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RATIONALE: The protein kinase FGFR1 regulates cellular processes in human development. As over-activity of FGFR1 is implicated with cancer, effective inhibitors are in demand. Type I inhibitors, which bind to the active form of FGFR1, are less effective than type II inhibitors, which bind to the inactive form. Screening to distinguish between type I and type II inhibitors is required. METHODS: X-ray crystallography was used to indicate whether a range of potential inhibitors bind to the active or inactive FGFR1 kinase conformation. The binding affinity of each ligand to FGFR1 was measured using biochemical methods. Electrospray ionisation - ion mobility spectrometry - mass spectrometry (ESI-IMS-MS) in conjunction with collision-induced protein unfolding generated a conformational profile of each FGFR1-ligand complex. The results indicate that the protein's conformational profile depends on whether the inhibitor is type I or type II. RESULTS: X-ray crystallography confirmed which of the kinase inhibitors bind to the active or inactive form of FGFR1 kinase. Collision-induced unfolding combined with ESI-IMS-MS showed distinct differences in the FGFR1 folding landscape for type I and type II inhibitors. Biochemical studies indicated a similar range of FGFR1 affinities for both types of inhibitors, thus providing confidence that the conformational variations detected using ESI-IMS-MS can be interpretated unequivocally and that this is an effective screening method. CONCLUSIONS: A robust ESI-IMS-MS method has been implemented to distinguish between the binding mode of type I and type II inhibitors by monitoring the conformational unfolding profile of FGFR1. This rapid method requires low sample concentrations and could be used as a high-throughput screening technique for the characterisation of novel kinase inhibitors.

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NMR studies and X-ray crystallography have shown that the structures of the 99-residue amyloidogenic protein ß2-microglobulin (ß2m) and its more aggregation-prone variant, D76N, are indistinguishable, and hence, the reason for the striking difference in their aggregation propensities remains elusive. Here, we have employed two protein footprinting methods, hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) and fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP), in conjunction with ion mobility-mass spectrometry, to probe the differences in conformational dynamics of the two proteins. Using HDX-MS, a clear difference in HDX protection is observed between these two proteins in the E-F loop (residues 70-77) which contains the D76N substitution, with a significantly higher deuterium uptake being observed in the variant protein. Conversely, following FPOP-MS only minimal differences in the level of oxidation between the two proteins are observed in the E-F loop region, suggesting only modest side-chain movements in that area. Together the HDX-MS and FPOP-MS data suggest that a tangible perturbation to the hydrogen-bonding network in the E-F loop has taken place in the D76N variant and furthermore illustrate the benefit of using multiple complementary footprinting methods to address subtle, but possibly biologically important, differences between highly similar proteins.

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The periplasmic chaperone SurA plays a key role in outer membrane protein (OMP) biogenesis. E. coli SurA comprises a core domain and two peptidylprolyl isomerase domains (P1 and P2), but its mechanisms of client binding and chaperone function have remained unclear. Here, we use chemical cross-linking, hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry, single-molecule FRET and molecular dynamics simulations to map the client binding site(s) on SurA and interrogate the role of conformational dynamics in OMP recognition. We demonstrate that SurA samples an array of conformations in solution in which P2 primarily lies closer to the core/P1 domains than suggested in the SurA crystal structure. OMP binding sites are located primarily in the core domain, and OMP binding results in conformational changes between the core/P1 domains. Together, the results suggest that unfolded OMP substrates bind in a cradle formed between the SurA domains, with structural flexibility between domains assisting OMP recognition, binding and release.

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Protein biopharmaceuticals are highly successful, but their utility is compromised by their propensity to aggregate during manufacture and storage. As aggregation can be triggered by non-native states, whose population is not necessarily related to thermodynamic stability, prediction of poorly-behaving biologics is difficult, and searching for sequences with desired properties is labour-intensive and time-consuming. Here we show that an assay in the periplasm of E. coli linking aggregation directly to antibiotic resistance acts as a sensor for the innate (un-accelerated) aggregation of antibody fragments. Using this assay as a directed evolution screen, we demonstrate the generation of aggregation resistant scFv sequences when reformatted as IgGs. This powerful tool can thus screen and evolve 'manufacturable' biopharmaceuticals early in industrial development. By comparing the mutational profiles of three different immunoglobulin scaffolds, we show the applicability of this method to investigate protein aggregation mechanisms important to both industrial manufacture and amyloid disease.

