Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Celia A. Schiffer

Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health

Protein Conformation

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

Hydrophobic Core Flexibility Modulates Enzyme Activity In Hiv-1 Protease, Seema Mittal, Yufeng Cai, Madhavi Nalam, Daniel Bolon, Celia Schiffer Oct 2012

Hydrophobic Core Flexibility Modulates Enzyme Activity In Hiv-1 Protease, Seema Mittal, Yufeng Cai, Madhavi Nalam, Daniel Bolon, Celia Schiffer

Celia A. Schiffer

Human immunodeficiency virus Type-1 (HIV-1) protease is crucial for viral maturation and infectivity. Studies of protease dynamics suggest that the rearrangement of the hydrophobic core is essential for enzyme activity. Many mutations in the hydrophobic core are also associated with drug resistance and may modulate the core flexibility. To test the role of flexibility in protease activity, pairs of cysteines were introduced at the interfaces of flexible regions remote from the active site. Disulfide bond formation was confirmed by crystal structures and by alkylation of free cysteines and mass spectrometry. Oxidized and reduced crystal structures of these variants show the …


Association Of A Novel Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Protease Substrate Cleft Mutation, L23i, With Protease Inhibitor Therapy And In Vitro Drug Resistance, Elizabeth Johnston, Mark Winters, Soo-Yon Rhee, Thomas Merigan, Celia Schiffer, Robert Shafer Nov 2011

Association Of A Novel Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Protease Substrate Cleft Mutation, L23i, With Protease Inhibitor Therapy And In Vitro Drug Resistance, Elizabeth Johnston, Mark Winters, Soo-Yon Rhee, Thomas Merigan, Celia Schiffer, Robert Shafer

Celia A. Schiffer

We observed a previously uncharacterized mutation in the protease substrate cleft, L23I, in 31 of 4,303 persons undergoing human immunodeficiency virus type 1 genotypic resistance testing. In combination with V82I, L23I was associated with a sevenfold reduction in nelfinavir susceptibility and a decrease in replication capacity. In combination with other drug resistance mutations, L23I was associated with multidrug resistance and a compensatory increase in replication capacity.


Substrate Specificity In Hiv-1 Protease By A Biased Sequence Search Method, Nevra Ozer, Turkan Haliloglu, Celia Schiffer Nov 2011

Substrate Specificity In Hiv-1 Protease By A Biased Sequence Search Method, Nevra Ozer, Turkan Haliloglu, Celia Schiffer

Celia A. Schiffer

Drug resistance in HIV-1 protease can also occasionally confer a change in the substrate specificity. Through the use of computational techniques, a relationship can be determined between the substrate sequence and three-dimensional structure of HIV-1 protease, and be utilized to predict substrate specificity. In this study, we introduce a biased sequence search threading (BSST) methodology to analyze the preferences of substrate positions and correlations between them that might also identify which positions within known substrates can likely tolerate sequence variability and which cannot. The potential sequence space was efficiently explored using a low-resolution knowledge-based scoring function. The low-energy substrate sequences …


Crystal Structure Of The Apobec3g Catalytic Domain Reveals Potential Oligomerization Interfaces., Shivender Shandilya, Madhavi Nalam, Ellen Nalivaika, Phillip Gross, Johnathan Valesano, Keisuke Shindo, Ming Li, Mary Munson, William Royer, Elena Harjes, Takahide Kono, Hiroshi Matsuo, Reuben Harris, Mohan Somasundaran, Celia Schiffer Nov 2011

Crystal Structure Of The Apobec3g Catalytic Domain Reveals Potential Oligomerization Interfaces., Shivender Shandilya, Madhavi Nalam, Ellen Nalivaika, Phillip Gross, Johnathan Valesano, Keisuke Shindo, Ming Li, Mary Munson, William Royer, Elena Harjes, Takahide Kono, Hiroshi Matsuo, Reuben Harris, Mohan Somasundaran, Celia Schiffer

Celia A. Schiffer

APOBEC3G is a DNA cytidine deaminase that has antiviral activity against HIV-1 and other pathogenic viruses. In this study the crystal structure of the catalytically active C-terminal domain was determined to 2.25 A. This structure corroborates features previously observed in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies, a bulge in the second beta strand and a lengthening of the second alpha helix. Oligomerization is postulated to be critical for the function of APOBEC3G. In this structure, four extensive intermolecular interfaces are observed, suggesting potential models for APOBEC3G oligomerization. The structural and functional significance of these interfaces was probed by solution NMR and …


