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PDB e P rotein I nterfaces, S urfaces and A ssemblies. A web service for the analysis of macromolecular interactions and complexes. Protein Quaternary Structures (PQS). Assembly of protein chains, stable in native environment.
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PDBeProtein Interfaces, Surfaces and Assemblies A web service for the analysis of macromolecular interactions and complexes
Protein Quaternary Structures (PQS) Assembly of protein chains, stable in native environment • PQS is often a Biological Unit, performing a certain physiological function • PQS is a difficult subject for experimental studies • Neutron/X-ray scattering: mainly composition and multimeric state may be found. • Dynamic light scattering: 3D shape may be guessed from mobility measurements. • Electron microscopy: not a fantastic resolution and not applicable to all objects • NMR is not good for big chains, even less so for protein assemblies.
If we know the sequence ... 1 VNKERTFLAVKPDGVARGLVGEIIARYEKKGFVLVGLKQLVPTKDLAESHYAEHKERPFF then we can calculate ... 2 50 - 90%Secondary Structure (CASP 5), depending on method 4 3 Nearly 0% Quaternary Structure. Docking of given number of given structures: 5 - 20% success (CAPRI 5) 10 - 90%Tertiary Structure (CASP 5), depending on method and target PQS are difficult to calculate…
The wwPDB “rules” are: www.wwpdb.org Depositor’s say prevails. Accept everything which passes formal validation checks. No experimental evidence for PQS is required. If a depositor does not know or does not care (60-80% of instances for PQS), the curator is to decide. The curator may use computing/modeling tools to assist the PQS annotation. But PQS are assigned to many PDB entries! Most of those are PROBABLE Quaternary Structures.
Crystallography is special in that … A) crystal is made of assemblies
Crystallography is special in that … B) there is no need to dock subunits – the docking is given by crystal structure Macromolecular interfaces should be viewed as an additional and important artifact of protein crystallography
Wealth of experimental data on PQS in PDB Crystal = translated Unit Cells More than 80% of macromolecular structures are solved by means of X-ray diffraction on crystals. It is reasonable to expect that PQS make building blocks for the crystal. An X-ray diffraction experiment produces atomic coordinates of the Asymmetric Unit (ASU), which are stored as a PDB file. In general, neither ASU nor Unit Cell has any direct relation to PQS. The PQS may be made of Unit Cell = all space symmetry group mates of ASU • a single ASU • part of ASU • several ASU • several parts of ASU PDB file (ASU)
What is a significant interface? Depends on the problem. • Protein functionality: the interface should be engaged in any sort of interaction, including transient short-living protein-ligand and protein-protein etc. associations. Obviously important properties: • Affinity (comes from area, hydrophobicity, electrostatics, H-bond density etc.) • and properties that may be important for reaction pathway and dynamics: • Aminoacid composition • Geometrical complementarity • Overall shape, compactness • Charge distribution • etc. • Stable macromolecular complexes, PQS: the interface should make a sound binding. Important properties: • Sufficient free energy of binding • something else?
Chemical stability of protein complexes • It is not properties of individual interfaces but rather chemical stability of protein complex in general that really matters • Protein chains will most likely associate into largest complexes that are still stable • A protein complex is stable if its free energy of dissociation is positive:
Detection of Biological Units in Crystals: PISA MethodSummary • Build periodic graph of the crystal • Enumerate all possibly stable assemblies • Evaluate assemblies for chemical stability • Leave only sets of stable assemblies in the list and range them by chances to be a biological unit : • Larger assemblies take preference • Single-assembly solutions take preference • Otherwise, assemblies with higher Gdiss take preference
If you have to ask ... • What quaternary structure can my crystal structure have? • What are the crystal contacts and interfaces in my structure? • What is the size of the crystal interfaces? • What are the energetics that keep my quaternary structure together? • Are there any other structures in the PDB that have similar interfaces? USE PDBePisa Upload your own PDB file for analysis !!
Web-server PISA E. Krissinel and K. Henrick (2007). Inference of macromolecular assemblies from crystalline state. J. Mol. Biol. 372, 774--797.
Web-server PISA http://www.ebi.ac.uk/msd-srv/prot_int/pistart.html A new PDBe-EBI tool for working with Protein Interfaces, Surfaces and Assemblies
Summary • What is a protein quaternary structure (PQS)? • Difficulties determining PQS • Properties of protein contacts • Which answers can PISA give?