Engineering of the Escherichia coli Im7 immunity protein as a loop display scaffold

Protein scaffolds derived from non-immunoglobulin sources are increasingly being adapted and engineered to provide unique binding molecules with a diverse range of targeting specificities. The ColE7 immunity protein (Im7) from Escherichia coli is potentially one such molecule, as it combines the advantages of (i) small size, (ii) stability conferred by a conserved four anti-parallel alpha-helical framework and (iii) availability of variable surface loops evolved to inactivate members of the DNase family of bacterial toxins, forming one of the tightest known protein-protein interactions. Here we describe initial cloning and protein expression of Im7 and its cognate partner the 15 kDa DNase domain of the colicin E7. Both proteins were produced efficiently in E.coli, and their in vitro binding interactions were validated using ELISA and biosensor. In order to assess the capacity of the Im7 protein to accommodate extensive loop region modifications, we performed extensive molecular modelling and constructed a series of loop graft variants, based on transfer of the extended CDR3 loop from the IgG1b12 antibody, which targets the gp120 antigen from HIV-1. Loop grafting in various configurations resulted in chimeric proteins exhibiting retention of the underlying framework conformation, as measured using far-UV circular dichroism spectroscopy. Importantly, there was low but measurable transfer of antigen-specific affinity. Finally, to validate Im7 as a selectable scaffold for the generation of molecular libraries, we displayed Im7 as a gene 3 fusion protein on the surface of fd bacteriophages, the most common library display format. The fusion was successfully detected using an anti-Im7 rabbit polyclonal antibody, and the recombinant phage specifically recognized the immobilized DNase. Thus, Im7 scaffold is an ideal protein display scaffold for the future generation and for the selection of libraries of novel binding proteins.     

Directed evolution of a type I antifreeze protein expressed in Escherichia coli with sodium chloride as selective pressure and its effect on antifreeze tolerance

Both freezing tolerance and NaCI tolerance are improved whenantifreeze proteins are expressed as fusion proteins with twodomains of staphylococcal protein A (SPA) in Escherichia coli.To characterize these properties further we created a randomlymutated expression library in E.coli, based on the winter flounderantifreeze protein HPLC-8 component gene. Low-fidelity PCR productsof this gene were fused to the spa gene encoding two domainsof the SPA. The library was screened for enhanced NaCl toleranceand four clones were selected. The freezing tolerance of eachof the selected clones was enhanced to varying extents. DNAsequencing of the isolated mutants revealed that the amphiphilicproperties of the native antifreeze protein were essentiallyconserved. Furthermore, by studying the primary sequence ofthe randomly mutated clones, in comparison with the degree offreezing tolerance, we have identified clues which help in understandingthe relationship between salt and freezing tolerance.     

Quantitative analysis of protein far UV circular dichroism spectra by neural networks

A new method based on neural network theory is presented toanalyze and quantify the information content of far UV circulardichroism spectra. Using a backpropagation network model witha single hidden layer between input and output, it was possibleto deduce five different secondary structure fractions (helix,parallel and antiparallel ß-sheet, ß-turnand random coil) with satisfactory correlations between calculatedand measured secondary structure data. We demonstrate that foreach wavelength interval a specific network is suitable. Theremaining discrepancy between the secondary structure data fromneural network prediction and crystallography may be attributedto errors in the determination of protein concentration andrandom noise in the CD signal, as indicated by simulations.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of winter flounder antifreeze protein variants in solution: correlation between side chain spacing and ice lattice

The solution structure of the 38 amino acid C-terminal regionof the precursor for the HPLC-6 antifreeze protein from winterflounder has been investigated with molecular dynamics usingthe AMBER software. The simulation for the peptide in aqueoussolution was carried out at a constant temperature of 0°Cand at atmospheric pressure. The simulation covered 120 ps andthe results were analyzed based on data sampled upon reachinga stable equilibrium phase. Information has been obtained onthe quality of constant temperature and pressure simulations,the solution structure and dynamics, the hydrogen bonding network,the helix-stabilizing role of terminal charges and the interactionwith the surrounding water molecules. The Lys18–Glu22interactions and the terminal charged residues are found tostabilize a helical structure with the side chains of Thr2,Thr13, Thr24 and Thr35 equally spaced on one side of the helix.The spacing between oxygen atoms in the hydroxyl group of thethreonine side chains exhibits fluctuations of the order of2–3 Å during the 120 ps of simulation, but valuessimultaneously close to the repeat distance of 16.6 Åbetween oxygen atoms along the [0112] direction in ice are observed.Furthermore, two engineered variants were studied using thesame simulation protocol.     

