The regulation mechanism of phosphorylation and mutations in intrinsically disordered protein 4E-BP2

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2020 Feb 7;22(5):2938-2948. doi: 10.1039/c9cp05888e. Epub 2020 Jan 17.

Abstract

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E binding protein 2 (4E-BP2) is an inhibitor of mRNA cap-dependent translations. Wild-type (WT) 4E-BP2 is intrinsically disordered under physiological conditions, while phosphorylation converts the disordered fragments 18-62 into a four-stranded β-sheet structure. The regulation mechanism of phosphorylation on 4E-BP2 still remains ambiguous. In this study, replica-exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulations were utilized to sample the conformation spaces of WT, phosphorylated WT (pWT), and phosphorylated mutated (pMT) 4E-BP2. Starting from extended structures, the folded structures were only observed in pWT simulations. The folding pathway shows that the folded structures of pWT are formed in the order of β1/β4, β3, and β2. The formation of β-turns on pWT, which are driven by hydrogen bonds between the phosphorylated residues and adjacent residues, are the rate-limiting steps in the folding process. The long-range electrostatic interactions contribute toward the stabilization of the folded structures. Moreover, the disruption of β-turn structures induced by mutations would prevent the folding of pMT 4E-BP2. Our finding is helpful in understanding the regulation of the structural ensembles of intrinsically disordered proteins.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Eukaryotic Initiation Factors / chemistry
  • Eukaryotic Initiation Factors / genetics
  • Eukaryotic Initiation Factors / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Bonding
  • Intrinsically Disordered Proteins / chemistry
  • Intrinsically Disordered Proteins / genetics
  • Intrinsically Disordered Proteins / metabolism*
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Mutagenesis, Site-Directed
  • Phosphorylation
  • Protein Conformation, beta-Strand
  • Protein Folding
  • Thermodynamics

Substances

  • EIF4EBP2 protein, human
  • Eukaryotic Initiation Factors
  • Intrinsically Disordered Proteins