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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 278, Issue 35, 33097-33104, August 29, 2003
Mutagenesis of the Runt Domain Defines Two Energetic Hot Spots for Heterodimerization with the Core Binding Factor
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| ABSTRACT |
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subunit (Runx1, Runx2, or Runx3) and a non-DNA-binding CBF
subunit.
CBF
binds DNA in a sequence-specific manner, whereas CBF
enhances
DNA binding by CBF
. Both DNA binding and heterodimerization with
CBF
are mediated by a single domain in the CBF
subunits known as
the "Runt domain." We analyzed the energetic contribution of amino
acids in the Runx1 Runt domain to heterodimerization with CBF
. We
identified two energetic "hot spots" that were also found in a
similar analysis of CBF
(Tang, Y.-Y., Shi, J., Zhang, L., Davis, A.,
Bravo, J., Warren, A. J., Speck, N. A., and Bushweller, J. H. (2000) J.
Biol. Chem. 275, 3957939588). The importance of the hot spot
residues for Runx1 function was demonstrated in in vivo transient
transfection assays. These data refine the structural analyses and further our
understanding of the Runx1-CBF
interface. | INTRODUCTION |
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subunit and a CBF
subunit that does not contact DNA directly
(13).
Three related genes encode CBF
subunits: RUNX1
(CBFA2/AML1/Pebpa2b), RUNX2
(CBFA1/AML3/Pebpa2a), and RUNX3
(CBFA3/AML2/Pebpa2c). The common CBF
subunit
is encoded by one gene, CBFB. RUNX1 and CBFB are required
for hematopoiesis and are frequently targeted by chromosomal rearrangements
and point mutations in human leukemia
(49).
RUNX2 and CBFB are required for bone development, and
mutations in RUNX2 cause the human skeletal disorder cleidocranial
dysplasia
(1015).
Disruption of the Runx3 gene in mice causes hyperplasia of gastric
mucosa (16) and severe limb
ataxia (17,
18). Runx3 is thought
to be required for the controlled proliferation and apoptosis of gastric
epithelial cells, the survival of dorsal root ganglia proprioreceptive
neurons, and for epigenetic silencing of the CD4 gene in cytotoxic T
lymphocytes
(1619).
Hemizygous deletion and hypermethylation of RUNX3 is found in a
significant number of primary gastric cancers
(16).
The DNA binding domain in CBF
is known as the "Runt
domain" (20). The Runt
domain is responsible for DNA binding as well as for heterodimerizing with the
CBF
subunit (2,
20,
21). The Runt domain of the
CBF
subunits is an s-type immunoglobulin fold in the p53 family of
DNA-binding transcription factors, whose other members include STAT3
,
p53, NF
B, NFAT, and the Brachyhury T box family of proteins
(2224).
DNA binding by the Runt domain is mediated by loops and
-strands at one
end of the immunoglobulin
-barrel
(25,
26). The DNA is bent toward
the protein by
20°
(2527).
CBF
increases the DNA binding affinity of the Runt domain by
710-fold (25,
28). CBF
binds to a
region of the Runt domain distinct from the DNA-binding sequences and contacts
neither the DNA nor amino acids in the Runt domain that are directly involved
in DNA binding (25,
26,
29,
30).
Comparison of the Runt domain-DNA and Runt domain-CBF
-DNA complexes
(25,
26,
31) with the recently
determined crystal structures of the Runt domain in the free state
(30,
32) suggests a model for
allosteric regulation of DNA binding by CBF
. The Runt domain contains
several regions that are likely to equilibrate between at least two
conformations in the free state, including the
C-D,
E'-F,
and
G-G' loops. CBF
appears to stabilize a specific
conformation of the Runt domain. The most dramatic change occurs in the
G-G' loop that assumes two conformations in the free and complexed
state crystal structures and has been referred to as the
"S-switch" (32).
The dramatic change in the
G-G' loop and the changes in the
C-D loop are in agreement with an earlier study by NMR chemical shift
perturbation that showed dramatic changes in the C
chemical shift for
residues in the
G-G' loop indicative of a significant
conformational change
(28).
