Radiation-induced oxidative damage to the DNA-binding domain of the lactose repressor

Understanding the cellular effects of radiation-induced oxidation requires the unravelling of key molecular events, particularly damage to proteins with important cellular functions. The Escherichia coli lactose operon is a classical model of gene regulation systems. Its functional mechanism involves the specific binding of a protein, the repressor, to a specific DNA sequence, the operator. We have shown previously that upon irradiation with gamma-rays in solution, the repressor loses its ability to bind the operator. Water radiolysis generates hydroxyl radicals (OH* radicals) which attack the protein. Damage of the repressor DNA-binding domain, called the headpiece, is most likely to be responsible of this loss of function. Using CD, fluorescence spectroscopy and a combination of proteolytic cleavage with MS, we have examined the state of the irradiated headpiece. CD measurements revealed a dose-dependent conformational change involving metastable intermediate states. Fluorescence measurements showed a gradual degradation of tyrosine residues. MS was used to count the number of oxidations in different regions of the headpiece and to narrow down the parts of the sequence bearing oxidized residues. By calculating the relative probabilities of reaction of each amino acid with OH. radicals, we can predict the most probable oxidation targets. By comparing the experimental results with the predictions we conclude that Tyr7, Tyr12, Tyr17, Met42 and Tyr47 are the most likely hotspots of oxidation. The loss of repressor function is thus correlated with chemical modifications and conformational changes of the headpiece.     

Alanine screening mutagenesis establishes the critical inactivating damage of irradiated E. coli lactose repressor

The function of the E. coli lactose operon requires the binding of lactose repressor to operator DNA. We have previously shown that γ rradiation destabilizes the repressor-operator complex because the repressor loses its DNA-binding ability. It was suggested that the observed oxidation of the four tyrosines (Y7, Y12, Y17, Y47) and the concomitant structural changes of the irradiated DNA-binding domains (headpieces) could be responsible for the inactivation. To pinpoint the tyrosine whose oxidation has the strongest effect, four headpieces containing the product of tyrosine oxidation, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), were simulated by molecular dynamics. We have observed that replacing Y47 by DOPA triggers the largest change of structure and stability of the headpiece and have concluded that Y47 oxidation is the greatest contributor to the decrease of repressor binding to DNA. To experimentally verify this conclusion, we applied the alanine screening mutagenesis approach. Tetrameric mutated repressors bearing an alanine instead of each one of the tyrosines were prepared and their binding to operator DNA was checked. Their binding ability is quite similar to that of the wild-type repressor, except for the Y47A mutant whose binding is strongly reduced. Circular dichroism determinations revealed small reductions of the proportion of α helices and of the melting temperature for Y7A, Y12A and Y17A headpieces, but much larger ones were revealed for Y47A headpiece. These results established the critical role of Y47 oxidation in modifying the structure and stability of the headpiece, and in reduction of the binding ability of the whole lactose repressor.     

Radiation abolishes inducer binding to lactose repressor

The lactose operon functions under the control of the repressor-operator system. Binding of the repressor to the operator prevents the expression of the structural genes. This interaction can be destroyed by the binding of an inducer to the repressor. If ionizing radiations damage the partners, a dramatic dysfunction of the regulation system may be expected. We showed previously that gamma irradiation hinders repressor-operator binding through protein damage. Here we show that irradiation of the repressor abolishes the binding of the gratuitous inducer isopropyl-1-beta-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) to the repressor. The observed lack of release of the repressor from the complex results from the loss of the ability of the inducer to bind to the repressor due to the destruction of the IPTG binding site. Fluorescence measurements show that both tryptophan residues located in or near the IPTG binding site are damaged. Since tryptophan damage is strongly correlated with the loss of IPTG binding ability, we conclude that it plays a critical role in the effect. A model was built that takes into account the kinetic analysis of damage production and the observed protection of its binding site by IPTG. This model satisfactorily accounts for the experimental results and allows us to understand the radiation-induced effects.     

Comparing native and irradiated E. coli lactose repressor-operator complex by molecular dynamics simulation

The function of the E. coli lactose operon requires the binding of the tetrameric repressor protein to the operator DNA. We have previously shown that γ-irradiation destabilises the repressor-operator complex because the repressor gradually loses its DNA-binding ability (Radiat Res 170:604–612, 2008). It was suggested that the observed oxidation of tyrosine residues and the concomitant structural changes of irradiated headpieces (DNA-binding domains of repressor monomers) could be responsible for the inactivation. To unravel the mechanisms that lead to repressor-operator complex destabilisation when tyrosine oxidation occurs, we have compared by molecular dynamic simulations two complexes: (1) the native complex formed by two headpieces and the operator DNA, and (2) the damaged complex, in which all tyrosines are replaced by their oxidation product 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA). On a 20 ns time scale, MD results show effects consistent with complex destabilisation: increased flexibility, increased DNA bending, modification of the hydrogen bond network, and decrease of the positive electrostatic potential at the protein surface and of the global energy of DNA-protein interactions.     

