil motifs, including those modified by fluorination, several fluorinated and nonfluorinated parallel dimeric coiled-coil protein structures were designed and modeled. We also attempt to investigate how changing the length and geometry of the important stabilizing salt bridges influences the coiled-coil protein structure. Molecular dynamics (MD) and free energy simulations with AMBER used a particle mesh Ewald treatment of the electrostatics in explicit TIP3P solvent with balanced force field treatments. Preliminary studies with legacy force fields (ff94, ff96, and ff99) show a profound instability of the coiled-coil structures in short MD simulation. Significantly, better behavior is evident with the more balanced ff99SB and ff03 protein force fields. Overall, the results suggest that the coiled-coil structures can readily accommodate the larger acidic arginine or S-2,7-diaminoheptanedoic acid mutants in the salt bridge, whereas substitution of the smaller L-ornithine residue leads to rapid disruption of the coiled-coil structure on the MD simulation time scale. This structural distortion of the secondary structure allows both the formation of large hydration pockets proximal to the charged groups and within the hydrophobic core. Moreover, the increased structural fluctuations and movement lead to a decrease in the water occupancy lifetimes in the hydration pockets. In contrast, analysis of the hydration in the stable dimeric coiled-coils shows high occupancy water sites along the backbone residues with no water occupancy in the hydrophobic core, although transitory water interactions with the salt bridge residues are evident. The simulations of the fluorinated coiled-coils suggest that in some cases fluorination electrostatically stabilizes the intermolecular coiled-coil salt bridges. Structural analyses also reveal different side chain rotamer preferences for leucine when compared with 5,5,5,5',5',5'-hexafluoroleucine mutants. These observed differences in the side chain rotamer populations suggest differential changes in the side chain conformational entropy upon coiled-coil formation when the protein is fluorinated. The free energy of hydration of the isolated 5,5,5,5',5',5'-hexafluoroleucine amino acid is calculated to be 1.1 kcal/mol less stable than leucine; this hydrophobic penalty in the monomer may provide a driving force for coiled-coil dimer formation. Estimation of the ellipticity at 222 nm from a series of snapshots from the MD simulations with DicroCalc shows distinct increases in the ellipticity when the coiled-coil is fluorinated, which suggests that the helicity in the folded coiled-coils is greater when fluorinated.     

Coiled coils: a highly versatile protein folding motif

The alpha-helical coiled coil is one of the principal subunit oligomerization motifs in proteins. Its most characteristic feature is a heptad repeat pattern of primarily apolar residues that constitute the oligomer interface. Despite its simplicity, it is a highly versatile folding motif: coiled-coil-containing proteins exhibit a broad range of different functions related to the specific 'design' of their coiled-coil domains. The architecture of a particular coiled-coil domain determines its oligomerization state, rigidity and ability to function as a molecular recognition system. Much progress has been made towards understanding the factors that determine coiled-coil formation and stability. Here we discuss this highly versatile protein folding and oligomerization motif with regard to its structural architecture and how this is related to its biological functions.     

Coiled-coil domains in glycoproteins B and H are involved in human cytomegalovirus membrane fusion

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) utilizes a complex route of entry into cells that involves multiple interactions between viral envelope proteins and cellular receptors. Three conserved viral glycoproteins, gB, gH, and gL, are required for CMV-mediated membrane fusion, but little is known of how these proteins cooperate during entry (E. R. Kinzler and T. Compton, submitted for publication). The goal of this study was to begin defining the molecular mechanisms that underlie membrane fusion mediated by herpesviruses. We identified heptad repeat sequences predicted to form alpha-helical coiled coils in two glycoproteins required for fusion, gB and gH. Peptides derived from gB and gH containing the heptad repeat sequences inhibited virus entry when introduced coincident with virus inoculation onto cells or when mixed with virus prior to inoculation. Neither peptide affected binding of CMV to fibroblasts, suggesting that the peptides inhibit membrane fusion. Both gB and gH coiled-coil peptides blocked entry of several laboratory-adapted and clinical strains of human CMV, but neither peptide affected entry of murine CMV or herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). Although murine CMV and HSV-1 gB and gH have heptad repeat regions, the ability of human CMV gB and gH peptides to inhibit virus entry correlates with the specific residues that comprise the heptad repeat region. The ability of gB and gH coiled-coil peptides to inhibit virus entry independently of cell contact suggests that the coiled-coil regions of gB and gH function differently from those of class I, single-component fusion proteins. Taken together, these data support a critical role for alpha-helical coiled coils in gB and gH in the entry pathway of CMV.     

