Interaction of site specific hirudin variants with alpha-thrombin

The kinetics of complex formation between recombinant hirudin or recombinant hirudin mutants with thrombin were analyzed. In order to elucidate the inhibitor's reactive site peptide bond predetermined amino acid substitutions were introduced at positions of basic amino acid residues by means of site-directed mutagenesis of a hirudin gene. In comparison to recombinant hirudin (Ki = 19 pM) only those mutant inhibitors which were modified at amino acid position Lys47 showed a higher Ki value for their complexes with thrombin. The observed effects are mainly due to increased koff rate constants.     

Selection of functional signal peptide cleavage sites from a library of random sequences.

The export of proteins to the periplasmic compartment of bacterial cells is mediated by an amino-terminal signal peptide. After transport, the signal peptide is cleaved by a processing enzyme, signal peptidase I. A comparison of the cleavage sites of many exported proteins has identified a conserved feature of small, uncharged amino acids at positions -1 and -3 relative to the cleavage site. To determine experimentally the sequences required for efficient signal peptide cleavage, we simultaneously randomized the amino acid residues from positions -4 to +2 of the TEM-1 beta-lactamase enzyme to form a library of random sequences. Mutants that provide wild-type levels of ampicillin resistance were then selected from the random-sequence library. The sequences of 15 mutants indicated a bias towards small amino acids. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the mature enzyme was determined for nine of the mutants to assign the new -1 and -3 residues. Alanine was present in the -1 position for all nine of these mutants, strongly supporting the importance of alanine at the -1 position. The amino acids at the -3 position were much less conserved but were consistent with the -3 rules derived from sequence comparisons. Compared with the wild type, two of the nine mutants have an altered cleavage position, suggesting that sequence is more important than position for processing of the signal peptide.     

Remarkably simple sequence requirement of the M-factor pheromone of Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The mating reaction is triggered by specific pheromones in a wide variety of organisms. Small peptides are used as mating pheromones in yeasts and fungi. In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, M-factor is a C terminally farnesylated nonapeptide secreted from M-cells, and its counterpart, P-factor, is a simple peptide composed of 23 amino acids. The primary structure requirements for the biological activity of pheromone peptides remain to be elucidated. Here, we conducted comprehensive substitution of each of the amino acids in M-factor peptide and inspected the mating ability of these missense mutants. Thirty-five sterile mutants were found among an array of 152 mutants with single amino acid substitutions. Mapping of the mutation sites clearly indicated that the sterile mutants were associated exclusively with four amino acid residues (VPYM) in the carboxyl-terminal half. In contrast, the substitution of four amino-terminal residues (YTPK) with any amino acid had no or only a slightly deleterious effect on mating. Furthermore, deletion of the three N-terminal residues caused no sterility, although truncation of a fourth residue had a marked effect. We conclude that a farnesylated hexapeptide (KVPYMC(Far)-OCH(3)) is the minimal M-factor that retains pheromone activity. At least 15 nonfunctional peptides were found to be secreted, suggesting that these mutant M-factor peptides are no longer recognized by the cognate receptor.     

A very short peptide makes a voltage-dependent ion channel: the critical length of the channel domain of colicin E1

Cleavage of colicin E1 molecules with a variety of proteases or with cyanogen bromide (CNBr) generates COOH-terminal fragments which have channel-forming activity similar to that of intact colicin in planar lipid bilayer membranes. The smallest channel-forming fragment obtained by CNBr cleavage of the wild-type molecule consists of the C-terminal 152 amino acids. By the use of oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis, we have made nine mutants along this 152 amino acid peptide, in which an amino acid was replaced by methionine in order to create a new CNBr cleavage site. The smallest of the CNBr-cleaved C-terminal fragments with channel-forming activity, in planar bilayer membranes, was generated by cleavage at new Met position 428 and has 94 amino acids, whereas a 75 amino acid peptide produced by cleavage of a new Met at position 447 did not have channel activity. The NH2-terminus of the channel-forming domain of colicin E1 appears therefore to lie between residues 428 and 447. Since, however, the last six C-terminal residues of the colicin can be removed without changing activity, the number of amino acids necessary to form the channel is 88 or less. In addition, the unique Cys residue in colicin E1 was replaced by Gly, and nine mutants were then made with Cys placed at sequential locations along the peptide for eventual use as sulfhydryl attachment sites to determine the local environment of the replaced amino acid. In the course of making 21 mutants, eight charged residues have been replaced by uncharged Met or Cys without changing the biological activity of the intact molecule. It has been proposed previously that the conformation of the colicin E1 channel is a barrel formed from five or six alpha-helices, each having 20 amino acids spanning the membrane and two to four residues making the turn at the boundary of the membrane. Our finding that 88 amino acids can make an active channel, combined with recently reported stoichiometric evidence that the channel is a monomer excludes this model and adds significant constraints which can be used in building a molecular model of the channel.     

