Browsing by Author "Hsiao, Yu-Yuan"

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Aromatic residues in RNase T stack with nucleobases to guide the sequence-specific recognition and cleavage of nucleic acids
(2015-12-01)
Duh, Yulander
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Hsiao, Yu-Yuan
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Li, Chia-Lung
;
Huang, Jason C.
;
Yuan, Hanna S.
RNase T is a classical member of the DEDDh family of exonucleases with a unique sequence preference in that its 3\'-to-5\' exonuclease activity is blocked by a 3\'-terminal dinucleotide CC in digesting both single-stranded RNA and DNA. Our previous crystal structure analysis of RNase T-DNA complexes show that four phenylalanine residues, F29, F77, F124, and F146, stack with the two 3\'-terminal nucleobases. To elucidate if the pi-pi stacking interactions between aromatic residues and nucleobases play a critical role in sequence-specific protein-nucleic acid recognition, here we mutated two to four of the phenylalanine residues in RNase T to tryptophan (W mutants) and tyrosine (Y mutants). The Escherichia coli strains expressing either the W mutants or the Y mutants had slow growth phenotypes, suggesting that all of these mutants could not fully substitute the function of the wild-type RNase T in vivo. DNA digestion assays revealed W mutants shared similar sequence specificity with wild-type RNase T. However, the Y mutants exhibited altered sequence-dependent activity, digesting ssDNA with both 3\'-end CC and GG sequences. Moreover, the W and Y mutants had reduced DNA-binding activity and lower thermal stability as compared to wild-type RNase T. Taken together, our results suggest that the four phenylalanine residues in RNase T not only play critical roles in sequence-specific recognition, but also in overall protein stability. Our results provide the first evidence showing that the pi-pi stacking interactions between nucleobases and protein aromatic residues may guide the sequence-specific activity for DNA and RNA enzymes.
Aromatic residues in RNase T stack with nucleobases to guide the sequence-specific recognition and cleavage of nucleic acids
(2015-12)
Duh, Yulander
;
Hsiao, Yu-Yuan
;
Li, Chia-Lung
;
Huang, Jason C.
;
Yuan, Hanna S.
RNase T is a classical member of the DEDDh family of exonucleases with a unique sequence preference in that its 3\'-to-5\' exonuclease activity is blocked by a 3\'-terminal dinucleotide CC in digesting both single-stranded RNA and DNA. Our previous crystal structure analysis of RNase T-DNA complexes show that four phenylalanine residues, F29, F77, F124, and F146, stack with the two 3\'-terminal nucleobases. To elucidate if the pi-pi stacking interactions between aromatic residues and nucleobases play a critical role in sequence-specific protein-nucleic acid recognition, here we mutated two to four of the phenylalanine residues in RNase T to tryptophan (W mutants) and tyrosine (Y mutants). The Escherichia coli strains expressing either the W mutants or the Y mutants had slow growth phenotypes, suggesting that all of these mutants could not fully substitute the function of the wild-type RNase T in vivo. DNA digestion assays revealed W mutants shared similar sequence specificity with wild-type RNase T. However, the Y mutants exhibited altered sequence-dependent activity, digesting ssDNA with both 3\'-end CC and GG sequences. Moreover, the W and Y mutants had reduced DNA-binding activity and lower thermal stability as compared to wild-type RNase T. Taken together, our results suggest that the four phenylalanine residues in RNase T not only play critical roles in sequence-specific recognition, but also in overall protein stability. Our results provide the first evidence showing that the pi-pi stacking interactions between nucleobases and protein aromatic residues may guide the sequence-specific activity for DNA and RNA enzymes.
