The Biophysical Basis for Phosphorylation-Enhanced DNA-Binding Autoinhibition of the ETS1 Transcription Factor

Cecilia Perez-Borrajero; Chang Sheng-Huei Lin; Mark Okon; Karlton Scheu; Barbara J Graves; Michael E P Murphy; Lawrence P McIntosh

doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2018.12.011

The Biophysical Basis for Phosphorylation-Enhanced DNA-Binding Autoinhibition of the ETS1 Transcription Factor

J Mol Biol. 2019 Feb 1;431(3):593-614. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2018.12.011. Epub 2018 Dec 28.

Authors

Cecilia Perez-Borrajero¹, Chang Sheng-Huei Lin², Mark Okon³, Karlton Scheu⁴, Barbara J Graves⁵, Michael E P Murphy², Lawrence P McIntosh⁶

Affiliations

¹ Genome Sciences and Technology Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3.
² Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3.
³ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3; Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z1.
⁴ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3.
⁵ Department of Oncological Sciences, School of Medicine, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-5550, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815-6789, USA.
⁶ Genome Sciences and Technology Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3; Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z1; Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4. Electronic address: mcintosh@chem.ubc.ca.

PMID: 30597162
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2018.12.011

Abstract

The eukaryotic transcription factor ETS1 is regulated by an intrinsically disordered serine-rich region (SRR) that transiently associates with the adjacent ETS domain to inhibit DNA binding. In this study, we further elucidated the physicochemical basis for ETS1 autoinhibition by characterizing the interaction of its ETS domain with a series of synthetic peptides corresponding to the SRR. Binding is driven by the hydrophobic effect and enhanced electrostatically by phosphorylation of serines adjacent to aromatic residues in the amphipathic SRR. Structural characterization of the dynamic peptide/protein complex by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography revealed multiple modes of binding that lead to autoinhibition by synergistically blocking the DNA-binding interface of the ETS domain and stabilizing an appended helical inhibitory module against allosterically induced unfolding. Consistent with these conclusions, the SRR peptide does not interact with DNA-bound ETS1. In addition, we found that the ETS1 SRR phosphopeptide binds to distantly related PU.1 in vitro, indicating that autoinhibition exploits features of the ETS domain that are conserved across this family of transcription factors.

Keywords: NMR spectroscopy; X-ray crystallography; fuzzy complexes; intrinsically disordered regions; protein structure and dynamics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Binding Sites / physiology
Biophysics / methods
Crystallography, X-Ray / methods
DNA / metabolism*
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / methods
Models, Molecular
Phosphorylation
Protein Binding / physiology*
Protein Conformation
Protein Domains / physiology
Proto-Oncogene Protein c-ets-1 / metabolism*
Serine / metabolism
Transcription Factors / metabolism*

Substances

Proto-Oncogene Protein c-ets-1
Transcription Factors
Serine
DNA

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding