Identification of the amino acid residues rendering TI-VAMP insensitive toward botulinum neurotoxin B

Botulinum neurotoxins types B, D, F, and G, and tetanus neurotoxin inhibit vesicular fusion via proteolytic cleavage of VAMP/Synaptobrevin, a core component of the membrane fusion machinery. Thus, these neurotoxins became widely used tools for investigating vesicular trafficking routes. Except for VAMP-1, VAMP-2, and Cellubrevin, no other member of the VAMP family represents a substrate for these neurotoxins. The molecular basis for this discrepancy is not known. A 34 amino acid residue segment of VAMP-2 was previously suggested to mediate the interaction with botulinum neurotoxin B, but the validity of the data was later questioned. To check whether this segment alone controls the susceptibility toward botulinum neurotoxin B, it was used to replace the corresponding segment in TI-VAMP. The resulting VAMP hybrid and VAMP-2 were hydrolysed at virtually identical rates. Resetting the VAMP-2 portion in the hybrid from either end to TI-VAMP residues gradually reduced the cleavability. A hybrid encompassing merely the VAMP-2 segment 71-80 around the Gln76/Phe77 scissile bond was still hydrolysed, albeit at a approximately tenfold lower cleavage rate. The contribution of each non-conserved amino acid of the whole 34-mer segment to the interaction was investigated employing VAMP-2. We find that the eight non-conserved residues of the 71-80 segment are all necessary for efficient cleavage. Mutation of an additional six residues located upstream and downstream of this segment affects substrate hydrolysis as well. Vice versa, a readily cleavable TI-VAMP molecule requires at the least the replacement of Ile158, Thr161, and the section 165-174 by Asp64, Ala67, and the 71-80 segment of VAMP-2, respectively. However, the insensitivity of TI-VAMP to botulinum neurotoxin B relies on at least 12 amino acid changes versus VAMP-2. These are scattered along an interface of 22 amino acid residues in length.