Molecular engineering of a thermostable carbohydrate-binding module

Structure–function studies are frequently practiced on the very diverse group of natural carbohydrate-binding modules in order to understand the target recognition of these proteins. We have taken a step further in the study of carbohydrate-binding modules and created variants with novel binding properties by molecular engineering of one such molecule of known 3D-structure. A combinatorial library was created from the sequence encoding a thermostable carbohydrate-binding module, CBM4-2 from a Rhodothermus marinus xylanase, and the phage-display technology was successfully used for selection of variants with specificity towards different carbohydrate polymers (birchwood xylan, Avicel?, ivory nut mannan and recently also xyloglucan), as well as towards a glycoprotein (human IgG4). Our work not only generated a number of binders with properties that would suite a range of biotechnological applications, but analysis the selected binders also helped us to identify residues important for their specificities.     

Actin surface structure revealed by antibody imprints: evaluation of phage-display analysis of anti-actin antibodies

Phage-display peptide library analysis of an anti-F actin polyclonal antibody identified 12 amino acid residues of actin that appear, in its X-ray crystal structure, to be grouped together in a surface accessible conformational epitope. Phage epitope mapping was carried out by isolating immune complexes containing members of the J404 nonapeptide phage-display library formed in diluted antiserum and isolated on a protein A affinity matrix. Immunoreactive clones were grown as plaques, replica plated onto nitrocellulose, and labeled with anti-actin immune serum. One hundred and forty-four positively staining clones identified in this way were sequenced. Of these, 54 displayed peptides with sequence similarities. When the most abundantly selected sequence, KQTWQQLWD, was produced as a synthetic peptide and derivatized to ovalbumin, the complex was strongly recognized by the antiserum on Western blots and inhibited the binding of the antibody to immobilized F-actin by 60%. A scrambled version of this sequence WQDK WLQTQ, when coupled to ovalbumin, was not recognized by the antiserum and minimally inhibited binding of antiserum to immobilized F-actin by 10%. KQTWQQLWD contained four residues that corresponded, in frame, to a highly conserved six residue region of the chicken beta-actin sequence 351TFQQMW356 (identical residues are shown in bold). Examination of the rabbit skeletal muscle X-ray crystal structure suggested that within a 15 A radius of W356, nine additional residues were arranged on the actin surface in such a way that they could be mimicked by several of the selected phage sequences with root-mean-square deviation fits of 2.1-2.5 A. We conclude that phage-display analysis can provide information about the relative location of amino acids on the surfaces of proteins using antibody imprints of the protein surface structure.     

利用HER2/neu胞外配体结合区2从噬菌体抗体库中筛选抗体及其初步鉴定

目的:利用HER2/neu胞外配体结合区2(RLD2)从噬菌体抗体库中筛选相应抗体,并进行初步检测。方法:设计合成引物,利用PCR方法克隆出RLD2基因后,将其连接到pET-24a( )载体中,在大肠杆菌中实现高效表达。对包涵体蛋白经纯化、透析复性后得到目的蛋白。以得到的目的蛋白为靶标,从人源性噬菌体抗体库中进行4轮筛选得到抗体,经ELISA法初步鉴定,并用MTT法检测阳性克隆。结果与结论:初步得到6株亲和力较高的抗HER2/neu抗体,选取其中2株进行了MTT法检测,表明对HER2高表达的乳腺癌细胞有较明显的抑制作用。     

Application of phage-displayed single chain antibodies in western blot

A phage display single chain fragment variable library constructed on pⅢ protein of M13 filamentous phage was screened using B-lymphocyte stimulator and FP248 as selective molecules. After four rounds of panning, there was a remarkable enrichment in the titer of bound phages. Twenty phage clones were selected from the last round and screened by means of phage-ELISA. With the antibody phages as primary antibodies in Western blot, we developed a method for detecting the specific antigen. The dilutions of antibody phages depend on the affinity between antibody-displayed phage particles and antigens.     