Roles of aromatic residues in the structure and biological activity of the small cytokine,growth-blocking peptide (GBP)

Growth-blocking peptide (GBP) is a small (25 amino acids) insect cytokine with a variety of functions: controlling the larval development of lepidopteran insects, acting as a mitogen for various types of cultured cells, and stimulating insect blood cells. The aromatic residues of GBP (Phe-3, Tyr-11, and Phe-23) are highly conserved in the ENF peptide family found in lepidopteran insects. We investigated the relationship between the biological activities and structural properties of a series of GBP mutants, in which each of the three aromatic residues is replaced by a different residue. The results of the hemocytes-stimulating assays of GBP mutants indicated that Phe-3 is the key residue in this activity: Ala or Tyr replacement resulted in significant loss of the activity, but Leu replacement did not. The replacements of other aromatic residues hardly affected the activity. On the other hand, NMR analysis of the mutants suggested that Tyr-11 is a key residue for maintaining the core structure of GBP. Surprisingly, the Y11A mutant maintained its biological activity, although its native-like secondary structure was disordered. Detailed analyses of the (15)N-labeled Y11A mutant by heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy showed that the native-like beta-sheet structure of Y11A was induced by the addition of 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol. The results suggest that Y11A has a tendency to form a native-like structure, and this property may give the Y11A mutant native-like activity.     

Extracellular secretion of Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin I across the outer membrane.

Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin Ip (STIp) is an extracellular toxin consisting of 18 amino acid residues that is synthesized as a precursor of pre (amino acid residues 1 to 19), pro (amino acid residues 20 to 54), and mature (amino acid residues 55 to 72) regions. The precursor synthesized in the cytoplasm is translocated across the inner membrane by the general export pathway consisting of Sec proteins. The pre region functions as a leader peptide and is cleaved during translocation. However, it remains unknown how the resulting peptide (pro-mature peptide) translocates across the outer membrane. In this study, we investigated the structure of the STIp that passes through the outer membrane to determine how it translocates through the outer membrane. The results showed that the pro region is cleaved in the periplasmic space. The generated peptide becomes the mature form of STIp, which happens to have disulfide bonds, which then passes through the outer membrane. We also showed that STIp with a carboxy-terminal peptide consisting of 3 amino acid residues passes through the outer membrane, whereas STIp with a peptide composed of 37 residues does not. Amino acid analysis of mutant STIp purified from culture supernatant revealed that the peptide composed of 37 amino acid residues was cleaved into fragments of 5 amino acid residues. In addition, analyses of STIps with a mutation at the cysteine residue and the dsbA mutant strain revealed that the formation of an intramolecular disulfide bond within STIp is not absolutely required for the mature region of STIp to pass through the outer membrane.     

Affinity of Avr2 for tomato cysteine protease Rcr3 correlates with the Avr2-triggered Cf-2-mediated hypersensitive response

The Cladosporium fulvum Avr2 effector is a novel type of cysteine protease inhibitor with eight cysteine residues that are all involved in disulphide bonds. We have produced wild-type Avr2 protein in Pichia pastoris and determined its disulphide bond pattern. By site-directed mutagenesis of all eight cysteine residues, we show that three of the four disulphide bonds are required for Avr2 stability. The six C-terminal amino acid residues of Avr2 contain one disulphide bond that is not embedded in its overall structure. Avr2 is not processed by the tomato cysteine protease Rcr3 and is an uncompetitive inhibitor of Rcr3. We also produced mutant Avr2 proteins in which selected amino acid residues were individually replaced by alanine, and, in one mutant, all six C-terminal amino acid residues were deleted. We determined the inhibitory constant (K(i) ) of these mutants for Rcr3 and their ability to trigger a Cf-2-mediated hypersensitive response (HR) in tomato. We found that the two C-terminal cysteine residues and the six amino acid C-terminal tail of Avr2 are required for both Rcr3 inhibitory activity and the ability to trigger a Cf-2-mediated HR. Individual replacement of the lysine-17, lysine-20 or tyrosine-21 residue by alanine did not affect significantly the biological activity of Avr2. Overall, our data suggest that the affinity of the Avr2 mutants for Rcr3 correlates with their ability to trigger a Cf-2-mediated HR.     

