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Title: Stable calcium-free myocilin olfactomedin domain variants reveal challenges in differentiating between benign and glaucoma-causing mutations

Journal Article · · Journal of Biological Chemistry

Nonsynonymous gene mutations can be beneficial, neutral, or detrimental to the stability, structure, and biological function of the encoded protein, but the effects of these mutations are often not readily predictable. For example, the β-propeller olfactomedin domain of myocilin (mOLF) exhibits a complex interrelationship among structure(s), stability, and aggregation. Numerous mutations within mOLF are linked to glaucoma; the resulting variants are less stable, aggregation-prone, and sequestered intracellularly, causing cytotoxicity. In this study, we report the first stable mOLF variants carrying substitutions in the calcium-binding site that exhibit solution characteristics indistinguishable from those of glaucoma variants. Crystal structures of these stable variants at 1.8–2.0-Å resolution revealed features that we could not predict by molecular dynamics simulations, including loss of loop structure, helix unwinding, and a blade shift. Double mutants that combined a stabilizing substitution and a selected glaucoma-causing single-point mutant rescued in vitro folding and stability defects. In the context of full-length myocilin, secretion of stable single variants was indistinguishable from that of the WT protein, and the double mutants were secreted to varying extents. In summary, our finding that mOLF can tolerate particular substitutions that render the protein stable despite a conformational switch emphasizes the complexities in differentiating between benign and glaucoma-causing variants and provides new insight into the possible biological function of myocilin.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Grant/Contract Number:
R01EY021205; R01EY024232; R01GM123169
OSTI ID:
1562708
Journal Information:
Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. 294, Issue 34; ISSN 0021-9258
Publisher:
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (1)

Calcium-ligand variants of the myocilin olfactomedin propeller selected from invertebrate phyla reveal cross-talk with N-terminal blade and surface helices journal August 2019