Expression and Solution NMR Study of Multi-site Phosphomimetic Mutant BCL-2 Protein

Protein Pept Lett. 2019 Jul 4;26(6):449-457. doi: 10.2174/0929866526666190327121225.

Abstract

Background: The significance of multi-site phosphorylation of BCL-2 protein in the flexible loop domain remains controversial, in part due to the lack of structural biology studies of phosphorylated BCL-2.

Objective: The purpose of the study is to explore the phosphorylation induced structural changes of BCL-2 protein.

Methods: We constructed a phosphomietic mutant BCL-2(62-206) (t69e, s70e and s87e) (EEEBCL- 2-EK (62-206)), in which the BH4 domain and the part of loop region was truncated (residues 2-61) to enable a backbone resonance assignment. The phosphorylation-induced structural change was visualized by overlapping a well dispersed 15N-1H heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) NMR spectroscopy between EEE-BCL-2-EK (62-206) and BCL-2.

Results: The EEE-BCL-2-EK (62-206) protein reproduced the biochemical and cellular activity of the native phosphorylated BCL-2 (pBCL-2), which was distinct from non-phosphorylated BCL-2 (npBCL-2) protein. Some residues in BH3 binding groove occurred chemical shift in the EEEBCL- 2-EK (62-206) spectrum, indicating that the phosphorylation in the loop region induces a structural change of active site.

Conclusion: The phosphorylation of BCL-2 induced structural change in BH3 binding groove.

Keywords: BH3 binding groove; NMR spectroscopy; Phosphorylated BCL-2; chemical shift; purification; structural change..

MeSH terms

  • Apoptosis
  • Cell Line
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Humans
  • Models, Molecular
  • Mutant Proteins / chemistry*
  • Mutant Proteins / genetics
  • Mutant Proteins / metabolism
  • Mutation
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular / methods*
  • Phosphorylation
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Domains
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / chemistry*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / genetics
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / metabolism
  • Transfection

Substances

  • Mutant Proteins
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2