The dataset for protein–RNA binding affinity

We have developed a non‐redundant protein–RNA binding benchmark dataset derived from the available protein–RNA structures in the Protein Database Bank. It consists of 73 complexes with measured binding affinity. The experimental conditions (pH and temperature) for binding affinity measurements are also listed in our dataset. This binding affinity dataset can be used to compare and develop protein–RNA scoring functions. The predicted binding free energy of the 73 complexes from three available scoring functions for protein–RNA docking has a low correlation with the binding Gibbs free energy calculated from K_d. © 2013 The Protein Society     

A minimal model of protein–protein binding affinities

A minimal model of protein–protein binding affinity that takes into account only two structural features of the complex, the size of its interface, and the amplitude of the conformation change between the free and bound subunits, is tested on the 144 complexes of a structure‐affinity benchmark. It yields K_d values that are within two orders of magnitude of the experiment for 67% of the complexes, within three orders for 88%, and fails on 12%, which display either large conformation changes, or a very high or a low affinity. The minimal model lacks the specificity and accuracy needed to make useful affinity predictions, but it should help in assessing the added value of parameters used by more elaborate models, and set a baseline for evaluating their performances.     

Restriction fragment length polymorphisms at the heat shock protein HSP70 gene(s) in pigs*

Pigs from a population consisting of eight US breeds or strains and three Chinese breeds were examined by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the heat shock protein HSP70 gene(s). Limited polymorphisms with PstI and PvuII restriction enzymes were observed, but there were no polymorphisms with BomIII and BglI.     

HSP70 kinetics study by continuous observation of HSP-GFP fusion protein expression on a perfusion heating stage

The direct correlation between levels of heat shock protein expression and efficiency of its tissue protection function motivates this study of how thermal doses can be used for an optimal stress protocol design. Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) expression kinetics were visualized continuously in cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) on a microscope heating stage using green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a reporter. BAECs were transfected with a DNA vector, HSP(p)-HSP70-GFP which expresses an HSP70-GFP fusion protein under control of the HSP70 promoter. Expression levels were validated by western blot analysis. Transfected cells were heated on a controlled temperature microscope stage at 42 degrees C for a defined period, then shifted to 37 degrees C for varied post-heating times. The expression of HSP70-GFP and its sub-cellular localization were visualized via fluorescence microscopy. The progressive expression kinetics were measured by quantitative analysis of serial fluorescence images captured during heating protocols from 1 to 2 h and post-heating times from 0 to 20 h. The results show two sequential peaks in HSP70 expression at approximately 3 and 12 h post-heat shock. A progressive translocation of HSP70 from the cytoplasm to the nucleus was observed from 6 to 16 h. We conclude that we have successfully combined molecular cloning and optical imaging to study HSP70 expression kinetics. The kinetic profile for HSP70-GFP fusion protein is consistent with the endogenous HSP70. Furthermore, information on dynamic intracellular translocation of HSP70 was extracted from the same experimental data.     

人热休克蛋白70的原核高效表达

将人热休克蛋白基因hsp70片段克隆到高效原核表达载体pMAL-c2X中,酶切鉴定并进行DNA测序。将该重组表达载体转化大肠杆菌DH50α,用IPTG在不同温度及时间下进行诱导表达。收集细菌,菌体裂解后进行SDS-PAGE及Western blot检测,并以凝胶薄层扫描分析表达水平。结果表明,成功地构建了含人hsp70基因的表达载体pMAL-c2X／hsp70,该载体能在大肠杆菌中表达相对分子质量为110000并具有抗原活性的融合蛋白;改变诱导温度和时间,目的蛋白表达总量及可溶性部分所占比例不同。对人hsp70基因的克隆、表达,并对其进行表达条件的优化,为研究HSP70的结构、功能与临床应用提供了必要条件。     

Crystal structure of the nucleotide‐binding domain of mortalin,the mitochondrial Hsp70 chaperone

