Tank-binding kinase I (TBK1) plays a key role in the innate immune system by integrating signals from pattern-recognition receptors. Here, we report the X-ray crystal structures of inhibitor-bound inactive and active TBK1 determined to 2.6 Å and 4.0 Å resolution, respectively. The structures reveal a compact dimer made up of trimodular subunits containing an N-terminal kinase domain (KD), a ubiquitin-like domain (ULD), and an α-helical scaffold dimerization domain (SDD). Activation rearranges the KD into an active conformation while maintaining the overall dimer conformation. Low-resolution SAXS studies reveal that the missing C-terminal domain (CTD) extends away from the main body of the kinase dimer. Mutants that interfere with TBK1 dimerization show significantly reduced trans-autophosphorylation but retain the ability to bind adaptor proteins through the CTD. Our results provide detailed insights into the architecture of TBK1 and the molecular mechanism of activation.
Catalytic heme enzymes carry out a wide range of oxidations in biology. They have in common a mechanism that requires formation of highly oxidized ferryl intermediates. It is these ferryl intermediates that provide the catalytic engine to drive the biological activity. Unravelling the nature of the ferryl species is of fundamental and widespread importance. The essential question is whether the ferryl is best described as a Fe(IV)=O or a Fe(IV)–OH species, but previous spectroscopic and X-ray crystallographic studies have not been able to unambiguously differentiate between the two species. Here we use a different approach. We report a neutron crystal structure of the ferryl intermediate in Compound II of a heme peroxidase; the structure allows the protonation states of the ferryl heme to be directly observed. This, together with pre-steady state kinetic analyses, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray fluorescence, identifies a Fe(IV)–OH species as the reactive intermediate. The structure establishes a precedent for the formation of Fe(IV)–OH in a peroxidase.
Bacteriophage T4 RNase H, a flap endonuclease-1 family nuclease, removes RNA primers from lagging strand fragments. It has both 5 nuclease and flap endonuclease activities. Our previous structure of native T4 RNase H (PDB code 1TFR) revealed an active site composed of highly conserved Asp residues and two bound hydrated magnesium ions. Here, we report the crystal structure of T4 RNase H in complex with a fork DNA substrate bound in its active site. This is the first structure of a flap endonuclease-1 family protein with its complete branched substrate. The fork duplex interacts with an extended loop of the helix-hairpin-helix motif class 2. The 5 arm crosses over the active site, extending below the bridge (helical arch) region. Cleavage assays of this DNA substrate identify a primary cut site 7-bases in from the 5 arm. The scissile phosphate, the first bond in the duplex DNA adjacent to the 5 arm, lies above a magnesium binding site. The less ordered 3 arm reaches toward the C and N termini of the enzyme, which are binding sites for T4 32 protein and T4 45 clamp, respectively. In the crystal structure, the scissile bond is located within the double-stranded DNA, between the first two duplex nucleotides next to the 5 arm, and lies above a magnesium binding site. This complex provides important insight into substrate recognition and specificity of the flap endonuclease-1 enzymes.The flap endonuclease-1 (FEN-1) 3 nuclease family is conserved in sequence and structure from bacteriophage to humans. These nucleases play essential roles in DNA replication by removing the RNA primers from lagging strand fragments. In addition, FEN-1-related nucleases are important in long-patch base excision repair and in maintenance of genomic stability. Homozygous knockouts of FEN-1 in mice are lethal to embryos (for review, see Refs. 1-3).Like other family members, bacteriophage T4-encoded RNase H shows 5Ј to 3Ј exonuclease activity on either RNA/ DNA or DNA/DNA duplexes and endonuclease activity on either flap or fork DNA structures (4, 5). T4 rnh deletion mutants give no phage production and accumulate unligated, lagging strand fragments in Escherichia coli hosts with defective polymerase I 5Ј nuclease (6). In addition, the mutants are hypersensitive to UV irradiation and anti-tumor agents (7).FEN-1 family nuclease activities are modulated by interactions with DNA replication clamps (e.g. eukaryotic proliferating cell nuclear antigen and T4 gene 45 clamp) and single-stranded DNA-binding proteins (e.g. eukaryotic replication protein A and T4 gene 32 protein) (5, 8 -12). Human FEN-1 nuclease is also stimulated by interactions with the Werner (13, 14) and Bloom (15) syndrome helicases as well as the Rad9-Rad1-Hus1 (9-1-1) checkpoint clamp (16).T4 RNase H 5Ј nuclease removes a short oligonucleotide (1-4 bases) each time it binds its substrate. T4 32 protein, binding on single-stranded DNA behind the nuclease, increases its processivity so that about 10 -50 short oligonucleotides are removed in a single binding event (5). On nicked sub...
The interior of living cells is a dense and polydisperse suspension of macromolecules. Such a complex system challenges an understanding in terms of colloidal suspensions. As a fundamental test we employ neutron spectroscopy to measure the diffusion of tracer proteins (immunoglobulins) in a cell-like environment (cell lysate) with explicit control over crowding conditions. In combination with Stokesian dynamics simulation, we address protein diffusion on nanosecond time scales where hydrodynamic interactions dominate over negligible protein collisions. We successfully link the experimental results on these complex, flexible molecules with coarse-grained simulations providing a consistent understanding by colloid theories. Both experiments and simulations show that tracers in polydisperse solutions close to the effective particle radius R eff = ⟨R i 3⟩1/3 diffuse approximately as if the suspension was monodisperse. The simulations further show that macromolecules of sizes R > R eff (R < R eff) are slowed more (less) effectively even at nanosecond time scales, which is highly relevant for a quantitative understanding of cellular processes.
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