Kalia Munishikha, Willkomm Sarah, Claussen Jens Christian, Restle Tobias, Bonvin Alexandre M J J
Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.
Institute for Neuro- and Bioinformatics, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.
Int J Mol Sci. 2015 Dec 24;17(1):22. doi: 10.3390/ijms17010022.
The human Argonaute 2 (hAgo2) protein is a key player of RNA interference (RNAi). Upon complex formation with small non-coding RNAs, the protein initially interacts with the 5'-end of a given guide RNA through multiple interactions within the MID domain. This interaction has been reported to show a strong bias for U and A over C and G at the 5'-position. Performing molecular dynamics simulations of binary hAgo2/OH-guide-RNA complexes, we show that hAgo2 is a highly flexible protein capable of binding to guide strands with all four possible 5'-bases. Especially, in the case of C and G this is associated with rather large individual conformational rearrangements affecting the MID, PAZ and even the N-terminal domains to different degrees. Moreover, a 5'-G induces domain motions in the protein, which trigger a previously unreported interaction between the 5'-base and the L2 linker domain. Combining our in silico analyses with biochemical studies of recombinant hAgo2, we find that, contrary to previous observations, hAgo2 is capable of functionally accommodating guide strands regardless of the 5'-base.
人类AGO2(hAgo2)蛋白是RNA干扰(RNAi)的关键参与者。与小非编码RNA形成复合物后,该蛋白最初通过MID结构域内的多种相互作用与特定引导RNA的5'端相互作用。据报道,这种相互作用在5'位置对U和A的偏好明显高于C和G。通过对二元hAgo2/OH引导RNA复合物进行分子动力学模拟,我们发现hAgo2是一种高度灵活的蛋白质,能够与具有所有四种可能5'碱基的引导链结合。特别是,在C和G的情况下,这与相当大的个体构象重排有关,不同程度地影响MID、PAZ甚至N端结构域。此外,5'-G会诱导蛋白质中的结构域运动,从而引发5'碱基与L2连接结构域之间以前未报道的相互作用。将我们的计算机分析与重组hAgo2的生化研究相结合,我们发现,与之前的观察结果相反,无论5'碱基如何,hAgo2都能够在功能上容纳引导链。