N-terminal basic amino acids are not required for translocation and processing of preproparathyroid hormone

An N-terminal deletion mutant of preproparathyroid hormone that contains a single basic amino acid, lysine, in the N-terminal domain of the signal peptide is translocated across the endoplasmic reticulum membrane similarly to intact preproparathyroid hormone. To examine the function of charged residues preceeding the hydrophobic core, the lysine was replaced by an uncharged (methionine) or negatively charged (glutamic acid) amino acid. The translocational activity of the mutant signal peptides was assayed in a reticulocyte lysate system containing chicken oviduct microsomal membranes. Altering the net charge of the N-terminal domain did not abolish signal sequence activity, although the efficiency of translocation was decreased for the mutant with a glutamic acid substitution. Posttranslational, ribosome independent, translocation was observed for all the mutants tested, with the same dependence on N-terminal charge but with much lower efficiency than cotranslational translocation. These studies show that the presence of basic amino acids in the N-terminal domain of a eukaryotic signal sequence is not required for its activity.     

Identification of the functional site in the mosquito larvicidal binary toxin of Bacillus sphaericus 1593M by site-directed mutagenesis

To study the mode of action of the binary toxin (51- and 42-kDa) of Bacillus sphaericus, amino acid residues were substituted at selected sites of the N- and C-terminal regions of both peptides. Bioassay results of the mutant binary toxins tested against mosquito larvae, Culex quinquefasciatus, revealed that most of the substitutions made on both peptides led to either decrease or total loss of the activity. Furthermore, receptor binding studies carried out for some of the mutants of the 42-kDa peptide showed mutations in N- and C-terminal regions of the 42-kDa peptide did not affect the binding of the binary toxin to brush border membrane vesicles of mosquito larvae. One of the mutants having a single amino acid substitution at the C-terminal region ((312)R) of the 42-kDa peptide completely abolished the biological activity, implicating the role of this residue in membrane pore formation. These results indicate the importance of the C-terminal region of the 42-kDa of binary toxin, in general, and particularly the residue (312)R for biological activity against mosquito larvae.     

Analysis of the relationship between cleavability of a paramyxovirus fusion protein and length of the connecting peptide.

The relationship between the length of the connecting peptide in a paramyxovirus F0 protein and cleavage of F0 into the F1 and F2 subunits has been examined by constructing a series of mutant F proteins via site-directed mutagenesis of a cDNA clone encoding the simian virus 5 F protein. The mutant F proteins had one to five arginine residues deleted from the connecting peptide. The minimum number of arginine residues required for cleavage-activation of the simian virus 5 F0 protein by host cell proteases was found to be four. F proteins with two or three arginine residues in the connecting peptide were not cleaved by host cell proteases but could be cleaved by exogenously added trypsin. The mutant F protein possessing a connecting peptide consisting of one arginine residue was not cleaved by trypsin. The altered F proteins were all transported to the infected-cell plasma membrane as shown by cell surface immunofluorescence or cell surface trypsinization. However, the only mutant F protein found to be biologically active as detected by syncytium formation was the F protein which has four arginine residues at the cleavage site. The results presented here suggest that in the paramyxovirus F protein the number of basic amino acid residues in the connecting peptide is important for cleavage of the precursor protein by host cell proteases but is not the only structural feature involved. In addition, the data indicate that cleavage of F0 into F1 and F2 does not necessarily result in biological activity and that the connecting peptide may affect the local conformation of the F polypeptide.     

GDNF缺失突变体的设计及其结构与功能关系(英文)

研究了GDNF结构与功能的关系 .基于鼠源GDNF的晶体结构 ,利用计算机SGIIndigo2(R4 4 0 0 )工作站和InsightⅡ (95.5)蛋白质分析软件模拟了人GDNF三维结构 ,设计了GDNF分子的两个缺失突变体ΔN1 2 8和ΔN78 90 .以野生型GDNFcDNA作为模板 ,用PCR法得到编码缺失突变体的DNA片段 .将大肠杆菌作为表达系统 ,使缺失突变体GDNF在大肠杆菌中表达 ,对表达产物纯化和复性后进行生物活性测定 .两株突变体在大肠肝菌中获得了高效表达 ,纯化后的GDNF突变体ΔN1 2 8可以与存在于KG 1a细胞表面的受体结合 ,但不能促进 8日龄鸡胚背根节突起的生长 .突变体ΔN78 90既不能与受体结合 ,同时也失去了促背根节突起生长的功能 .说明GDNF分子的N端氨基酸对分子的生物学活性很重要 ,但对分子与受体GDNFR α的结合并不是必需的 ,而分子中的螺旋区对分子与受体的结合以及生物学活性都必不可少 .     

