Identifying the hotspots on the top faces of WD40-repeat proteins from their primary sequences by β-bulges and DHSW tetrads

PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e43005. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0043005. Epub 2012 Aug 15.

Abstract

The analysis of 36 available crystal structures of WD40 repeat proteins reveals widespread existence of a beta-bulge formed at the beginning of strand a and the end of strand b, termed as WD(b-a) bulge: among a total of 259 WD40 blades, there are 243 such β-bulges. The R(1) positions in these WD(b-a) bulges have fair distributions of Arg, His, Ile, Leu, Lys, Met, Phe, Trp, Tyr and Val residues. These residues protrude on the top face of the WD40 proteins and can serve as hotspots for protein-protein interactions. An analysis of 29 protein complexes formed by 17 WD proteins reveals that these R(1) residues, along with two other residues (R(1)-2 and D-1), are indeed widely involved in protein-protein interactions. Interestingly, these WD(b-a) bulges can be easily identified by the 4-amino acid sequences of (V, L, I), R(1), R(2), (V, L, I), along with some other significant amino acids. Thus, the hotspots of WD40 proteins on the top face can be readily predicted based on the primary sequences of the proteins. The literature-reported mutagenesis studies for Met30, MDV1, Tup11, COP1 and SPA1, which crystal structures are not available, can be readily understood based on the feature-based method. Applying the method, the twelve potential hotspots on the top face of Tup11 from S. japonicas have been identified. Our ITC measurements confirm seven of them, Tyr382, Arg284, Tyr426, Tyr508, Leu559, Lys575 and Ile601, are essential for recognizing Fep1. The ITC measurements further convinced that the feature-based method provides accurate prediction of hotspots on the top face.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Protein Conformation
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Proteins / chemistry*
  • Repressor Proteins / chemistry
  • Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / chemistry

Substances

  • Proteins
  • Repressor Proteins
  • Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins
  • Tup11 protein, S pombe

Grants and funding

The authors are grateful for the financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant No.21133002; http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/Portal0/default152.htm) and the Shenzhen Graduate School of Peking University for Financial Support of this research (www.pkusz.edu.cn). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.