Biology subjects

Felli, I. C.

Publications and source records attributed to Felli, I. C..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Charting the Structure and Functional Landscape of the SF3B1 Intrinsically Disordered Region

Despite its essential role in pre-mRNA splicing, the structure and functional significance of the intrinsically disordered N-terminal domain (NTD) of SF3B1, a core component of the SF3b spliceosome complex, remain poorly understood. Here, we combine nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), biochemistry, bioinformatics approaches, with molecular dynamics simulations to characterize the conformational landscape of the SF3B1-NTD and its phosphorylation-dependent remodelling. Specifically, we focus on the 186-341 region (186-341SF3B1), which contains at least four regulatory phosphorylation sites. We reveal that 186-341SF3B1 is highly dynamic, lacking a stable secondary structure, and that phosphorylation of T211, T235, T313, and T328 induces a shift toward more compact states driven by the formation of intramolecular interactions. Additionally, we unveil that 186-341SF3B1 interacts with RNA primarily via the arginine residues flaking one of the conserved tryptophan-centred motifs present within SF3B1-NTD. These interactions are transient and heterogeneous, reflecting a nonspecific yet sequence-dependent recognition mechanism. Collectively, this study provides a comprehensive description of the conformational landscape and functional features of the SF3B1-NTD, and expands the portfolio of its possible interactors, thus broadening our understanding of how intrinsic disorder, post-translational modifications, and sequence-encoded motifs cooperate to regulate pre-mRNA splicing.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2026

Exploring Disordered Regions of Human Spliceosome Proteins

Introns are removed from messenger RNAs by the spliceosome, a protein-RNA machinery enriched with intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). Lacking stable 3D structures, IDRs can adopt diverse conformations interlacing proteins and RNAs components of the spliceosome and regulating splicing. Here we performed a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of the human spliceosome proteome revealing that many proteins contain over 40% of disordered residues. Spliceosome IDRs are mainly driven by compositional bias due to an excess of charged and RS-like sequences, with both the nature and extent of this disorder being broadly conserved evolutionarily. Additionally, these IDRs are frequent targets of post-translational modifications, especially phosphorylation, and are hotspots for cancer-associated mutations, implicated in different cancer types. Our results collectively underscore central role of IDRs in splicing regulation and disease. TOC Graphic O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=167 SRC="FIGDIR/small/698225v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (33K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@a6ed0dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@11514b7org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@103387borg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@713fde_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2025

Oligomerization enables the selective targeting of intrinsically disordered regions by small molecules

Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) are challenging drug targets because they lack stable interaction sites for drug-like molecules. We studied the first small molecule targeting an IDR to be evaluated in a clinical trial and found that it interacts selectively with an oligomeric form of the protein, more structured than the monomeric state, that is stabilized by interactions involving aromatic residues in regions with helical propensity. We also found that this compound alters the network of interactions defining the conformational ensemble of its target, thus affecting its condensation properties, linked to its function as a transcription factor. These findings provide a framework for developing strategies to target intrinsically disordered regions with small molecules.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2022

MIADE metadata guidelines: Minimum Information About a Disorder Experiment

An unambiguous description of an experimental setup and analysis, and the subsequent biological observation is vital for accurate data interpretation and reproducible results. Consequently, experimental analyses should be described in a concise, unequivocal, and digestible manner. The aim of minimum information guidelines is to define the fundamental complement of data that can support an unambiguous conclusion on experimental observations. In this document, we present the Minimum Information About Disorder Experiments (MIADE) guidelines to define the minimal fundamental parameters required for non-experts to understand the key findings of an experiment studying intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) or intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDRs). MIADE guidelines provide recommendations for data producers to describe the results of their experiments at source, for curators to annotate experimental data to community resources and for database developers maintaining community resources to disseminate the data. We give examples of the application of these guidelines in common use cases and describe the implementation of an update to the DisProt IDP database to allow MIADE-compliant annotation. The MIADE guidelines will improve the interpretability of experimental results for data consumers, facilitate direct data submission, simplify data curation, improve data exchange among repositories and standardise the dissemination of the key metadata on an IDP experiment by IDP data sources.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2019

Small molecule sequestration of amyloid-β as a drug discovery strategy for Alzheimer’s disease

Disordered proteins are challenging therapeutic targets, and no drug is currently in clinical use that has been shown to modify the properties of their monomeric states. Here, we identify a small molecule capable of binding and sequestering the amyloid-{beta} peptide (A{beta}) in its monomeric, soluble state. Our analysis reveals that this compound interacts with A{beta} and inhibits both the primary and secondary nucleation pathways in its aggregation process. We characterise this interaction using biophysical experiments and integrative structural ensemble determination methods. We thus observe that this small molecule has the remarkable effect of increasing the conformational entropy of monomeric A{beta} while decreasing its hydrophobic surface area. We then show that this small molecule rescues a Caenorhabditis elegans model of A{beta}-associated toxicity in a manner consistent with the mechanism of action identified from the in silico and in vitro studies. These results provide an illustration of the strategy of targeting the monomeric states of disordered proteins with small molecules to alter their behaviour for therapeutic purposes.

biophysics↗