Mobile sequences in the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, the E2 component, the catalytic domain and the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex of Azotobacter vinelandii, as detected by 600 MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy

Abstract600 MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy demonstrates that the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Azotobacter vinelandii contains regions of the polypeptide chain with intramolecular mobility. This mobility is located in the E2 component and can probably be ascribed to alanine-proline-rich regions that link the lipoyl subdomains to each other as well as to the E1 and E3 binding domain. In the catalytic domain of E2, which is thought to form a compact, rigid core, also conformational flexibility is observed. It is conceivable that the N-terminal region of the catalytic domain, which contains many alanine residues, is responsible for the observed mobility. In the low-field region of the 1H-NMR spectrum of E2 specific resonances are found, which can be ascribed to mobile phenylalanine, histidine and/or tyrosine residues which are located in the E1 and E3 binding domain that links the lipoyl domain to the catalytic domain. In the 1H-NMR spectrum of the intact complex, these resonances cannot be observed, indicating a decreased mobility of the E1 and E3 binding domain

Engineering of microheterogeneity-resistant p-hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase from Pseudomonas fluorescens

AbstractBy site-directed mutagenesis, Cys-116 was converted to Ser-116 in p-hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase (EC 1.14.13.2) from Pseudomonas fluorescens. In contrast to wild-type enzyme, the C116S mutant is no longer susceptible to oxidation by hydrogen peroxide and shows no reactivity towards 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoate). Crystals of the C116S mutant are isomorphous with the crystal form of wild-type enzyme. A difference electron density confirms the mutation made

Comprehensive evaluation of methods to assess overall and cell-specific immune infiltrates in breast cancer

Background: Breast cancer (BC) immune infiltrates play a critical role in tumor progression and response to treatment. Besides stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) which have recently reached level 1B evidence as a prognostic marker in triple negative BC, a plethora of methods to assess immune infiltration exists, and it is unclear how these compare to each other and if they can be used interchangeably. Methods: Two experienced pathologists scored sTIL, intra-tumoral TIL (itTIL), and 6 immune cell types (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD20+, CD68+, FOXP3+) in the International Cancer Genomics Consortium breast cancer cohort using hematoxylin and eosin-stained (n = 243) and immunohistochemistry-stained tissue microarrays (n = 254) and whole slides (n = 82). The same traits were evaluated using transcriptomic- and methylomic-based deconvolution methods or signatures. Results: The concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) between pathologists for sTIL was very good (0.84) and for cell-specific immune infiltrates slightly lower (0.63-0.66). Comparison between tissue microarray and whole slide pathology scores revealed systematically higher values in whole slides (ratio 2.60-5.98). The Spearman correlations between microscopic sTIL and transcriptomic- or methylomic-based assessment of immune infilt

Clinical Presentation of a Complex Neurodevelopmental Disorder Caused by Mutations in ADNP

Background In genome-wide screening studies for de novo mutations underlying autism and intellectual disability, mutations in the ADNP gene are consistently reported among the most frequent. ADNP mutations have been identified in children with autism spectrum disorder comorbid with intellectual disability, distinctive facial features, and deficits in multiple organ systems. However, a comprehensive clinical description of the Helsmoortel-Van der Aa syndrome is lacking. Methods We identified a worldwide cohort of 78 individuals with likely disruptive mutations in ADNP from January 2014 to October 2016 through systematic literature search, by contacting collaborators, and through direct interaction with parents. Clinicians filled in a structured questionnaire on genetic and clinical findings to enable correlations between genotype and phenotype. Clinical photographs and specialist reports were gathered. Parents were interviewed to complement the written questionnaires. Results We report on the detailed clinical characterization of a large cohort of individuals with an ADNP mutation and demonstrate a distinctive combination of clinical features, including mild to severe intellectual disability, autism, severe speech and motor delay, and common facial characteristics. Brain abnormalities, behavioral problems, sleep disturbance, epilepsy, hypotonia, visual problems, congenital heart defects, gastrointestinal problems, short stature, and hormonal deficiencies are common comorbidities. Strikingly, individuals with the recurrent p.Tyr719* mutation were more severely affected. Conclusions This overview defines the full clinical spectrum of individuals with ADNP mutations, a specific autism subtype. We show that individuals with mutations in ADNP have many overlapping clinical features that are distinctive from those of other autism and/or intellectual disability syndromes. In addition, our data show preliminary evidence of a correlation between genotype and phenotype.This work was supported by grants from the European Research Area Networks Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research through the Research Foundation–Flanders and the Chief Scientist Office–Ministry of Health (to RFK, GV, IG). This research was supported, in part, by grants from the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (Grant No. SFARI 303241 to EEE) and National Institutes of Health (Grant No. R01MH101221 to EEE). This work was also supported by the Italian Ministry of Health and ‘5 per mille’ funding (to CR). For many individuals, sequencing was provided by research initiatives like the Care4Rare Research Consortium in Canada or the Deciphering Developmental Disorders (DDD) study in the UK. The DDD Study presents independent research commissioned by the Health Innovation Challenge Fund (Grant No. HICF-1009–003), a parallel funding partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (Grant No. WT098051). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Wellcome Trust or the Department of Health. The study has UK Research Ethics Committee approval (10/H0305/83, granted by the Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee, and GEN/284/12 granted by the Republic of Ireland Research Ethics Committee). The research team acknowledges the support of the National Institute for Health Research, through the Comprehensive Clinical Research Network