Mortalin, a member of the Hsp70‐family of molecular chaperones, functions in a variety of processes including mitochondrial protein import and quality control, Fe‐S cluster protein biogenesis, mitochondrial homeostasis, and regulation of p53. Mortalin is implicated in regulation of apoptosis, cell stress response, neurodegeneration, and cancer and is a target of the antitumor compound MKT‐077. Like other Hsp70‐family members, Mortalin consists of a nucleotide‐binding domain (NBD) and a substrate‐binding domain. We determined the crystal structure of the NBD of human Mortalin at 2.8 Å resolution. Although the Mortalin nucleotide‐binding pocket is highly conserved relative to other Hsp70 family members, we find that its nucleotide affinity is weaker than that of Hsc70. A Parkinson's disease‐associated mutation is located on the Mortalin‐NBD surface and may contribute to Mortalin aggregation. We present structure‐based models for how the Mortalin‐NBD may interact with the nucleotide exchange factor GrpEL1, with p53, and with MKT‐077. Our structure may contribute to the understanding of disease‐associated Mortalin mutations and to improved Mortalin‐targeting antitumor compounds.     

Three enhancements to the inference of statistical protein‐DNA potentials

The energetics of protein‐DNA interactions are often modeled using so‐called statistical potentials, that is, energy models derived from the atomic structures of protein‐DNA complexes. Many statistical protein‐DNA potentials based on differing theoretical assumptions have been investigated, but little attention has been paid to the types of data and the parameter estimation process used in deriving the statistical potentials. We describe three enhancements to statistical potential inference that significantly improve the accuracy of predicted protein‐DNA interactions: (i) incorporation of binding energy data of protein‐DNA complexes, in conjunction with their X‐ray crystal structures, (ii) use of spatially‐aware parameter fitting, and (iii) use of ensemble‐based parameter fitting. We apply these enhancements to three widely‐used statistical potentials and use the resulting enhanced potentials in a structure‐based prediction of the DNA binding sites of proteins. These enhancements are directly applicable to all statistical potentials used in protein‐DNA modeling, and we show that they can improve the accuracy of predicted DNA binding sites by up to 21%. Proteins 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

谢氏宽漠王HSP70基因cDNA片段的克隆及热激条件下的表达

谢氏宽漠王Mantichorula semenowi Reitter是一种沙漠指示性甲虫。本研究由该种甲虫体内克隆到两种不同的HSP70基因片段,分别为MsHSP70和MsHSC70。同源性发现表明这两个基因片段与已报道的其他昆虫的热休克蛋白核苷酸序列高度同源。半定量RT-PCR分析显示：经42℃热激1 h 后立即诱导MsHSP70表达至最高峰;在恢复到室温的1～4 h 内MsHSP70表达量逐渐降低,但仍然高于未热激对照组。而MsHSC70在42℃热激1 h后表达受到抑制,但在恢复2 h和4 h时有少量的表达,分别仅为未热激对照组的0.25和0.28倍。结果提示MsHSP70和MsHSC70在保护细胞方面具有不同的作用。本实验结果为谢氏宽漠王在极端的沙漠环境胁迫下的抗逆适应性研究提供了理论基础。     

棉花HSP70基因的克隆与原核表达

以抗旱性较强的棉花品种‘KK1543’为材料,采用RT-PCR技术克隆了1个棉花HSP70基因,命名为GhHSP70。研究结果表明:GhHSP70基因开放阅读框长1 997bp,编码648个氨基酸,GhHSP70蛋白相对分子量为70.94kD,等电点为4.83。氨基酸序列比对和系统进化树分析发现,GhHSP70与欧洲大叶杨HSP70的亲缘关系最近,氨基酸序列一致性达到96.4%。为进一步分析基因的功能,构建原核表达载体pGEX-4T-1-GhHSP70,并在大肠杆菌中异源表达。SDS-PAGE分析表明所表达蛋白与预期蛋白大小一致,重组蛋白在37℃,0.2mmol/L IPTG诱导2h时表达量最大。研究为进一步研究棉花HSP70基因功能奠定基础。     

Sorghum bicolor SbHSP110 has an elongated shape and is able of protecting against aggregation and replacing human HSPH1/HSP110 in refolding and disaggregation assays