Redesign of a four-helix bundle protein by phage display coupled with proteolysis and structural characterization by NMR and X-ray crystallography

To test whether it is practical to use phage display coupled with proteolysis for protein design, we used this approach to convert a partially unfolded four-helix bundle protein, apocytochrome b(562), to a stably folded four-helix bundle protein. Four residues expected to form a hydrophobic core were mutated. One residue was changed to Trp to provide a fluorescence probe for studying the protein's physical properties and to partially fill the void left by the heme. The other three positions were randomly mutated. In addition, another residue in the region to be redesigned was substituted with Arg to provide a specific cutting site for protease Arg-c. This library of mutants was displayed on the surface of phage and challenged with protease Arg-c to select stably folded proteins. The consensus sequence that emerged from the selection included hydrophobic residues at only one of the three positions and non-hydrophobic residues at the other two. Nevertheless, the selected proteins were thermodynamically very stable. The structure of a selected protein was characterized using multi-dimensional NMR. All four helices were formed in the structure. Further, site-directed mutagenesis was used to change one of the two non-hydrophobic residues to a hydrophobic residue, which increased the stability of the protein, indicating that the selection result was not based solely on the protein's global stability and that local structural characteristics may also govern the selection. This conclusion is supported by the crystal structure of another mutant that has two hydrophobic residues substituted for the two non-hydrophobic residues. These results suggest that the hydrophobic interactions in the core are not sufficient to dictate the selection and that the location of the cutting site of the protease also influences the selection of structures.     

噬菌体展示抗体库筛选技术研究进展

噬菌体展示技术已成为制备高亲和力抗体的强有力的工具。而噬菌体抗体库的筛选是在获得高亲和力抗体过程中很关键的一个环节。总结了针对不同复杂程度的抗原所须采用的不同筛选方法,并简单介绍了高通量筛选的优势。     

日本血吸虫童虫裂解物对东方田鼠肝脏T7噬菌体展示cDNA文库的筛选及阳性克隆分析

东方田鼠对血吸虫具有天然抗性。为筛选和分析东方田鼠抗血吸虫抗性相关基因, 以日本血吸虫童虫可溶性裂解物为探针, 筛选东方田鼠肝脏噬菌体展示cDNA文库。经三轮筛选, 特异性噬菌体得到有效富集(375倍)。随机挑取92个克隆进行序列测定, 获得了19条有效EST序列。其中13个条EST序列与已知基因或表达序列标签同源, 6个EST序列与已知基因或表达序列标签均无同源性, 为新的表达序列标签。将19个EST序列的阳性噬菌体克隆和血吸虫童虫共培养, 其中4号(GenBank Accession No.: EW968294)、13号(GenBank Accession No.: EW968303)、14号(GenBank Accession No.: EW968304)、15号(GenBank Accession No.: EW968305)、18号(GenBank Accession No.: EW968308)克隆均诱导了显著的杀虫效果。综合生物信息学分析结果及体外杀伤试验结果, 编码CASP8和FADD类似性细胞程序性死亡调节蛋白、a-2-HS-糖蛋白、M4蛋白、具有R3H结构域的一种mRNA结合蛋白以及三种未知蛋白的编码基因(14、15、18号克隆)可能是东方田鼠抗血吸虫病抗性相关基因。为进一步研究东方田鼠抗血吸虫机理奠定了基础。     

Phage display and crystallographic analysis reveals potential substrate/binding site interactions in the protein secretion chaperone CsaA from Agrobacterium tumefaciens

The protein CsaA has been proposed to function as a protein secretion chaperone in bacteria that lack the Sec-dependent protein-targeting chaperone SecB. CsaA is a homodimer with two putative substrate-binding pockets, one in each monomer. To test the hypothesis that these cavities are indeed substrate-binding sites able to interact with other polypeptide chains, we selected a peptide that bound to CsaA from a random peptide library displayed on phage. Presented here is the structure of CsaA from Agrobacterium tumefaciens (AtCsaA) solved in the presence and absence of the selected peptide. To promote co-crystallization, the sequence for this peptide was genetically fused to the amino-terminus of AtCsaA. The resulting 1.65 Å resolution crystal structure reveals that the tethered peptide from one AtCsaA molecule binds to the proposed substrate-binding pocket of a symmetry-related molecule possibly mimicking the interaction between a pre-protein substrate and CsaA. The structure shows that the peptide lies in an extended conformation with alanine, proline and glutamine side chains pointing into the binding pocket. The peptide interacts with the atoms of the AtCsaA-binding pocket via seven direct hydrogen bonds. The side chain of a conserved pocket residue, Arg76, has an “up” conformation when the CsaA-binding site is empty and a “down” conformation when the CsaA-binding site is occupied, suggesting that this residue may function to stabilize the peptide in the binding cavity. The presented aggregation assays, phage-display analysis and structural analysis are consistent with AtCsaA being a general chaperone. The properties of the proposed CsaA-binding pocket/peptide interactions are compared to those from other structurally characterized molecular chaperones.     

