Research
Enzymatic Labeling of Bacterial Proteins for Super-resolution Imaging in Live Cells
Ho SH, Tirrell DA. ACS Cent Sci, 5 (12) 1911-1919 (2019)
Methods that enable the super-resolution imaging of intracellular proteins in live bacterial cells provide powerful tools for the study of prokaryotic cell biology. Photoswitchable organic dyes exhibit many of the photophysical properties needed for super-resolution imaging, including high brightness, photostability, and photon output, but most such dyes require organisms to be fixed and permeabilized if intracellular targets are to be labeled. We recently reported a general strategy for the chemoenzymatic labeling of bacterial proteins with azide-bearing fatty acids in live cells using the eukaryotic enzyme N-myristoyltransferase. Here we demonstrate the labeling of proteins in live Escherichia coli using cell-permeant bicyclononyne-functionalized photoswitchable rhodamine spirolactams. Single-molecule fluorescence measurements on model rhodamine spirolactam salts show that these dyes emit hundreds of photons per switching event. Super-resolution imaging was performed on bacterial chemotaxis proteins Tar and CheA and cell division proteins FtsZ and FtsA. High-resolution imaging of Tar revealed a helical pattern; imaging of FtsZ yielded banded patterns dispersed throughout the cell. The precision of radial and axial localization in reconstructed images approaches 15 and 30 nm, respectively. The simplicity of the method, which does not require redox imaging buffers, should make this approach broadly useful for imaging intracellular bacterial proteins in live cells with nanometer resolution.
4S-Hydroxylation of Insulin at ProB28 Accelerates Hexamer Dissociation and Delays Fibrillation
Lieblich SA, Fang KY, Cahn JKB, Rawson J, LeBon J, Ku HT, Tirrell DA. J. Am Chem. Soc. 139(25) 8384-87 (2017)
Daily injections of insulin provide lifesaving benefits to millions of diabetics. But currently available prandial insulins are suboptimal: The onset of action is delayed by slow dissociation of the insulin hexamer in the subcutaneous space, and insulin forms amyloid fibrils upon storage in solution. Here we show, through the use of noncanonical amino acid mutagenesis, that replacement of the proline residue at position 28 of the insulin B-chain (ProB28) by (4S)-hydroxyproline (Hzp) yields an active form of insulin that dissociates more rapidly, and fibrillates more slowly, than the wild-type protein. Crystal structures of dimeric and hexameric insulin preparations suggest that a hydrogen bond between the hydroxyl group of Hzp and a backbone amide carbonyl positioned across the dimer interface may be responsible for the altered behavior. The effects of hydroxylation are stereospecific; replacement of ProB28 by (4R)-hydroxyproline (Hyp) causes little change in the rates of fibrillation and hexamer disassociation. These results demonstrate a new approach that fuses the concepts of medicinal chemistry and protein design, and paves the way to further engineering of insulin and other therapeutic proteins.
The dormancy-specific regulator, SutA, is intrinsically disordered and modulates transcription initiation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Bergkessel et al. Mol Microbiol. 112(3): 992-1009 (2019)
Though most bacteria in nature are nutritionally limited and grow slowly, our understanding of core processes like transcription comes largely from studies in model organisms doubling rapidly. We previously identified a small protein of unknown function, SutA, in a screen of proteins synthesized in Pseudomonas aeruginosa during dormancy. SutA binds RNA polymerase (RNAP), causing widespread changes in gene expression, including upregulation of the ribosomal RNA genes. Here, using biochemical and structural methods, we examine how SutA interacts with RNAP and the functional consequences of these interactions. We show that SutA comprises a central α-helix with unstructured N- and C-terminal tails, and binds to the β1 domain of RNAP. It activates transcription from the rrn promoter by both the housekeeping sigma factor holoenzyme (Eσ70 ) and the stress sigma factor holoenzyme (EσS ) in vitro, but has a greater impact on EσS . In both cases, SutA appears to affect intermediates in the open complex formation and its N-terminal tail is required for activation. The small magnitudes of in vitro effects are consistent with a role in maintaining activity required for homeostasis during dormancy. Our results add SutA to a growing list of transcription regulators that use their intrinsically disordered regions to remodel transcription complexes.