Site-directed mutagenesis of cysteine residues of large neutral amino acid transporter LAT1

The large neutral amino acid transporter type 1, LAT1, is the principal neutral amino acid transporter expressed at the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Owing to the high affinity (low Km) of the LAT1 isoform, BBB amino acid transport in vivo is very sensitive to transport competition effects induced by hyperaminoacidemias, such as phenylketonuria. The low Km of LAT1 is a function of specific amino acid residues, and the transporter is comprised of 12 phylogenetically conserved cysteine (Cys) residues. LAT1 is highly sensitive to inhibition by inorganic mercury, but the specific cysteine residue(s) of LAT1 that account for the mercury sensitivity is not known. LAT1 forms a heterodimer with the 4F2hc heavy chain, which are joined by a disulfide bond between Cys160 of LAT1 and Cys110 of 4F2hc. The present studies use site-directed mutagenesis to convert each of the 12 cysteines of LAT1 and each of the 2 cysteines of 4F2hc into serine residues. Mutation of the cysteine residues of the 4F2hc heavy chain of the hetero-dimeric transporter did not affect transporter activity. The wild type LAT1 was inhibited by HgCl2 with a Ki of 0.56+/-0.11 microM. The inhibitory effect of HgCl2 for all 12 LAT1 Cys mutants was examined. However, except for the C439S mutant, the inhibition by HgCl2 for 11 of the 12 Cys mutants was comparable to the wild type transporter. Mutation of only 2 of the 12 cysteine residues of the LAT1 light chain, Cys88 and Cys439, altered amino acid transport. The Vmax was decreased 50% for the C88S mutant. A kinetic analysis of the C439S mutant could not be performed because transporter activity was not significantly above background. Confocal microscopy showed the C439S LAT1 mutant was not effectively transferred to the oocyte plasma membrane. These studies show that the Cys439 residue of LAT1 plays a significant role in either folding or insertion of the transporter protein in the plasma membrane.     

Automated Gas Chromatographic Monitoring of Ethylene Evolution out of Rice Seedlings Infected with Blast Fungus

To find amino acid residues which are required for glucoamylase activity, mutant glucoamylase genes were constructed by in vitro mutations of GLU1 DNA encoding Saccharomycopsis fibuligera glucoamylase and introduced into Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the resulting mutant proteins were assayed for enzymatic activities. Eighteen mutant proteins were obtained by random insertions of a BamHX linker DNA. Six out of 7 proteins with mutations in conserved regions among divergent glucoamylases showed no activities, while 8 out of 11 proteins with mutations in unconserved regions had similar specific activities to a wild-type value, suggesting that the conserved regions are important to the activity. A series of amino-terminal deletion mutants were also constructed. A mutant protein with a deletion of only two amino acid residues from the amino terminus had a significant reduction in the activity, suggesting an essential role for the amino-terminal peptide. Ten mutant proteins with single amino acid replacements were produced by site-directed mutagenesis. Analyses for thermal stability and temperature dependency of these mutant proteins revealed that Ala81, Asp89, Trp94, Arg96, Asp97, and Trp166 are required for wild-type levels of activities, and that at least Ala81 and Asp89 are not essential to catalytic activities, but act in thermal stability.     

Mutational analysis of Xanthomonas harpin HpaG identifies a key functional region that elicits the hypersensitive response in nonhost plants

