Prp8 in a Reduced Spliceosome Lacks a Conserved Toggle That Correlates with Splicing Complexity Across Diverse Taxa
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Article Prp8 in a Reduced Spliceosome Lacks a Conserved Toggle that Correlates with Splicing Complexity across Diverse Taxa E.L. Garside 1, T.A. Whelan 2, M.R. Stark 3, S.D. Rader 3, N.M. Fast 2 and A.M. MacMillan 1 1 - Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2H7 2 - Biodiversity Research Center and Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4 3 - Department of Chemistry, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, Canada V2N 4Z9 Correspondence to A.M. MacMillan: Department of Biochemistry, 474 Medical Sciences Bldg., University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2H7. [email protected]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2019.04.047 Edited by Anna Pyle Abstract Conformational rearrangements are critical to regulating the assembly and activity of the spliceosome. The spliceosomal protein Prp8 undergoes multiple conformational changes during the course of spliceosome assembly, activation, and catalytic activity. Most of these rearrangements of Prp8 involve the disposition of the C-terminal Jab-MPN and RH domains with respect to the core of Prp8. Here we use x-ray structural analysis to show that a previously characterized and highly conserved β-hairpin structure in the RH domain that acts as a toggle in the spliceosome is absent in Prp8 from the reduced spliceosome of the red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae. Using comparative sequence analysis, we show that the presence or absence of this hairpin corresponds to the presence or absence of protein partners that interact with this hairpin as observed by x-ray and cryo-EM studies. The presence of the toggle correlates with increasing intron number suggesting a role in the regulation of splicing. © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Introduction discrete complexes and involves significant struc- tural and conformational rearrangements [2,3]. Eukaryotes contain a split-gene structure in which Recruitment of the U4/U6•U5 tri-snRNP to a coding exon sequences are interrupted by non- complex containing pre-mRNA associated with the coding intron sequences. Intron excision and exon U1 and U2 snRNPs involves the displacement of the ligation take place through two sequential transes- former at the 5′ splice site by the U6 snRNA to yield terifications catalyzed by the spliceosome (reviewed the B complex. Unwinding of a U4/U6 snRNA duplex in Ref. [1]). This large RNA–protein assembly within the B complex, mediated by the Brr2 helicase, consists of the U1, U2, U4/U6, and U5 small nuclear allows formation of a U6 internal stem loop and U2/ ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs), each contain- U6 snRNA structure to produce the pre-catalytic ing a unique snRNA and associated proteins, that activated spliceosome referred to as Bact. Together assemble on the pre-mRNA substrate. In the first step these U6 and U2/U6 snRNA structures comprise the of splicing, a conserved adenosine within the intron, active site of the spliceosome that catalyzes the two selected by virtue of base pairing between the U2 splicing transesterifications. Rearrangement leads to snRNA and intron branch sequence, performs a the B* complex, which catalyzes the first step and nucleophilic displacement at the 5′ splice site yielding results in the C complex. Further remodeling yields the the free 5′ exon and lariat intermediate. In the second C* complex where the second step occurs followed by step,attackofthe5′ exon at the 3′ splice site produces a transition to the post-catalytic P complex [4–6]. the ligated exons and lariat intron as products. The highly conserved U5 snRNP protein Prp8 Spliceosome assembly is a multi-step process that (61% identity between Saccharomyces cerevisiae proceeds, following snRNP biogenesis, through and humans [7]) plays key roles in the regulation of 0022-2836/© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Journal of Molecular Biology (2019) 431, 2543–2553 2544 Prp8 Lacks Toggle in Reduced Spliceosome Fig. 1. X-ray structural analysis of Prp8 RH domain. (A) Ribbon diagram of the human RH domain (PDB 4JK7) showing closed (left) and open (right) conformations. (B) Ribbon diagram of the S. cerevisiae (PDB 3E9O) RH domain. α-Helices and β-strands are colored red and yellow, respectively. spliceosome assembly and transitions through the conformations of the RH domain represent a toggle two catalytic steps while remaining intimately asso- mechanism related to proofreading, where the ciated with the spliceosomal core [8–10].Prp8 closed conformation favors accurate but inefficient contains reverse transcriptase-like, endonuclease- splicing and the open conformation favors inaccu- like, and RNase H-like (RH) domains [11] believed to rate but efficient splicing [22]. This toggle may relate be derived from an ancestral group II intron to different conformations of the U2 snRNA, involv- maturase [12,13] as well as a C-terminal Jab-MPN ing stem IIc (catalytically active) and the alternate, domain that regulates the activity of Brr2 [14–16]. mutually exclusive stem IIa (catalytically inactive; A large number of mutant prp8 alleles related to [23]). Deletion of the 17 amino acids comprising the spliceosome activation and the two transesterifica- RH domain hairpin is lethal in S. cerevisiae [20,22]. tion steps have been characterized in yeast The best-characterized spliceosomes are those (reviewed in Ref. [17]). A clustering of these alleles from humans and budding yeast. Although these led us and others to structurally and functionally spliceosomes are highly conserved, there are characterize the domain of Prp8 corresponding to significant differences between them. In order to the RH fold ([18–20]; Fig. 1A, B). Sequence analysis more fully understand the function of the RH domain was unable to predict the RH fold due to a 17-amino- of Prp8, we have examined it structurally in an acid insertion between the first and second β-strands of organism distantly related to budding yeast and the RH domain. Crystallographically, we observed two humans and also carried out a comparative bioin- conformations of the RH domain: in the closed formatic analysis across diverse eukaryotic taxa. As conformation, the insertion corresponds to an anti- a starting point, we chose Prp8 from the red alga parallel β-hairpin; while in the second, open conforma- Cyanidioschyzon merolae due to evidence of a tion, the hairpin is disrupted to yield a loop translated considerably less complex spliceosome in this ~45° back with respect to the closed structure ([21]; organism compared to either humans or yeast [24]. Fig. 1A). A hydrated magnesium ion observed in the The genome of C. merolae contains only 27 introns second conformation, bound in a site conserved from in a genome with 4803 genes [25]. A computational RNase H, possibly acts to stabilize the open structure. and biochemical analysis revealed the presence of a X-ray structural analyses of Prp8 RH domain greatly reduced spliceosome containing only 40 core mutants affecting either step of splicing, or U4/U6 proteins and completely lacking the U1 snRNA and snRNA unwinding, as characterized in yeast and its associated proteins [24]. Here we report our x-ray yeast splicing extracts, revealed a stabilization or structural analysis of the RH domain of C. merolae destabilization of one of the two RH domain Prp8 (CmPrp8) showing that while the RNase H fold conformations [21]. This transition between two is maintained, the highly conserved β-hairpin is conformations corresponded to favoring the first absent. We have extended this analysis across step of splicing (at the expense of the second) or the diverse taxa showing that the presence or absence second step of splicing (at the expense of the first), of the hairpin corresponds with intron number in as shown in both in vitro and yeast reporter splicing agreement with the observation that among red algal assays, suggesting a switch mechanism to regulate genomes spliceosome complexity is associated with splicing. Recently, it has been proposed that the two a greater number of introns [26]. We also show that Prp8 Lacks Toggle in Reduced Spliceosome 2545 Fig. 2. Curated alignment of Prp8 β-hairpin insert from 25 organisms. The 17-amino-acid insertion is highly conserved (bold, colored by similarity to the human sequence). C. merolae and 2 microsporidia (E. cuniculi, and N. bombycis) lack the insert completely, and G. intestinalis and the kinetoplastid T. cruzi lack a conserved sequence. Two conserved Asp residues are highlighted (bold, black). Taxa are grouped by evolutionary relationships: purple, Obazoa: microsporidia; orange, excavata; black, cryptista; maroon, amoebozoa; green, archaeplastida; yellow, SAR (Stramenopiles, Alveolates, and Rhizaria); blue, Obazoa: animals; red, Obazoa: fungi. Alignment begins at the start of the RH domain. the loss of this hairpin corresponds with the component of the spliceosome, Prp8 is present in predicted absence of factors that associate with the every known intron-containing taxon. Eukaryotic RH hairpin that act at multiple steps of spliceosome diversity separates phylogenetically into major assembly or progression supporting its role as a groups [27], although thorough analyses of the regulatory feature in complex spliceosomes. spliceosome have occurred in relatively few eukary- otic taxa [28]. We analyzed Prp8 sequences from 36 taxa that represent the major groups of eukaryotic diversity discussed in Burki et al. [27]; see Materials Results and Methods; curated selection of taxa in Fig. 2; all analyzed sequences in Supplemental Fig. 1). We Identification of the Prp8 RH domain of C. also increased sampling to represent taxa known to merolae and comparison across taxa have reduced genomes and low intron densities to assess whether the amino acid gap seen in CM is a Protein components of the C. merolae (CM) shared feature of lineages that have undergone splicing machinery were previously identified by spliceosomal reduction. Additional fungal taxa were searching the National Center for Biotechnology also included (see Materials and Methods). Although Information database using sequences of two or all of these exhibited the expected high degree of more species to retrieve the C.