Functional analysis of Clostridium difficile sortase B reveals key residues for catalytic activity and substrate specificity
(2020-03-13)
Kang, Chia-Yu
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Huang, I-Hsiu
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Chou, Chi-Chi
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Wu, Tsai-Yu
;
Chang, Jyun-Cyuan
Most of Gram-positive bacteria anchor surface proteins to the peptidoglycan cell wall by sortase, a cysteine transpeptidase that targets proteins displaying a cell wall sorting signal. Unlike other bacteria, Clostridium difficile, the major human pathogen responsible for antibiotic-associated diarrhea, has only a single functional sortase (SrtB). Sortase's vital importance in bacterial virulence has been long recognized, and C. difficile sortase B (Cd-SrtB) has become an attractive therapeutic target for managing C. difficile infection. A better understanding of the molecular activity of Cd-SrtB may help spur the development of effective agents against C. difficile infection. In this study, using site-directed mutagenesis, biochemical and biophysical tools, LC-MS/MS, and crystallographic analyses, we identified key residues essential for Cd-SrtB catalysis and substrate recognition. To the best of our knowledge, we report the first evidence that a conserved serine residue near the active site participates in the catalytic activity of Cd-SrtB and also SrtB from Staphylococcus aureus. The serine residue indispensable for SrtB activity may be involved in stabilizing a thioacyl-enzyme intermediate because it is neither a nucleophilic residue nor a substrate-interacting residue, based on the LC-MS/MS data and available structural models of SrtB?substrate complexes. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that residues 163?168 located on the ?6/?7 loop of Cd-SrtB dominate specific recognition of the peptide substrate PPKTG. The results of this work reveal key residues with roles in catalysis and substrate specificity of Cd-SrtB.
Identification of Inhibitors for the DEDDh Family of Exonucleases and a Unique Inhibition Mechanism by Crystal Structure Analysis of CRN-4 Bound with 2-Morpholin-4-ylethanesulfonate (MES)
(2016-09-08)
Huang, Kuan-Wei
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Hsu, Kai-Cheng
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Chu, Lee-Ya
;
Yang, Jinn-Moon
;
Yuan, Hanna S.
The DEDDh family of exonucleases plays essential roles in DNA and RNA metabolism in all kingdoms of life. Several viral and human, DEDDh exonucleases can serve as antiviral drug targets due to their critical roles virus replication. Here using RNase T and CRN-4 as the model systems, we identify potential inhibitors for DEDDh exonucleases. We further show that two of the inhibitors, ATA and PV6R, indeed inhibit the exonuclease activity of the viral protein NP exonuclease of Lassa fever virus in vitro. Moreover, we determine the crystal structure of CRN-4 in complex with MES that reveals a unique inhibition Mechanism, by inducing the general base His179 to shift out of the active site. Our results not only provide the structural basis for the inhibition mechanism but also suggest potential lead inhibitors for the DEDDh exonucleases that may pave the way for designing nuclease inhibitors for biochemical and biomedical applications.
Identification of inhibitors for the DEDDh family of exonucleases and a unique inhibition mechanism revealed by crystal structure analysis of CRN-4 bound with MES
(2016-01-01)
Hsiao, Yu-Yuan
;
Huang, Kuan-Wei
;
Hsu, Kai-Cheng
;
Chu, Lee-Ya
;
Yang, Jinn-Moon
MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF TREX1 IN DNA REPAIR AND IMMUNE SILENCING
(2019-01-01)
Huang, Kuan-Wei
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Liu, Tung-Chang
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Hsiao, Yu-Yuan
;
Hsaio, Yu-Yuan
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生物科技學系
Polarity Alteration of a Calcium Site Induces a Hydrophobic Interaction Network and Enhances Cel9A Endoglucanase Thermostability
(2016-03)
Wang, Hsiu-Jung
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Hsiao, Yu-Yuan
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Chen, Yu-Pei
;
Ma, Tien-Yang
;
Tseng, Ching-Ping
Structural calcium sites control protein thermostability and activity by stabilizing native folds and changing local conformations. Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius survives in thermal-acidic conditions and produces an endoglucanase Cel9A (AaCel9A) which contains a calcium-binding site (Ser465 to Val470) near the catalytic cleft. By superimposing the Ca2+ -free and Ca2+ bounded conformations of the calcium site, we found that Ca2+ induces hydrophobic interactions between the calcium site and its nearby region by driving a conformational change. The hydrophobic interactions at the high-B-factor region could be enhanced further by replacing the surrounding polar residues with hydrophobic residues to affect enzyme thermostability and activity. Therefore, the calcium-binding residue Asp468 (whose side chain directly ligates Ca2+), Asp469, and Asp471 of AaCel9A were separately replaced by alanine and valine. Mutants D468A and D468V showed increased activity compared with those of the wild type with 0 mMor 10 mM Ca2+ added, whereas the Asp469 or Asp471 substitution resulted in decreased activity. The D468A crystal structure revealed that mutation D468A triggered a conformational change similar to that induced by Ca2+ in the wild type and developed a hydrophobic interaction network between the calcium site and the neighboring hydrophobic region (Ala113 to Ala117). Mutations D468V and D468A increased 4.5 degrees C and 5.9 degrees C, respectively, in melting temperature, and enzyme half-life at 75 degrees C increased approximately 13 times. Structural comparisons between AaCel9A and other endoglucanases of the GH9 family suggested that the stability of the regions corresponding to the AaCel9A calcium site plays an important role in GH9 endoglucanase catalysis at high temperature.
