TY - GEN A1 - Navarro-Retamal, Carlos A1 - Bremer, Anne A1 - Alzate-Morales, Jans H. A1 - Caballero, Julio A1 - Hincha, Dirk K. A1 - González, Wendy A1 - Thalhammer, Anja T1 - Molecular dynamics simulations and CD spectroscopy reveal hydration-induced unfolding of the intrinsically disordered LEA proteins COR15A and COR15B from Arabidopsis thaliana N2 - The LEA (late embryogenesis abundant) proteins COR15A and COR15B from Arabidopsis thaliana are intrinsically disordered under fully hydrated conditions, but obtain α-helical structure during dehydration, which is reversible upon rehydration. To understand this unusual structural transition, both proteins were investigated by circular dichroism (CD) and molecular dynamics (MD) approaches. MD simulations showed unfolding of the proteins in water, in agreement with CD data obtained with both HIS-tagged and untagged recombinant proteins. Mainly intramolecular hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) formed by the protein backbone were replaced by H-bonds with water molecules. As COR15 proteins function in vivo as protectants in leaves partially dehydrated by freezing, unfolding was further assessed under crowded conditions. Glycerol reduced (40%) or prevented (100%) unfolding during MD simulations, in agreement with CD spectroscopy results. H-bonding analysis indicated that preferential exclusion of glycerol from the protein backbone increased stability of the folded state. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 321 Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-394503 SP - 25806 EP - 25816 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Broeker, Nina K. A1 - Kiele, Franziska A1 - Casjens, Sherwood R. A1 - Gilcrease, Eddie B. A1 - Thalhammer, Anja A1 - Koetz, Joachim T1 - In Vitro Studies of Lipopolysaccharide-Mediated DNA Release of Podovirus HK620 T2 - Viruses N2 - Gram-negative bacteria protect themselves with an outermost layer containing lipopolysaccharide (LPS). O-antigen-specific bacteriophages use tailspike proteins (TSP) to recognize and cleave the O-polysaccharide part of LPS. However, O-antigen composition and structure can be highly variable depending on the environmental conditions. It is important to understand how these changes may influence the early steps of the bacteriophage infection cycle because they can be linked to changes in host range or the occurrence of phage resistance. In this work, we have analyzed how LPS preparations in vitro trigger particle opening and DNA ejection from the E. coli podovirus HK620. Fluorescence-based monitoring of DNA release showed that HK620 phage particles in vitro ejected their genome at velocities comparable to those found for other podoviruses. Moreover, we found that HK620 irreversibly adsorbed to the LPS receptor via its TSP at restrictive low temperatures, without opening the particle but could eject its DNA at permissive temperatures. DNA ejection was solely stimulated by LPS, however, the composition of the O-antigen dictated whether the LPS receptor could start the DNA release from E. coli phage HK620 in vitro. This finding can be significant when optimizing bacteriophage mixtures for therapy, where in natural environments O-antigen structures may rapidly change. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 469 KW - O-antigen specific phage KW - podovirus KW - HK620 KW - lipopolysaccharide KW - in vitro particle opening KW - tailspike protein Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-417493 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Broeker, Nina K. A1 - Kiele, Franziska A1 - Casjens, Sherwood R. A1 - Gilcrease, Eddie B. A1 - Thalhammer, Anja A1 - Koetz, Joachim T1 - In Vitro Studies of Lipopolysaccharide-Mediated DNA Release of Podovirus HK620 JF - Viruses N2 - Gram-negative bacteria protect themselves with an outermost layer containing lipopolysaccharide (LPS). O-antigen-specific bacteriophages use tailspike proteins (TSP) to recognize and cleave the O-polysaccharide part of LPS. However, O-antigen composition and structure can be highly variable depending on the environmental conditions. It is important to understand how these changes may influence the early steps of the bacteriophage infection cycle because they can be linked to changes in host range or the occurrence of phage resistance. In this work, we have analyzed how LPS preparations in vitro trigger particle opening and DNA ejection from the E. coli podovirus HK620. Fluorescence-based monitoring of DNA release showed that HK620 phage particles in vitro ejected their genome at velocities comparable to those found for other podoviruses. Moreover, we found that HK620 irreversibly adsorbed to the LPS receptor via its TSP at restrictive low temperatures, without opening the particle but could eject its DNA at permissive temperatures. DNA ejection was solely stimulated by LPS, however, the composition of the O-antigen dictated whether the LPS receptor could start the DNA release from E. coli phage HK620 in vitro. This finding can be significant when optimizing bacteriophage mixtures for therapy, where in natural environments O-antigen structures may rapidly change. KW - O-antigen specific phage KW - podovirus KW - HK620 KW - lipopolysaccharide KW - in vitro particle opening KW - tailspike protein Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/v10060289 SN - 1999-4915 VL - 10 IS - 6 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Thalhammer, Anja A1 - Hundertmark, Michaela A1 - Popova, Antoaneta V. A1 - Seckler, Robert A1 - Hincha, Dirk K. T1 - Interaction of two intrinsically disordered plant stress proteins (COR15A and COR15B) with lipid membranes in the dry state N2 - COR15A and COR15B form a tandem repeat of highly homologous genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. Both genes are highly cold induced and the encoded proteins belong to the Pfam LEA_4 group (group 3) of the late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins. Both proteins were predicted to be intrinsically disordered in solution. Only COR15A has previously been characterized and it was shown to be localized in the soluble stroma fraction of chloroplasts. Ectopic expression of COR15A in Arabidopsis resulted in increased freezing tolerance of both chloroplasts after freezing and thawing of intact leaves and of isolated protoplasts frozen and thawed in vitro. In the present study we have generated recombinant mature COR15A and COR15B for a comparative study of their structure and possible function as membrane protectants. CD spectroscopy showed that both proteins are predominantly unstructured in solution and mainly a-helical after drying. Both proteins showed similar effects on the thermotropic phase behavior of dry liposomes. A decrease in the gel to liquid-crystalline phase transition temperature depended on both the unsaturation of the fatty acyl chains and lipid headgroup structure. FTIR spectroscopy indicated no strong interactions between the proteins and the lipid phosphate and carbonyl groups, but significant interactions with the galactose headgroup of the chloroplast lipid monogalactosyldiacylglycerol. These findings were rationalized by modeling the secondary structure of COR15A and COR15B. Helical wheel projection indicated the presence of amphipathic a-helices in both proteins. The helices lacked a clear separation of positive and negative charges on the hydrophilic face, but contained several hydroxylated amino acids. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00052736 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2010.05.015 SN - 0005-2736 ER -