The origins of asymmetry in the folding transition states of protein L and protein G

Topology has been shown to be an important determinant of many features of protein folding; however, the delineation of sequence effects on folding remains obscure. Furthermore, differentiation between the two influences proves difficult due to their intimate relationship. To investigate the effect of sequence in the absence of significant topological differences, we examined the folding mechanisms of segment B1 peptostreptococcal protein L and segment B1 of streptococcal protein G. These proteins share the same highly symmetrical topology. Despite this symmetry, neither protein folds through a symmetrical transition state. We analyzed the origins of this difference using theoretical models. We found that the strength of the interactions present in the N-terminal hairpin of protein L causes this hairpin to form ahead of the C-terminal hairpin. The difference in chain entropy associated with the formation of the hairpins of protein G proves sufficient to beget initiation of folding at the shorter C-terminal hairpin. Our findings suggest that the mechanism of folding may be understood by examination of the free energy associated with the formation of partially folded microstates.     

The primary structure of rat ribosomal protein S20

The amino acid sequence of the rat 40 S ribosomal subunit protein S20 was deduced from the sequence of nucleotides in two recombinant cDNAs. Ribosomal protein S20 has 119 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 13,364. Hybridization of the cDNA to digests of nuclear DNA suggests that there are 16-19 copies of the S20 gene. The mRNA for the protein is about 600 nucleotides in length. Rat S20 is homologous to Xenopus laevis S22 and is related to Mycoplasma capricolum S10 and to Escherichia coli S10. The protein contains a possible internal duplication of seven residues.     

Different secondary structure elements as scaffolds for protein folding transition states of two homologous four-helix bundles

Comparison of the folding processes for homologue proteins can provide valuable information about details in the interactions leading to the formation of the folding transition state. Here the folding kinetics of 18 variants of yACBP and 3 variants of bACBP have been studied by Phi-value analysis. In combination with Phi-values from previous work, detailed insight into the transition states for folding of both yACBP and bACBP has been obtained. Of the 16 sequence positions that have been studied in both yACBP and bACBP, 5 (V12, I/L27, Y73, V77, and L80) have high Phi-values and appear to be important for the transition state formation in both homologues. Y31, A34, and A69 have high Phi-values only in yACBP, while F5, A9, and I74 have high Phi-values only in bACBP. Thus, additional interactions between helices A2 and A4 appear to be important for the transition state of yACBP, whereas additional interactions between helices A1 and A4 appear to be important for the transition state of bACBP. To examine whether these differences could be assigned to different packing of the residues in the native state, a solution structure of yACBP was determined by NMR. Small changes in the packing of the hydrophobic side-chains, which strengthen the interactions between helices A2 and A4, are observed in yACBP relative to bACBP. It is suggested that different structure elements serve as scaffolds for the folding of the 2 ACBP homologues.     

Involvement of mitochondrial ribosomal proteins in ribosomal RNA-mediated protein folding

The peptidyl transferase center of the domain V of large ribosomal RNA in the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cytosolic ribosomes acts as general protein folding modulator. We showed earlier that one part of the domain V (RNA1 containing the peptidyl transferase loop) binds unfolded protein and directs it to a folding competent state (FCS) that is released by the other part (RNA2) to attain the folded native state by itself. Here we show that the peptidyl transferase loop of the mitochondrial ribosome releases unfolded proteins in FCS extremely slowly despite its lack of the rRNA segment analogous to RNA2. The release of FCS can be hastened by the equivalent activity of RNA2 or the large subunit proteins of the mitochondrial ribosome. The RNA2 or large subunit proteins probably introduce some allosteric change in the peptidyl transferase loop to enable it to release proteins in FCS.     

Local folding coupled to RNA binding in the yeast ribosomal protein L30.

The ribosomal protein L30 from yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae auto-regulates its own synthesis by binding to a structural element in both its pre-mRNA and its mRNA. The three-dimensional structures of L30 in the free (f L30) and the pre-mRNA bound (b L30) forms have been solved by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Both protein structures contain four alternating alpha-helices and four beta-strands segments and adopt an overall topology that is an alphabetaalpha three-layer sandwich, representing a unique fold. Three loops on one end of the alphabetaalpha sandwich have been mapped as the RNA binding site on the basis of structural comparison, chemical shift perturbation and the inter-molecular nuclear Overhauser effects to the RNA. The structural and dynamic comparison of f L30 and b L30 reveals that local dynamics may play an important role in the RNA binding. The fourth helix in b L30 is longer than in f L30, and is stabilized by RNA binding. The exposed hydrophobic surface that is buried upon RNA binding may provide the energy necessary to drive secondary structure formation, and may account for the increased stability of b L30.     