Structural basis for overhang excision and terminal unwinding of DNA duplexes by TREX1
(2018-05-01)
Huang, Kuan-Wei
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Liu, Tung-Chang
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Liang, Ruei-Yue
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Chu, Lee-Ya
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Cheng, Hiu-Lo
Three prime repair exonuciease 1 (TREX1) is an essential exonuclease in mammalian cells, and numerous in vivo and in vitro data evidenced its participation in immunity regulation and in genotoxicity remediation. In these very complicated cellular functions, the molecular mechanisms by which duplex DNA substrates are processed are mostly elusive because of the lack of structure information. Here, we report multiple crystal structures of TREX1 complexed with various substrates to provide the structure basis for overhang excision and terminal unwinding of DNA duplexes. The substrates were designed to mimic the intermediate structural DNAs involved in various repair pathways. The results showed that the Leu24Pro25-Ser26 cluster of TREX1 served to cap the nonscissile 5'-end of the DNA for precise removal of the short 3'-overhang in L- and Y-structural DNA or to wedge into the double-stranded region for further digestion along the duplex. Biochemical assays were also conducted to demonstrate that TREX1 can indeed degrade double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) to a full extent. Overall, this study provided unprecedented knowledge at the molecular level on the enzymatic substrate processing involved in prevention of immune activation and in responses to genotoxic stresses. For example, Arg128, whose mutation in TREX1 was linked to a disease state, were shown to exhibit consistent interaction patterns with the nonscissile strand in all of the structures we solved. Such structure basis is expected to play an indispensable role in elucidating the functional activities of TREX1 at the cellular level and in vivo.
Structural Insights Into DNA Repair by RNase T- An Exonuclease Processing 39 End of Structured DNA in Repair Pathways
(2014-03-01)
Hsiao, Yu-Yuan
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Fang, Woei-Horng
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Lee, Chia-Chia
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Chen, Yi-Ping
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Yuan, Hanna S.
DNA repair mechanisms are essential for preservation of genome integrity. However, it is not clear how DNA are selected and processed at broken ends by exonucleases during repair pathways. Here we show that the DnaQ-like exonuclease RNase T is critical for Escherichia coli resistance to various DNA-damaging agents and UV radiation. RNase T specifically trims the 3 end of structured DNA, including bulge, bubble, and Y-structured DNA, and it can work with Endonuclease V to restore the deaminated base in an inosine-containing heteroduplex DNA. Crystal structure analyses further reveal how RNase T recognizes the bulge DNA by inserting a phenylalanine into the bulge, and as a result the 3 end of blunt-end bulge DNA can be digested by RNase T. In contrast, the homodimeric RNase T interacts with the Y-structured DNA by a different binding mode via a single protomer so that the 3 overhang of the Y-structured DNA can be trimmed closely to the duplex region. Our data suggest that RNase T likely processes bulge and bubble DNA in the Endonuclease V-dependent DNA repair, whereas it processes Y-structured DNA in UV-induced and various other DNA repair pathways. This study thus provides mechanistic insights for RNase T and thousands of DnaQ-like exonucleases in DNA 3-end processing. Author Summary DNA repair relies on various enzymes, including exonucleases that bind and trim DNA at broken ends. However, we know little about how an exonuclease precisely selects and trims a DNA broken end in specific repair pathways. In this study, the enzyme RNase T, previously known for its involvement in processing RNA substrates, is shown to also possess DNase activity. RNase T is a DnaQ-like exonuclease and is characterized in this work as the exoDNase responsible for trimming the 3 ends of structured DNA in various DNA repair pathways. Based on the high-resolution crystal structures of RNase T-DNA complexes, an insightful working model is provided showing how RNase T processes bulge, bubble, and Y- structured DNA in various DNA repair pathways. RNase T thus represents a unique structure-specific exonuclease with multiple functions not only in processing 3 overhangs of duplex RNA during RNA maturation, but also in processing 3 ends of bubble, bulge, and Y-structured DNA during DNA repair. These findings advance our understanding of the precise function of an exonuclease in DNA repair and suggest possible roles for thousands of members of DnaQ superfamily exonucleases in DNA repair and replication.