Construction and characterization of a single polypeptide chain containing two enzymatically active dihydrofolate reductase domains

A single polypeptide chain containing two dihydrofolate reductase( D M ) sequences from Escherichia coli was constructed to determineif a repeat sequence fusion protein could be expressed in anactive form. The possibility that intersequence interactionscould play a significant role for this enzyme is suggested bythe results of Hall and Frieden (1989, Proc. NatlAcad. Sri.USA, 86, 3060-3064) who observed a substantial decrease in theyield of active enzyme when folded hi the presence of a largeC-terminal fragment. The fusion protein [DHFR(Cysl52Ghi)-De-DHFR(MetlGln)] was efficiently expressed in E.coli cells and hasan activity which is twice that of the wild-type enzyme in thestandard assay. The Michaelis constants of the fusion proteinfor the substrate, dihydrofolate and the cofactor, NADPH, areessentially unchanged from those of the wild-type protein. Theureainduced in vitro unfolding reaction of the fusion proteinat low concentrations was found to be fully reversible and followa three state model, suggesting that the two domains unfoldindependently. At higher protein concentrations the unfoldingtransition broadened and shifted to a higher urea concentration.Size-exclusion chromatography results are consistent with theformation of aggregates at the higher protein concentration,even in the absence of denaturant.     

Destabilizing interactions between the partners of a bifunctional fusion protein

Hybrid MalE–GVP is a bifunctional protein in vitro sinceit binds maltose as protein MalE of Escherichia coli and sinceit is dimeric and specifically binds single-stranded DNA asprotein GVP of phage M13. The oxidation rate of a unique cysteineresidue was used to compare the stabilities of GVP in its freeand hybrid forms, under conditions where MalE was either foldedor unfolded by a denaturing agent. The results showed that boththe covalent link and tertiary non-covalent interactions betweenMalE and GVP destabilized GVP in MalE–GVP. To test whetherGVP had identical structures in its free and hybrid forms, mutationswere used as local conformational probes. The effects of thesemutations on the capabilities of MalE–GVP to dimerizeand to bind single-stranded DNA were assayed in vitro. Theywere compatible with the effects of the same mutations on theglobal activity of free GVP in vivo and with the effects thatcould be predicted from the known data on free GVP, in particularits crystal structure. Thus, one partner of a hybrid proteincan be destabilized by the other partner while maintaining itsstructural and functional characteristics.     

Gene synthesis and functional expression of a protein exhibiting monodomain IgG Fc binding

A gene encoding a bacterial IgG Fc binding domain was designedand synthesized. The synthetic DNA fragment was cloned 3' toan inducible trpE promoter such that expression of the genein Escherichia coli produced abundant Fc binding protein fusedto the first seven amino acids of the trpE protein. The recombinantprotein contained a single Fc binding domain and demonstratedefficient binding to'human IgG in Western blot analysis. Thisprotein degraded rapidly following cell lysis in the absenceof protease inhibitors, but could be effectively protected bythe addition of protease inhibitor. After purification of theprotein by IgG affinity chromatography, IgG Fc binding abilitywas retained for at least 24 h at either 23 or 37°C andon heating for 15 min at temperatures up to 65°C. No immunoprecipitationwas observed in interactions between the monodomain Fc bindingprotein and IgG molecules. Unlike staphylococcal protein A,no detectable binding of the monodomain IgG Fc binding proteinwas observed to either IgM or IgA. Truncated proteins, expressedfrom a series of 3' deletions of the synthetic gene, were usedto estimate the minimum portion of a monodomain Fc binding proteinthat retained Fc binding ability.     