How Does A Symmetric Dimer Recognize An Asymmetric Substrate? A Substrate Complex Of Hiv-1 Protease, Moses Prabu-Jeyabalan, Ellen Nalivaika, Celia Schiffer Nov 2011

How Does A Symmetric Dimer Recognize An Asymmetric Substrate? A Substrate Complex Of Hiv-1 Protease, Moses Prabu-Jeyabalan, Ellen Nalivaika, Celia Schiffer

Celia A. Schiffer

The crystal structure of an actual HIV-1 protease-substrate complex is presented at 2.0 A resolution (R-value of 19.7 % (R(free) 23.3 %)) between an inactive variant (D25N) of HIV-1 protease and a long substrate peptide, Lys-Ala-Arg-Val-Leu-Ala-Glu-Ala-Met-Ser, which covers a full binding epitope of capsid(CA)-p2, cleavage site. The substrate peptide is asymmetric in both size and charge distribution. To accommodate this asymmetry the two protease monomers adopt different conformations burying a total of 1038 A(2) of surface area at the protease-substrate interface. The specificity for the CA-p2 substrate peptide is mainly hydrophobic, as most of the hydrogen bonds are made with …


Protein Structure Prediction With A Combined Solvation Free Energy-Molecular Mechanics Force Field, Celia Schiffer, James Caldwell, Peter Kollman, Robert Stroud Nov 2011

Protein Structure Prediction With A Combined Solvation Free Energy-Molecular Mechanics Force Field, Celia Schiffer, James Caldwell, Peter Kollman, Robert Stroud

Celia A. Schiffer

Models of protein structure are frequently used to determine the physical characteristics of a protein when the crystal structure is not available. We developed a procedure to optimize such models, by use of a combined solvation free energy and molecular mechanics force field. Appropriately chosen atomic solvation parameters were defined using the criterion that the resulting protein model should deviate least from the crystal structure upon a forty picosecond molecular dynamics simulation carried out using the combined force field. Several tests were performed to refine the set of atomic solvation parameters which best complement the molecular mechanics forces. Four sets …


Cooperative Fluctuations Of Unliganded And Substrate-Bound Hiv-1 Protease: A Structure-Based Analysis On A Variety Of Conformations From Crystallography And Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Nese Kurt, Walter Scott, Celia Schiffer, Turkan Haliloglu Nov 2011

Cooperative Fluctuations Of Unliganded And Substrate-Bound Hiv-1 Protease: A Structure-Based Analysis On A Variety Of Conformations From Crystallography And Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Nese Kurt, Walter Scott, Celia Schiffer, Turkan Haliloglu

Celia A. Schiffer

The dynamics of HIV-1 protease, both in unliganded and substrate-bound forms have been analyzed by using an analytical method, Gaussian network model (GNM). The method is applied to different conformations accessible to the protein backbone in the native state, observed in crystal structures and snapshots from fully atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation trajectories. The modes of motion obtained from GNM on different conformations of HIV-1 protease are conserved throughout the MD simulations. The flaps and 40's loop of the unliganded HIV-1 protease structure are identified as the most mobile regions. However, in the liganded structure these flaps lose mobility, and …


Simultaneous Refinement Of The Structure Of Bpti Against Nmr Data Measured In Solution And X-Ray Diffraction Data Measured In Single Crystals, Celia Schiffer, Robert Huber, Kurt Wuthrich, Wilfred Van Gunsteren Nov 2011

Simultaneous Refinement Of The Structure Of Bpti Against Nmr Data Measured In Solution And X-Ray Diffraction Data Measured In Single Crystals, Celia Schiffer, Robert Huber, Kurt Wuthrich, Wilfred Van Gunsteren

Celia A. Schiffer

The structure of the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) has been determined to high resolution by both NMR spectroscopy in solution and X-ray diffraction in crystals. The root-mean-square difference calculated between the two structures for the polypeptide backbone is 0.9 A. Several amino acid side-chains, of which all but one are charged or polar, have different conformations. We find that by refining one structure simultaneously against both the NMR and crystallographic data sets, it can accommodate both. Different starting configurations were used, including the X-ray structure 5pti, an NMR conformer, and the X-ray structure in the full unit cell with …


