Mutant T4 DNA polymerase for easy cloning and mutagenesis

The advent of high-fidelity DNA polymerases that can be used to linearize and amplify whole plasmids by PCR opened the door to greatly simplified cloning and mutagenesis protocols. Commercially available kits work well, but often have been optimized using undisclosed or proprietory components. Here we show that a mutant T4 DNA polymerase (Y320A) with attenuated 3'-exonuclease activity is uniquely suited to generate single-stranded DNA overhangs of uniform length in a more easily controllable manner than the wild-type enzyme, and this can be used to increase the yields of colonies containing correctly modified plasmids in cloning and mutagenesis experiments, which is particularly useful when E. coli cells are of relatively low competency. Standard protocols using the mutant T4 DNA polymerase are provided for the sequence and ligation independent cloning (SLIC) method and a modified QuikChange method, where the mutant enzyme enhances the yield of correctly mutated plasmid and further suppresses parental plasmid during digestion with DpnI. Single-stranded DNA overhangs generated by the mutant T4 DNA polymerase facilitate subsequent plasmid circularization, annealing and ligation in E. coli

Heteronuclear filters in two-dimensional [1H, 1H]-NMR spectroscopy: combined use with isotope labelling for studies of macromolecular conformation and intermolecular interactions

The use of heteronuclear filters enables the editing of complex 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra into simplified subspectra containing a lesser number of resonance lines, which are then more easily amenable to detailed spectral analysis. This editing is based on the creation of heteronuclear two-spin or multiple-spin coherence and discrimination between protons that do or do not participate in these heteronuclear coherences. In principle, heteronuclear editing can be used in conjunction with one-dimensional or multidimensional 1H-NMR experiments for studies of a wide variety of low-molecular-weight compounds or macromolecular systems, and is implicitely applied in a wide range of heteronuclear NMR experiments with proton detection (e.g. Bax et al. 1983; Griffey & Redfield, 1987). In the present article we shall focus on the use of heteronuclear filters in two-dimensional (2D) [1H, 1H]-NMR experiments. The selection of the material covered was primarily motivated by its impact on the practice of protein structure determination in solution, and on NMR studies of intermolecular interactions with biological macromolecules. Section 2 surveys potential applications of heteronuclear filters in this area. The remainder of the article is devoted to an introduction of the theoretical principles used in heteronuclear filters, and to a detailed description of the experimental implementation of these measurements. In writing the review we tried to minimize redundancy with the recent article in Quarterly Review of Biophysics by Griffey & Redfield (1987) and to concentrate on experiments that were introduced during the period 1986-

Pseudocontact shifts in biomolecular NMR using paramagnetic metal tags

C.N. thanks the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for a Feo-dor Lynen fellowship. Financial support by the Australian ResearchCouncil is gratefully acknowledge

Protein Structure Determination by Assembling Super-Secondary Structure Motifs Using Pseudocontact Shifts

Computational and nuclear magnetic resonance hybrid approaches provide efficient tools for 3D structure determination of small proteins, but currently available algorithms struggle to perform with larger proteins. Here we demonstrate a new computational algorithm that assembles the 3D structure of a protein from its constituent super-secondary structural motifs (Smotifs) with the help of pseudocontact shift (PCS) restraints for backbone amide protons, where the PCSs are produced from different metal centers. The algorithm, DINGO-PCS (3D assembly of Individual Smotifs to Near-native Geometry as Orchestrated by PCSs), employs the PCSs to recognize, orient, and assemble the constituent Smotifs of the target protein without any other experimental data or computational force fields. Using a universal Smotif database, the DINGO-PCS algorithm exhaustively enumerates any given Smotif. We benchmarked the program against ten different protein targets ranging from 100 to 220 residues with different topologies. For nine of these targets, the method was able to identify near-native Smotifs.Financial support to T.H. and G.O. by the Australian Research Council(DP150100383) is gratefully acknowledged

Pseudocontact Shift-Driven Iterative Resampling for 3D Structure Determinations of Large Proteins

Pseudocontact shifts (PCSs) induced by paramagnetic lanthanides produce pronounced effects in nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, which are easily measured and which deliver valuable long-range structure restraints. Even sparse PCS data greatly enhance the success rate of 3D (3-dimensional) structure predictions of proteins by the modeling program Rosetta. The present work extends this approach to 3D structures of larger proteins, comprising more than 200 residues, which are difficult to model by Rosetta without additional experimental restraints. The new algorithm improves the fragment assembly method of Rosetta by utilizing PCSs generated from paramagnetic lanthanide ions attached at four different sites as the only experimental restraints. The sparse PCS data are utilized at multiple stages, to identify native-like local structures, to rank the best structural models and to rebuild the fragment libraries. The fragment libraries are refined iteratively until convergence. The PCS-driven iterative resampling algorithm is strictly data dependent and shown to generate accurate models for a benchmark set of eight different proteins, ranging from 100 to 220 residues, using solely PCSs of backbone amide protons.Financial support to T.H. and G.O. by the Australian Research Council is gratefully acknowledged

NT*-HRV3CP: an optimized construct of human rhinovirus 14 3C protease for high-yield expression and fast affinity-tag cleavage