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As monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) rapidly emerge as a dominant class of therapeutics, so does the need for suitable analytical technologies to monitor for changes in protein higher order structure (HOS) of these biomolecules. Reference materials (RM) serve a key analytical purpose of benchmarking the suitability and robustness of both established and emerging analytical procedures for both drug producers and regulators. Here, two simple enzymatic protocols for generating Fc-glycan variants from the NISTmAb RM are described and both global and localized changes in HOS between the RM and these Fc-glycan variants are characterized using hydrogen deuterium exchange-mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) and ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) measurements. An alternative statistical approach is described where measurement thresholds that differentiate between measurement variability and significant structural changes were established on the basis of experimental data. Measurements revealed decreases in structural stability correlating with the degree of Fc-glycan structure loss, especially at the CH2/CH3 domain interface. These data promote the use of this RM and these Fc-glycan variants for establishing the sensitivity of and validating analytical methods for the detection of HOS measurements of mAbs.

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Differences in conformational dynamics between two full-length monoclonal antibodies have been probed in detail using Fast Photochemical Oxidation of Proteins (FPOP) followed by proteolysis and LC-ESI-MS/MS analyses. FPOP uses hydroxyl radical labeling to probe the surface-accessible regions of proteins and has the advantage that the resulting covalent modifications are irreversible, thus permitting optimal downstream analysis. Despite the two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) differing by only three amino acids in the heavy chain complementarity determining regions (CDRs), one mAb, MEDI1912-WFL, has been shown to undergo reversible self-association at high concentrations and exhibited poor pharmacokinetic properties in vivo, properties which are markedly improved in the variant, MEDI1912-STT. Identifying the differences in oxidative labeling between the two antibodies at residue level revealed long-range effects which provide a key insight into their conformational differences. Specifically, the amino acid mutations in the CDR region of the heavy chain resulted in significantly different labeling patterns at the interfaces of the CL-CH1 and CH1-CH2 domains, with the nonaggregating variant undergoing up to four times more labeling in this region than the aggregation prone variant, thus suggesting a change in the structure and orientation of the CL-CH1 interface. The wealth of FPOP and LC-MS data obtained enabled the study of the LC elution properties of FPOP-oxidized peptides. Some oxidized amino acids, specifically histidine and lysine, were noted to have unique effects on the retention time of the peptide, offering the promise of using such an analysis as an aid to MS/MS in assigning oxidation sites.

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Understanding the structural mechanism by which proteins and peptides aggregate is crucial, given the role of fibrillar aggregates in debilitating amyloid diseases and bioinspired materials. Yet, this is a major challenge as the assembly involves multiple heterogeneous and transient intermediates. Here, we analyze the co-aggregation of Aß40 and Aß16-22, two widely studied peptide fragments of Aß42 implicated in Alzheimer's disease. We demonstrate that Aß16-22 increases the aggregation rate of Aß40 through a surface-catalyzed secondary nucleation mechanism. Discontinuous molecular dynamics simulations allowed aggregation to be tracked from the initial random coil monomer to the catalysis of nucleation on the fibril surface. Together, the results provide insight into how dynamic interactions between Aß40 monomers/oligomers on the surface of preformed Aß16-22 fibrils nucleate Aß40 amyloid assembly. This new understanding may facilitate development of surfaces designed to enhance or suppress secondary nucleation and hence to control the rates and products of fibril assembly.

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The assembly of exact numbers of protein monomers into the distinct architectures of virus capsids has long been of intrigue. Despite the diseases associated with viruses, there is a paucity of anti-viral therapies; however, mapping virus capsid assembly at the molecular level may lead to the development of more therapeutics. Native mass spectrometry is a powerful, versatile tool with which to monitor biomolecular assembly pathways and identify key intermediates. Recent highlights in this field in terms of MDa mass measurements, identification of capsid intermediates, and the effect of external parameters on assembly are discussed. Examples from ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry, charge detection mass spectrometry, and gas-phase electrophoretic molecular analysis research are presented.