Chemical synthesis of the RGD-protein decorsin: Pro-->Ala replacement reduces protein thermostability

Decorsin is a 39-residue polypeptide chain, crosslinked by three disulfide bridges, that strongly inhibits platelet aggregation. We report the chemical synthesis and characterization of analogs of decorsin with the aim of investigating the role of proline residues in protein structure, stability and biological activity. Decorsin analogs have been synthesized in which one (P23A and P24A decorsin) or two (P23,24A decorsin) proline residues have been substituted by alanine. The crude synthetic polypeptides were purified by reversed-phase HPLC in their reduced form and allowed to refold oxidatively to their disulfide-crosslinked species. The homogeneity of the synthetic mini-proteins, and also the correct pairing of the three disulfide bridges, were established by a number of analytical criteria, including fingerprinting analysis of the refolded synthetic analogs by using thermolysin and proteinase K as proteolytic enzymes. Replacement of proline by alanine results in a significant and cumulative decrease of the high thermal stability (Tm 74 degrees C) of native decorsin. The mono-substituted analogs display a Tm of 66-67 degrees C, while the double-substituted analog a Tm of 50 degrees C. On the other hand, the overall secondary and tertiary structures were not affected by the Pro-->Ala exchanges, as judged from circular dichroism measurements. Platelet aggregation assays established that the proline substitutions do not impair significantly the biological activity of decorsin. The results of this study clearly indicate that proline residues contribute significantly to the protein thermal stability. Our results are in line with the 'proline rule', previously advanced for explaining the unusual thermal stability of thermophilic enzymes, which usually show an enhanced content of proline residues with respect to their mesophilic counterparts.     

A novel affinity protein selection system based on staphylococcal cell surface display and flow cytometry

Here we describe the first reported use of a Gram-positive bacterial system for the selection of affinity proteins from large combinatorial libraries displayed on the surface of Staphylococcus carnosus. An affibody library of 3 x 10(9) variants, based on a 58 residue domain from staphylococcal protein A, was pre-enriched for binding to human tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) using one cycle of phage display and thereafter transferred to the staphylococcal host ( approximately 10(6) variants). The staphylococcal-displayed library was subjected to three rounds of flow-cytometric sorting, and the selected clones were screened and ranked by on-cell analysis for binding to TNF-alpha and further characterized using biosensor analysis and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The successful sorting yielded three different high-affinity binders (ranging from 95 pM to 2.2 nM) and constitutes the first selection of a novel affinity protein using Gram-positive bacterial display. The method combines the simplicity of working with a bacterial host with the advantages of displaying recombinant proteins on robust Gram-positive bacteria as well as using powerful flow cytometry in the selection and characterization process.     

The cystine knot of a squash-type protease inhibitor as a structural scaffold for Escherichia coli cell surface display of conformationally constrained peptides

The Ecballium elaterium trypsin inhibitor II (EETI-II), a memberof the squash family of protease inhibitors, is composed of28 amino acid residues and is a potent inhibitor of trypsin.Its compact structure is defined by a triple-stranded antiparallelß-sheet, which is held together by three intramoleculardisulfide bonds forming a cystine knot. In order to explorethe potential of the EETI-II peptide to serve as a structuralscaffold for the presentation of randomized oligopeptides, weconstructed two EETI-II derivatives, where the six-residue inhibitorloop was replaced by a 13-residue epitope of Sendai virus L-proteinand by a 17-residue epitope from human bone Gla-protein. EETI-IIand derived variants were produced via fusion to maltose bindingprotein MalE. By secretion of the fusion into the periplasmicspace, fully oxidized and correctly folded EETI-II was obtainedin high yield. EETI-II and derived variants could be presentedon the Escherichia coli outer membrane by fusion to truncatedLpp'–OmpA', which comprises the first nine residues ofmature lipoprotein plus the membrane spanning ß-strandfrom residues 46–66 of OmpA protein. Gene expression wasunder control of the strong and tightly regulated tetA promoter/operator.Cell viability was found to be drastically reduced by high levelexpression of Lpp'–OmpA'–EETI-II fusion protein.To restore cell viability, net accumulation of fusion proteinin the outer membrane was reduced to a tolerable level by introductionof an amber codon at position 9 of the lpp' sequence and utilizingan amber suppressor strain as expression host. Cells expressingEETI-II variants containing an epitope were shown to be surfacelabeled with the respective monoclonal antibody by indirectimmunofluorescence corroborating the cell surface exposure ofthe epitope sequences embedded in the EETI-II cystine knot scaffold.Cells displaying a particular epitope sequence could be enriched10⁷-fold by combining magnetic cell sorting with fluorescence-activatedcell sorting. These results demonstrate that E.coli cell surfacedisplay of conformationally constrained peptides tethered tothe EETI-II cystine knot scaffold has the potential to becomean effective technique for the rapid isolation of small peptidemolecules from combinatorial libraries that bind with high affinityto acceptor molecules.     