Thermodynamic characterisation of two transition states along parallel protein folding pathways

Recent work has shown that a β-sandwich domain from the human muscle protein titin (TI I27) unfolds via more than one pathway, providing experimental evidence for a long-standing theoretical prediction in protein folding. Here we present a thermodynamic analysis of two transition states along different folding pathways for this protein. The unusual upwards curvature previously observed in the denaturant-dependent unfolding kinetics is increased at both high and low temperatures, indicating that the high denaturant pathway is becoming more accessible. The transition states in each pathway are structurally distinct and have very different heat capacities. Interestingly the nucleation-condensation pathway is dominant at all physiologically relevant temperatures, supporting the suggestion that pathways with diffuse rather than localised transition states have been selected for by evolution to prevent misfolding.     

An evolutionary strategy for all-atom folding of the 60-amino-acid bacterial ribosomal protein l20

We have investigated an evolutionary algorithm for de novo all-atom folding of the bacterial ribosomal protein L20. We report results of two simulations that converge to near-native conformations of this 60-amino-acid, four-helix protein. We observe a steady increase of "native content" in both simulated ensembles and a large number of near-native conformations in their final populations. We argue that these structures represent a significant fraction of the low-energy metastable conformations, which characterize the folding funnel of this protein. These data validate our all-atom free-energy force field PFF01 for tertiary structure prediction of a previously inaccessible structural family of proteins. We also compare folding simulations of the evolutionary algorithm with the basin-hopping technique for the Trp-cage protein. We find that the evolutionary algorithm generates a dynamic memory in the simulated population, which leads to faster overall convergence.     

Two conformational states in the crystal structure of the Homo sapiens cytoplasmic ribosomal decoding A site

The decoding A site of the small ribosomal subunit is an RNA molecular switch, which monitors codon–anticodon interactions to guarantee translation fidelity. We have solved the crystal structure of an RNA fragment containing two Homo sapiens cytoplasmic A sites. Each of the two A sites presents a different conformational state. In one state, adenines A1492 and A1493 are fully bulged-out with C1409 forming a wobble-like pair to A1491. In the second state, adenines A1492 and A1493 form non-Watson–Crick pairs with C1409 and G1408, respectively while A1491 bulges out. The first state of the eukaryotic A site is, thus, basically the same as in the bacterial A site with bulging A1492 and A1493. It is the state used for recognition of the codon/anticodon complex. On the contrary, the second state of the H.sapiens cytoplasmic A site is drastically different from any of those observed for the bacterial A site without bulging A1492 and A1493.     

The primary structure of rat ribosomal protein L9

The amino acid (aa) sequence of rat ribosomal (r) protein L9 was deduced from the nucleotide (nt) sequence in a recombinant cDNA and confirmed from the N-terminal aa sequence of the protein. L9 contains 192 aa and has an Mr of 21879. Hybridization of the cDNA to digests of nuclear DNA suggests that there are 20-23 copies of the L9 gene. The mRNA for the protein is about 800 nt in length. Rat L9 is related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae YL11, Methanococcus vannielii L6, Escherichia coli L6 and other members of the prokaryotic L6 family. The protein contains a possible internal duplication of 11 aa.     

The primary structure of rat ribosomal protein L21

The covalent structure of rat ribosomal protein L21 was deduced from the sequence of nucleotides in a recombinant cDNA and confirmed from the NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of the protein. Ribosomal protein L21 contains 159 amino acids (the NH2-terminal methionine is removed after translation of the mRNA) and has a molecular weight of 18,322. Hybridization of the cDNA to digests of nuclear DNA suggests that there are 16-23 copies of the L21 gene. The mRNA for the protein is about 680 nucleotides in length.     

The primary structure of rat ribosomal protein L17

The amino acid sequence of the rat 60S ribosomal subunit protein L17 was deduced from the sequence of nucleotides in two recombinant cDNAs. Ribosomal protein L17 has 184 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 21,383. Hybridization of the cDNA to digests of nuclear DNA suggests that there are 17-19 copies of the L17 gene. The mRNA for the protein is about 720 nucleotides in length. Rat L17 is homologous to human L17 and related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae YL17, Halobacterium marismortui L23, Halobacterium halobium L22e, Escherichia coli L22 and other members of the prokaryotic L22 family.     