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Hydrogen deuterium exchange (HDX) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) is a well-established technique employed in the field of structural MS to probe the solvent accessibility, dynamics and hydrogen bonding of backbone amides in proteins. By contrast, fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP) uses hydroxyl radicals, liberated from the photolysis of hydrogen peroxide, to covalently label solvent accessible amino acid side chains on the microsecond-millisecond timescale. Here, we use these two techniques to study the structural and dynamical differences between the protein ß2-microglobulin (ß2m) and its amyloidogenic truncation variant, ΔN6. We show that HDX and FPOP highlight structural/dynamical differences in regions of the proteins, localised to the region surrounding the N-terminal truncation. Further, we demonstrate that, with carefully optimised LC-MS conditions, FPOP data can probe solvent accessibility at the sub-amino acid level, and that these data can be interpreted meaningfully to gain more detailed understanding of the local environment and orientation of the side chains in protein structures. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

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As newly synthesized polypeptides emerge from the ribosome, it is crucial that they fold correctly. To prevent premature aggregation, nascent chains interact with chaperones that facilitate folding or prevent misfolding until protein synthesis is complete. Nascent polypeptide-associated complex (NAC) is a ribosome-associated chaperone that is important for protein homeostasis. However, how NAC binds its substrates remains unclear. Using native electrospray ionization MS (ESI-MS), limited proteolysis, NMR, and cross-linking, we analyzed the conformational properties of NAC from Caenorhabditis elegans and studied its ability to bind proteins in different conformational states. Our results revealed that NAC adopts an array of compact and expanded conformations and binds weakly to client proteins that are unfolded, folded, or intrinsically disordered, suggestive of broad substrate compatibility. Of note, we found that this weak binding retards aggregation of the intrinsically disordered protein α-synuclein both in vitro and in vivo These findings provide critical insights into the structure and function of NAC. Specifically, they reveal the ability of NAC to exploit its conformational plasticity to bind a repertoire of substrates with unrelated sequences and structures, independently of actively translating ribosomes.

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Amyloid diseases represent a growing social and economic burden in the developed world. Understanding the assembly pathway and the inhibition of amyloid formation is key to developing therapies to treat these diseases. The neurodegenerative condition Machado-Joseph disease is characterised by the self-aggregation of the protein ataxin-3. Ataxin-3 consists of a globular N-terminal Josephin domain, which can aggregate into curvilinear protofibrils, and an unstructured, dynamically disordered C-terminal domain containing three ubiquitin interacting motifs separated by a polyglutamine stretch. Upon expansion of the polyglutamine region above 50 residues, ataxin-3 undergoes a second stage of aggregation in which long, straight amyloid fibrils form. A peptide inhibitor of polyglutamine aggregation, known as polyQ binding peptide 1, has been shown previously to prevent the maturation of ataxin-3 fibrils. However, the mechanism of this inhibition remains unclear. Using nanoelectrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry, we demonstrate that polyQ binding peptide 1 binds to monomeric ataxin-3. By investigating the ability of polyQ binding peptide 1 to bind to truncated ataxin-3 constructs lacking one or more domains, we localise the site of this interaction to a 39-residue sequence immediately C-terminal to the Josephin domain. The results suggest a new mechanism for the inhibition of polyglutamine aggregation by polyQ binding peptide 1 in which binding to a region outside of the polyglutamine tract can prevent fibril formation, highlighting the importance of polyglutamine flanking regions in controlling aggregation and disease.

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Although amyloid assembly in vitro is commonly investigated using single protein sequences, fibril formation in vivo can be more heterogeneous, involving co-assembly of proteins of different length, sequence and/or post-translational modifications. Emerging evidence suggests that co-polymerization can alter the rate and/or mechanism of aggregation and can contribute to pathogenicity. Electrospray ionization-ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (ESI-IMS-MS) is uniquely suited to the study of these heterogeneous ensembles. Here, ESI-IMS-MS combined with analysis of fibrillation rates using thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence, is used to track the course of aggregation of variants of islet-amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) in isolation and in pairwise mixtures. We identify a sub-population of extended monomers as the key precursors of amyloid assembly, and reveal that the fastest aggregating sequence in peptide mixtures determines the lag time of fibrillation, despite being unable to cross-seed polymerization. The results demonstrate that co-polymerization of IAPP sequences radically alters the rate of amyloid assembly by altering the conformational properties of the mixed oligomers that form.

