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| Author(s): |
Huita do Couto Matôzo
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Carlos. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC/BT) |
| Defense date: | 2008-12-08 |
| Examining board members: |
Igor Polikarpov;
Francisco de Assis Rocha Neves
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| Advisor: | Igor Polikarpov |
| Abstract | |
The rat protein tyrosine phosphatase eta, rPTPeta, is a transmembrane RPTP, with an intracellular portion composed of a unique catalytic region. The rPTPeta and the human homolog DEP-1 are down-regulated in rat and human neoplastic cells, respectively. However, the malignant phenotype is reverted after exogenous reconstitution of rPTPeta, suggesting that its function restoration could be an important tool for gene therapy of several types of cancer. Therefore, the objective of our project aimed on the molecular, biophysical and structural study of the catalytic domain of rPTPeta, rPTPetaDC. We began our study cloning the rPTPetaDC into PET28a(+) vector, followed by its expression in Escherichia coli, and purification. The His6-tag from the rPTPetaDC purified was subsequently removed by thrombin digestion. PhastGel IEF electrophoresis demonstrated that the isoelectric point of the 41kDa was 7.3. To assess the functionality of the rPTPetaDC we used the pNPP hydrolysis assay and observed that the enzyme has a specific activity of 9nmol/min/ug. The experimentally determined rPTPetaDC specific activity showed to be in the same range as the previously reported activities for RPTPu, RPTPalfa, PTPB1 and SHP2. The secondary structure and stability of the recombinant protein was analyzed by circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that rPTPetaDC was stable at 18 Celsius and properly folded (Santos, et al., Prot. Expr. Purif., 2005. In attachment A). Then, the purified protein was submitted to different crystallization conditions and structural studies in solution. Crystals appeared at 0.1M MES, pH 6.5 and 20% PEG 10,000 and diffracted with resolution of 1.87Å. The crystals belong to spatial group P2(1)2(1)2(1) with unit cell parameters of a=46.46, b=63.07, c=111.64Å and contained one molecule for asymmetric unit (Matozo, et al., Acta crystallog. F, 2006. In attachment B). Also, the structural of rPTPetaDC, in solution, was analyzed by SAXS and fluorescence anisotropy. SAXS data showed that the protein forms elongated dimers in solution with an Rg of 2.65nm and a Dmax of 8.5nm. The rPTPetaDC conformation in solution, studied by homology models, suggested that the rPTPetaDC dimer architecture is more closely related to the crystal structure of RPTPalfa-D1. The characterization of rPTPetaDC by fluorescence anisotropy measurements demonstrated that the Kd of the dimer is 21.6 + 2.0uM and the energy Gibbs dimer-monomer is equal to 7.2kcal/mol (Matozo, et al., Bioph. J., 2007. In attachment C). (AU) | |