Structure of the complex between lac repressor headpiece and operator DNA from measurements of the orientation relaxation and the electric dichroism.

The complex between lac repressor headpiece and short rodlike DNA fragments containing the lac operator sequence is characterised by measurements of the rotation diffusion. Using the method of electric dichroism we measure the rotation relaxation and determine changes in the length of the DNA upon ligand binding with high accuracy. According to these measurements any change in the length of the operator DNA upon binding of the first two headpiece molecules remains below 1A; the electric dichroism also remains virtually unchanged. At high degrees of (unspecific) binding we observe an increase in the rotation relaxation time, which is attributed to an increase of the apparent mean radius of the complex. As a control of our procedure for the determination of length changes we use the intercalation of ethidium bromide and arrive at an increase of the DNA length per bound ethidium of 3.2A (at 3.4A rise per base pair). The results obtained for the headpiece operator complex are not consistent with models assuming large changes of the DNA structure or intercalation of tyrosine residues.     

Interaction between the lac operator and the lac repressor headpiece: fluorescence and circular dichroism studies

The interaction between the lac repressor headpiece and a small operator DNA fragment has been examined by fluorescence and circular dichroism (c.d.) measurements. Binding of the headpiece to the DNA fragment induces a strong quenching of the fluorescence of its tyrosine residues. Quantitative analysis of the fluorescence data demonstrates that, in a first step, two headpieces bind very strongly to the DNA fragment then weaker binding occurs. C.d. demonstrates that the binding induces conformational changes of the DNA. The c.d. change produced upon binding of the first two headpieces differs from that induced upon binding of two further headpieces . Binding of the second pair of headpieces is similar to non-specific binding to non-operator DNA. The conformation of the operator DNA in the presence of two headpieces differs drastically from that in presence of lac repressor. Addition of the core to the lac operator does not induce any conformational change of the nucleic acids. These results are discussed with respect to the relative roles of core and headpieces in the lac repressor-lac operator interaction.     

31P NMR spectra of oligodeoxyribonucleotide duplex lac operator-repressor headpiece complexes: importance of phosphate ester backbone flexibility in protein-DNA recognition.

The 31P NMR spectra of various 14-base-pair lac operators bound to both wild-type and mutant lac repressor headpiece proteins were analyzed to provide information on the backbone conformation in the complexes. The 31P NMR spectrum of a wild-type symmetrical operator, d(TGTGAGCGCTCACA)2, bound to the N-terminal 56-residue headpiece fragment of a Y7I mutant repressor was nearly identical to the spectrum of the same operator bound to the wild-type repressor headpiece. In contrast, the 31P NMR spectrum of the mutant operator, d(TATAGAGCGCTCATA)2, wild-type headpiece complex was significantly perturbed relative to the wild-type repressor-operator complex. The 31P chemical shifts of the phosphates of a second mutant operator, d(TGTGTGCGCACACA)2, showed small but specific changes upon complexation with either the wild-type or mutant headpiece. The 31P chemical shifts of the phosphates of a third mutant operator, d(TCTGAGCGCTCAGA)2, showed no perturbations upon addition of the wild-type headpiece. The 31P NMR results provide further evidence for predominant recognition of the 5'-strand of the 5'-TGTGA/3'-ACACT binding site in a 2:1 protein to headpiece complex. It is proposed that specific, strong-binding operator-protein complexes retain the inherent phosphate ester conformational flexibility of the operator itself, whereas the phosphate esters are conformationally restricted in the weak-binding operator-protein complexes. This retention of backbone torsional freedom in strong complexes is entropically favorable and provides a new (and speculative) mechanism for protein discrimination of different operator binding sites. It demonstrates the potential importance of phosphate geometry and flexibility on protein recognition and binding.     

Activity changes in lac repressor with cysteine oxidation.

