Characterization of the Raf Kinase Inhibitory Protein (RKIP) Binding Pocket: NMR-Based Screening Identifies Small-Molecule Ligands

Raf kinase inhibitory protein (RKIP), also known as phoshaptidylethanolamine binding protein (PEBP), has been shown to inhibit Raf and thereby negatively regulate growth factor signaling by the Raf/MAP kinase pathway. RKIP has also been shown to suppress metastasis. We have previously demonstrated that RKIP/Raf interaction is regulated by two mechanisms: phosphorylation of RKIP at Ser-153, and occupation of RKIP's conserved ligand binding domain with a phospholipid (2-dihexanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine; DHPE). In addition to phospholipids, other ligands have been reported to bind this domain; however their binding properties remain uncharacterized.In this study, we used high-resolution heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy to screen a chemical library and assay a number of potential RKIP ligands for binding to the protein. Surprisingly, many compounds previously postulated as RKIP ligands showed no detectable binding in near-physiological solution conditions even at millimolar concentrations. In contrast, we found three novel ligands for RKIP that specifically bind to the RKIP pocket. Interestingly, unlike the phospholipid, DHPE, these newly identified ligands did not affect RKIP binding to Raf-1 or RKIP phosphorylation. One out of the three ligands displayed off target biological effects, impairing EGF-induced MAPK and metabolic activity.This work defines the binding properties of RKIP ligands under near physiological conditions, establishing RKIP's affinity for hydrophobic ligands and the importance of bulky aliphatic chains for inhibiting its function. The common structural elements of these compounds defines a minimal requirement for RKIP binding and thus they can be used as lead compounds for future design of RKIP ligands with therapeutic potential

Enhanced sensitivity to local dynamics in peptides by use of temperature-jump IR-spectroscopy and isotope labeling

Site-specific isotopic labeling of molecules is a widely used approach in IR-spectroscopy to resolve local contributions to vibrational modes. The induced frequency shift of the corresponding IR band depends on the substituted masses, but also on hydrogen bonding and on vibrational coupling. The impact of these different factors was analyzed with a designed three-stranded β-sheet peptide and by use of selected 13C isotope substitutions at multiple positions in the peptide backbone. Single strand labels give rise to isotopically shifted bands at different frequencies depending on the specific sites, demonstrating sensitivity to the local environment. Cross-strand double and triple labeled peptides exhibited two resolved bands, which could be uniquely assigned to specific residues, whose equilibrium IR indicated only weak local-mode coupling. Temperature-jump IR-laser spectroscopy was applied to monitor structural dynamics and revealed an impressive enhancement of the isotope sensitivity to both local positions and coupling between them as compared to equilibrium FTIR. Site-specific relaxation rates were altered upon introduction of additional cross-strand isotopes. Likewise, the rates for the global β-sheet dynamics were affected in a manner dependent on the distinct relaxation behavior of the labeled oscillator. The study demonstrates that isotope labels do not just provide local structural probes, but they rather sense the dynamic complexity of the molecular environment.publishe

E22G Pathogenic Mutation of β‑Amyloid (Aβ) Enhances Misfolding of Aβ40 by Unexpected Prion-like Cross Talk between Aβ42 and Aβ40

Cross-seeding of misfolded amyloid proteins is postulated to induce cross-species infection of prion diseases. In sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (AD), misfolding of 42-residue β-amyloid (Aβ) is widely considered to trigger amyloid plaque deposition. Despite increasing evidence that misfolded Aβ mimics prions, interactions of misfolded 42-residue Aβ42 with more abundant 40-residue Aβ40 in AD are elusive. This study presents <i>in vitro</i> evidence that a heterozygous E22G pathogenic (“Arctic”) mutation of Aβ40 can enhance misfolding of Aβ via cross-seeding from wild-type (WT) Aβ42 fibril. Thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence analysis suggested that misfolding of E22G Aβ40 was enhanced by adding 5% (w/w) WT Aβ42 fibril as “seed”, whereas WT Aβ40 was unaffected by Aβ42 fibril seed. ¹³C SSNMR analysis revealed that such cross-seeding prompted formation of E22G Aβ40 fibril that structurally mimics the seed Aβ42 fibril, suggesting unexpected cross talk of Aβ isoforms that potentially promotes early onset of AD. The SSNMR approach is likely applicable to elucidate structural details of heterogeneous amyloid fibrils produced in cross-seeding for amyloids linked to neurodegenerative diseases

Isotopically Site-Selected Dynamics of a Three-Stranded -Sheet Peptide Detected with Temperature-Jump IR-Spectroscopy

Infrared detected temperature jump (T-jump) spectroscopy and site-specific isotopic labeling were applied to study a model three-stranded beta-sheet peptide with the goal of individually probing the dynamics of strand and turn structural elements. This peptide had two DPro-Gly (pG) turn sequences to stabilize the two component hairpins, which were labeled with 13C=O on each of the Gly residues to resolve them spectroscopically. Labeling the second turn on the amide preceding the DPro (XxxDPro amide) provided an alternate turn label as a control. Placing 13C=O labels on specific in-strand residues gave shifted modes that overlap the XxxDPro amide I’ modes. Their impact could be separated from the turn dynamics by a novel difference-transient analysis approach. FTIR spectra were modeled with DFTcomputations which showed the local, isotope-selected vibrations were effectively uncoupled from the other amide I modes. Our T-jump dynamics results, combined with NMR structures and equilibrium spectral measurements, showed the first turn to be most stable and best formed with the slowest dynamics, while the second turn and first strand (N-terminus) had similar dynamics, and the third strand (C-terminus) had the fastest dynamics and was the least structured. The relative dynamics of the strands, XxxDPro amides and 13C-labeled Gly residues on the turns also qualitatively corresponded to molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of turn and strand fluctuations. MD trajectories indicated the turns to be bistable, with the first turn being Type I’ and the second turn flipping from I’ to II’. The differences in relaxation times for each turn and the separate strands revealed that the folding process of this turnstabilized beta-sheet structure proceeds in a multi-step process

Role of Aromatic Cross-Links in Structure and Dynamics of Model Three-Stranded β‑Sheet Peptides

A series of closely related peptide sequences that form triple-strand structures was designed with a variation of cross-strand aromatic interactions and spectroscopically studied as models for β-sheet formation and stabilities. Structures of the three-strand models were determined with NMR methods and temperature-dependent equilibrium studies performed using circular dichroism and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. Our equilibrium data show that the presence of a direct cross-strand aromatic contact in an otherwise folded peptide does not automatically result in an increased thermal stability and can even distort the structure. The effect on the conformational dynamics was studied with infrared-detected temperature-jump relaxation methods and revealed a high sensitivity to the presence and the location of the aromatic cross-links. Aromatic contacts in the three-stranded peptides slow down the dynamics in a site-specific manner, and the impact seems to be related to the distance from the turn. With a Xxx-^DPro linkage as a probe with some sensitivity for the turn, small differences were revealed in the relative relaxation of the sheet strands and turn regions. In addition, we analyzed the component hairpins, which showed less uniform dynamics as compared to the parent three-stranded β-sheet peptides