Previous studies in our laboratory and others identified amino acid side
chains in CBF
that contribute functionally to heterodimerization with
the Runt domain (25,
29,
33). Residues in the Runt
domain that mediate heterodimerization with CBF
were identified by NMR
spectroscopy and x-ray crystallography
(23,
25,
26,
31,
34). Some of those residues
have been analyzed functionally
(25,
29); however, a comprehensive
quantitative study of all amino acid side chains in the Runt domain implicated
by structural analyses to form contacts to the CBF
subunit has not yet
been reported. Here we determine the energetic contribution of the amino acids
in the Runt domain that contact CBF
to heterodimer formation. In doing
so we identify two energetic hot spots at the heterodimerization interface
involving Runt domain residues Asn-109 and Thr-161, and we discuss the
importance of these contacts in terms of the overall ternary complex
structure.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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We subcloned the CBF
141 cDNA, which encodes the CBF
heterodimerization domain (amino acids 1141), into the bacterial
expression vector pET3c (Novagen) using NdeI and BamHI
sites. We transformed the resulting plasmid pET3c-CBF
141 into Rosetta
(DE3) cells (Novagen) and overexpressed the CBF
(141) protein at 37
°C. We harvested cells from a 1-liter culture and resuspended them in 10
ml of 50 mM Tris-Cl (pH 7.5), 10 mM EDTA, and 25%
sucrose. We then sonicated the cells, collected the insoluble inclusion body
by centrifugation, and denatured it with 7 M urea. We passed the
denatured protein through a 50-ml DEAE-Sephacel (Amersham Biosciences) column
in the presence of 7 M urea, collected the protein fractions, and
refolded the CBF
(141) protein by serial dialysis in 25 mM
Tris-Cl (pH 7.5), 200 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1
mM EGTA, 0.05% Triton X-100, 10% ethylene glycol, 0.5 mM
dithiothreitol, 0.1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride with 1, 0.5,
and 0 M urea. We concentrated the proteins and loaded them onto a
550-ml S-100 (Amersham Biosciences) gel filtration column. We pooled and
concentrated the fractions of interest, which contained a single protein band
on SDS-PAGE gels as visualized by Coomassie Brilliant Blue staining (not
shown).
NMR SpectroscopyWe performed all measurements on a Varian Inova 500-MHz NMR spectrometer equipped with an actively shielded triple resonance probe from Nalorac Corp. We prepared samples of Runt domain-DNA complexes and recorded 15N-1H HSQC spectra at 40 °C as described previously (23).
Urea Denaturation Monitored by Fluorescence SpectroscopyWe
detected the urea denaturation of the Runt domain by tryptophan fluorescence
as described previously (37).
We performed all fluorescence experiments using a protein concentration of
2040 µM in a total volume of 0.8 ml of 25 mM
Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 50 µM EDTA, and 1 mM
dithiothreitol on a SPEX Fluoromax spectrofluorometer (Spex Industries,
Edison, NJ). We incubated individual 0.8-ml solutions of the Runt domain with
increasing concentrations of urea (06.0 M) and equilibrated
the samples for 2 h at 4 °C prior to fluorescence measurement to follow
the Runt domain denaturation. We excited the samples at a wavelength of 280 nm
and detected the emission at 340 nm. We took background spectra of the buffer
alone for later subtraction. We then recorded spectra in the range of
300370 nm with an increment of 4 nm and an integration time of 1 s, and
averaged two scans to minimize error. We obtained the parameters for the
unfolding curves by nonlinear, least squares fitting using two-state equations
(Equation 1 and
Equation 2) as described
elsewhere
(3840).
![]() | (Eq. 1) |
N and
D are the intercepts;
N and
D are the slopes of the base lines at
low (N) and high (D) denaturant concentrations, respectively; R is
the gas constant; T is the absolute temperature in K, [D] is the
denaturant concentration; [D]50% is the concentration of the
denaturant when half of the protein is denatured; and m is the slope
of the unfolding transition. We used Equation
2 to determine
GN-D.