The effects of prior covalent cysteine modification or nonspecific DNA presence on the reaction of lac repressor protein with N-bromosuccinimide have been investigated. At low excesses, N-bromosuccinimide oxidation causes loss of operator DNA binding activity with simultaneous retention of inducer and nonspecific DNA binding activities. Cysteine and methionine are oxidized under the conditions utilized. Covalent modification of the cysteines of repressor prior to reaction decreased the observed loss of operator DNA binding capacity; the presence of nonspecific DNA partially prevented oxidation of the cysteines by N-bromosuccinimide, and concurrent protection of operator binding ability was observed. Methionine oxidation was observed in the cases where protection of the operator DNA binding capacity of repressor was seen. The region surrounding cysteine 107 was found to be influential in maintaining intact operator DNA binding function in repressor. This observation provides chemical evidence for the contribution of the core region of repressor in determining specificity of the protein in binding the lac operator. The protection from oxidation of cysteine residues in the core region by the presence of nonspecific DNA suggests that this binding influences the core region of the protein.     

NMR study of the interaction between the lac repressor and the lac operator

Binding of the lac repressor headpiece, the N-terminal region of the lac repressor, to the lac operator of Escherichia coli was studied by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Two DNA fragments, of 51 base pairs and 62 base pairs, containing the lac operator region, were investigated. The signals of their hydrogen-bonded imino protons were well resolved in the 500-MHz NMR spectra. The spectra of the free lac operator DNA are similar to those obtained from ring-current-shift calculations for a B-DNA structure. Complex formation with the headpiece led to small but nevertheless characteristic changes in the spectra. The fact that very few imino resonances shifted upon addition of headpiece, as well as the variety in direction and size of these chemical shifts, indicate the formation of a specific complex between the lac repressor and the lac operator. The observed changes in the resonance positions exclude the intercalation of tyrosine residues of the headpiece between adjacent base pairs of the lac operator as well as the formation of a cruciform structure. They rather reflect a small conformational transition in the DNA itself, caused for example by an alteration in the tilt of a few base pairs or a shift of the keto-enol tautomeric equilibrium of the bases towards the enolic form.     

Modification of tyrosine residues of the lactose repressor protein.

Reaction of the lactose repressor protein from Escherichia coli with high molar excesses (up to 800 fold) of tetranitromethane resulted in modification of tyrosine residues in the amino-terminal and core regions of the molecule. Tyrosines 7 and 17 exhibit significant reactivity at low levels (5-10 fold molar excess) of tetranitromethane. The loss of operator binding activity upon nitration at these low concentrations of reagent indicates involvement of these two tyrosines in the binding process. Inducer binding activity was maintained at approx. 90% of unreacted repressor for all excesses of reagent studied. Addition of inducer to the repressor prior to reaction resulted in decreased modification of tyrosines in the core region, but anti-inducers did not affect the reaction significantly. The effect of inducers on the pattern of reaction apparently reflects the conformational change which occurs upon binding of these ligands. Acetylation of the repressor protein with N-acetylimidazole modified lysines and tyrosines with complete loss of operator binding activity and retention of 75-80% of inducer binding activity.     

DNA-binding site of lac repressor probed by dimethylsulfate methylation of lac operator.

In order to compare the structures of the DNA-binding sites on variants of the lac repressor, we have studied the influence of these variants on the dimethylsulfate methylation of the lac operator. Since a bound protein changes the availability of specific purines in the operator to this chemical attack, comparisons of the methylation patterns will show similarities or differences in the protein DNA contacts. We compared lac repressor, induced lac repressor (repressor bound to the gratuitous inducer isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactoside), mutant repressors having increased operator affinities (X86, I12 and the X86-I12 double mutant) and repressor peptides (long headpiece, residues 1 to 59 and short headpiece. residues 1 to 51). All of these repressors and repressor peptides exhibit the same general pattern of protection and enhancement in the operator; however, the short headpiece pattern differs most from that of the repressor while the induced repressor and the long headpiece show intermediate patterns that are strikingly similar to each other. The mutant repressors do not show an isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactoside effect but otherwise are almost indistinguishable from wild-type repressor. These results demonstrate that all molecules bind to the operator using basically the same protein-DNA contacts; they imply that (1) most and possibly all repressor contacts to operator lie within amino acids 1 to 51, (2) inducer weakens many contacts rather than totally disrupting one or even a few and (3) the tight-binding mutants do not make additional contacts to the DNA.These results are consistent with a model in which the amino-terminal portions of two repressor monomers make the DNA contacts. We show that one can understand the affinity of binding as related to the accuracy of the register of the two amino-terminal portions along the DNA. Furthermore, the action of inducer and the behaviour of the tight binding mutants can be accomodated within a two-state model in which the strongly or weakly binding states correspond to structures in which the amino-terminal regions are rigidly or loosely held with respect to each other.     