Stereochemical modeling of disulfide bridges. Criteria for introduction into proteins by site-directed mutagenesis

A computer modeling procedure for assessing the stereochemicalsuitability of pairs of residues in proteins as potential sitesfor introduction of cystine disulfide crosslinks has been developed.Residue pairs with C – C distances of 6.5 Å andC^beta;–C^ß distances of 4.5 Å are chosenfor geometrical fixation of S atoms using the program MODIP.The stereochemistry of the modeled disulfides is evaluated usinglimits for the structural parameters of the various torsionangles and S–S bond length in the disulfide bridge. Theability of the procedure to correctly model disulfides has beenchecked with examples of cystine peptides of known crystal structuresand 103 disulfide bridges from 25 available protein crystalstructures determined at 2 Å resolution. An analysis ofresults on three proteins with engineered disulfides, T4 lysozyme,dihydrofolate reductase and subtilisin, is presented. Two positionsfor the introduction of ‘stereochemically optimal’disulfides are identified in subtilisin.     

Rapid crystallization of T4 lysozyme by intermolecular disulfide cross-linking

In an attempt to facilitate crystallization, engineered cysteineswere used to promote formation of a ‘back–to–back’dimer that occurs in different crystal forms of wild–typeand mutant T4 lysozymes. The designed double mutant, N68C/A93C,in which the surface residues Asn68 and Ala93 were replacedby cysteines, formed dimers in solution and crystallized isomorphouslyto wild–type, but at a much faster rate. Overall, themutant structure remained very similar to wildtype despite theformation of two intermolecular disulfide bridges. The crystalsof cross–linked dimers had thermal factors somewhat lowerthan wild–type, indicating reduced mobility, but did notdiffract to noticeably higher resolution. Introduction of thesame cross-links was also used to obtain crystals in a differentspace group of a T4 lysozyme mutant that could not be crystallizedpreviously. The results suggest that the formation of the lysozymedimer is a critical intermediate in the formation of more thanone crystal form and that covalent cross–Unking of theintermediate accelerates nucleation and facilitates crystalgrowth. The disulfide crosslinks are located on the ‘back’of the molecule and formation of the cross–linked dimerappears to leave the active sites completely unobstructed. Nevertheless,the cross–linked dimer is completely inactive. One explanationfor this behavior is that the disulfide bridges prevent hinge-bendingmotion that may be required for catalysis. Another possibilityis that the formation of the dimer increases the overall bulkof the enzyme and prevents its access to the susceptible glycosidkbonds within the cell wall substrate     

Biosynthesis of winter flounder antifreeze proprotein in E.coli

A semisynthetic winter flounder antifreeze proprotein (proAFP)coding region was constructed and inserted into a lacZ expressionvector. ProAFP was produced from the vector in Escherichia colias a C-terminal fusion to the first 289 amino acids of ß-galactosidase(ß-gal). The proAFP and ß-gal domains ofthe ß-gal–proAFP fusion protein were separatedby the recognition signal for the blood coagulation protease,factor X_a. Upon induction with isopropylthio-ß-D-galactosidethe fusion protein accumulated to levels of 15% of the totalprotein. The ß-gal–proAFP fusion protein waspartially purified by differential centrifugation, but requiredsolubilization prior to factor X_a digestion. The solubilizedfusion protein was efficiently and correctly cleaved by factorX_a, after which the proAFP was purified by gel permeation. BacterialproAFP was indistinguishable from natural proAFP by the criteriaof antifreeze activity, amino-terminal sequence (15 cycles),reverse-phase HPLC and SDS–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.Circular dichroism measurements showed that proAFP is a compositeof random coil and -helical secondary structure, with an -helicalcontent of 44% at 0°C. It seems probable that the C-terminalregion of proAFP, which corresponds to the mature AFP protein,is mainly -helical, and that the N-terminal pro-segment is randomcoiled.     