Bioorthogonal Noncanonical Amino Acid Tagging (BONCAT) Enables Time-Resolved Analysis of Protein Synthesis in Native Plant Tissue
Glenn WS , Stone SE, Ho SH, Sweredoski MJ, Moradian A, Hess S, Bailey-Serres J, Tirrell DA. Plant Physiology. 173(3) (2017).
Proteomic plasticity undergirds stress responses in plants, and understanding such responses requires accurate measurement of the extent to which proteins levels are adjusted to counter external stimuli. Here, we adapt bioorthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT) to interrogate protein synthesis in vegetative Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings. BONCAT relies on the translational incorporation of a noncanonical amino acid probe into cellular proteins. In this study, the probe is the Met surrogate azidohomoalanine (Aha), which carries a reactive azide moiety in its amino acid side chain. The azide handle in Aha can be selectively conjugated to dyes and functionalized beads to enable visualization and enrichment of newly synthesized proteins. We show that BONCAT is sensitive enough to detect Arabidopsis proteins synthesized within a 30-min interval defined by an Aha pulse and that the method can be used to detect proteins made under conditions of light stress, osmotic shock, salt stress, heat stress, and recovery from heat stress. We further establish that BONCAT can be coupled to tandem liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify and quantify proteins synthesized during heat stress and recovery from heat stress. Our results are consistent with a model in which, upon the onset of heat stress, translation is rapidly reprogrammed to enhance the synthesis of stress mitigators and is again altered during recovery. All experiments were carried out with commercially available reagents, highlighting the accessibility of the BONCAT method to researchers interested in stress responses as well as translational and posttranslational regulation in plants.
Cell-specific proteomic analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Yuet KP, Doma MK, Ngo JT, Sweredoski MJ, Graham RLJ, Moradian A, Hess S, Schuman EM, Sternberg PW, Tirrell DA. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 112(9): 2705-10 (2015).
The emergence of mass spectrometry-based proteomics has revolutionized the study of proteins and their abundances, functions, interactions, and modifications. However, it is difficult to monitor dynamic changes in protein synthesis in a specific cell type within its native environment. Here we describe a method that enables the metabolic labeling, purification, and analysis of proteins in specific cell types and during defined periods in live animals. Using Caenorhabditis elegans, we show that labeling can be restricted to body wall muscles, intestinal epithelial cells, neurons, pharyngeal muscle, and cells that respond to heat shock. By coupling our methodology with isotopic labeling, we successfully identify proteins—including proteins with previously unknown expression patterns—expressed in targeted subsets of cells.
Mechanisms of Diffusion in Associative Protein Hydrogels
Rapp PB, Omar AK, Silverman BR, Wang Z-G, Tirrell DA. J. Am. Chem. Soc, 140 (43) 14185-14194 (2018)
Networks assembled by reversible association of telechelic polymers constitute a common class of soft materials. Various mechanisms of chain migration in associative networks have been proposed; yet there remains little quantitative experimental data to discriminate among them. Proposed mechanisms for chain migration include multichain aggregate diffusion as well as single-chain mechanisms such as "walking" and "hopping", wherein diffusion is achieved by either partial ("walking") or complete ("hopping") disengagement of the associated chain segments. Here, we provide evidence that hopping can dominate the effective diffusion of chains in associative networks due to a strong entropic penalty for bridge formation imposed by local network structure; chains become conformationally restricted upon association with two or more spatially separated binding sites. This restriction decreases the effective binding strength of chains with multiple associative domains, thereby increasing the probability that a chain will hop. For telechelic chains this manifests as binding asymmetry, wherein the first association is effectively stronger than the second. We derive a simple thermodynamic model that predicts the fraction of chains that are free to hop as a function of tunable molecular and network properties. A large set of self-diffusivity measurements on a series of model associative polymers finds good agreement with this model.
Programming Molecular Association and Viscoelastic Behavior in Protein Networks.
Dooling LJ, Buck ME, Zhang WB, Tirrell DA. Adv Mat.
28, 4651–4657 (2016)
A set of recombinant artificial proteins that can be cross-linked, by either covalent bonds or association of helical domains or both, is described. The designed proteins can be used to construct molecular networks in which the mechanism of cross-linking determines the time-dependent responses to mechanical deformation.