![]() | (Eq. 2) |
GN-D is the free energy of unfolding in the absence
of denaturant. We used Origin 5.0 software for nonlinear least square
fitting. Equilibrium Binding Constant MeasurementsWe determined equilibrium binding constants for the wild type and mutated Runt domains by electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) using conditions described previously (6, 28, 33, 4143). We fit all data points to a rearranged mass action equation, [PD]/[Dt] = 1/(1 + Kd/[P]), using nonlinear least squares analyses (Kaleidagraph, Synergy Software).
Transient Transfection of P19 Cells and Luciferase Activity
MeasurementsWe performed site-directed mutagenesis of a cDNA
encoding the full-length (451 amino acid) murine Runx1 protein in pBluescript
SK+ as described above. We prepared pcDNA/Runx1 expression vectors by
subcloning 1714-bp Runx1 cDNA fragments from pBluescript SK+ between the
EcoRI and XhoI sites of pcDNA3.1(+) (Invitrogen). We used
the TCR
-LUC plasmid, which contains the firefly luciferase gene driven
by a nucleotide 617735 fragment from the T cell receptor
chain
enhancer (44), and the
TCR
(core)-LUC plasmid which contains the same fragment with mutations in
the three CBF-binding sites in the enhancer
(45) to detect Runx1 activity.
We constructed both reporter plasmids by isolating a BamHI fragment
containing the TCR
enhancer fragments from the previously described
pTCR
CAT plasmids (45),
filling in the overhangs with Klenow polymerase and ligating the fragment into
the SmaI site of pT81-LUC
(46).
We seeded P19 cells at 2 x 106 cells per well in 6-well
plates the day before transfection, and we performed transient transfections
with LipofectAMINE 2000 (Invitrogen) following the manufacturer's
instructions. Typically, we mixed 1 µg of the TCR
-LUC reporter
plasmids, 2 µg of the pcDNA/Runx1 expression vectors, and 2 ng of
transfection efficiency control plasmid pRL-SV40 (Promega) with 250 µl of
Opti-MEM (Invitrogen) and then added LipofectAMINE 2000 (7.5 µl) with 250
µl of Opti-MEM and incubated for 5 min at room temperature. We then added
the plasmid DNA mixture to the LipofectAMINE 2000 mixture and incubated for
3045 min at room temperature. We rinsed P19 cells with 2 ml of
serum-free Dulbecco's modified Eagle's media and added another 2 ml of the
same media to each well. The DNA/LipofectAMINE 2000 mixture was then added,
and the cells were incubated for 5 h at 37 °C, and then 350 µl of
Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium with 70% fetal calf serum was added to each
well. We prepared cell lysates 48 h post-transfection, and we measured their
luciferase activity following instructions provided in the manual accompanying
the Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay System (Promega). We used pRL-SV40, which
carries the Renilla luciferase gene, to monitor the transfection
efficiency for each sample, and we used P19 cells that were transfected in the
absence of DNA as blanks. We calculated the reporter activity as follows:
reporter activity = (firefly luciferase activity
Blank)/(Renilla luciferase activity Blank).
| RESULTS |
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complex (31)
and of the ternary Runt domain-CBF
-DNA complex
(25,
26) identified 16 amino acids
in the Runt domain within 3.5 Å of 12 amino acids in CBF
(Table I). Eight of these amino
acids in the Runt domain (Asn-69, Met-106, Tyr-113, Ser-14, Thr-149, Pro-156,
Pro-157, and Thr-161) make side chain contacts to CBF
that involve atoms
beyond the CB carbon. To determine which of these Runt domain side chains are
energetically important for the interaction with CBF
, we substituted all
but the two prolines with alanine (Fig.
1) (35).
Substitution with alanine should remove interactions involving atoms beyond
the CB of an amino acid side chain
(47). Alanine substitution, on
the other hand, will not allow us to examine the energetic contribution of
main chain atoms or the CB moieties to heterodimerization. We also substituted
Asp-66 and Val-159 with alanines as controls. Asp-66 and Val-159 make backbone
contacts to CBF
, and Asp-66 also makes a CB contact. Alanine
substitution of these residues should not affect heterodimerization unless the
Runt domain structure is perturbed. We substituted Asn-109, which makes
backbone O, C, and CA contacts with CBF
with alanine because Asn-109
maps to a previously defined energetic hot spot at the heterodimerization
interface identified in a similar analysis of CBF
(33).
