The apo-structure of the leucine sensor Sestrin2 is still elusive
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SAbatini_The apo-structure.pdf
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Author(s)
Saxton, Robert Andrew
Knockenhauer, Kevin Edward
Schwartz, Thomas
Sabatini, David
Date Issued
September 2016
Journal
Science Signaling
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Citation
Saxton, R. A. et al. “The Apo-Structure of the Leucine Sensor Sestrin2 Is Still Elusive.” Science Signaling 9.446 (2016): ra92-ra92.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Sestrin2 is a GATOR2-interacting protein that directly binds leucine and is required for the inhibition of mTORC1 under leucine deprivation, indicating that it is a leucine sensor for the mTORC1 pathway. We recently reported the structure of Sestrin2 in complex with leucine [Protein Data Bank (PDB) ID, 5DJ4] and demonstrated that mutations in the leucine-binding pocket that alter the affinity of Sestrin2 for leucine result in a corresponding change in the leucine sensitivity of mTORC1 in cells. A lower resolution structure of human Sestrin2 (PDB ID, 5CUF), which was crystallized in the absence of exogenous leucine, showed Sestrin2 to be in a nearly identical conformation as the leucine-bound structure. On the basis of this observation, it has been argued that leucine binding does not affect the conformation of Sestrin2 and that Sestrin2 may not be a sensor for leucine. We show that simple analysis of the reported “apo”-Sestrin2 structure reveals the clear presence of prominent, unmodeled electron density in the leucine-binding pocket that exactly accommodates the leucine observed in the higher resolution structure. Refining the reported apo-structure with leucine eliminated the large F[subscript obs]-F[subscript calc] difference density at this position and improved the working and free R factors of the model. Consistent with this result, our own structure of Sestrin2 crystallized in the absence of exogenous leucine also contained electron density that is best explained by leucine. Thus, the structure of apo-Sestrin2 remains elusive.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1126/scisignal.aah4497