Perturbations in the native structure, often caused by stressing cellular conditions, not only impair protein function but also lead to the formation of aggregates, which can accumulate in the cell leading to harmful effects. Some organisms, such as plants, express the molecular chaperone HSP100 (homologous to HSP104 from yeast), which has the remarkable capacity to disaggregate and reactivate proteins. Recently, studies with animal cells, which lack a canonical HSP100, have identified the involvement of a distinct system composed of HSP70/HSP40 that needs the assistance of HSP110 to efficiently perform protein breakdown. As sessile plants experience stressful conditions more severe than those experienced by animals, we asked whether a plant HSP110 could also play a role in collaborating with HSP70/HSP40 in a system that increases the efficiency of disaggregation. Thus, the gene for a putative HSP110 from the cereal Sorghum bicolor was cloned and the protein, named SbHSP110, purified. For comparison purposes, human HsHSP110 (HSPH1/HSP105) was also purified and investigated in parallel. First, a combination of spectroscopic and hydrodynamic techniques was used for the characterization of the conformation and stability of recombinant SbHSP110, which was produced folded. Second, small-angle X-ray scattering and combined predictors of protein structure indicated that SbHSP110 and HsHSP110 have similar conformations. Then, the chaperone activities, which included protection against aggregation, refolding, and reactivation, were investigated, showing that SbHSP110 and HsHSP110 have similar functional activities. Altogether, the results add to the structure/function relationship study of HSP110s and support the hypothesis that plants have multiple strategies to act upon the reactivation of protein aggregates.     

朱砂叶螨热激蛋白HSP70基因TCHSP70-4的克隆与表达

为了研究朱砂叶螨Tetranychus cinnabarinus(Boisduval)热激蛋白HSP70的表达与其适应高温和低温胁迫的关系,我们利用物种的同源性及RACE 技术,获得朱砂叶螨热激蛋白HSP70基因1个,命名为TCHSP70-4（GenBank 登录号为EU977182）。该基因全长2 182 bp,包含1 959 bp的开放阅读框,编码653个氨基酸,理论分子量为70.9 kDa,等电点为5.4,含有HSP70家族高度保守的基序。运用real-time PCR分析冷激（4℃）和热激（40℃）1 h后TCHSP70-4在朱砂叶螨体内的表达量。结果显示冷激后TCHSP70-4表达量明显下降,而热激后TCHSP70-4表达量却明显上升。这些结果一方面表明该基因属于诱导型HSP70基因,另一方面揭示了朱砂叶螨分别受到冷和热胁迫后体内TCHSP70-4的表达及所起的保护作用是不同的。     

黄粉虫热休克蛋白70基因的克隆、序列分析与表达（英文）

为给黄粉虫Tenebrio molitor抗逆机理研究提供理论依据, 本研究采用PCR和RACE法从黄粉虫幼虫中克隆出一个热休克蛋白70基因Tmhsp70, 并运用半定量RT-PCR法检测其在黄粉虫不同发育阶段的mRNA表达水平。结果表明： 克隆出的Tmhsp70 序列全长2 282 bp, 具有一个富含A的115 bp 5′ 非翻译区和一个1 935 bp的开放阅读框及一个富含A、 T的232 bp 3′-非翻译区。5′-非翻译区含有7个热休克元件nGAAn, 3′-非翻译区末端有长22 bp的Poly(A)尾。Tmhsp70编码的黄粉虫热休克蛋白（TmHSP70）具有3个典型的HSP70特征基序（IDLGTTYS, IFDLGGGTFDVSIL和IVLVGGSTRIPKIQQ）和1个胞质HSP70末端特征基序（EEVD）, 无信号肽和跨膜区域, 包含2个主要的结构域, 即： N-端42 kDa的高度保守ATPase功能域和C-端18 kDa的保守多肽结合功能域。ATPase功能域的三级结构由2个大球形亚功能域组成, 具有1个核苷酸结合中心; 多肽结合功能域形成1个双层4股β-折叠片样的三明治结构和2个α-螺旋, 内含1个多肽结合通道。此外, 黄粉虫Tmhsp70 mRNA的表达具有热激诱导和发育调控的特征。半定量RT-PCR分析表明, 42℃热激1 h的黄粉虫各发育阶段Tmhsp70 mRNA的表达量上升了1.4~26.9倍。25℃下1日龄黄粉虫蛹中的Tmhsp70 mRNA 表达量要高于其余各发育阶段的累积表达量; 42℃热激1 h 后90日龄幼虫中的Tmhsp70 mRNA 表达量最丰富, 既高于30日龄和60日龄幼虫中的累积表达量, 也高于15日龄和30日龄成虫中的累积表达量。这些结果为进一步研究黄粉虫热休克蛋白的结构、 功能和表达调控及其与抗逆性的关系奠定了基础。     

