Global landscape of protein complexes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Identification of protein-protein interactions often provides insight into protein function, and many cellular processes are performed by stable protein complexes. We used tandem affinity purification to process 4,562 different tagged proteins of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Each preparation was analysed by both matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to increase coverage and accuracy. Machine learning was used to integrate the mass spectrometry scores and assign probabilities to the protein-protein interactions. Among 4,087 different proteins identified with high confidence by mass spectrometry from 2,357 successful purifications, our core data set (median precision of 0.69) comprises 7,123 protein-protein interactions involving 2,708 proteins. A Markov clustering algorithm organized these interactions into 547 protein complexes averaging 4.9 subunits per complex, about half of them absent from the MIPS database, as well as 429 additional interactions between pairs of complexes. The data (all of which are available online) will help future studies on individual proteins as well as functional genomics and systems biology.     

Probing cellular protein complexes using single-molecule pull-down

Proteins perform most cellular functions in macromolecular complexes. The same protein often participates in different complexes to exhibit diverse functionality. Current ensemble approaches of identifying cellular protein interactions cannot reveal physiological permutations of these interactions. Here we describe a single-molecule pull-down (SiMPull) assay that combines the principles of a conventional pull-down assay with single-molecule fluorescence microscopy and enables direct visualization of individual cellular protein complexes. SiMPull can reveal how many proteins and of which kinds are present in the in vivo complex, as we show using protein kinase A. We then demonstrate a wide applicability to various signalling proteins found in the cytosol, membrane and cellular organelles, and to endogenous protein complexes from animal tissue extracts. The pulled-down proteins are functional and are used, without further processing, for single-molecule biochemical studies. SiMPull should provide a rapid, sensitive and robust platform for analysing protein assemblies in biological pathways.     

The molten globule protein conformation probed by disulphide bonds

The molten globule is a compact protein conformation that has a secondary structure content like that of the native protein, but poorly defined tertiary structure. It is a stable state for a few proteins under particular conditions and could be a ubiquitous kinetic intermediate in protein folding. The extent to which native interactions, above the level of the secondary structure, are preserved in this conformation is not so far known. Here we report that alpha-lactalbumin can adopt a molten globule conformation when one of its four disulphide bonds is reduced. In this state, the three other disulphide bonds rearrange spontaneously, at the same rate as when the protein is fully unfolded, to a number of different disulphide bond isomers that tend to maintain the molten globule conformation. That the molten globule state is compatible with a variety of disulphide bond pairings suggests that it is unlikely to be stabilized by many specific tertiary interactions.     

癌症相关促凋亡蛋白Par-4的信号转导途径预测研究

利用支持向量机(SVM)技术构建Par-4关联的蛋白质相互作用网络,预测出与Par-4有相互作用的蛋白质82个;这些蛋白质按照功能划分为8大类,主要包括:蛋白激酶、泛素化蛋白酶、死亡受体相关因子、与细胞周期或DNA复制相关蛋白质、调节蛋白质、与疾病相关蛋白质、具有特定结构域结合蛋白质和其他蛋白质等。结合文献挖掘和数据库检索信息,推断出了Par-4的2条可能新的信号转导途径。首次预测到Par-4与一大类泛素化蛋白有密切的关系。研究发现,Par-4与多种蛋白质具有复杂的相互作用,并且,在多个细胞凋亡途径中扮演了重要角色。     

In vitro biological effects of magnetic nanoparticles

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have great potential for a wide use in various biomedical applications due to their unusual properties. It is critical for many applications that the biological effects of nanoparticles are studied in depth. To date, many disparate results can be found in the literature regarding nanoparticle-biological factors interactions. This review highlights recent developments in this field with particular focuses on in vitro MNPs-cell interactions. The effect of MNPs properties on cellular uptake and cytotoxicity evaluation of MNPs were discussed. Some employed methods are also included. Moreover, nanoparticle-cell interactions are mediated by the presence of proteins absorbed from biological fluids on the nanoparticle. Many questions remain on the effect of nanoparticle surface (in addition to nanoparticle size) on protein adsorption. We review papers related to this point too.     

