Low-frequency normal modes that describe allosteric transitions in biological nanomachines are robust to sequence variations

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 May 16;103(20):7664-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0510426103. Epub 2006 May 8.

Abstract

By representing the high-resolution crystal structures of a number of enzymes using the elastic network model, it has been shown that only a few low-frequency normal modes are needed to describe the large-scale domain movements that are triggered by ligand binding. Here we explore a link between the nearly invariant nature of the modes that describe functional dynamics at the mesoscopic level and the large evolutionary sequence variations at the residue level. By using a structural perturbation method (SPM), which probes the residue-specific response to perturbations (or mutations), we identify a sparse network of strongly conserved residues that transmit allosteric signals in three structurally unrelated biological nanomachines, namely, DNA polymerase, myosin motor, and the Escherichia coli chaperonin. Based on the response of every mode to perturbations, which are generated by interchanging specific sequence pairs in a multiple sequence alignment, we show that the functionally relevant low-frequency modes are most robust to sequence variations. Our work shows that robustness of dynamical modes at the mesoscopic level is encoded in the structure through a sparse network of residues that transmit allosteric signals.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

MeSH terms

  • Allosteric Regulation
  • Amino Acid Sequence*
  • Animals
  • Chaperonin 60 / chemistry
  • Chaperonin 60 / genetics
  • Chaperonin 60 / metabolism*
  • DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / chemistry
  • DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / genetics
  • DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / metabolism*
  • Dictyostelium / metabolism
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Myosin Type II / chemistry
  • Myosin Type II / genetics
  • Myosin Type II / metabolism*
  • Nanotechnology*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Signal Transduction / physiology

Substances

  • Chaperonin 60
  • DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase
  • Myosin Type II