Solution structure of human BCL-w: modulation of ligand binding by the C-terminal helix

The structure of human BCL-w, an anti-apoptotic member of the BCL-2 family, was determined by triple-resonance NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling. Introduction of a single amino acid substitution (P117V) significantly improved the quality of the NMR spectra obtained. The cytosolic domain of BCL...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of biological chemistry 2003-06, Vol.278 (23), p.21124
Main Authors: Denisov, Alexei Yu, Madiraju, Murthy S R, Chen, Gang, Khadir, Abdelkrim, Beauparlant, Pierre, Attardo, Giorgio, Shore, Gordon C, Gehring, Kalle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Sequence
Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins
bcl-X Protein
Cytosol
Humans
Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
Ligands
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Molecular Sequence Data
Protein Folding
Protein Structure, Secondary
Protein Structure, Tertiary
Proteins - chemistry
Proteins - genetics
Proteins - metabolism
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 - chemistry
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 - genetics
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 - metabolism
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Summary:The structure of human BCL-w, an anti-apoptotic member of the BCL-2 family, was determined by triple-resonance NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling. Introduction of a single amino acid substitution (P117V) significantly improved the quality of the NMR spectra obtained. The cytosolic domain of BCL-w consists of 8 alpha-helices, which adopt a fold similar to that of BCL-xL, BCL-2, and BAX proteins. Pairwise root meant square deviation values were less than 3 A for backbone atoms of structurally equivalent regions. Interestingly, the C-terminal helix alpha8 of BCL-w folds into the BH3-binding hydrophobic cleft of the protein, in a fashion similar to the C-terminal transmembrane helix of BAX. A peptide corresponding to the BH3 region of the pro-apoptotic protein, BID, could displace helix alpha8 from the BCL-w cleft, resulting in helix unfolding. Deletion of helix alpha8 increased binding affinities of BCL-w for BAK and BID BH3-peptides, indicating that this helix competes for peptide binding to the hydrophobic cleft. These results suggest that although the cytosolic domain of BCL-w exhibits an overall structure similar to that of BCL-xL and BCL-2, the unique organization of its C-terminal helix may modulate BCL-w interactions with pro-apoptotic binding partners.
ISSN:0021-9258
DOI:10.1074/jbc.M301798200