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      CyBase: a database of cyclic protein sequences and structures, with applications in protein discovery and engineering

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          Abstract

          CyBase was originally developed as a database for backbone-cyclized proteins, providing search and display capabilities for sequence, structure and function data. Cyclic proteins are interesting because, compared to conventional proteins, they have increased stability and enhanced binding affinity and therefore can potentially be developed as protein drugs. The new CyBase release features a redesigned interface and internal architecture to improve user-interactivity, collates double the amount of data compared to the initial release, and hosts a novel suite of tools that are useful for the visualization, characterization and engineering of cyclic proteins. These tools comprise sequence/structure 2D representations, a summary of grafting and mutation studies of synthetic analogues, a study of N- to C-terminal distances in known protein structures and a structural modelling tool to predict the best linker length to cyclize a protein. These updates are useful because they have the potential to help accelerate the discovery of naturally occurring cyclic proteins and the engineering of cyclic protein drugs. The new release of CyBase is available at http://research1t.imb.uq.edu.au/cybase

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          Most cited references37

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          Plant cyclotides: A unique family of cyclic and knotted proteins that defines the cyclic cystine knot structural motif.

          Several macrocyclic peptides ( approximately 30 amino acids), with diverse biological activities, have been isolated from the Rubiaceae and Violaceae plant families over recent years. We have significantly expanded the range of known macrocyclic peptides with the discovery of 16 novel peptides from extracts of Viola hederaceae, Viola odorata and Oldenlandia affinis. The Viola plants had not previously been examined for these peptides and thus represent novel species in which these unusual macrocyclic peptides are produced. Further, we have determined the three-dimensional structure of one of these novel peptides, cycloviolacin O1, using (1)H NMR spectroscopy. The structure consists of a distorted triple-stranded beta-sheet and a cystine-knot arrangement of the disulfide bonds. This structure is similar to kalata B1 and circulin A, the only two macrocyclic peptides for which a structure was available, suggesting that despite the sequence variation throughout the peptides they form a family in which the overall fold is conserved. We refer to these peptides as the cyclotide family and their embedded topology as the cyclic cystine knot (CCK) motif. The unique cyclic and knotted nature of these molecules makes them a fascinating example of topologically complex proteins. Examination of the sequences reveals they can be separated into two subfamilies, one of which tends to contain a larger number of positively charged residues and has a bracelet-like circularization of the backbone. The second subfamily contains a backbone twist due to a cis-Pro peptide bond and may conceptually be regarded as a molecular Moebius strip. Here we define the structural features of the two apparent subfamilies of the CCK peptides which may be significant for the likely defense related role of these peptides within plants. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.
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            Thermal, chemical, and enzymatic stability of the cyclotide kalata B1: the importance of the cyclic cystine knot.

            The cyclotides constitute a recently discovered family of plant-derived peptides that have the unusual features of a head-to-tail cyclized backbone and a cystine knot core. These features are thought to contribute to their exceptional stability, as qualitatively observed during experiments aimed at sequencing and characterizing early members of the family. However, to date there has been no quantitative study of the thermal, chemical, or enzymatic stability of the cyclotides. In this study, we demonstrate the stability of the prototypic cyclotide kalata B1 to the chaotropic agents 6 M guanidine hydrochloride (GdHCl) and 8 M urea, to temperatures approaching boiling, to acid, and following incubation with a range of proteases, conditions under which most proteins readily unfold. NMR spectroscopy was used to demonstrate the thermal stability, while fluorescence and circular dichroism were used to monitor the chemical stability. Several variants of kalata B1 were also examined, including kalata B2, which has five amino acid substitutions from B1, two acyclic permutants in which the backbone was broken but the cystine knot was retained, and a two-disulfide bond mutant. Together, these allowed determinations of the relative roles of the cystine knot and the circular backbone on the stability of the cyclotides. Addition of a denaturant to kalata B1 or an acyclic permutant did not cause unfolding, but the two-disulfide derivative was less stable, despite having a similar three-dimensional structure. It appears that the cystine knot is more important than the circular backbone in the chemical stability of the cyclotides. Furthermore, the cystine knot of the cyclotides is more stable than those in similar-sized molecules, judging by a comparison with the conotoxin PVIIA. There was no evidence for enzymatic digestion of native kalata B1 as monitored by LC-MS, but the reduced form was susceptible to proteolysis by trypsin, endoproteinase Glu-C, and thermolysin. Fluorescence spectra of kalata B1 in the presence of dithiothreitol, a reducing agent, showed a marked increase in intensity thought to be due to removal of the quenching effect on the Trp residue by the neighboring Cys5-Cys17 disulfide bond. In general, the reduced peptides were significantly more susceptible to chemical or enzymatic breakdown than the oxidized species.
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              The chemical shift index: a fast and simple method for the assignment of protein secondary structure through NMR spectroscopy.

              Previous studies by Wishart et al. [Wishart, D. S., Sykes, B. D., & Richards, F. M. (1991) J. Mol. Biol. (in press)] have demonstrated that 1H NMR chemical shifts are strongly dependent on the character and nature of protein secondary structure. In particular, it has been found that the 1H NMR chemical shift of the alpha-CH proton of all 20 naturally occurring amino acids experiences an upfield shift (with respect to the random coil value) when in a helical configuration and a comparable downfield shift when in a beta-strand extended configuration. On the basis of these observations, a technique is described for rapidly and quantitatively determining the identity, extent, and location of secondary structural elements in proteins based on the simple inspection of the alpha-CH 1H resonance assignments. A number of examples are provided to demonstrate both the simplicity and the accuracy of the technique. This new method is found to be almost as accurate as the more traditional NOE-based methods of determining secondary structure and could prove to be particularly useful in light of the recent development of sequential assignment techniques which are now almost NOE-independent [Ikura, M., Kay, L. E., & Bax, A. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 4659-4667]. We suggest that this new procedure should not necessarily be seen as a substitute to existing rigorous methods for secondary structure determination but, rather, should be viewed as a complement to these approaches.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Nucleic Acids Res
                Nucleic Acids Res
                nar
                nar
                Nucleic Acids Research
                Oxford University Press
                0305-1048
                1362-4962
                January 2008
                5 November 2007
                5 November 2007
                : 36
                : Database issue , Database issue
                : D206-D210
                Affiliations
                1Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Australian Research Council Special Research, Centre for Functional and Applied Genomics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia and 2Université de Montpellier, CNRS, UMR5048, Centre de Biochimie Structurale, 34090 Montpellier, 3INSERM, U554, Montpellier, France
                Author notes
                *To whom correspondence should be addressed.+61 7 3346 2019+61 7 3346 2029 d.craik@ 123456imb.uq.edu.au
                Article
                10.1093/nar/gkm953
                2239000
                17986451
                afd37da9-7b99-4623-b332-27b625bc445d
                © 2007 The Author(s)

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 14 September 2007
                : 15 October 2007
                : 16 October 2007
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                Genetics
                Genetics

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