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From Proteopedia
Thermoplasma acidophilum 20S proteasome - alphaV24Y
Structural highlights
FunctionPSA_THEAC Component of the proteasome core, a large protease complex with broad specificity involved in protein degradation. The T.acidophilum proteasome is able to cleave oligopeptides after Tyr, Leu, Phe, and to a lesser extent after Glu and Arg. Thus, displays chymotrypsin-like activity and low level of caspase-like and trypsin-like activities.[1] Publication Abstract from PubMedEnhancing proteasome function has been a long-standing but challenging target of interest for the potential treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, emphasizing the importance of understanding proteasome activation mechanisms. Most proteasome activator complexes use the C-terminal HbYX motif to bind and trigger gate-opening in the 20S proteasome. This study defines a critical molecular interaction in the HbYX mechanism that triggers gate opening. Here, we focus on the Hb site interaction and find it plays a surprisingly central and crucial role in driving the allosteric conformational changes that induce gate opening in the archaeal 20S. We examined the cryo-EM structure of two mutant archaeal proteasomes, alphaV24Y T20S and alphaV24F T20S. These two mutants were engineered to place a bulky aromatic residue in the HbYX hydrophobic pocket and both mutants are highly active, though their mechanisms of activation are undefined. Collectively, our findings indicate that the interaction between the Hb group of the HbYX motif and its corresponding hydrophobic pocket is sufficient to induce gate opening in a mechanistically similar way to the HbYX motif. The involved activation mechanism appears to involve expansion of this hydrophobic binding site affecting the state of the IT switch to triggering gate-opening. Furthermore, we show that the canonical alphaK66 residue, understood to be critical for proteasome activator binding, plays a key role in stabilizing the open gate, irrespective of activator binding. This study differentiates between the residues in the HbYX motif that support binding interactions ("YX") versus those that allosterically contribute to gate opening (Hb). The insights reported here will guide future drug development efforts, particularly in designing small molecule proteasome activators, by targeting the identified hydrophobic pocket. Occupancy of the HbYX hydrophobic pocket is sufficient to induce gate opening in the archaeal 20S proteasomes.,Chuah JJY, Daugherty MR, Smith DM bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 May 21:2024.05.21.595185. doi: , 10.1101/2024.05.21.595185. PMID:38826226[2] From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. References
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