The human rhinovirus 14 3C protease (HRV3C protease), in fusion with glutathione S-transferase also referred to as PreScission™ protease, is a cysteine protease of particular interest for affinity tag removal from fusion proteins due to its stringent recognition sequence specificity (LEVLFQ/GX) and superior activity at low temperature. Here we report the expression, purification and use of a fusion construct of HRV3C protease, NT*-HRV3CP, that affords high expression yield in E. coli (over 300 mg/L cell culture), facile single-step purification, high solubility (>10 mg/mL) and excellent storage properties. NT*-HRV3CP cleaves affinity tags at 4 °C in minutes, making it an attractive tool for the production of recombinant proteins for biotechnological, industrial and pharmaceutical applications.Financial support by the Australian Research Council for a Laureate Fellowship to G.O. (FL170100019) and through a Centre of Excellence (CE200100012) is gratefully acknowledge

NMR analysis of the dynamic exchange of the NS2B cofactor between open and closed conformations of the West Nile Virus NS2B-NS3 protease

BACKGROUND The two-component NS2B-NS3 proteases of West Nile and dengue viruses are essential for viral replication and established targets for drug development. In all crystal structures of the proteases to date, the NS2B cofactor is located far from the substrate binding site (open conformation) in the absence of inhibitor and lining the substrate binding site (closed conformation) in the presence of an inhibitor. METHODS In this work, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of isotope and spin-labeled samples of the West Nile virus protease was used to investigate the occurrence of equilibria between open and closed conformations in solution. FINDINGS In solution, the closed form of the West Nile virus protease is the predominant conformation irrespective of the presence or absence of inhibitors. Nonetheless, dissociation of the C-terminal part of the NS2B cofactor from the NS3 protease (open conformation) occurs in both the presence and the absence of inhibitors. Low-molecular-weight inhibitors can shift the conformational exchange equilibria so that over 90% of the West Nile virus protease molecules assume the closed conformation. The West Nile virus protease differs from the dengue virus protease, where the open conformation is the predominant form in the absence of inhibitors. CONCLUSION Partial dissociation of NS2B from NS3 has implications for the way in which the NS3 protease can be positioned with respect to the host cell membrane when NS2B is membrane associated via N- and C-terminal segments present in the polyprotein. In the case of the West Nile virus protease, discovery of low-molecular-weight inhibitors that act by breaking the association of the NS2B cofactor with the NS3 protease is impeded by the natural affinity of the cofactor to the NS3 protease. The same strategy can be more successful in the case of the dengue virus NS2B-NS3 protease.The project was funded by the Australian Research Council (http://www.arc.gov.au), grant DP0877540

NMR structure of Citrobacter freundii AmpD, comparison with bacteriophage T7 lysozyme and homology with PGRP domains.

AmpD is a bacterial amidase involved in the recycling of cell-wall fragments in Gram-negative bacteria. Inactivation of AmpD leads to derepression of beta-lactamase expression, presenting a major pathway for the acquisition of constitutive antibiotic resistance. Here, we report the NMR structure of AmpD from Citrobacter freundii (PDB accession code 1J3G). A deep substrate-binding pocket explains the observed specificity for low molecular mass substrates. The fold is related to that of bacteriophage T7 lysozyme. Both proteins bind zinc at a conserved site and require zinc for amidase activity, although the enzymatic mechanism seems to differ in detail. The structure-based sequence alignment identifies conserved features that are also conserved in the eukaryotic peptidoglycan recognition protein (PGRP) domains, including the zinc-coordination site in several of them. PGRP domains thus belong to the same fold family and, where zinc-binding residues are conserved, may have amidase activity. This hypothesis is supported by the observation that human serum N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanine amidase seems to be identical with a soluble form of human PGRP-L

Capturing conformational states in proteins using sparse paramagnetic NMR data

Capturing conformational changes in proteins or protein-protein complexes is a challenge for both experimentalists and computational biologists. Solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is unique in that it permits structural studies of proteins under greatly varying conditions, and thus allows us to monitor induced structural changes. Paramagnetic effects are increasingly used to study protein structures as they give ready access to rich structural information of orientation and long-range distance restraints from the NMR signals of backbone amides, and reliable methods have become available to tag proteins with paramagnetic metal ions site-specifically and at multiple sites. In this study, we show how sparse pseudocontact shift (PCS) data can be used to computationally model conformational states in a protein system, by first identifying core structural elements that are not affected by the environmental change, and then computationally completing the remaining structure based on experimental restraints from PCS. The approach is demonstrated on a 27 kDa two-domain NS2B-NS3 protease system of the dengue virus serotype 2, for which distinct closed and open conformational states have been observed in crystal structures. By changing the input PCS data, the observed conformational states in the dengue virus protease are reproduced without modifying the computational procedure. This data driven Rosetta protocol enables identification of conformational states of a protein system, which are otherwise difficult to obtain either experimentally or computationally.This study was supported by the Australian Research Council (DP120100561, DP150100383), which the authors gratefully acknowledge

Site-selective tagging of proteins by pnictogen-mediated self-assembly

Site-selective chemical protein modification is achieved by self-assembly of a specific di-cysteine motif, trivalent pnictogens (As, Sb or Bi) and an aromatic mercaptomethyl-based probe. The strategy is demonstrated with a quaternary complex involving Zika virus protease and a lanthanide ion, enabling paramagnetic nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and luminescence measurements.Financial support by the Australian Research Council is gratefully acknowledge