Functional diversity of Arabidopsis late embryogenesis abundant proteins in response to changes in the physicochemical environment

Some desiccation-tolerant organisms accumulate intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), such as Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins, which help protect other proteins from inactivation and/or aggregation during desiccation. Like other IDPs, LEA proteins adopt ensembles of extended conformations that shift in response to environmental changes. Desiccation causes dramatic changes in the cellular environment, but it is unclear how the structural malleability of LEAs is related to their protective function. In this work, we measured the in vitro protective function and structural sensitivity to changes in the environment of four Arabidopsis thaliana LEA proteins from different families. We found that all LEAs showed different protection efficiencies of the labile enzyme lactate dehydrogenase under desiccation in vitro. In line with this, we identified distinct ensemble structural changes when these LEA proteins were exposed to different physicochemical environments. Specifically, AtEM1, AtLEA7, and AtLEA4-5 showed compaction when the solution was crowded with polymers, whereas AtLEA6-2.2 showed larger structural changes when salt concentrations were increased. Furthermore, the ensembles of AtEM1, AtLEA7, and AtLEA4-5 gained helicity under desiccated conditions, while that of AtLEA6-2.2 remained largely disordered. Our results highlight how ensemble properties of LEA proteins contribute to their distinct functional activities in vitro. This work advances our understanding of the molecular features that contribute to functional diversity in desiccation-related IDPs.