Human ?B-crystallin discriminates between aggregation-prone and function-preserving variants of a client protein.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The eye lens crystallins are highly soluble proteins that are required to last the lifespan of an organism due to low protein turnover in the lens. Crystallin aggregation leads to formation of light-scattering aggregates known as cataract. The G18V mutation of human ?S-crystallin (?S-G18V), which is associated with childhood-onset cataract, causes structural changes throughout the N-terminal domain and increases aggregation propensity. The holdase chaperone protein ?B-crystallin does not interact with wild-type ?S-crystallin, but does bind its G18V variant. The specific molecular determinants of ?B-crystallin binding to client proteins is incompletely charcterized. Here, a new variant of ?S, ?S-G18A, was created to test the limits of ?B-crystallin selectivity.

Methods

Molecular dynamics simulations were used to investigate the structure and dynamics of ?S-G18A. The overall fold of ?S-G18A was assessed by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence. Its thermal unfolding temperature and aggregation propensity were characterized by CD and DLS, respectively. Solution-state NMR was used to characterize interactions between ?B-crystallin and ?S-G18A.

Results

?S-G18A exhibits minimal structural changes, but has compromised thermal stability relative to ?S-WT. The placement of alanine, rather than valine, at this highly conserved glycine position produces minor changes in hydrophobic surface exposure. However, human ?B-crystallin does not bind the G18A variant, in contrast to previous observations for ?S-G18V, which aggregates at physiological temperature.

Conclusions

?B-crystallin is capable of distinguishing between aggregation-prone and function-preserving variants, and recognizing the transient unfolding or minor conformers that lead to aggregation in the disease-related variant.

General significance

Human ?B-crystallin distinguishes between highly similar variants of a structural crystallin, binding the cataract-related ?S-G18V variant, but not the function-preserving ?S-G18A variant, which is monomeric at physiological temperature.

SUBMITTER: Sprague-Piercy MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7434982 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature