The exclusive effects of chaperonin on the behavior of proteins with 52 knot

PLoS Comput Biol. 2018 Mar 16;14(3):e1005970. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005970. eCollection 2018 Mar.

Abstract

The folding of proteins with a complex knot is still an unresolved question. Based on representative members of Ubiquitin C-terminal Hydrolases (UCHs) that contain the 52 knot in the native state, we explain how UCHs are able to unfold and refold in vitro reversibly within the structure-based model. In particular, we identify two, topologically different folding/unfolding pathways and corroborate our results with experiment, recreating the chevron plot. We show that confinement effect of chaperonin or weak crowding greatly facilitates folding, simultaneously slowing down the unfolding process of UCHs, compared with bulk conditions. Finally, we analyze the existence of knots in the denaturated state of UCHs. The results of the work show that the crowded environment of the cell should have a positive effect on the kinetics of complex knotted proteins, especially when proteins with deeper knots are found in this family.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Chaperonins / chemistry*
  • Chaperonins / metabolism*
  • Computational Biology
  • Protein Conformation*
  • Protein Denaturation
  • Protein Folding*
  • Proteins
  • Ubiquitin Thiolesterase / chemistry
  • Ubiquitin Thiolesterase / metabolism

Substances

  • Proteins
  • Ubiquitin Thiolesterase
  • Chaperonins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Science Centre \#2012/07/E/NZ1/01900 (to JIS) and \#2016/21/N/NZ1/02848 (for PDT) and the European Molecular Biology Organization, Installation Grant \#2057 (to JIS). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.