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Because it is possible that an alanine substitution will perturb the Runt domain fold, the structural integrity of the mutated Runt domains was examined by two methods. We performed 15N-1H heteronuclear single quantum correlation (HSQC) spectroscopy, which is a very sensitive measure of structural integrity, on all of the 15N-labeled, alanine-substituted Runt domains. NMR spectra of the isolated Runt domain are poor due to signal broadening caused by conformational exchange (22, 23, 48). For this reason, and because the mutations at the heterodimerization interface did not substantially affect DNA binding (35), we recorded the 15N-1H HSQC spectra on Runt domain-DNA complexes containing 15N-labeled Runt domain and unlabeled DNA, which yield superior spectra. Fig. 2 compares the 15N-1H HSQC spectra of the wild type Runt domain in the Runt domain-DNA complex, with spectra of three of the mutated Runt domains: RD(T161A), RD(T149A), and RD(N69A). RD(T161A) is correctly folded as it has an 15N-1H HSQC spectrum that closely resembles that of the wild type Runt domain with only residues in spatial proximity to the site of the substituted alanine showing significant changes in chemical shift. In fact the RD(T161A) spectrum is superior to that of the wild type Runt domain, in that the exchange broadening seen in the dynamic region of the Runt domain spanning amino acids 159166 is quenched (not illustrated), indicating that the 159166 region is no longer in conformational equilibrium. The RD(N69A) spectrum, on the other hand, is significantly altered, with many missing peaks and numerous residues displaying substantial chemical shift changes. The RD(T149A) spectrum is also significantly perturbed, albeit not to the same extent as that of RD(N69A). Table II summarizes the 15N-1H HSQC spectroscopy results for all of the alanine-substituted Runt domains. The spectrum of RD(M106A) was severely perturbed, comparable with that of RD(N69A), suggesting that the overall structure of the Runt domain had been compromised, at least at the temperature (40 °C) at which the spectra were recorded. The 15N-1H HSQC spectra of RD(D66A), RD(Y113A), RD(S114A), and RD(T161A) were essentially the same as that of the wild type Runt domain, with chemical shift changes observed only for amino acids in spatial proximity to the substituted alanine. The 15N-1H HSQC spectra of RD(N109A), RD(T149A), and RD(V159A) were perturbed but not to the same extent as those of RD(N69A) and RD(M106A).
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Although NMR spectra are very sensitive to the structural integrity of the protein, they do not provide a quantitative measure of protein stability. In addition, other factors such as protein aggregation can affect the quality of NMR spectra, and a perturbed spectrum may not reliably reflect an altered protein fold. Therefore, for those mutants that showed altered NMR spectra, we also carried out urea denaturation measurements as an independent and quantitative measure of the effect of alanine substitution on protein stability (Table II). Denaturation with urea was monitored by means of the change in the fluorescence of the single tryptophan residue in the Runt domain, as described previously (37). Representative data for the wild type Runt domain and three of the mutant proteins are shown (Fig. 3). We carried out all measurements at 4 °C, which is approximately the same temperature at which we determined the equilibrium binding constants summarized in Tables III and IV. Table II shows the relevant thermodynamic parameters obtained from fitting the data to a two-state model. All of the alanine-substituted Runt domains that we examined were less thermodynamically stable than the wild type Runt domain, with RD(N109A) being by far the most dramatically perturbed.
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Alanine Substitution of Runt Domain Asn-109 and Thr-161 Severely
Impairs CBF
BindingWe measured the affinities of
Runt domain-DNA complexes for CBF
by electrophoretic mobility shift
assay (EMSA) (K3 in
Fig. 4A).
K3 values are presented in
Table III, and a representative
EMSA is shown in Fig. 4.
K3 is calculated from the fractional occupancy of the Runt
domain (RD)-DNA complex by CBF
using the formula:
(CBF
-RD-DNA)/(RD-DNA) = 1/(1 + K3/[CBF
]).