Landscape of protein–small ligand binding modes

Elucidating the mechanisms of specific small‐molecule (ligand) recognition by proteins is a long‐standing conundrum. While the structures of these molecules, proteins and ligands, have been extensively studied, protein–ligand interactions, or binding modes, have not been comprehensively analyzed. Although methods for assessing similarities of binding site structures have been extensively developed, the methods for the computational treatment of binding modes have not been well established. Here, we developed a computational method for encoding the information about binding modes as graphs, and assessing their similarities. An all‐against‐all comparison of 20,040 protein–ligand complexes provided the landscape of the protein–ligand binding modes and its relationships with protein‐ and chemical spaces. While similar proteins in the same SCOP Family tend to bind relatively similar ligands with similar binding modes, the correlation between ligand and binding similarities was not very high (R² = 0.443). We found many pairs with novel relationships, in which two evolutionally distant proteins recognize dissimilar ligands by similar binding modes (757,474 pairs out of 200,790,780 pairs were categorized into this relationship, in our dataset). In addition, there were an abundance of pairs of homologous proteins binding to similar ligands with different binding modes (68,217 pairs). Our results showed that many interesting relationships between protein–ligand complexes are still hidden in the structure database, and our new method for assessing binding mode similarities is effective to find them.     

大鼠热休克蛋白70的融合表达及纯化鉴定

目的：在大肠杆菌中高效表达并纯化大鼠热休克蛋白（HSP）70与麦芽糖结合蛋白（MBP）的融合蛋白,以进一步研究细胞外HSfr70的生物学功能。方法：用RT-PCR方法扩增目的基因,并将其克隆到原核表达载体pMAL-c2X中,酶切鉴定并进行DNA测序;将该重组表达载体转化大肠杆菌B121,用IPTG在不同温度及时间下进行诱导表达,建立最佳诱导表达条件;采用Amylose树脂预装柱对目的蛋白进行亲和纯化,并对不同表达条件下的产物进行SDS-PAGE及Westernblot分析。结果：克隆出目的基因,构建了融合表达载体pMAL-c2X／hsp70;诱导表达后经SDS-PAGE检测表明获得了目的条带,并纯化出纯度较高的融合蛋白;免疫印迹鉴定表明其具有抗原活性。结论：在大肠杆菌中高效表达并纯化了融合蛋白MBP-HSP70,为进一步研究细胞外HSP70的生物学效应提供了有用的材料。     

Molecular identification and expression of heat shock cognate 70 (<Emphasis Type="Italic">HSC</Emphasis>70) in the pacific white shrimp <Emphasis Type="Italic">Litopenaeus vannamei</Emphasis>

Heat shock protein 70s (HSP70s) are fundamental chaperone proteins that are indispensable to most living organisms. In order to investigate the function of HSP70 and heat shock response in shrimp, a heat shock cognate (HSC70) gene of the white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), containing a 1959-bp open reading frame, was cloned and characterized. The amino acid sequence, 71.5 kDa of molecular weight, shares 80–99.6% homology with 12 diverse species’ HSP70s and HSC70s. In fact, some segments of the eukaryotic HSC70 sequence, such as ATP/GTP-binding site, cytoplasmic HSP70 C-terminal sequence, and GGMP/GAP repeats, are also found in the putative shrimp HSC70. Moreover, multitissue RT-PCR was performed to assay the basal expressions of HSC70 in the heart, gill, hepatopancreas, stomach, gut, and muscle. The results demonstrate that the basal expressions of HSC70 in theses organs are similar to that of β-actin. Furthermore, quantitative real-time experiments showed that HSC70 was upregulated in hepatopancreas (4.6-fold), stomach (5.9-fold), gut (2.6-fold), and muscle (3.5-fold) but not in the heart (1.7-fold) and gill (1.6-fold) after 2 h of heat shock. Nevertheless, the HSC70 was found to be highly expressed in the heart and gill following 6 h of heat shock. This suggests that HSC70 in white shrimp possess both short-term and long-term responses to heat shock stress, indicating this HSC70 may be a heat-dependent HSC70 member. Finally, we constructed an expression vector to generate HSC70 in Escherichia coli BL21, which displayed immune cross-reactivity with mouse HSP70 antibody. In conclusion, the identification and expression of the white shrimp HSC70 gene present useful data for studying the molecular mechanism of heat shock response and the effect of heat shock proteins in shrimps’ cytoprotection. Published in Russian in Molekulyarnaya Biologiya, 2008, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 265–274. The text was submitted by the authors in English.