Structural Stability Of Disulfide Mutants Of Basic Pancreatic Trypsin Inhibitor: A Molecular Dynamics Study, Celia Schiffer, Wilfred Van Gunsteren Nov 2011

Structural Stability Of Disulfide Mutants Of Basic Pancreatic Trypsin Inhibitor: A Molecular Dynamics Study, Celia Schiffer, Wilfred Van Gunsteren

Celia A. Schiffer

The structure and folding of basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) has been studied extensively by experimental means. We report a computer simulation study of the structural stability of various disulfide mutants of BPTI, involving eight 250-psec molecular dynamics simulations of the proteins in water, with and without a phosphate counterion. The presence of the latter alters the relative stability of the single disulfide species [5-55] and [30-51]. This conclusion can explain results of mutational studies and the conservation of residues in homologues of BPTI, and suggests a possible role of ions in stabilizing one intermediate over another in unfolding or …


Prediction Of Homologous Protein Structures Based On Conformational Searches And Energetics, Celia Schiffer, James Caldwell, Peter Kollman, Robert Stroud Nov 2011

Prediction Of Homologous Protein Structures Based On Conformational Searches And Energetics, Celia Schiffer, James Caldwell, Peter Kollman, Robert Stroud

Celia A. Schiffer

A "knowledge-based" method of predicting the unknown structure of a protein from a homologous known structure using energetics to determine a sidechain conformation is proposed. The method consists of exchanging the residues in the known structure for the sequence of the unknown protein. Then a conformational search with molecular mechanics energy minimization is done on the exchanged residues. The lowest energy conformer is the one picked to be the predicted structure. In the structure of bovine trypsin, the importance of including a solvation energy term in the search is demonstrated for solvent accessible residues, while molecular mechanics alone is enough …


Crystallization Of Human Thymidylate Synthase, Celia Schiffer, V. Jo Davisson, Daniel Santi, Robert Stroud Nov 2011

Crystallization Of Human Thymidylate Synthase, Celia Schiffer, V. Jo Davisson, Daniel Santi, Robert Stroud

Celia A. Schiffer

Human thymidylate synthase has been crystallized in the absence of ligands and diffracts beyond 3.0 A. The protein was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli and then crystallized from ammonium sulfate in the presence of beta-mercaptoethanol at a variety of pH values. The crystals are trigonal in the space-group P3(1)21; the unit cell dimensions are a = b = 96.7 A, c = 84.1 A.


Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Protease-Correlated Cleavage Site Mutations Enhance Inhibitor Resistance, Madhavi Kolli, Eric Stawiski, Colombe Chappey, Celia Schiffer Nov 2011

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Protease-Correlated Cleavage Site Mutations Enhance Inhibitor Resistance, Madhavi Kolli, Eric Stawiski, Colombe Chappey, Celia Schiffer

Celia A. Schiffer

Drug resistance is an important cause of antiretroviral therapy failure in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. Mutations in the protease render the virus resistant to protease inhibitors (PIs). Gag cleavage sites also mutate, sometimes correlating with resistance mutations in the protease, but their contribution to resistance has not been systematically analyzed. The present study examines mutations in Gag cleavage sites that associate with protease mutations and the impact of these associations on drug susceptibilities. Significant associations were observed between mutations in the nucleocapsid-p1 (NC-p1) and p1-p6 cleavage sites and various PI resistance-associated mutations in the protease. Several patterns were frequently …


Accessibility And Order Of Water Sites In And Around Proteins: A Crystallographic Time-Averaging Study, Celia Schiffer, Wilfred Van Gunsteren Nov 2011

Accessibility And Order Of Water Sites In And Around Proteins: A Crystallographic Time-Averaging Study, Celia Schiffer, Wilfred Van Gunsteren

Celia A. Schiffer

Water plays an essential role in most biological processes. Water molecules solvating biomolecules are generally in fast exchange with the environment. Nevertheless, well-defined electron density is seen for water associated with proteins whose crystal structure is determined to high resolution. The relative accessibility of these water sites is likely to be relevant to their biological role but is difficult to assess. A time-averaging crystallographic refinement simulation on basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor successfully characterizes the relative accessibility of the crystallographic water sites. In such a refinement simulation water diffuses through the crystal lattice in a manner that is consistent with the …