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Crystal Structure of the Nephila clavipes Major Ampullate Spidroin 1A N-terminal Domain Reveals Plasticity at the Dimer Interface.

ABSTRACT: Spider dragline silk is a natural polymer harboring unique physical and biochemical properties that make it an ideal biomaterial. Artificial silk production requires an understanding of the in vivo mechanisms spiders use to convert soluble proteins, called spidroins, into insoluble fibers. Controlled dimerization of the spidroin N-terminal domain (NTD) is crucial to this process. Here, we report the crystal structure of the Nephila clavipes major ampullate spidroin NTD dimer. Comparison of our N. clavipes NTD structure with previously determined Euprosthenops australis NTD structures reveals subtle conformational alterations that lead to differences in how the subunits are arranged at the dimer interface. We observe a subset of contacts that are specific to each ortholog, as well as a substantial increase in asymmetry in the interactions observed at the N. clavipes NTD dimer interface. These asymmetric interactions include novel intermolecular salt bridges that provide new insights into the mechanism of NTD dimerization. We also observe a unique intramolecular "handshake" interaction between two conserved acidic residues that our data suggest adds an additional layer of complexity to the pH-sensitive relay mechanism for NTD dimerization. The results of a panel of tryptophan fluorescence dimerization assays probing the importance of these interactions support our structural observations. Based on our findings, we propose that conformational selectivity and plasticity at the NTD dimer interface play a role in the pH-dependent transition of the NTD from monomer to stably associated dimer as the spidroin progresses through the silk extrusion duct.

SUBMITTER: Atkison JH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5009272 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Crystal Structure of the Nephila clavipes Major Ampullate Spidroin 1A N-terminal Domain Reveals Plasticity at the Dimer Interface.

Atkison James H JH Parnham Stuart S Marcotte William R WR Olsen Shaun K SK

The Journal of biological chemistry 20160721 36

Spider dragline silk is a natural polymer harboring unique physical and biochemical properties that make it an ideal biomaterial. Artificial silk production requires an understanding of the in vivo mechanisms spiders use to convert soluble proteins, called spidroins, into insoluble fibers. Controlled dimerization of the spidroin N-terminal domain (NTD) is crucial to this process. Here, we report the crystal structure of the Nephila clavipes major ampullate spidroin NTD dimer. Comparison of our N ...[more]

PMID: 27445329

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Project description:Glands were frozen at -80 ºC immediately after being retrieved and stored under this condition until initiating the proteomics analysis protocol. Glands were washed with cold PBS and immersed in 120 l of homogenization buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 6.8, 10 mM DTT, 4% (w/v) SDS). Glands were boiled for 5 min, incubated overnight at 4 ºC and centrifuged at 4 ºC and 13000 rpm for 10 min. The whole gland proteome of each gland was concentrated as described elsewhere (Bonzon-Kulichenko, F. Garcia-Marques, M. Trevisan-Herraz and J. Vazquez, Journal of Proteome Research, 2015, 14, 700-710 (DOI:10.1021/pr5007284).Briefly, samples were loaded into an SDS-PAGE gel (0.5 mm-thick, 4% stacking, and 10% resolving) and the electrophoresis process was stopped when the front entered 2 mm into the resolving gel. The unseparated protein bands were then visualized by Coomassie staining, excised and digested at 37 ºC overnight with 500 l of 25 g/l chymotrypsin (Promega) in 100 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.8 containing 10 mM CaCl2. The cleaved peptides were extracted by incubation for 2 h in 100 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.8 on shaking, acidized with 1% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid, desalted onto C18 cartridges (Oasis, Waters Corporation, Milford, MA, USA), and dried down.The analysis of the samples proceeded through liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) using an Easy nLC 1000 nano-HPLC coupled to a Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer (Themo Scientific). Peptides were injected onto a C18 reverse-phase precolumn (Acclaim PepMap100, 75-m i.d., 3-m particle size, 2-cm length, Thermo Scientific), and a reverse-phase analytical column (Acclaim PepMap 100, 75-m, i.d., 3-m particle size, 50-cm length, Thermo Scientific) in buffer A [0.1% formic acid (v/v)] and eluted with a 60 min linear gradient of buffer B [90% acetonitrile, 0.1% formic acid (v/v)], at 200 nL/min. Mass spectrometry (MS) runs consisted of 70000 FT-resolution spectra in the 390-1200 m/z wide range, followed by data-dependent MS/MS spectra of the 15 most intense parent ions acquired along the chromatographic run. High-energy collisional (HCD) fragmentation was performed at 27% of normalized collision energy and the isolation window for the parent ion mass was established at 2 Da.

Dataset Information

Crystal Structure of the Nephila clavipes Major Ampullate Spidroin 1A N-terminal Domain Reveals Plasticity at the Dimer Interface.

Publications

Crystal Structure of the Nephila clavipes Major Ampullate Spidroin 1A N-terminal Domain Reveals Plasticity at the Dimer Interface.

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