Counterintuitive structural and functional effects due to naturally occurring mutations targeting the active site of the disease‐associated NQO1 enzyme*

Abstract

Our knowledge on the genetic diversity of the human genome is exponentially growing. However, our capacity to establish genotype-phenotype correlations on a large scale requires a combination of detailed experimental and computational work. This is a remarkable task in human proteins which are typically multifunctional and structurally complex. In addition, mutations often prevent the determination of mutant high-resolution structures by X-ray crystallography. We have characterized here the effects of five mutations in the active site of the disease-associated NQO1 protein, which are found either in cancer cell lines or in massive exome sequencing analysis in human population. Using a combination of H/D exchange, rapid-flow enzyme kinetics, binding energetics and conformational stability, we show that mutations in both sets may cause counterintuitive functional effects that are explained well by their effects on local stability regarding different functional features. Importantly, mutations predicted to be highly deleterious (even those affecting the same protein residue) may cause mild to catastrophic effects on protein function. These functional effects are not well explained by current predictive bioinformatic tools and evolutionary models that account for site conservation and physicochemical changes upon mutation. Our study also reinforces the notion that naturally occurring mutations not identified as disease-associated can be highly deleterious. Our approach, combining protein biophysics and structural biology tools, is readily accessible to broadly increase our understanding of genotype-phenotype correlations and to improve predictive computational tools aimed at distinguishing disease-prone against neutral missense variants in the human genome.Abbreviations CD, circular dichroism; CTD, C-terminal domain; DBS, dicoumarol binding site; DCPIP, 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol; Dic, dicoumarol; DLS, dynamic light scattering; FAD, flavin-adenine dinucleotide; FBS, FAD binding site; HDX, hydrogen/deuterium exchange; HDX-MS, hydrogen/ deuterium exchange monitored by mass-spectrometry; HT, hydride-transfer; K d , dissociation constant; k HT , limiting k obs at [NADH] → ∞; k obs , observed rate constant; LC-MS/MS, liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry/mass-spectrometry; MMI, monomer:monomer interface; NQO1, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1; NQO1 dic , NQO1 holo with Dic bound; NQO1 holo , NQO1 with FAD bound; NQO1 red , NQO1 with FADH 2 bound; NTD, N-terminal domain; SDS/PAGE, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecylsulphate; SEC, size-exclusion chromatography; WT, wild-type.

Minimized Sample Consumption for Time-Resolved Serial Crystallography Applied to the Redox Cycle of Human NQO1

“…Such observation is in agreement with the negative cooperativity previously reported from multiple biophysical and biochemical studies in solution. 56, 57, 59, 62 Furthermore, the exact disposition of both NADH molecules within each time point differs from one another and is also different from the position and orientation of the NADH molecule in our recently published static synchrotron structure of NQO1 with NADH ( Figure SI-6 ). 27…”

“…Such observation is in agreement with the negative cooperativity previously reported from multiple biophysical and biochemical studies in solution. 56,57,59,62 Furthermore, the exact disposition of both NADH molecules within each time point differs from one another and is also different from the position and orientation of the NADH molecule in our recently published static synchrotron structure of NQO1 with NADH (Figure SI-6). 27 Because NQO1 is involved in the detoxification processes within cells, particularly in the reduction of quinones, the negative cooperativity or binding inhomogeneity observed in NQO1, would allow NQO1 to efficiently handle varying concentrations of quinones within cells.…”