DJ-1 is a conserved, disease-associated protein that protects against oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage in multiple organisms. Human DJ-1 contains a functionally essential cysteine residue (Cys106) whose oxidation is important for regulating protein function by an unknown mechanism. This residue is well conserved in other DJ-1 homologues, including two (DJ-1α and DJ-1β) in Drosophila melanogaster. Because D. melanogaster is a powerful model system for studying DJ-1 function, we have determined the crystal structure and impact of cysteine oxidation on Drosophila DJ-1β. The structure of D. melanogaster DJ-1β is similar to that of human DJ-1, although two important residues in the human protein, Met26 and His126, are not conserved in DJ-1β. His126 in human DJ-1 is substituted with a tyrosine in DJ-1β, and this residue is not able to compose a putative catalytic dyad with Cys106 that was proposed to be important in the human protein. The reactive cysteine in DJ-1 is oxidized readily to the cysteine-sulfinic acid in both flies and humans and this may regulate the cytoprotective function of the protein. We show that the oxidation of this conserved cysteine residue to its sulfinate form (Cys-SO2−) results in considerable thermal stabilization of both Drosophila DJ-1β and human DJ-1. Therefore, protein stabilization is one potential mechanism by which cysteine oxidation may regulate DJ-1 function in vivo. More generally, most close DJ-1 homologues are likely stabilized by cysteine-sulfinic acid formation but destabilized by further oxidation, suggesting that they are biphasically regulated by oxidative modification.

The Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction (CASP) experiment would not have been possible without the prediction targets provided by the experimental structural biology community. In this paper, selected crystallographers providing targets for the CASP11 experiment discuss the functional and biological significance of the target proteins, highlight their most interesting structural features, and assess whether these features were correctly reproduced in the predictions submitted to CASP11.

The oxidation of a key cysteine residue (Cys106) in the parkinsonism-associated protein DJ-1 regulates its ability to protect against oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage. Cys106 interacts with a neighboring protonated Glu18 residue, stabilizing the Cys106-SO2− (sulfinic acid) form of DJ-1. To study this important post-translational modification, we previously designed several Glu18 mutations (E18N, E18D, E18Q) that alter the oxidative propensity of Cys106. However, recent results suggest these Glu18 mutations cause loss of DJ-1 dimerization, which would severely compromise the protein’s function. The purpose of this study was to conclusively determine the oligomerization state of these mutants using X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, thermal stability analysis, CD spectroscopy, sedimentation equilibrium ultracentrifugation, and crosslinking. We found that all of the Glu18 DJ-1 mutants were dimeric. Thiol crosslinking indicates that these mutant dimers are more flexible than the wild-type protein and can form multiple crosslinked dimeric species due to the transient exposure of cysteine residues that are inaccessible in the wild-type protein. The enhanced flexibility of Glu18 DJ-1 mutants provides a parsimonious explanation for their lower observed crosslinking efficiency in cells. In addition, thiol crosslinkers may have an underappreciated value as qualitative probes of protein conformational flexibility.

The COVID‐19 pandemic caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 has applied significant pressure on overtaxed healthcare around the world, underscoring the urgent need for rapid diagnosis and treatment. We have developed a bacterial strategy for the expression and purification of a SARS‐CoV‐2 spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) that includes the SD1 domain. Bacterial cytoplasm is a reductive environment, which is problematic when the recombinant protein of interest requires complicated folding and/or processing. The use of the CyDisCo system (cytoplasmic disulfide bond formation in E. coli) bypasses this issue by pre‐expressing a sulfhydryl oxidase and a disulfide isomerase, allowing the recombinant protein to be correctly folded with disulfide bonds for protein integrity and functionality. We show that it is possible to quickly and inexpensively produce an active RBD in bacteria that is capable of recognizing and binding to the ACE2 (angiotensin‐converting enzyme) receptor as well as antibodies in COVID‐19 patient sera.

DUF328 family proteins are present in many prokaryotes, however their molecular activities are unknown. The Escherichia coli DUF328 protein YaaA is a member of the OxyR regulon and is protective against oxidative stress.  Because uncharacterized proteins involved in prokaryotic oxidative stress response are rare, we sought to learn more about the DUF328 family.  Using comparative genomics, we found a robust association between the DUF328 family and genes involved in DNA recombination and the oxidative stress response. In some proteins, DUF328 domains are fused to other domains involved in DNA binding, recombination, and repair.  Co-fitness analysis indicates that DUF328 family genes associate with recombination-mediated DNA repair pathways, particularly the RecFOR pathway. Purified recombinant YaaA binds to double-stranded DNA, duplex DNA containing bubbles of unpaired nucleotides, and Holliday junction constructs in vitro with dissociation equilibrium constants of 200-300 nM. YaaA binds DNA with positive cooperativity, forming multiple shifted species in electrophoretic mobility shift assays. The 1.65 Å resolution X-ray crystal structure of YaaA reveals that the protein possesses a new fold that we name the cantaloupe fold.  YaaA has a positively charged cleft and a helix-hairpin-helix (HhH) DNA binding motif found in other DNA repair enzymes. Our results demonstrate that YaaA is a new type of DNA-binding protein associated with the oxidative stress response and that this molecular function is likely conserved in other DUF328 family members.