Therefore, even if a significant proportion of the Runt domain molecules for
those mutants with lower thermodynamic stability were incorrectly folded, this
should not affect the K3 values because the Runt domain
concentration does not factor into the K3 determination.
We found that the N109A and T161A substitutions in the Runt domain caused the
most severe perturbation of CBF
binding, increasing
K3 by
60.7- and 40.0-fold, respectively. The Y113A
and S114A mutations had little or no effect on heterodimerization
(Table III). The N69A mutation
also did not affect binding to CBF
, despite the fact that it perturbed
the 15N-1H HSQC spectrum and decreased the thermodynamic
stability of the Runt domain. The M106A and T149A substitutions decreased the
affinity of the Runt domain-DNA complex for CBF
by
10-fold. The
controls for the analysis, RD(D66A) and RD(V159A) (Asp-66 and Val-159 contact
CBF
via atoms that would not be replaced by an alanine substitution),
had K3 values equivalent to that of the wild type Runt
domain. Dissociation constants for RD(D66A), RD(N109A), RD(Y113A), and
RD(T149A) with CBF
in the absence of DNA (K1) were
reported by Tahirov et al.
(25), and the relative
differences compared with the wild type Runt domain are basically in agreement
with the data reported here. In the companion paper
(35), however, we showed that
RD(D66A) had decreased activity in both a yeast one-hybrid assay designed to
detect DNA binding and in a yeast two-hybrid assay that detects
heterodimerization with CBF
. We predicted based on the yeast analyses
that the D66A mutation disrupts the Runt domain fold
(35). However, this prediction
was not borne out by the biochemical analyses here or reported elsewhere
(25).
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We analyzed previously (33)
the energetic contribution of amino acids in the CBF
subunit to
heterodimerization. The amino acids examined in that study were chosen based
on NMR chemical shift perturbation data, which detected atoms in CBF
that experienced a change in their local chemical environment in the presence
of the Runt domain-DNA complex
(49). Subsequent to that
study, the structure of the Runt domain-CBF
complex was solved by x-ray
crystallography, and five additional amino acids in CBF
at the
heterodimerization interface that were not identified in the NMR experiments
were described (Arg-33, Val-58, Asn-63, Ser-65, and Gly-105)
(31). We substituted each of
these amino acids in the CBF
subunit with alanine, purified the
15N-labeled CBF
subunits, and performed
15N-1H HSQC spectroscopy to assess the protein fold, as
described previously (33). All
alanine-substituted proteins with the exception of CBF
(G105A) produced
normal 15N-1H HSQC spectra (not shown). The affinities
of CBF
(R33A), CBF
(V58A), CBF
(N63A), and CBF
(S65A) for
a wild type Runt domain-DNA complex were determined by EMSA
(Table IV). Alanine
substitution of CBF
Val-58, Asn-63, and Ser-65 had little (Asn-63) or no
(Val-58 and Ser-65) effect on heterodimerization. On the other hand the
CBF
(R33A) mutation increased K3 by 20-fold.
Amino Acids in the Heterodimerization Interface Contribute to Runx1
Function in VivoWe assessed the in vivo activity of
full-length Runx1 proteins containing several of the alanine substitutions in
a transient co-transfection assay, using the enhancer from the T cell receptor
(TCR
) chain gene to detect Runx1 activity. A minimal
"core" enhancer from the TCR
chain contains three
Runx1-binding sites, and transactivation by Runx1 in vivo is
dependent on the integrity of these sites
(45,
50,
51). The transfection assays
were performed in P19 embryonic carcinoma cells, which appear to contain
CBF
activity but do not express Runx1
(52,
53). Runx1 stimulated
transcription from the TCR
enhancer by
15-fold, and as previously
shown this activation was dependent on the Runx1-binding sites
(Fig. 5)
(45). The Runx1 proteins that
we tested, Runx1:N109A, Runx1:Y113A, Runx1:T149A, and Runx1: T161A, contained
mutations that spanned the range of in vitro CBF
binding
activity, from the Y113A mutation that decreased the affinity of the Runt
domain for CBF
by a relatively modest 4.9-fold, to the T161A and N109A
mutations that impaired heterodimerization 40.0- and 60.7-fold, respectively.