HpaG is a type III-secreted elicitor protein of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines. We have determined the critical amino acid residues important for hypersensitive response (HR) elicitation by random and site-directed mutagenesis of HpaG and its homolog XopA. A plasmid clone carrying hpaG was mutagenized by site-directed mutagenesis, hydroxylamine mutagenesis, and error-prone PCR. A total of 52 mutants were obtained, including 51 single missense mutants and 1 double missense mutant. The HR elicitation activity was abolished in the two missense mutants [HpaG(L50P) and HpaG(L43P/L50P)]. Seven single missense mutants showed reduced activity, and the HR elicitation activity of the rest of the mutants was similar to that of wild-type HpaG. Mutational and deletion analyses narrowed the region essential for elicitor activity to the 23-amino-acid peptide (H2N-NQGISEKQLDQLLTQLIMALLQQ-COOH). A synthetic peptide of this sequence possessed HR elicitor activity at the same concentration as the HpaG protein. This region has 78 and 74% homology with 23- and 27-amino-acid regions of the HrpW harpin domains, respectively, from Pseudomonas and Erwinia spp. The secondary structure of the peptide is predicted to be an alpha-helix, as is the HrpW region that is homologous to HpaG. The predicted alpha-helix of HpaG is probably critical for the elicitation of the HR in tobacco plants. In addition, mutagenesis of a xopA gene yielded two gain-of-function mutants: XopA(F48L) and XopA(F48L/M52L). These results indicate that the 12 amino acid residues between L39 and L50 of HpaG have critical roles in HR elicitation in tobacco plants.     

Mutational analysis of the leucine zipper motif in the Newcastle disease virus fusion protein.

The paramyxovirus fusion proteins have a highly conserved leucine zipper motif immediately upstream from the transmembrane domain of the F1 subunit (R. Buckland and F. Wild, Nature [London] 338:547, 1989). To determine the role of the conserved leucines in the oligomeric structure and biological activity of the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) fusion protein, the heptadic leucines at amino acids 481, 488, and 495 were changed individually and in combination to an alanine residue. While single amino acid changes had little effect on fusion, substitution of two or three leucine residues abolished the fusogenic activity of the protein, although cell surface expression of the mutants was higher than that of the wild-type protein. Substitution of all three leucine residues with alanine did not alter the size of the fusion protein oligomer as determined by sedimentation in sucrose gradients. Furthermore, deletion of the C-terminal 91 amino acids, including the leucine zipper motif and transmembrane domain, resulted in secretion of an oligomeric polypeptide. These results indicate that the conserved leucines are not necessary for oligomer formation but are required for the fusogenic ability of the protein. When the polar face of the potential alpha helix was altered by nonconservative changes of serine to alanine (position 473), glutamic acid to lysine or alanine (position 482), asparagine to lysine (position 485), or aspartic acid to alanine (position 489), the fusogenic ability of the protein was not significantly disrupted. In addition, a double mutant (E482A,D489A) which removed negative charges along one side of the helix had negligible effects on fusion activity.     

Conformation of the primary binding loop folded through an intramolecular interaction contributes to the strong chymotrypsin inhibitory activity of the chymotrypsin inhibitor from Erythrina variegata seeds.

We previously demonstrated that amino acid residues Gln62 (P3), Phe63 (P2), Leu64 (P1), and Phe67 (P3') in the primary binding loop of Erythrina variegata chymotrypsin inhibitor (ECI), a member of the Kunitz inhibitor family, are involved in its strong inhibitory activity toward chymotrypsin [Iwanaga et al. (1998) J. Biochem. 124, 663-669]. To determine whether or not these four amino acid residues predominantly contribute to the strong inhibitory activity of ECI, they were simultaneously replaced by Ala. The results showed that a quadruple mutant, Q62A/F63A/L64A/F67A, retained considerable inhibitory activity (Ki, 5.6 x 10(-7) M), indicating that in addition to the side chains of these four amino acid residues, the backbone structure of the primary binding loop in ECI is essential for the inhibitory activity toward chymotrypsin. Two chimeric proteins, in which the primary binding loops of ECI and ETIa were exchanged: an isoinhibitor from E. variegata with lower chymotrypsin inhibitory activity, were constructed to determine whether the backbone structure of the primary binding loop of ECI was formed by the amino acid residues therein, or through an interaction between the primary binding loop and the residual structure designated as the "scaffold." A chimeric protein, ECI/ETIa, composed of the primary binding loop of ECI and the scaffold of ETIa showed weaker inhibitory activity (Ki, 1.3 x 10(-6) M) than ECI (Ki, 9.8 x 10(-8) M). In contrast, a chimera, ETIa/ECI, comprising the primary binding loop of ETIa and the scaffold of ECI inhibited chymotrypsin more strongly (Ki, 5.7 x 10(-7) M) than ETIa (Ki, 1.3 x 10(-6) M). These results indicate that the intramolecular interaction between the primary binding loop and the scaffold of ECI plays an important role in the strong inhibitory activity toward chymotrypsin. Furthermore, surface plasmon resonance analysis revealed that the side chains on the primary binding loop of ECI contribute to both an increase in the association rate constant (kon) and a decrease in the dissociation rate constant (koff) for the ECI-chymotrypsin interaction, whereas the backbone structure of the primary binding loop mainly contributes to a decrease in the dissociation rate constant.     

