Prediction of interactions involving intrinsically disordered proteins

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Intrinsically disordered (ID) proteins play a central role in protein interactomes because their ID segments often mediate large numbers of interactions. We have shown previously that interactions mediated by ID protein segments are characterized by features that distinguish them from other protein interactions. We hypothesize that these features can be used to (i) identify interaction sites on globular proteins that preferentially bind ID proteins and (ii) determine the structures that ID protein segments adopt upon binding. Based on this hypothesis, we propose the following aims: ***  ***Aim 1: Development of a predictor that identifies surface regions on globular proteins that bind ID proteins.***Aim 2: Development of a method to determine the structure of binary complexes in which one member is an ID protein.***Aim 3: Application of these methods on autoinhibited proteins.*******Aim1: Using specific features that distinguish ID protein-binding surfaces from other protein surfaces (including flexibility, electrostatic potential or residue conservation), we will train a classifier to distinguish the two types of surfaces. The performance of the classifier will be tested by ten-fold cross-validation as well as on a test set of structures not used in the training. *******Aim 2: We will extend a recently published docking protocol such that it can be used for the determination of the structure of complexes in which one member is an ID protein. The protocol uses multiple steps of low- and high-resolution docking and the Rosetta potential for the scoring of generated structures. The developed protocol will be benchmarked on a set of known high-resolution structures of complexes that contain ID proteins.*******Aim 3: Here, we will test whether the methods developed in Aim 1 and 2 can be used to determine the structure of proteins in which an ID segments interacts in cis with a domain of the same polypeptide chain, i.e., acts as an autoinhibitory switch. We will first benchmark the approach on a set of autoinhibited proteins for which the structure is known, and then use it to determine the structure of the autoinhibited state of the ABC transporter Rv1747 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis that we predict to be autoinhibited.******We are confident that the tools developed in this research program will constitute a solid base for the future development of computational methods used in the design of therapeutic peptides and proteins that inhibit, respectively, mimic interactions mediated by ID proteins.