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The biogenesis of outer-membrane proteins (OMPs) in gram-negative bacteria involves delivery by periplasmic chaperones to the ß-barrel assembly machinery (BAM), which catalyzes OMP insertion into the outer membrane. Here, we examine the effects of membrane thickness, the Escherichia coli periplasmic chaperones Skp and SurA, and BamA, the central subunit of the BAM complex, on the folding kinetics of a model OMP (tOmpA) using fluorescence spectroscopy, native mass spectrometry, and molecular dynamics simulations. We show that prefolded BamA promotes the release of tOmpA from Skp despite the nM affinity of the Skp:tOmpA complex. This activity is located in the BamA ß-barrel domain, but is greater when full-length BamA is present, indicating that both the ß-barrel and polypeptide transport-associated (POTRA) domains are required for maximal activity. By contrast, SurA is unable to release tOmpA from Skp, providing direct evidence against a sequential chaperone model. By varying lipid acyl chain length in synthetic liposomes we show that BamA has a greater catalytic effect on tOmpA folding in thicker bilayers, suggesting that BAM catalysis involves lowering of the kinetic barrier imposed by the hydrophobic thickness of the membrane. Consistent with this, molecular dynamics simulations reveal that increases in membrane thinning/disorder by the transmembrane domain of BamA is greatest in thicker bilayers. Finally, we demonstrate that cross-linking of the BamA barrel does not affect tOmpA folding kinetics in 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) liposomes, suggesting that lateral gating of the BamA barrel and/or hybrid barrel formation is not required, at least for the assembly of a small 8-stranded OMP in vitro.

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Cys accessibility and quantitative intact mass spectrometry (MS) analyses have been devised to study the topological transitions of Mhp1, the membrane protein for sodium-linked transport of hydantoins from Microbacterium liquefaciens. Mhp1 has been crystallized in three forms (outward-facing open, outward-facing occluded with substrate bound, and inward-facing open). We show that one natural cysteine residue, Cys327, out of three, has an enhanced solvent accessibility in the inward-facing (relative to the outward-facing) form. Reaction of the purified protein, in detergent, with the thiol-reactive N-ethylmalemide (NEM), results in modification of Cys327, suggesting that Mhp1 adopts predominantly inward-facing conformations. Addition of either sodium ions or the substrate 5-benzyl-l-hydantoin (L-BH) does not shift this conformational equilibrium, but systematic co-addition of the two results in an attenuation of labeling, indicating a shift toward outward-facing conformations that can be interpreted using conventional enzyme kinetic analyses. Such measurements can afford the Km for each ligand as well as the stoichiometry of ion-substrate-coupled conformational changes. Mutations that perturb the substrate binding site either result in the protein being unable to adopt outward-facing conformations or in a global destabilization of structure. The methodology combines covalent labeling, mass spectrometry, and kinetic analyses in a straightforward workflow applicable to a range of systems, enabling the interrogation of changes in a protein's conformation required for function at varied concentrations of substrates, and the consequences of mutations on these conformational transitions.

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Understanding the mechanisms of amyloid formation and toxicity remain major challenges. Although substantial progress has been made in the development of methods able to identify the species formed during self-assembly and to describe the kinetic mechanisms of aggregation, the structure(s) of non-native species, including potentially toxic oligomers, remain elusive. Moreover, how fibrils contribute to disease remains unclear. Here we review recent advances in the development of small molecules and other reagents that are helping to define the mechanisms of protein aggregation in molecular detail. Such probes form a powerful platform with which to better define the mechanisms of structural conversion into amyloid fibrils and may provide the much-needed stepping stone for future development of successful therapeutic agents.

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Collision cross-section (CCS) measurements obtained from ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) analyses often provide useful information concerning a protein's size and shape and can be complemented by modeling procedures. However, there have been some concerns about the extent to which certain proteins maintain a native-like conformation during the gas-phase analysis, especially proteins with dynamic or extended regions. Here we have measured the CCSs of a range of biomolecules including non-globular proteins and RNAs of different sequence, size, and stability. Using traveling wave IMS-MS, we show that for the proteins studied, the measured CCS deviates significantly from predicted CCS values based upon currently available structures. The results presented indicate that these proteins collapse to different extents varying on their elongated structures upon transition into the gas-phase. Comparing two RNAs of similar mass but different solution structures, we show that these biomolecules may also be susceptible to gas-phase compaction. Together, the results suggest that caution is needed when predicting structural models based on CCS data for RNAs as well as proteins with non-globular folds. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

