Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Protein Sci. 2023 May;32(5):e4632. doi: 10.1002/pro.4632.
Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier 1 (SUMO1) is an essential protein for many cellular functions, including regulation, signaling, etc., achieved by a process known as SUMOylation, which involves covalent attachment of SUMO1 to target proteins. SUMO1 also regulates the function of several proteins via non-covalent interactions involving the hydrophobic patch in the target protein identified as SUMO Binding or Interacting Motif (SBM/SIM). Here, we demonstrate a crucial functional potential of SUMO1 mediated by its non-covalent interactions with α-Synuclein, a protein responsible for many neurodegenerative diseases called α-Synucleinopathies. SUMO1 hinders the fibrillation of α-Synuclein, an intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) that undergoes a transition to β-structures during the fibrillation process. Using a plethora of biophysical techniques, we show that SUMO1 transiently binds to the N-terminus region of α-Synuclein non-covalently and causes structural compaction, which hinders the self-association process and thereby delays the fibrillation process. On the one hand, this study demonstrates an essential functional role of SUMO1 protein concerning neurodegeneration; it also illustrates the commonly stated mechanism that IDPs carry out multiple functions by structural adaptation to suit specific target proteins, on the other. Residue-level details about the SUMO1-α-Synuclein interaction obtained here also serve as a reliable approach for investigating the detailed mechanisms of IDP functions.
小泛素样修饰物 1(SUMO1)是许多细胞功能所必需的蛋白质,包括调节、信号转导等,这一过程称为 SUMOylation,涉及 SUMO1 与靶蛋白的共价结合。SUMO1 还通过涉及靶蛋白中鉴定为 SUMO 结合或相互作用基序(SBM/SIM)的疏水斑的非共价相互作用来调节几种蛋白质的功能。在这里,我们证明了 SUMO1 通过与负责许多称为α-突触核蛋白病的神经退行性疾病的蛋白质α-突触核蛋白的非共价相互作用所介导的关键功能潜力。SUMO1 阻碍了α-突触核蛋白的纤维形成,α-突触核蛋白是一种无序蛋白(IDP),在纤维形成过程中会转变为β-结构。使用大量生物物理技术,我们表明 SUMO1 非共价地瞬时结合到α-突触核蛋白的 N 端区域,并引起结构紧缩,从而阻碍了自缔合过程,从而延迟了纤维形成过程。一方面,这项研究证明了 SUMO1 蛋白在神经退行性变方面的重要功能作用;另一方面,它也说明了 IDP 通过结构适应特定靶蛋白来执行多种功能的普遍观点。这里获得的关于 SUMO1-α-突触核蛋白相互作用的残基水平细节也为研究 IDP 功能的详细机制提供了可靠的方法。