Simulation and Computational Study of RING Domain Mutants of BRCA1 and Ube2k in AD/PD Pathophysiology

Lysine-based post-translational modification (PTM) such as acylation, acetylation, deamination, methylation, SUMOylation, and ubiquitination has proven to be a major regulator of gene expression, chromatin structure, protein stability, protein-protein interaction, protein degradation, and cellular localization. However, besides all the PTMs, ubiquitination stands as the second most common PTM after phosphorylation that is involved in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) namely, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). NDDs are characterized by the accumulation of misfolded protein aggregates in the brain that lead to disease-related gene mutation and irregular protein homeostasis. The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is in charge of degrading these misfolded proteins, which involve an interplay of E1, E2, E3, and deubiquitinase enzymes. Impaired UPS has been commonly observed in NDDs and E3 ligases are the key members of the UPS, thus, dysfunction of the same can accelerate the neurodegeneration process. Therefore, the aim of this study is firstly, to find E3 ligases that are common in both AD and PD through data mining. Secondly, to study the impact of mutation on its structure and function. The study deciphered 74 E3 ligases that were common in both AD and PD. Later, 10 hub genes were calculated of which protein-protein interaction, pathway enrichment, lysine site prediction, domain, and motif analysis were performed. The results predicted BRCA1, PML, and TRIM33 as the top three putative lysine-modified E3 ligases involved in AD and PD pathogenesis. However, based on structural characterization, BRCA1 was taken further to study RING domain mutation that inferred K32Y, K32L, K32C, K45V, K45Y, and K45G as potential mutants that alter the structural and functional ability of BRCA1 to interact with Ube2k, E2-conjugating enzyme. The most probable mutant observed after molecular dynamics simulation of 50 ns is K32L. Therefore, our study concludes BRCA1, a potential E3 ligase common in AD and PD, and RING domain mutation at sites K32 and K45 possibly disturbs its interaction with its E2, Ube2k.