Kinking the coiled coil--negatively charged residues at the coiled-coil interface

The coiled coil is one of the most common protein-structure motifs. It is believed to be adopted by 3-5% of all amino acids in proteins. It comprises two or more alpha-helical chains wrapped around one another. The sequences of most coiled coils are characterized by a seven-residue (heptad) repeat, denoted (abcdefg)(n). Residues at the a and d positions define the helical interface (core) and are usually hydrophobic, though about 20% are polar or charged. We show that parallel coiled-coils have a unique pattern of their negatively charged residues at the core positions: aspartic acid is excluded from these positions while glutamic acid is not. In contrast the antiparallel structures are more permissive in their amino acid usage. We show further, and for the first time, that incorporation of Asp but not Glu into the a positions of a parallel coiled coil creates a flexible hinge and that the maximal hinge angle is being directly related to the number of incorporated mutations. These new computational and experimental observations will be of use in improving protein-structure predictions, and as rules to guide rational design of novel coiled-coil motifs and coiled coil-based materials.     

Detection of alpha-helical coiled-coil dimer formation by spin-labeled synthetic peptides: a model parallel coiled-coil peptide and the antiparallel coiled coil formed by a replica of the ProP C-terminus

Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to determine relative peptide orientation within homodimeric, alpha-helical coiled-coil structures. Introduction of cysteine (Cys) residues into peptides/proteins for spin labeling allows detection of their oligomerization from exchange broadening or dipolar interactions between residues within 25 A of each other. Two synthetic peptides containing Cys substitutions were used: a 35-residue model peptide and the 30-residue ProP peptide. The model peptide is known to form a stable, parallel homodimeric coiled coil, which is partially destabilized by Cys substitutions at heptad a and d positions (peptides C30a and C33d). The ProP peptide, a 30-residue synthetic peptide, corresponds to residues 468-497 of osmoregulatory transporter ProP from Escherichia coli. It forms a relatively unstable, homodimeric coiled coil that is predicted to be antiparallel in orientation. Cys was introduced in heptad g positions of the ProP peptide, near the N-terminus (K473C, creating peptide C473g) or closer to the center of the sequence (E480C, creating peptide C480g). In contrast to the destabilizing effect of Cys substitution at the core heptad a or d positions of model peptides C30a and C33d, circular dichroism spectroscopy showed that Cys substitutions at the heptad g positions of the ProP peptide had little or no effect on coiled-coil stability. Thermal denaturation analysis showed that spin labeling increased the stability of the coiled coil for all peptides. Strong exchange broadening was detected for both C30a and C33d, in agreement with a parallel structure. EPR spectra of C480g had a large hyperfine splitting of about 90 G, indicative of strong dipole-dipole interactions and a distance between spin-labeled residues of less than 9 A. Spin-spin interactions were much weaker for C473g. These results supported the hypothesis that the ProP peptide primarily formed an antiparallel coiled coil, since formation of a parallel dimer should result in similar spin-spin interactions for the spin-labeled Cys at both sites.     

Conformational characteristics of the complete sequence of group A streptococcal M6 protein

M protein is considered a virulence determinant on the streptococcal cell wall by virtue of its ability to allow the organism to resist attack by human neutrophils. The complete DNA sequence of the M6 gene from streptococcal strain D471 has allowed, for the first time, the study of the structural characteristics of the amino acid sequence of an entire M protein molecule. Predictive secondary structural analysis revealed that the majority of this fibrillar molecule exhibits strong alpha-helical potential and that, except for the ends, nonpolar residues in the central region of the molecule exhibit the 7-residue periodicity typical for coiled-coil proteins. Differences in this heptad pattern of nonpolar residues allow this central rod region to be divided into three subdomains which correlate essentially with the repeat regions A, B, and C/D in the M6 protein sequence. Alignment of the N-terminal half of the M6 sequence with PepM5, the N-terminal half of the M5 protein, revealed that 42% of the amino acids were identical. The majority of the identities were "core" nonpolar residues of the heptad periodicity which are necessary for the maintenance of the coiled coil. Thus, conservation of structure in a sequence-variable region of these molecules may be biologically significant. Results suggest that serologically different M proteins may be built according to a basic scheme: an extended central coiled-coil rod domain (which may vary in size among strains) flanked by functional end domains.     