日本血吸虫童虫裂解物对东方田鼠肝脏T7噬菌体展示cDNA文库的筛选及阳性克隆分析

东方田鼠对血吸虫具有天然抗性。为筛选和分析东方田鼠抗血吸虫抗性相关基因, 以日本血吸虫童虫可溶性裂解物为探针, 筛选东方田鼠肝脏噬菌体展示cDNA文库。经三轮筛选, 特异性噬菌体得到有效富集(375倍)。随机挑取92个克隆进行序列测定, 获得了19条有效EST序列。其中13个条EST序列与已知基因或表达序列标签同源, 6个EST序列与已知基因或表达序列标签均无同源性, 为新的表达序列标签。将19个EST序列的阳性噬菌体克隆和血吸虫童虫共培养, 其中4号(GenBank Accession No.: EW968294)、13号(GenBank Accession No.: EW968303)、14号(GenBank Accession No.: EW968304)、15号(GenBank Accession No.: EW968305)、18号(GenBank Accession No.: EW968308)克隆均诱导了显著的杀虫效果。综合生物信息学分析结果及体外杀伤试验结果, 编码CASP8和FADD类似性细胞程序性死亡调节蛋白、a-2-HS-糖蛋白、M4蛋白、具有R3H结构域的一种mRNA结合蛋白以及三种未知蛋白的编码基因(14、15、18号克隆)可能是东方田鼠抗血吸虫病抗性相关基因。为进一步研究东方田鼠抗血吸虫机理奠定了基础。     

Phage-peptide display identifies the interferon-responsive, death-activated protein kinase family as a novel modifier of MDM2 and p21WAF1

Phage-peptide display is a versatile tool for identifying novel protein-protein interfaces. Our previous work highlighted the selection of phage-peptides that bind to specific isoforms of MDM2 protein and in this work we subjected the putative MDM2-binding proteins to phage-peptide display to expand further on putative protein interaction maps. One peptide that bound MDM2 had significant homology to members of the death-activated protein kinase (DAPK) family, an enzyme family of no known direct link to the p53 pathway. We examined whether a nuclear member of the DAPK family named DAPK3 or ZIP kinase had direct links to the p53 pathway. ZIP kinase was cloned, purified, and the enzyme was able to phosphorylate MDM2 at Ser166, a site previously reported to be modified by Akt kinase, thus demonstrating that ZIP kinase is a bona fide MDM2-binding protein. Native ZIP kinase fractions were then subjected to phage-peptide display and one ZIP kinase consensus peptide motif was identified in p21(WAF1). ZIP kinase phosphorylates p21(WAF1) at Thr145 and alanine-substituted mutations in the p21(WAF1) phosphorylation site alter its ability to be phosphorylated by ZIP kinase. Thus, although ZIP kinase consensus sites were then defined as containing a minimal RKKx(T/S) consensus motif, alternate contacts in ZIP kinase binding are implicated, since amino acid residues surrounding the phospho-acceptor site can effect the specific activity of the kinase. Transfected ZIPK can promote the phosphorylation of p21(WAF1) at Thr145 in vivo and can increase the half-life of p21(WAF1), while the half-life of p21(WAF1[T145A]) is not effected by ZIP kinase. Thus, phage-peptide display identified an interferon-responsive protein kinase family as a novel modifier of two components of the p53 pathway, MDM2 and p21(WAF1), and underscores the utility of phage-peptide display for gaining novel insights into biochemical pathways.