We found that although Tyr-113 makes extensive contacts with Lys-28, Arg-33,
and Asn-63 in CBF
, expression of Runx1 (Y113A) induced activity from the
reporter gene by 14.6-fold, indicating that the Tyr-113 side chain is not
essential for the in vivo activity of Runx1 in this assay. The
Runx1:T149A protein (the T149A mutation decreased the affinity of the Runt
domain for CBF
by
13-fold) transactivated the TCR
reporter
gene by a significantly smaller 9.3-fold. Runx1:T161A transactivated slightly
less well than Runx1:T149A (7.8-fold), consistent with its lower affinity for
CBF
. The N109A mutation, which reduced the affinity of the Runt domain
for CBF
60.7-fold, severely impaired the ability of Runx1 to activate
transcription of the reporter gene. We were unable to detect the wild type or
mutated Runx1 proteins in transiently transfected P19 cells by Western blot
analysis; therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility that some of the
variances in transactivation were due to differences in Runx1 protein
concentration and/or stability. This is most likely to be a factor for the
Runx1 proteins with the T149A and N109A mutations, as these mutations in the
context of the isolated Runt domain caused perturbations in
15N-1H HSQC spectra recorded at 40 °C, which is
close to the in vivo temperature. The N109A mutation also caused the
largest decrease in thermodynamic stability that we observed.
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| DISCUSSION |
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-binding interface on the Runx1 Runt domain to identify those
residues that are energetically important for heterodimerization. As has been
shown for a number of systems, there are a rather limited number of residues,
referred to as "hot spots," that contribute the bulk of the
binding energy at protein-protein interfaces
(5457).
A hot spot is generally defined as an alanine substitution that reduces the
binding energy by
2 kcal/mol
(56). We identified one
mutation in the Runt domain, T161A, that did not disrupt the overall Runt
domain structure but did have a significant impact on binding to CBF
(2.00 kcal/mol). In addition, the N109A mutation that significantly
destabilized the Runt domain fold also caused a large perturbation in
CBF
binding (2.22 kcal/mol). A proportional effect on in vivo
function was also demonstrated for the T161A and N109A mutations in the
context of full-length Runx1.
Asn-109 is located at the C-terminal end of strand
C in the Runt
domain and makes van der Waals contacts to CBF
residue Gly-61, a residue
that we demonstrated previously
(33) is also very sensitive to
alanine substitution. Although the N109A substitution should not affect the
contact to CBF
per se, the perturbations seen in the NMR and
urea denaturation data indicate that the N109A mutation causes an alteration
in the Runt domain structure that contributes to the observed change in
affinity. In the ternary complex the Runt domain Asn-109 ND2 forms a hydrogen
bond to the main chain O of Ser-140 in the
E'-F loop, whereas OD1
interacts with the backbone nitrogens of Glu-111 and Asn-112 in the
C-D
loop (Fig. 6C). Thus
removal of the Asn-109 side chain may destabilize both loops, which could
affect not only the Asn-109 O contact to the CA of CBF
Gly-61, but also
other Runt domain residues that contact CBF
such as Tyr-113 and Ser-114.
Consistent with this hypothesis, the dissociation constant
(K3) of the wild type Runt domain for CBF
(G61A) is
3.5 x 107 M, whereas the
K3 for the RD(N109A) with CBF
(G61A) is 13-fold
higher (4.6 x 106 M (not
shown)). The non-equivalence of these two K3 values
indicates that the RD(N109A) mutation is more deleterious than the
CBF
(G61A) mutation, and therefore by affecting the Runt domain
conformation the N109A mutation disrupts more than the contact to CBF
Gly-61. The CBF
(G61A) mutation did not affect the CBF
fold
(33). We predicted that
substitution of CBF
Gly-61 with alanine would move the main chain oxygen
of Asn-109 in the Runt domain away from the heterodimer interface, thereby
destabilizing the interaction.