Hierarchical Cascades of Instability Govern the Mechanics of Coiled Coils: Helix Unfolding Precedes Coil Unzipping

Coiled coils are a fundamental emergent motif in proteins found in structural biomaterials, consisting of α-helical secondary structures wrapped in a supercoil. A fundamental question regarding the thermal and mechanical stability of coiled coils in extreme environments is the sequence of events leading to the disassembly of individual oligomers from the universal coiled-coil motifs. To shed light on this phenomenon, here we report atomistic simulations of a trimeric coiled coil in an explicit water solvent and investigate the mechanisms underlying helix unfolding and coil unzipping in the assembly. We employ advanced sampling techniques involving steered molecular dynamics and metadynamics simulations to obtain the free-energy landscapes of single-strand unfolding and unzipping in a three-stranded assembly. Our comparative analysis of the free-energy landscapes of instability pathways shows that coil unzipping is a sequential process involving multiple intermediates. At each intermediate state, one heptad repeat of the coiled coil first unfolds and then unzips due to the loss of contacts with the hydrophobic core. This observation suggests that helix unfolding facilitates the initiation of coiled-coil disassembly, which is confirmed by our 2D metadynamics simulations showing that unzipping of one strand requires less energy in the unfolded state compared with the folded state. Our results explain recent experimental findings and lay the groundwork for studying the hierarchical molecular mechanisms that underpin the thermomechanical stability/instability of coiled coils and similar protein assemblies.     

Crystal structure of the DUF16 domain of MPN010 from Mycoplasma pneumoniae

We have determined the crystal structure of the DUF16 domain of unknown function encoded by the gene MPN010 of Mycoplasma pneumoniae at 1.8 A resolution. The crystal structure revealed that this domain is composed of two separated homotrimeric coiled-coils. The shorter one consists of 11 highly conserved residues. The sequence comprises noncanonical heptad repeats that induce a right-handed coiled-coil structure. The longer one is composed of approximately nine heptad repeats. In this coiled-coil structure, there are three distinguishable regions that confer unique structural properties compared with other known homotrimeric coiled-coils. The first part, containing one stutter, is an unusual phenylalanine-rich region that is not found in any other coiled-coil structures. The second part is a highly conserved glutamine-rich region, frequently found in other trimeric coiled-coil structures. The last part is composed of prototype heptad repeats. The phylogenetic analysis of the DUF16 family together with a secondary structure prediction shows that the DUF16 family can be classified into five subclasses according to N-terminal sequences. Based on the structural comparison with other coiled-coil structures, a probable molecular function of the DUF16 family is discussed.     

Hierarchical Cascades of Instability Govern the Mechanics of Coiled Coils: Helix Unfolding Precedes Coil Unzipping

Coiled coils are a fundamental emergent motif in proteins found in structural biomaterials, consisting of α-helical secondary structures wrapped in a supercoil. A fundamental question regarding the thermal and mechanical stability of coiled coils in extreme environments is the sequence of events leading to the disassembly of individual oligomers from the universal coiled-coil motifs. To shed light on this phenomenon, here we report atomistic simulations of a trimeric coiled coil in an explicit water solvent and investigate the mechanisms underlying helix unfolding and coil unzipping in the assembly. We employ advanced sampling techniques involving steered molecular dynamics and metadynamics simulations to obtain the free-energy landscapes of single-strand unfolding and unzipping in a three-stranded assembly. Our comparative analysis of the free-energy landscapes of instability pathways shows that coil unzipping is a sequential process involving multiple intermediates. At each intermediate state, one heptad repeat of the coiled coil first unfolds and then unzips due to the loss of contacts with the hydrophobic core. This observation suggests that helix unfolding facilitates the initiation of coiled-coil disassembly, which is confirmed by our 2D metadynamics simulations showing that unzipping of one strand requires less energy in the unfolded state compared with the folded state. Our results explain recent experimental findings and lay the groundwork for studying the hierarchical molecular mechanisms that underpin the thermomechanical stability/instability of coiled coils and similar protein assemblies.     

Crystal structure of the amino-terminal coiled-coil domain of the APC tumor suppressor

Coiled coils serve as dimerization domains for a wide variety of proteins, including the medically important oligomeric tumor suppressor protein, APC. Mutations in the APC gene are associated with an inherited susceptibility to colon cancer and with approximately 75 % of sporadic colorectal tumors. To define the basis for APC pairing and to explore the anatomy of dimeric coiled coils, we determined the 2.4 A resolution X-ray crystal structure of the N-terminal dimerization domain of APC. The peptide APC-55, encompassing the heptad repeats in APC residues 2-55, primarily forms an alpha-helical, coiled-coil dimer with newly observed core packing features. Correlated asymmetric packing of four core residues in distinct, standard rotamers is associated with a small shift in the helix register. At the C terminus, the helices splay apart and interact with a symmetry-related dimer in the crystal to form a short, anti-parallel, four-helix bundle. N-terminal fraying and C-terminal splaying of the helices, as well as the asymmetry and helix register shift describe unprecedented dynamic excursions of coiled coils. The low stability of APC-55 and divergence from the expected coiled-coil fold support the suggestion that the APC dimerization domain may extend beyond the first 55 residues.