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VanA-type resistance to glycopeptide antibiotics in clinical enterococci is regulated by the VanSARA two-component signal transduction system. The nature of the molecular ligand that is recognised by the VanSA sensory component has not hitherto been identified. Here we employ purified, intact and active VanSA membrane protein (henceforth referred to as VanS) in analytical ultracentrifugation experiments to study VanS oligomeric state and conformation in the absence and presence of vancomycin. A combination of sedimentation velocity and sedimentation equilibrium in the analytical ultracentrifuge (SEDFIT, SEDFIT-MSTAR and MULTISIG analysis) showed that VanS in the absence of the ligand is almost entirely monomeric (molar mass M = 45.7 kDa) in dilute aqueous solution with a trace amount of high molar mass material (M ~ 200 kDa). The sedimentation coefficient s suggests the monomer adopts an extended conformation in aqueous solution with an equivalent aspect ratio of ~(12 ± 2). In the presence of vancomycin over a 33% increase in the sedimentation coefficient is observed with the appearance of additional higher s components, demonstrating an interaction, an observation consistent with our circular dichroism measurements. The two possible causes of this increase in s - either a ligand induced dimerization and/or compaction of the monomer are considered.

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Relative to other extrinsic factors, the effects of hydrodynamic flow fields on protein stability and conformation remain poorly understood. Flow-induced protein remodeling and/or aggregation is observed both in Nature and during the large-scale industrial manufacture of proteins. Despite its ubiquity, the relationships between the type and magnitude of hydrodynamic flow, a protein's structure and stability, and the resultant aggregation propensity are unclear. Here, we assess the effects of a defined and quantified flow field dominated by extensional flow on the aggregation of BSA, ß2-microglobulin (ß2m), granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), and three monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). We show that the device induces protein aggregation after exposure to an extensional flow field for 0.36-1.8 ms, at concentrations as low as 0.5 mg mL-1 In addition, we reveal that the extent of aggregation depends on the applied strain rate and the concentration, structural scaffold, and sequence of the protein. Finally we demonstrate the in situ labeling of a buried cysteine residue in BSA during extensional stress. Together, these data indicate that an extensional flow readily unfolds thermodynamically and kinetically stable proteins, exposing previously sequestered sequences whose aggregation propensity determines the probability and extent of aggregation.

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Amphipols are a class of novel surfactants that are capable of stabilizing the native state of membrane proteins. They have been shown to be highly effective, in some cases more so than detergent micelles, at maintaining the structural integrity of membrane proteins in solution, and have shown promise as vehicles for delivering native membrane proteins into the gas phase for structural interrogation. Here, we use fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP), which irreversibly labels the side chains of solvent-accessible residues with hydroxyl radicals generated by laser photolysis of hydrogen peroxide, to compare the solvent accessibility of the outer membrane protein OmpT when solubilized with the amphipol A8-35 or with n-dodecyl-ß-maltoside (DDM) detergent micelles. Using quantitative mass spectrometry analyses, we show that fast photochemical oxidation reveals differences in the extent of solvent accessibility of residues between the A8-35 and DDM solubilized states, providing a rationale for the increased stability of membrane proteins solubilized with amphipol compared with detergent micelles, as a result of additional intermolecular contacts. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

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Research addressing the occurrence, fate and effects of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, primarily due to the development of improved chemical analysis methods. Significant research gaps still remain, however, including a lack of longer term, repeated monitoring of rivers, determination of temporal and spatial changes in pharmaceutical concentrations, and inputs from sources other than wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), such as combined sewer overflows (CSOs). In addressing these gaps it was found that the five pharmaceuticals studied were routinely (51-94% of the time) present in effluents and receiving waters at concentrations ranging from single ng to µg L-1. Mean concentrations were in the tens to hundreds ng L-1 range and CSOs appear to be a significant source of pharmaceuticals to water courses in addition to WWTPs. Receiving water concentrations varied throughout the day although there were no pronounced peaks at particular times. Similarly, concentrations varied throughout the year although no consistent patterns were observed. No dissipation of the study compounds was found over a 5 km length of river despite no other known inputs to the river. In conclusion, pharmaceuticals are routinely present in semi-rural and urban rivers and require management alongside more traditional pollutants.

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