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Mutations in a hot spot residue at the analogous position of Runt domain
Asn-109 in the p53 tumor suppressor protein (Arg-175), which makes similar
bridging interactions between the same two loops, also perturb the protein
fold (39,
58). As Runt domain loops
C-D and
E'-F and the analogous L2 and L3 loops in p53 have
little regular secondary structure, the lack of extensive hydrogen bonding
interactions may be compensated by side chain to side chain and side chain to
backbone interactions between the loops. By contrast with the Runt
domain-CBF
complex, a bound zinc atom in addition to salt bridge
interactions links the analogous loops in p53.
Thr-161, the second energetic hot spot residue, is located in the
G
strand in the Runt domain. Comparison of binary and ternary complex structures
with those of the free Runt domain reveals Thr-161 makes main chain and side
chain hydrogen bonding interactions to CBF
residue Asn-104
(Fig. 6B). CBF
Asn-104 was identified as making one of the most critical contacts for
heterodimerization, and Thr-161 also appears to play the same role in the Runt
domain. Thr-161 is in a region of the Runt domain (amino acids 159166)
that was shown by NMR to undergo a significant conformational change upon
CBF
binding (28). In
addition, recent crystal structures of the isolated Runt domain also showed
this region of the protein undergoes a substantial conformational change upon
CBF
binding (30,
32).
We also examined the effects of four additional alanine substitutions in
CBF
identified in later structural studies: Arg-33, Val-58, Asn-63, and
Ser-65. Only R33A showed a significant effect, decreasing the binding affinity
for the Runt domain-DNA complex by 20-fold. In the Runx1 Runt domain-CBF
complex, the Arg-33 guanidino group interacts with the aromatic ring of
Tyr-113 via a hydrogen bond interaction with the hydroxyl group and perhaps
also a cation-
type of interaction that has been shown to be quite
energetically favorable (59).
Alanine substitution of Tyr-113 in the Runt domain resulted in a more modest
(4.9-fold) increase in K3
(Table III). The reason for the
larger increase in K3 seen with the Runt domain R33A
mutant is not clear.
If hot spots are, as has been suggested, good binding sites in a general
sense, then identifying them may prove useful for targeted drug design
(57,
60). Virtual screening of
compounds against the hot spot residues at the Runt domain-CBF
interface
may assist in the identification of small molecules or peptides that will
interfere with heterodimerization. Coupling inhibitors of heterodimerization
with those targeted to protein interfaces specific to the oncogenic Runx1 or
CBF
fusion proteins may result in compounds with potent activities
against the oncogenic proteins. For example, the inv(16)(p13;q22) associated
with acute myelogenous leukemia fuses the N-terminal 165 amino acids of
CBF
to the coiled-coil tail region of a smooth muscle myosin heavy chain
(61). The resulting
CBF
-SMMHC protein dominantly inhibits Runx1-CBF
function
(6266).
CBF
-SMMHC binds to the Runx1 Runt domain with an affinity
10-fold
higher than does CBF
, and this high affinity binding may contribute to
the potent dominant negative activity of CBF
-SMMHC
(67). A small molecule
targeted to a hot spot at the Runt domain-CBF
interface covalently
attached to another molecule that binds to the high affinity Runx1-binding
site in CBF
-SMMHC may prove useful in counteracting the dominant
negative activity of this fusion protein.
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
** Present address: Structural Biology Program, Centro Nacional de
Investigaciones Oncológicas, Melchor Fernández Almagro 3,
E-28029 Madrid, Spain. ![]()

Supported by the United States Public Health Service Grant R01 AI39536 and
the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Grant 6158. ![]()

Supported by United States Public Health Service Grants R01 CA58343 and
CA75611. To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 603-650-1159; Fax:
603-650-1128; E-mail:
nancy.speck{at}dartmouth.edu.
1 The abbreviations used are: CBFs, core-binding factors; RD, Runt domain;
EMSAs, electrophoretic mobility shift assays; TCR
, T cell receptor
; SMMHC, smooth muscle myosin heavy chain; HSQC, heteronuclear single
quantum correlation. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| REFERENCES |
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