Role of a high centrality residue in protein dynamics and thermal stability

Centralities determined from Residue Interaction Networks (RIN) in proteins have been used to predict aspects of their structure and dynamics. Here, we correlate the Eigenvector Centrality (E_c) with the rate constant for thermal denaturation (k_den) of the HisF protein from Thermotoga maritima based on 12 single alanine substitution mutants. The molecular basis for this correlation was further explored by studying a mutant containing a replacement of a high E_c residue, Y182A, which displayed increased k_den at 80 °C. The crystallographic structure of this mutant showed few changes, mostly in two flexible loops. The ¹H-¹⁵N -HSQC showed only subtle changes of cross peak positions for residues located near the mutation site and scattered throughout the structure. However, the comparison of the RIN showed that Y182 is the vertex of a set of high centrality residues that spreads throughout the HisF structure, which is lacking in the mutant. Cross-correlation displacements of Cα calculated from a molecular dynamics simulation at different temperatures showed that the Y182A mutation reduced the correlated movements in the HisF structure above 70 °C. ¹H-¹⁵N NMR chemical shift covariance using temperature as perturbation were consistent with these results. In conclusion the increase in temperature drives the structure of the mutant HisF-Y182A into a less connected state, richer in non-concerted motions, located predominantly in the C-terminal half of the protein where Y182 is placed. Conversely, wild-type HisF responds to increased temperature as a single unit. Hence the replacement of a high E_c residue alters the distribution of thermal energy through HisF structure.