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Conformational changes during pore formation by the perforin-related protein pleurotolysin.

ABSTRACT: Membrane attack complex/perforin-like (MACPF) proteins comprise the largest superfamily of pore-forming proteins, playing crucial roles in immunity and pathogenesis. Soluble monomers assemble into large transmembrane pores via conformational transitions that remain to be structurally and mechanistically characterised. Here we present an 11 Å resolution cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the two-part, fungal toxin Pleurotolysin (Ply), together with crystal structures of both components (the lipid binding PlyA protein and the pore-forming MACPF component PlyB). These data reveal a 13-fold pore 80 Å in diameter and 100 Å in height, with each subunit comprised of a PlyB molecule atop a membrane bound dimer of PlyA. The resolution of the EM map, together with biophysical and computational experiments, allowed confident assignment of subdomains in a MACPF pore assembly. The major conformational changes in PlyB are a ?70° opening of the bent and distorted central ?-sheet of the MACPF domain, accompanied by extrusion and refolding of two ?-helical regions into transmembrane ?-hairpins (TMH1 and TMH2). We determined the structures of three different disulphide bond-trapped prepore intermediates. Analysis of these data by molecular modelling and flexible fitting allows us to generate a potential trajectory of ?-sheet unbending. The results suggest that MACPF conformational change is triggered through disruption of the interface between a conserved helix-turn-helix motif and the top of TMH2. Following their release we propose that the transmembrane regions assemble into ?-hairpins via top down zippering of backbone hydrogen bonds to form the membrane-inserted ?-barrel. The intermediate structures of the MACPF domain during refolding into the ?-barrel pore establish a structural paradigm for the transition from soluble monomer to pore, which may be conserved across the whole superfamily. The TMH2 region is critical for the release of both TMH clusters, suggesting why this region is targeted by endogenous inhibitors of MACPF function.

SUBMITTER: Lukoyanova N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4318580 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Conformational changes during pore formation by the perforin-related protein pleurotolysin.

Lukoyanova Natalya N Kondos Stephanie C SC Farabella Irene I Law Ruby H P RH Reboul Cyril F CF Caradoc-Davies Tom T TT Spicer Bradley A BA Kleifeld Oded O Traore Daouda A K DA Ekkel Susan M SM Voskoboinik Ilia I Trapani Joseph A JA Hatfaludi Tamas T Oliver Katherine K Hotze Eileen M EM Tweten Rodney K RK Whisstock James C JC Topf Maya M Saibil Helen R HR Dunstone Michelle A MA

PLoS biology 20150205 2

Membrane attack complex/perforin-like (MACPF) proteins comprise the largest superfamily of pore-forming proteins, playing crucial roles in immunity and pathogenesis. Soluble monomers assemble into large transmembrane pores via conformational transitions that remain to be structurally and mechanistically characterised. Here we present an 11 Å resolution cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the two-part, fungal toxin Pleurotolysin (Ply), together with crystal structures of both componen ...[more]

PMID: 25654333

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Project description:The crystal structures of the soluble monomers of the pore-forming cholesterol-dependent cytolysins (CDCs) contain two α-helical bundles that flank a twisted core β-sheet. This protein fold is the hallmark of the CDCs, as well as of the membrane attack complex/perforin immune defense proteins and the stonefish toxins. To form the β-barrel pore, a core β-sheet is flattened to align the membrane-spanning β-hairpins. Concomitantly with this conformational change, the two α-helical bundles that flank the core β-sheet break their restraining contacts and refold into two membrane-spanning β-hairpins of the β-barrel pore. The studies herein show that in the monomer structure of the archetype CDC perfringolysin O (PFO), a conserved Met-Met-Phe triad simultaneously contributes to maintaining the twist in this core β-sheet, as well as restricting the α-helical-to-β-strand transition necessary to form one of two membrane-spanning β-hairpins. A previously identified intermolecular π-stacking interaction is now shown to disrupt the interactions mediated by this conserved triad. This is required to establish the subsequent intermolecular electrostatic interaction, which has previously been shown to drive the final conformational changes necessary to form the β-barrel pore. Hence, these studies show that the intermolecular π-stacking and electrostatic interactions work in tandem to flatten the core β-sheet and initiate the α-helical-to-β-strand transitions to form the β-barrel pore.IMPORTANCE A unique feature of the CDC/MACPF/SNTX (cholesterol-dependent cytolysin/membrane attack complex perforin/stonefish toxin) superfamily of pore-forming toxins is that the β-strands that comprise the β-barrel pore are derived from a pair of α-helical bundles. These studies reveal the molecular basis by which the formation of intermolecular interactions within the prepore complex drive the disruption of intramolecular interactions within each monomer of the prepore to trigger the α-helical-to-β-strand transition and formation of the β-barrel pore.

Dataset Information

Conformational changes during pore formation by the perforin-related protein pleurotolysin.

Publications

Conformational changes during pore formation by the perforin-related protein pleurotolysin.

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