Summary We develop and implement an ensemble-refinement method to study dynamic biomolecular assemblies with intrinsically disordered segments. Data from small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) experiments and from coarse-grained molecular simulations are combined by using a maximum-entropy approach. The method is applied to CHMP3 of ESCRT-III, a protein with multiple helical domains separated by flexible linkers. Based on recent SAXS data by Lata et al. (J. Mol. Biol. 378, 818, 2008), we construct ensembles of CHMP3 at low and high salt concentration to characterize its closed autoinhibited state and open active state. At low salt, helix α5 is bound to the tip of helices α1 and α2, in excellent agreement with a recent crystal structure. Helix α6 remains free in solution and does not appear to be part of the autoinhibitory complex. The simulation-based ensemble refinement is general and effectively increases the resolution of SAXS beyond shape information to atomically detailed structures.

SUMMARY Membrane budding is a key step in vesicular transport, multivesicular body and exosome biogenesis, and enveloped virus release. Coated vesicle formation, which is usually involved in budding towards cytosol, represents a protein-driven pathway of membrane budding suited to its function in intracellular protein sorting. Certain instances of cell entry by viruses and toxins, and microdomain-dependent multivesicular body biogenesis in animal cells, are examples of a mainly lipid-driven paradigm. Caveolae biogenesis, HIV-1 budding, and perhaps ESCRT-catalyzed multivesicular body biogenesis involve aspects of both the protein scaffold and membrane microdomain paradigms. Some of these latter events involve budding away from cytosol, and this unusual topology involves novel mechanisms. Progress in the structural and energetic bases of these different paradigms will be discussed.

SUMMARY Protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes are the paradigmatic effectors of lipid signaling. PKCs translocate to cell membranes and are allosterically activated upon binding of the lipid diacylglycerol to their C1A and C1B domains. The crystal structure of full-length protein kinase C βII was determined at 4.0 Å, revealing the conformation of an unexpected intermediate in the activation pathway. Here, the kinase active site is accessible to substrate, yet the conformation of the active site corresponds to a low-activity state because the ATP-binding side-chain of Phe629 of the conserved NFD motif is displaced. The C1B domain clamps the NFD helix in a low activity conformation, which is reversed upon membrane binding. A low resolution solution structure of the closed conformation of PKCβII was derived from small angle x-ray scattering. Together, these results show how PKCβII is allosterically in two steps, with the second step defining a novel protein kinase regulatory mechanism.

MAP kinases regulate essential cellular events, including cell growth, differentiation and inflammation. The solution structure of a complete MAPK–MAPK-regulatory protein complex, p38α–HePTP, was determined, enabling a comprehensive investigation of the molecular basis of specificity and fidelity in MAPK regulation. Structure determination was achieved by combining NMR spectroscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering data with a new ensemble calculation–refinement procedure. We identified 25 residues outside of the HePTP kinase interaction motif necessary for p38α recognition. The complex adopts an extended conformation in solution and rarely samples the conformation necessary for kinase deactivation. Complex formation also does not affect the N-terminal lobe, the activation loop of p38α or the catalytic domain of HePTP. Together, these results show how the downstream tyrosine phosphatase HePTP regulates p38α and provide for fundamentally new insights into MAPK regulation and specificity.

The adhesion of cells is mediated by receptors and ligands anchored in apposing membranes. A central question is how to characterize the binding affinity of these membrane-anchored molecules. For soluble molecules, the binding affinity is typically quantified by the binding equilibrium constant K3D in the linear relation [RL] = K3D [R][L] between the volume concentration [RL] of bound complexes and the volume concentrations [R] and [L] of unbound molecules. For membrane-anchored molecules, it is often assumed by analogy that the area concentration of bound complexes [RL] is proportional to the product [R][L] of the area concentrations for the unbound receptor and ligand molecules. We show here (i) that this analogy is only valid for two planar membranes immobilized on rigid surfaces, and (ii) that the thermal roughness of flexible membranes leads to cooperative binding of receptors and ligands. In the case of flexible membranes, the area concentration [RL] of receptor-ligand bonds is proportional to the square of [R][L] for typical lengths and concentrations of receptors and ligands in cell adhesion zones. The cooperative binding helps to understand why different experimental methods for measuring the binding affinity of membrane-anchored molecules have led to values differing by several orders of magnitude.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures; to appear in Soft Matte

Biomimetic and biological membranes consist of molecular bilayers with two leaflets which are typically exposed to different aqueous environments and may differ in their molecular density or composition. Because of these asymmetries, the membranes prefer to curve in a certain manner as quantitatively described by their spontaneous curvature. Here, we study such asymmetric membranes via coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. We consider two mechanisms for the generation of spontaneous curvature: (i) different lipid densities within the two leaflets and (ii) leaflets exposed to different concentrations of adsorbing particles. We focus on membranes that experience no mechanical tension and describe two methods to compute the spontaneous curvature. The first method is based on the detailed structure of the bilayer's stress profile which can hardly be measured experimentally. The other method starts from the intuitive view that the bilayer represents a thin fluid film bounded by two interfaces and reduces the complexity of the stress profile to a few membrane parameters that can be measured experimentally. For the case of asymmetric adsorption, we introduce a simulation protocol based on two bilayers separated by two aqueous compartments with different adsorbate concentrations. The adsorption of small particles with a size below 1 nm is shown to generate large spontaneous curvatures up to about 1/(24 nm). Our computational approach is quite general: it can be applied to any molecular model of bilayer membranes and can be extended to other mechanisms for the generation of spontaneous curvatures as provided, e.g., by asymmetric lipid composition or depletion layers of solute molecules.

Cell membranes interact via anchored receptor and ligand molecules. Central questions on cell adhesion concern the binding affinity of these membrane-anchored molecules, the mechanisms leading to the receptorligand domains observed during adhesion, and the role of cytoskeletal and other active processes. In this review, these questions are addressed from a theoretical perspective. We focus on models in which the membranes are described as elastic sheets, and the receptors and ligands as anchored molecules. In these models, the thermal membrane roughness on the nanometer scale leads to a cooperative binding of anchored receptor and ligand molecules, since the receptor-ligand binding smoothens out the membranes and facilitates the formation of additional bonds. Patterns of receptor domains observed in Monte Carlo simulations point towards a joint role of spontaneous and active processes in cell adhesion. The interactions mediated by the receptors and ligand molecules can be characterized by effective membrane adhesion potentials that depend on the concentrations and binding energies of the molecules.

ESCRT-I is required for the sorting of integral membrane proteins to the lysosome, or vacuole in yeast, for cytokinesis in animal cells, and for the budding of HIV-1 from human macrophages and T lymphocytes. ESCRT-I is a heterotetramer of Vps23, Vps28, Vps37, and Mvb12. The crystal structures of the core complex and the ubiquitin E2 variant and Vps28 C-terminal domains have been determined, but internal flexibility has prevented crystallization of intact ESCRT-I. Here we have characterized the structure of ESCRT-I in solution by simultaneous structural refinement against small-angle X-ray scattering and double electron–electron resonance spectroscopy of spin-labeled complexes. An ensemble of at least six structures, comprising an equally populated mixture of closed and open conformations, was necessary to fit all of the data. This structural ensemble was cross-validated against single-molecule FRET spectroscopy, which suggested the presence of a continuum of open states. ESCRT-I in solution thus appears to consist of an approximately 50% population of one or a few related closed conformations, with the other 50% populating a continuum of open conformations. These conformations provide reference points for the structural pathway by which ESCRT-I induces membrane buds.