alpha-chymotrypsin and Osteogenesis-Imperfecta

The clinical severity of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), also known as the brittle bone disease, relates to the extent of conformational changes in the collagen triple helix induced by Gly substitution mutations. The lingering question is why Gly substitutions at different locations of collagen cause different disruptions of the triple helix. Here, we describe markedly different conformational changes of the triple helix induced by two Gly substitution mutations placed only 12 residues apart. The effects of the Gly substitutions were characterized using a recombinant collagen fragment modeling the 63-residue segment of the alpha1 chain of type I collagen containing no Hyp (residues 877-939) obtained from Escherichia coli. Two Gly --> Ser substitutions at Gly-901 and Gly-913 associated with, respectively, mild and severe OI variants were introduced by site-directed mutagenesis. Biophysical characterization and limited protease digestion experiments revealed that while the substitution at Gly-901 causes relatively minor destabilization of the triple helix, the substitution at Gly-913 induces large scale unfolding of an unstable region C-terminal to the mutation site. This extensive unfolding is caused by the intrinsic low stability of the C-terminal region of the helix and the mutation induced disruption of a set of salt bridges, which functions to lock this unstable region into the triple helical conformation. The extensive conformational changes associated with the loss of the salt bridges highlight the long range impact of the local interactions of triple helix and suggest a new mechanism by which OI mutations cause severe conformational damages in collagen.

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Chymotrypsin; Circular Dichroism; Collagen; Escherichia coli; Humans; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Osteogenesis Imperfecta; Protein Conformation; Protein Folding; Protein Structure, Secondary; Recombinant Proteins; Salts; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization

In this paper we describe a mild moderate form of osteogenesis imperfecta caused by a point mutation in COL1A1 which converted glycine 85 to valine. The valine substitution introduced into the triple-helical domain of type-I collagen a conformational perturbation causing susceptibility to digestive proteases. In fact, SDS/PAGE of pepsin-treated collagen showed the presence of a faint band, migrating between alpha 1(I) and alpha 2(I), both in the medium and in the cell layer. On trypsin digestion the band, a shortened form of alpha 1(I), had a melting temperature of 39.5 degrees C. If the triple-helical collagen was obtained after trypsin or chymotrypsin digestion of procollagen, two shortened bands were identified; the enzymes cleaved about 40% of the trimers. The mutant procollagen was normally secreted and processed in the extracellular matrix at a normal rate. When native type-I collagen was formed after dextran-sulfate incubation, only chains of normal length were found, suggesting that the fibroblast proteases did not recognize the alteration introduced by the mutation. The effects of glycine 85 to valine substitution are compared with those produced by a previously described arginine substitution of the same residue (Deak et al., 1991).

Topics: Adult; Base Sequence; Chymotrypsin; Collagen; Drug Stability; Endopeptidases; Glycine; Hot Temperature; Humans; Male; Molecular Sequence Data; Osteogenesis Imperfecta; Pepsin A; Point Mutation; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Procollagen; Trypsin; Valine

Synthesis of procollagen was examined in skin fibroblasts from a patient with a moderately severe autosomal dominant form of osteogenesis imperfecta. Proteolytic removal of the propeptide regions of newly synthesized procollagen, followed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under nonreducing conditions, revealed the presence of type I collagen in which two alpha 1(I) chains were linked through interchain disulfide bonds. Fragmentation of the disulfide-bonded alpha 1(I) dimers with vertebrate collagenase and cyanogen bromide demonstrated the presence of a cysteine residue in alpha 1(I)CB8, a fragment containing amino acid residues 124-402 of the alpha 1(I) collagen chain. Cysteine residues are not normally found in the triple-helical domain of type I collagen chains. The heterozygous nature of the molecular defect resulted in the formation of three kinds of type I trimers: a normal type with normal pro-alpha(I) chains, a type I trimer with one mutant pro-alpha 1(I) chain and two normal chains, and a type I trimer containing two mutant pro-alpha 1(I) chains and one normal pro-alpha 2(I) chain. The presence of one or two mutant pro-alpha 1(I) chains in trimers of type I procollagen was found to reduce the thermal stability of the protein by 2.5 and 1 degree C, respectively. In addition to post-translational overmodification, procollagen containing one mutant pro-alpha 1(I) chain was also cleared more slowly from cultured fibroblasts. The most likely explanation for these disruptive changes in the physical stability and secretion of the mutant procollagen is that a cysteine residue is substituted for a glycine in half of the pro-alpha 1(I) chains synthesized by the patient's fibroblasts.

Topics: Chymotrypsin; Cyanogen Bromide; Cysteine; Disulfides; Fibroblasts; Genes, Dominant; Humans; Kinetics; Macromolecular Substances; Osteogenesis Imperfecta; Peptide Fragments; Procollagen; Protein Conformation; Skin; Trypsin

Cultured skin fibroblasts from a variant of osteogenesis imperfecta were previously shown to synthesize a type I procollagen which was a homotrimer of pro alpha 1(I) chains. Trimers of alpha 1(I) collagen were isolated by pepsin digestion of culture medium from these fibroblasts. The amino acid composition of the isolated protein indicated that it contained an increased amount of hydroxylysine, apparently because of post-translational over-modification. The thermal stability of the alpha 1(I) trimers was examined by circular dichroism. We found no consistent difference in the melting curve of the alpha 1(I) trimers compared to control type I collagen. We next examined the thermal stability of the alpha 1(I) trimers using digestion with a combination of trypsin and alpha-chymotrypsin as an alternative probe of helical stability. When enzymatic digestions were carried out at 36 degrees to 40 degrees C, the alpha 1(I) chains in the trimers were cleaved to polypeptides which were shortened by approximately 100 amino acids. Vertebrate collagenase digestion of the shortened molecules indicated that the 100 amino acid segment removed from each alpha 1(I) chain was located at the carboxyl-terminus. The decreased thermal stability of the alpha 1(I) trimers was probably explained by the absence of alpha 2(I) chains in the molecules. The results, however, did not exclude the possibility that the post-translational over-modification of the alpha 1(I) chains contributed to the altered helical structure.

Topics: Cells, Cultured; Chymotrypsin; Collagen; Fibroblasts; Genetic Variation; Hot Temperature; Humans; Osteogenesis Imperfecta; Protein Conformation; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; Skin; Trypsin