Purification and cellular localization of wild type and mutated dihydrolipoyltransacetylases from Azotobacter vinelandii and Escherichia coli expressed in E. coli

Wild type dihydrolipoyltransacetylase(E2p)-components from the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of A. vinelandii or E. coli, and mutants of A. vinelandii E2p with stepwise deletions of the lipoyl domains or the alanine- and proline-rich region between the binding and the catalytic domain have been overexpressed in E. coli TG2. The high expression of A. vinelandii wild type E2p (20% of cellular protein) and of a mutant enzyme with two lipoyl domains changed the properties of the inner bacterial membrane. This resulted in a solubilization of A. vinelandii E2p after degradation of the outer membrane by lysozyme without any contamination by E. coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) or other high-molecular-weight contaminants. The same effect could be detected for A. vinelandii E2o, an E2 which contains only one lipoyl domain, whereas almost no solubilization of A. vinelandii E2p with one lipoyl domain or of E2p consisting only of the binding and catalytic domain was found. Partial or complete deletion of the alanine- and proline-rich sequence between the binding and the catalytic domain did also decrease the solubilization of the E2p-mutants after lysozyme treatment. Immunocytochemical experiments on E. coli TG2 cells expressing A. vinelandii wild type E2p indicated that the enzyme was present as a soluble protein in the cytoplasm. In contrast, overexpressed A. vinelandii E2p with deletion of all three lipoyl domains and E. coli wild type E2p aggregated intracellularly. The solubilization by lysozyme is therefore ascribed to excluded volume effects leading to changes in the properties of the inner bacterial membrane.

Improvement of diffraction quality upon rehydration of dehydrated icosahedral EnterococcusEnterococcus faecalisfaecalis pyruvate dehydrogenase core crystals

Members of the family of 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase multienzyme complexes catalyze the oxidative decarboxylation of α-keto acids and are among the most remarkable enzymatic machineries in the living cell. These multienzyme complexes combine a highly symmetric (cubic or icosahedral) core with a dynamic and flexible arrangement of numerous subunits and domains surrounding the core. The center of the complex is formed by either 24 or 60 copies of dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (E2)–a multidomain enzyme. The hollow icosahedral cores are composed of 60 identical subunits of the catalytic domain of E2 with a molecular weight of about 1.8 million Da. Bipyramidal crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction of the icosahedral core of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex from Enterococcus faecalis were grown up to 0.7 mm in each dimension. The crystals belong to space group R32 with a = b = 244.3 Å and c = 920.9 Å (hexagonal setting), and have a solvent content of 73%. The asymmetric unit contains one-third of the molecule, i.e., 20 of the 60 subunits. Initial X-ray crystallographic data to 7 Å resolution were collected at cryotemperatures at synchrotron facilities. Interestingly, the diffraction was improved significantly upon rehydrating dehydrated crystals and extended to 4.2 Å

Refined Crystal Structure of the Catalytic Domain of Dihydrolipoyl Transacetylase (E2p) from Azotobacter vinelandii at 2·6 Å Resolution

Dihydrolipoyl transacetylase (E2p) is both structurally and functionally the central enzyme of the pyruvate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex. The crystal structure of the catalytic domain, i.e. residues 382 to 637, of Azotobacter vinelandii E2p (E2pCD) was solved by multiple isomorphous replacement and refined by energy minimization procedures. The final model contains 2182 protein atoms and 37 ordered water molecules. The R-factor is 18·7% for 10,344 reflections between 10·0 and 2·6 Å resolution. The root-mean-square shift deviation from the ideal values is 0·017 Å for bond lengths and 3·3° for bond angles. The N-terminal residues 382 to 394 are disordered and not visible in the electron density map, otherwise all residues have well-defined density. The catalytic domain forms an oligomer of 24 subunits, having octahedral 432 symmetry. In the E2pCD crystals, the 24 subunits are related by the crystallographic symmetry. The cubic arrangement of subunits gives rise to a large hollow cube with edges of 120 Å. The faces of the cube have pores of diameter of 30 Å. The true building block of the cube is the E2p trimer, eight of which occupy the corners of the cube. Two levels of intermolecular contacts can be distinguished: (1) the extensive interactions between 3-fold related subunits leading to a tightly associated trimer; and (2) the interactions along the 2-fold axis leading to the assembly of the trimers into the cubic 24-mer. Each subunit has a topology similar to chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) and comprises a central β-sheet surrounded by five α-helices. The comparison of the two proteins indicates a large rotation of the N-terminal residues 395 to 426 of E2pCD, which reshapes the substrate binding site and extends the interaction between threefold related subunits. The catalytic centre consists of a 30 Å long channel extending from the "inner" side of the trimmer to the "outer" side, where inner and outer refer to the position in the 24-meric cubic core of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and correspond with CoA and lipoamide binding sites, respectively. The active site is formed by the residues with the lowest mobility as indicated by the atomic B -factors. Five proline residues surround the active site. The side-chain of His610, which, by analogy with CAT, is most likely involved in catalysis, is stabilized in its unusual conformation by the salt-bridge between Asp609 and Arg611, and by contacts with the side-chains of Val435, Tyr608, Leu425′ and Ile571′, the latter two residues being located on a threefold related subunit. At the N terminus of the protein, residues 395 to 402 form an extended arm. Since they are part of the linker connecting the catalytic to the E1/E3 binding domain, their conformation is suggestive that the linker might consist of segments of rather inflexible extended polypeptide chain connected to each other by more flexible "hinge" residues