Studies of the membrane fusion activities of fusion peptide mutants of influenza virus hemagglutinin.

Influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) fuses membranes at endosomal pH by a process which involves extrusion of the NH2-terminal region of HA2, the fusion peptide, from its buried location in the native trimer. We have examined the amino acid sequence requirements for a functional fusion peptide by determining the fusion capacities of site-specific mutant HAs expressed by using vaccinia virus recombinants and of synthetic peptide analogs of the mutant fusion peptides. The results indicate that for efficient fusion, alanine can to some extent substitute for the NH2-terminal glycine of the wild-type fusion peptide but that serine, histidine, leucine, isoleucine, or phenylalanine cannot. In addition, mutants containing shorter fusion peptides as a result of single amino acid deletions are inactive, as is a mutant containing an alanine instead of a glycine at HA2 residue 8. Substitution of the glycine at HA2 residue 4 with an alanine increases the pH of fusion, and valine-for-glutamate substitutions at HA2 residues 11 and 15 are without effect. We confirm previous reports on the need for specific HAo cleavage to generate functional HAs, and we show that both inappropriately cleaved HA and mutant HAs, irrespective of their fusion capacities, upon incubation at low pH undergo the structural transition required for fusion.     

Identification of amino acid residues critical for biological activity in human interleukin-18

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine, and IL-18-binding protein (IL-18BP) is a naturally occurring protein that binds IL-18 and neutralizes its biological activities. Computer modeling of human IL-18 identified two charged residues, Glu-42 and Lys-89, which interact with oppositely charged amino acid residues buried in a large hydrophobic pocket of IL-18BP. The cell surface IL-18 receptor alpha chain competes with IL-18BP for IL-18 binding, although the IL-18 receptor alpha chain does not share significant homology to IL-18BP. In the present study, Glu-42 was mutated to Lys and Lys-89 to Glu; Glu-42 and Lys-89 were also deleted separately. The deletion mutants (E42X and K89X) were devoid of biological activity, and the K89E mutant lost 95% of its activity. In contrast, compared with wild-type (WT) IL-18, the E42K mutant exhibited a 2-fold increase in biological activity and required a 4-fold greater concentration of IL-18BP for neutralization. The binding of WT IL-18 and its various mutants to human natural killer cells was evaluated by competition assays. The mutant E42K was more effective than WT IL-18 in inhibiting the binding of (125)I-IL-18 to natural killer cells, whereas the three inactive mutants E42X, K89E, and K89X were unable to compete with (125)I-IL-18 for binding. Similarly, WT IL-18 and the E42K mutant induced degradation of Ikappa-Balpha, whereas the three biologically inactive mutants did not induce degradation. The present study reveals that Glu-42 and Lys-89 are critical amino acid residues for the integrity of IL-18 structure and are important for binding to cell surface receptors, for signal transduction, and for neutralization by IL-18BP.     

Mutational analysis of HIV-1 Tat minimal domain peptides: identification of trans-dominant mutants that suppress HIV-LTR-driven gene expression

The HIV-1 Tat protein is a potent trans-activator essential for virus replication. We reported previously that HIV-1 Tat peptides containing residues 37-48 (mainly region II), a possible activating region, and residues 49-57 (region III), a nuclear targeting and putative nucleic acid binding region, possess minimal but distinct trans-activator activity. The presence of residues 58-72 (region IV) greatly enhances trans-activation. We postulate that Tat mutant peptides with an inactive region II and a functional region III can behave as dominant negative mutants. We synthesized minimal domain peptides containing single amino substitutions for amino acid residues within region II that are conserved among different HIV isolates. We identify four amino acid residues whose substitution within Tat minimal domain peptides leads to defects in transactivation. Some of these mutants are trans-dominant in several peptide backbones, since they strongly inhibit trans-activation by wild-type Tat protein added to cells or expressed from microinjected plasmid. Significantly, trans-activation of integrated HIV-LTRCAT is blocked by some trans-dominant mutant peptides. These results suggest an attractive approach for the development of an AIDS therapy.