Structural Insights into Substrate Recognition by Clostridium difficile Sortase
(2016-11-22)
Yin, Jui-Chieh
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Fei, Chun-Hsien
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Lo, Yen-Chen
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Hsiao, Yu-Yuan
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Chang, Jyun-Cyuan
Sortases function as cysteine transpeptidases that catalyze the covalent attachment of virulence-associated surface proteins into the cell wall peptidoglycan in Gram-positive bacteria. The substrate proteins targeted by sortase enzymes have a cell wall sorting signal (CWSS) located at the C-terminus. Up to date, it is still not well understood how sortases with structural resemblance among different classes and diverse species of bacteria achieve substrate specificity. In this study, we focus on elucidating the molecular basis for specific recognition of peptide substrate PPKTG by Clostridium difficile sortase B (Cd-SrtB). Combining structural studies, biochemical assays and molecular dynamics simulations, we have constructed a computational model of Cd-SrtB(Delta N26)PPKTG complex and have validated the model by site-directed mutagensis studies and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based assay. Furthermore, we have revealed that the fourth amino acid in the N-terminal direction from cleavage site of PPKTG forms specific interaction with Cd-SrtB and plays an essential role in configuring the peptide to allow more efficient substrate-specific cleavage by Cd-SrtB.
Structural insights into the duplex DNA processing of TREX2
(2018-12-14)
Cheng, Hiu-Lo
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Lin, Chun-Ting
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Huang, Kuan-Wei
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Wang, Shuying
;
Lin, Yeh-Tung
The three prime repair exonuclease 2 (TREX2) is an essential 3'- to-5' exonuclease that functions in cell proliferation, genome integrity and skin homeostasis maintenance. The abnormal expression level of TREX2 can result in broken chromosome, increased susceptibility to skin carcinogenesis and Psoriasis. However, the molecular mechanisms of how TREX2 binds and processes its natural substrates, dsDNA or chromosomal DNA, to maintain genome stability remain unclear. In this study, we present four new crystal structures: apo-TREX2, TREX2 in complex with two different dsDNA substrates, and TREX2 in complex with a processed dsDNA product. Analysis of the structures reveals that TREX2 stacks with the 5'-terminal of dsDNA by a Leu20-Pro21-Asn22 cluster for precisely trimming the 3'-overhang. In addition, TREX2 specifically interacts with the nonscissile strand of dsDNA by an alpha-helix-loop region. The unique interaction patterns of the TREX2-dsDNA complex highlight the requirement of long double-stranded region for TREX2 binding and provide evidence of the functional role of TREX2 in processing chromosomal DNA. Moreover, the non-processive property of TREX2 is elucidated by the structure of TREX2-product complex. Our work discloses the first structural basis of the molecular interactions between TREX2 and its substrates and unravels the mechanistic actions of TREX2.
Structure and function of TatD exonuclease in DNA repair
(2014-09-15)
Chen, Yi-Chen
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Li, Chia-Lung
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Hsiao, Yu-Yuan
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Duh, Yulander
;
Yuan, Hanna S.
TatD is an evolutionarily conserved protein with thousands of homologues in all kingdoms of life. It has been suggested that TatD participates in DNA fragmentation during apoptosis in eukaryotic cells. However, the cellular functions and biochemical properties of TatD in bacterial and non-apoptotic eukaryotic cells remain elusive. Here we show that Escherichia coli TatD is a Mg2+-dependent 3\'-5\' exonuclease that prefers to digest single-stranded DNA and RNA. TatD-knockout cells are less resistant to the DNA damaging agent hydrogen peroxide, and TatD can remove damaged deaminated nucleotides from a DNA chain, suggesting that it may play a role in the H2O2-induced DNA repair. The crystal structure of the apo-form TatD and TatD bound to a single-stranded three-nucleotide DNA was determined by X-ray diffraction methods at a resolution of 2.0 and 2.9 angstrom, respectively. TatD has a TIM-barrel fold and the single-stranded DNA is bound at the loop region on the top of the barrel. Mutational studies further identify important conserved metal ion-binding and catalytic residues in the TatD active site for DNA hydrolysis. We thus conclude that TatD is a new class of TIM-barrel 3\'-5\' exonuclease that not only degrades chromosomal DNA during apoptosis but also processes single-stranded DNA during DNA repair.