TY - JOUR

T1 - Molecular Details of a Coupled Binding and Folding Reaction between the Amyloid Precursor Protein and a Folded Domain

AU - Jensen, Thomas M.T.

AU - Bartling, Christian R.O.

AU - Karlsson, O. Andreas

AU - Åberg, Emma

AU - Haugaard-Kedström, Linda M.

AU - Strømgaard, Kristian

AU - Jemth, Per

N1 - Funding Information: The authors are grateful for the financial support of the Lundbeck Foundation (K.S.) and the Swedish Research Council (2020-04395 to P.J.). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Intrinsically disordered regions in proteins often function as binding motifs in protein-protein interactions. The mechanistic aspects and molecular details of such coupled binding and folding reactions, which involve formation of multiple noncovalent bonds, have been broadly studied theoretically, but experimental data are scarce. Here, using a combination of protein semisynthesis to incorporate phosphorylated amino acids, backbone amide-to-ester modifications, side chain substitutions, and binding kinetics, we examined the interaction between the intrinsically disordered motif of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and the phosphotyrosine binding (PTB) domain of Mint2. We show that the interaction is regulated by a self-inhibitory segment of the PTB domain previously termed ARM. The helical ARM linker decreases the association rate constant 30-fold through a fast pre-equilibrium between an open and a closed state. Extensive side chain substitutions combined with kinetic experiments demonstrate that the rate-limiting transition state for the binding reaction is governed by native and non-native hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds. Hydrophobic interactions were found to be particularly important during crossing of the transition state barrier. Furthermore, linear free energy relationships show that the overall coupled binding and folding reaction involves cooperative formation of interactions with roughly 30% native contacts formed at the transition state. Our data support an emerging picture of coupled binding and folding reactions following overall chemical principles similar to those of folding of globular protein domains but with greater malleability of ground and transition states.

AB - Intrinsically disordered regions in proteins often function as binding motifs in protein-protein interactions. The mechanistic aspects and molecular details of such coupled binding and folding reactions, which involve formation of multiple noncovalent bonds, have been broadly studied theoretically, but experimental data are scarce. Here, using a combination of protein semisynthesis to incorporate phosphorylated amino acids, backbone amide-to-ester modifications, side chain substitutions, and binding kinetics, we examined the interaction between the intrinsically disordered motif of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and the phosphotyrosine binding (PTB) domain of Mint2. We show that the interaction is regulated by a self-inhibitory segment of the PTB domain previously termed ARM. The helical ARM linker decreases the association rate constant 30-fold through a fast pre-equilibrium between an open and a closed state. Extensive side chain substitutions combined with kinetic experiments demonstrate that the rate-limiting transition state for the binding reaction is governed by native and non-native hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds. Hydrophobic interactions were found to be particularly important during crossing of the transition state barrier. Furthermore, linear free energy relationships show that the overall coupled binding and folding reaction involves cooperative formation of interactions with roughly 30% native contacts formed at the transition state. Our data support an emerging picture of coupled binding and folding reactions following overall chemical principles similar to those of folding of globular protein domains but with greater malleability of ground and transition states.

U2 - 10.1021/acschembio.1c00176

DO - 10.1021/acschembio.1c00176

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34161732

AN - SCOPUS:85110354973

VL - 16

SP - 1191

EP - 1200

JO - A C S Chemical Biology

JF - A C S Chemical Biology

SN - 1554-8929

IS - 7

ER -