Crystallographic analysis of Lac repressor bound to natural operator O1

Previous structures of Lac repressor bound to DNA used a fully symmetric "ideal" operator sequence that is missing the central G-C base-pair present in the three natural operator sequences. Here we have determined the X-ray crystal structure of a dimeric Lac repressor bound to a 22 base-pair DNA with the natural operator O1 sequence and the anti-inducer ONPF, at 4.0 A resolution. The natural operator is bent in the same way as the symmetric sequence, due to the binding of the hinge helices of the repressor to the minor groove at the central GCGG sequence of O1. Comparison of the structures of the repressor bound to the natural and symmetric operators shows very similar overall structures, with only slight rearrangements of the headpiece domains of the repressor. Analysis of crystals with iodinated DNA shows that the operator is uniquely positioned and allows for the sequence registration of the DNA relative to the repressor to be determined. The kink in the operator is centered between the left half-site and the central G-C base-pair of O1. Our results are most consistent with a previously proposed model in which, relative to the complex with the symmetric operator, the repressor accommodates binding to the natural operator sequence by shifting the position of the right headpiece by one base-pair step towards the center of O1.     

31P NMR spectra of an oligodeoxyribonucleotide duplex lac operator-repressor headpiece complex

The interaction of a symmetric lac operator duplex, d(TGTGAGCGCTCACA)2, with the N-terminal 56-residue headpiece fragment of the lac repressor protein was monitored by 31P NMR spectroscopy. The changes in the 31P chemical shifts upon addition of the headpiece demonstrated an end point of two headpiece fragments per symmetric 14-mer duplex with each headpiece binding to the T1pG2pT3pG4pA5 ends of the duplex. The specific phosphate 31P perturbations observed are consistent with those residues implicated in protein binding by previous NMR, molecular biological, and biochemical techniques. Upon complexation, the 31P signals of phosphates G2-A5 showed upfield or downfield shifts (less than 0.2 ppm) while most other residues were unperturbed. The interactions were dependent on ionic strength. The 31P NMR data provide direct evidence for predominant recognition of the 5' strand of the 5'-TGTGA/3'-ACACT binding site.     

Lactose repressor protein modified with dansyl chloride: activity effects and fluorescence properties

Chemical modification using 5-(dimethylamino)naphthalene-1-sulfonyl chloride (dansyl chloride) has been used to explore the importance of lysine residues involved in the binding activities of the lactose repressor and to introduce a fluorescent probe into the protein. Dansyl chloride modification of lac repressor resulted in loss of operator DNA binding at low molar ratios of reagent/monomer. Loss of nonspecific DNA binding was observed only at higher molar ratios, while isopropyl beta-D-thiogalactoside binding was not affected at any of the reagent levels studied. Lysine residues were the only modified amino acids detected. Protection of lysines-33 and -37 from modification by the presence of nonspecific DNA correlated with maintenance of operator DNA binding activity, and reaction of lysine-37 paralleled operator binding activity loss. Energy transfer between dansyl incorporated in the core region of the repressor protein and tryptophan-201 was observed, with an approximate distance of 23 A calculated between these two moieties.     

Diethyl pyrocarbonate reaction with the lactose repressor protein affects both inducer and DNA binding

Modification of the lactose repressor protein of Escherichia coli with diethyl pyrocarbonate (DPC) results in decreased inducer binding as well as operator and nonspecific DNA binding. Spectrophotometric measurements indicated a maximum of three histidines per subunit was modified, and quantitation of lysine residues with trinitrobenzenesulfonate revealed the modification of one lysine residue. The loss of DNA binding, both operator and nonspecific, was correlated with histidine modification; removal of the carbethoxy groups from the histidines by hydroxylamine was accompanied by significant recovery of DNA binding function. The presence of inducing sugars during the DPC reaction had no effect on histidine modification or the loss of DNA binding activity. In contrast, inducer binding was not recovered upon reversal of the histidine modification. However, the presence of inducer during reaction protected lysine from reaction and also prevented the decrease in inducer binding; these results indicate that reaction of the lysine residue(s) may correlate to the loss of sugar binding activity. Since no difference in incorporation of radiolabeled carbethoxy was observed following reaction with diethyl pyrocarbonate in the presence or absence of inducer, the reagent appears to function as a catalyst in the modification of the lysine. The formation of an amide bond between the affected lysine and a nearby carboxylic acid moiety provides a possible mechanism for the activity loss. Reaction of the isolated NH2-terminal domain resulted in loss of DNA binding with modification of the single histidine at position 29. Results from the modification of core domain paralleled observations with intact repressor.