Molecular cloning and expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor

During the development of the vertebrate nervous system, many neurons depend for survival on interactions with their target cells. Specific proteins are thought to be released by the target cells and to play an essential role in these interactions. So far, only one such protein, nerve growth factor, has been fully characterized. This has been possible because of the extraordinarily (and unexplained) large quantities of this protein in some adult tissues that are of no relevance to the developing nervous system. Whereas the dependency of many neurons on their target cells for normal development, and the restricted neuronal specificity of nerve growth factor have long suggested the existence of other such proteins, their low abundance has rendered their characterization difficult. Here we report the full primary structure of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. This very rare protein is known to promote the survival of neuronal populations that are all located either in the central nervous system or directly connected with it. The messenger RNA for brain-derived neurotrophic factor was found predominantly in the central nervous system, and the sequence of the protein indicates that it is structurally related to nerve growth factor. These results establish that these two neurotrophic factors are related both functionally and structurally.     

Millisecond-timescale motions contribute to the function of the bacterial response regulator protein Spo0F.

Protein backbones and side chains display varying degrees of flexibility, which allows many slightly different but related conformational substates to occur. Such fluctuations are known to differ in both timescale and magnitude, from rotation of methyl groups (nanoseconds) to the flipping of buried tyrosine rings (seconds). Because many mechanisms for protein function require conformational change, it has been proposed that some of these ground-state fluctuations are related to protein function. But exactly which aspects of motion are functionally relevant remains to be determined. Only a few examples so far exist where function can be correlated to structural fluctuations with known magnitude and timescale. As part of an investigation of the mechanism of action of the Bacillus subtilis response regulator SpoOF, we have explored the relationship between the motional characteristics and protein-protein interactions. Here we use a set of nuclear magnetic resonance 15N relaxation measurements to determine the relative timescales of SpoOF backbone fluctuations on the picosecond-to-millisecond timescale. We show that regions having motion on the millisecond timescale correlate with residues and surfaces that are known to be critical for protein-protein interactions.     

Interaction network containing conserved and essential protein complexes in Escherichia coli

Proteins often function as components of multi-subunit complexes. Despite its long history as a model organism, no large-scale analysis of protein complexes in Escherichia coli has yet been reported. To this end, we have targeted DNA cassettes into the E. coli chromosome to create carboxy-terminal, affinity-tagged alleles of 1,000 open reading frames (approximately 23% of the genome). A total of 857 proteins, including 198 of the most highly conserved, soluble non-ribosomal proteins essential in at least one bacterial species, were tagged successfully, whereas 648 could be purified to homogeneity and their interacting protein partners identified by mass spectrometry. An interaction network of protein complexes involved in diverse biological processes was uncovered and validated by sequential rounds of tagging and purification. This network includes many new interactions as well as interactions predicted based solely on genomic inference or limited phenotypic data. This study provides insight into the function of previously uncharacterized bacterial proteins and the overall topology of a microbial interaction network, the core components of which are broadly conserved across Prokaryota.     

The protein-protein interaction map of Helicobacter pylori

With the availability of complete DNA sequences for many prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes, and soon for the human genome itself, it is important to develop reliable proteome-wide approaches for a better understanding of protein function. As elementary constituents of cellular protein complexes and pathways, protein-protein interactions are key determinants of protein function. Here we have built a large-scale protein-protein interaction map of the human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori. We have used a high-throughput strategy of the yeast two-hybrid assay to screen 261 H. pylori proteins against a highly complex library of genome-encoded polypeptides. Over 1,200 interactions were identified between H. pylori proteins, connecting 46.6% of the proteome. The determination of a reliability score for every single protein-protein interaction and the identification of the actual interacting domains permitted the assignment of unannotated proteins to biological pathways.     

平衡透析法用于有机小分子和蛋白质相互作用研究进展

生物大分子是近年来生命科学研究的热点和难点之一,有关蛋白质的各类研究也是人们比较感兴趣的课题.平衡透析法是定量研究蛋白质与有机小分子相互作用的经典方法.通过平衡透析法的研究我们可以讨论蛋白质与有机小分子的结合数目、结合平衡常数及作用力情况等.近年来,国内外学者在此方面做了大量的工作,提出了各种各样的结合模型.本文就此方面的研究进行综述.