The primary structure of rat ribosomal protein L12

The covalent structure of the rat 60S subunit protein L12 which is a component of the ribosomal elongation factor binding domain was deduced from the sequence of nucleotides in a recombinant cDNA and confirmed from the NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of the protein. L12 has 165 amino acids and a molecular weight of 17,834. Hybridization of the cDNA to digests of nuclear DNA suggests that there are 11-13 copies of the L12 gene. The mRNA for the protein is about 800 nucleotides in length. Rat L12 is homologous to Saccharomyces cerevisiae L15. The cDNA contains the highly repetitive DNA sequence, R.dre.1, in the 3' noncoding region.     

The structure and dynamics of ribosomal protein L12

The protein L12 in bacterial ribosomes is essential for the proper function of a number of factors involved in protein synthesis. The protein is mostly described in terms of a rigid structure despite the repeated observation of high flexibility. This paper gives a review of the structure and flexibility of L12 in relation to its function.     

The primary structure of rat ribosomal protein L35

The amino acid sequence of the rat 60S ribosomal subunit protein L35 was deduced from the sequence of nucleotides in a recombinant cDNA and confirmed from the NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of the protein. Ribosomal protein L35 has 122 amino acids (the NH2-terminal methionine is removed after translation of the mRNA) and has a molecular weight of 14,412. Hybridization of the cDNA to digests of nuclear DNA suggests that there are 15-17 copies of the L35 gene. The mRNA for the protein is about 570 nucleotides in length. Rat L35 is related to the archaebacterial ribosomal proteins Halobacterium marismortui L33 and Halobacterium halobium L29E; it is also related to Escherichia coli L29 and to other members of the prokaryotic ribosomal protein L29 family. The protein contains a possible internal duplication of 11 residues.     

The primary structure of rat ribosomal protein L26

The amino acid sequence of rat ribosomal protein L26 was deduced from the sequence of nucleotides in a recombinant cDNA and confirmed from the NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of the protein. Rat L26 contains 145 amino acids and has a molecular mass of 17,266 Da. Hybridization of the cDNA to digests of nuclear DNA suggests that there are 8-16 copies of the L26 gene. The mRNA for the protein is about 650 nucleotides in length. Protein L26 has a sequence of 9 residues that may be repeated in three places.     

Autoantibodies specific for the 20-KDal ribosomal large subunit protein L12

New antibodies reactive with a 20 KDal ribosomal protein of the large subunit were found in sera from two of eighty patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. This antigenic protein was identified as L12 by the mobility in two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Both sera also contained anti-P activity against three acidic phosphoproteins (P proteins), but this activity was completely inhibited by preincubation with the isolated P proteins. Therefore, these anti-L12 can be useful for studying the function of L12 in protein synthesis.     

NMR structure of the ribosomal protein L23 from Thermus thermophilus

The ribosomal protein L23 is a component of the large ribosomal subunit in which it is located close to the peptide exit tunnel. In this position L23 plays a central role both for protein secretion and folding. We have determined the solution structure of L23 from Thermus thermophilus. Uncomplexed L23 consists of a well-ordered part, with four anti-parallel -strands and three -helices connected as ------, and a large and flexible loop inserted between the third and fourth -strand. The observed topology is distantly related to previously known structures, primarily within the area of RNA biochemistry. A comparison with RNA-complexed crystal structures of L23 from T. thermophilus, Deinococcus radiodurans and Haloarcula marismourtui, shows that the conformation of the well-ordered part is very similar in the uncomplexed and complexed states. However, the flexible loop found in the uncomplexed solution structure forms a rigid extended structure in the complexed crystal structures as it interacts with rRNA and becomes part of the exit tunnel wall. Structural characteristics of importance for the interaction with rRNA and with the ribosomal protein L29, as well as the functional role of L23, are discussed.     

The primary structure of rat liver ribosomal protein L39

The covalent structure of the rat liver 60 S ribosomal subunit protein L39 was determined. Fourteen tryptic peptides were purified, and the sequence of each was established by a micromanual procedure; they accounted for all 50 residues of L39. The sequence of the NH2-terminal 32 residues of L39, obtained by automated Edman degradation of the intact protein, provided the alignment of the first seven tryptic peptides. Two peptides, CNI (28 residues) and CNII (22 residues), were produced by cleavage of protein L39 with cyanogen bromide and the sequence of CNII was determined by automated Edman degradation. This sequence established the order of tryptic peptides T8 through T14. The carboxyl-terminal amino acids were identified after carboxypeptidase A treatment. Protein L39 contains 50 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 7308. There are indications that a portion of rat L39 is related to a fragment of Escherichia coli ribosomal protein S1.