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The structural characterization of modular proteins containing long intrinsically disordered regions intercalated with folded domains is complicated by their conformational diversity and flexibility and requires the integration of multiple experimental approaches. Nipah virus (NiV) phosphoprotein, an essential component of the viral RNA transcription/replication machine and a component of the viral arsenal that hijacks cellular components and counteracts host immune responses, is a prototypical model for such modular proteins. Curiously, the phosphoprotein of NiV is significantly longer than the corresponding protein of other paramyxoviruses. Here, we combine multiple biophysical methods, including x-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, and small angle x-ray scattering, to characterize the structure of this protein and provide an atomistic representation of the full-length protein in the form of a conformational ensemble. We show that full-length NiV phosphoprotein is tetrameric, and we solve the crystal structure of its tetramerization domain. Using NMR spectroscopy and small angle x-ray scattering, we show that the long N-terminal intrinsically disordered region and the linker connecting the tetramerization domain to the C-terminal X domain exchange between multiple conformations while containing short regions of residual secondary structure. Some of these transient helices are known to interact with partners, whereas others represent putative binding sites for yet unidentified proteins. Finally, using NMR spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry, we map a region of the phosphoprotein, comprising residues between 110 and 140 and common to the V and W proteins, that binds with weak affinity to STAT1 and confirm the involvement of key amino acids of the viral protein in this interaction. This provides new, to our knowledge, insights into how the phosphoprotein and the nonstructural V and W proteins of NiV perform their multiple functions.

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Brevinin-2 related peptide (B2RP; GIWDTIKSMG(10)KVFAGKILQN(20)L.NH(2)), first isolated from skin secretions of the mink frog Lithobates septentrionalis, shows broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity but its therapeutic potential is limited by moderate hemolytic activity. The peptide adopts an alpha-helical conformation in a membrane-mimetic solvent but amphipathicity is low. Increasing amphipathicity together with hydrophobicity by the substitutions Lys(16)-->Leu and Lys(16)-->Ala increased hemolytic activity approximately fivefold without increasing antimicrobial potency. The substitution Leu(18)-->Lys increased both cationicity and amphipathicity but produced decreases in both antimicrobial potency and hemolytic activity. In contrast, increasing cationicity of B2RP without changing amphipathicity by the substitution Asp(4)-->Lys resulted in a fourfold increase in potency against Escherichia coli [minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) = 6 microm) and twofold increases in potency against Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = 12.5 microm) and Candida albicans (MIC = 6 microm) without changing significantly hemolytic activity against human erythrocytes (LC(50) = 95 microm). The emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of the Gram-negative bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii constitutes a serious risk to public health. B2RP (MIC = 3-6 microm) and [Lys(4)]B2RP (MIC = 1.5-3 microm) potently inhibited the growth of nosocomial isolates of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Although the analogs [Lys(4), Lys(18)]B2RP and [Lys(4), Ala(16), Lys(18)]B2RP showed reduced potency against Staphylococcus aureus, they retained activity against Acinetobacter baumannii (MIC = 3-6 microm) and had very low hemolytic activity (LC(50) > 200 microm).

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New molecular rotors, [7.7](2,6)pyridinocyclophanes (monomers and dimers) embedding 1,3-dioxanes in the bridges, were investigated by variable-temperature NMR, molecular modeling, and single-crystal X-ray diffractometry. The nitrogen-inside rotation of the pyridine ring is more hindered in the derivatives with longer distance between the bridges (i.e., para > meta and 2,6-pyridylene > ortho) and can be chemically stopped by complexation with CF(3)SO(3)Ag. [structure: see text]

Diastereomeric host-guest associations formed between permethylated-beta-cyclodextrin (TMbeta-Cd) and the two enantiomers of p-bromophenylethanol (pBrPE) were characterized in aqueous solution by NMR spectroscopy, revealing similar inclusion geometries and weak binding constants, whatever the guest configuration. These features were confirmed by hydrogenation experiments, and do not allow to account for the ability of TMbeta-Cd to resolve racemic pBrPE by successive crystallizations [Grandeury, A.; Petit, S.; Gouhier, G.; Agasse, V.; Coquerel, G. Tetrahedron: Asymmetry 2003, 14, 2143-2152]. The analysis, by means of solid-state NMR, oxidation experiments, and solubility measurements, of the two crystalline phases containing known proportions of guest enantiomers revealed identical inclusion geometries in a given phase, irrespective of the enantiomeric composition. The corresponding solid solutions were further characterized by the determination of an isothermal section (40 degrees C) in the relevant ternary phase diagram. It appears from all these data that chiral resolution mechanisms in this system can only be envisaged in terms of nucleation conditions of each crystal form (with its specific inclusion geometry) and enantiomeric recognition at crystal solution interfaces during the growth of each crystal packing.