Comparative molecular modeling of Amphioxus calcium vector protein with calmodulin and troponin C

Calcium vector protein (CaVP), a new protein isolated from Amphioxusmuscle, binds in a Ca²⁺ -rgulated manner to a 27 kd target protein,named CaVPT, whose function has not been elucidated yet. CaVPbears significant sequence homology to both calmodulin and skeletalmuscle troponin C, especially in the C-tenninal half of themolecule, which presumably contains the two functional Ca²⁺sites. The N-terminal half contains two abortive EF-hands andis intramolecularly crosslinked with a disulfide bond. Usingthe crystallographic structures of calmodulin and striated muscletroponin C as a framework, we constructed two different three-dimensionalmodels of CaVP and modeled the intramolecular disulfide bridge.The modeling based upon the coordinates of calmodulin yieldsa Ca²⁺ -filled sites configuration in the N-terminal half ofthe molecule, even though no Ca²⁺ is bound in this half, whereasthe troponin C-derived model generates a Ca²⁺ -empty sites configuration.The models predict that neither in the Ca²⁺ nor in the Ca²⁺-empty sites conformation is there any steric and/or energeticobstacle for the formation of the disulfide bridge and thatthe disulfide bond is poorly accessible to reducing reagents.The optical properties of the Trp and Tyr residues of CaVP indicatethat the calmodulin-derived model represents the most plausibleprediction.     

Protein modelling using a chimera reference protein derived from exons

Bovine pancreatic /S-trypsin (PDB ID-code: 1TPO) which is registeredin the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank (PDB) consists of four exons.The results of homology searches for each exon in the PDB showedthat homologous proteins were tonin (PDB ID-code: 1TON), ratmast cell protease (PDB ID-code: 3RP2_A), kaffikrein A (PDBID-code: 2PKA_B) and kallikrein A (2PKA_B) respectively. Thus,for the three-dimensional structure prediction of 1TPO, a chimeraprotein was constructed from the three proteins mentioned aboveand the 3-D structure prediction was performed using this chimerareference protein. The modelled structure of 1TPO was energeticallyoptimized by molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics simulationand was compared with its X-ray crystal structure registeredin the PDB. The root mean square deviations (r.m.s.d.) of mainchain atoms and the neighbouring active site (5 sphere fromHis57, AsplO2 and Serl95) between the modelled structure andthe X-ray structure were 1.66 and 0.94 respectively. Porcinepancreatic elastase (PDB ID-code: 3EST) which is registeredin the PDB was used as the reference protein and the modelledstructure from 3EST was also compared with the X-ray data. Ther.m.s.d. of main chain atoms and that of the active site were2.14 and 1.18 respectively. These results dearly support thepropriety of this method using the chimera reference protein.     

Thermostable variants of bovine {beta}-lactoglobulin

The thermal stability of bovine ß-lactoglobulin (BLG)has been enhanced by the introduction of an additional disulfidebond. Wild-type BLG has two disulfide bonds, C106–C119and C66–C160, with a free cysteine at position 121. Wehave designed, with the aid of molecular modeling calculations,two mutants of a recombinant BLG (rBLG), L104C and A132C. Moleculardynamics simulations were performed at 300K to study the effectof these alterations on the conformation of the protein. Thesemutants were then created by site-directed mutagenesis and purifiedfrom Escherichia coli carrying a tac expression vector usinga two-step renaturation method. Formation of disulfide linkagesin the correct arrangement, as designed, was confirmed by peptidemapping. In contrast to wild-type rBLG, which polymerizes attemperatures >65°C, neither of the mutant proteins polymerized.The conformational stability of the L104C and A132C mutant proteinsagainst thermal denaturation has been substantially increased(8- 10°C) as compared with wild-type rBLG. Furthermore,the A132C rBLG exhibits an enhanced stability against denaturationby guanidine hydrocnloride as compared with the wild-type orL104C rBLG     

Analysis of protein conformational characteristics related to thermostability

The thermal stability of proteins was studied, 195 single aminoacid residue replacements reported elsewhere being analysedfor several protein conformational characteristics: type ofresidue replacement; conservative versus nonconservative substitution;replacement being in a homologous stretch of amino acid residues;change in hydrogen bond, van der Waals and secondary structurepropensities; solvent-accessible versus inaccessible replacement;type of secondary structure involved in the substitution; thephysico-chemical characteristics to which the thermostabilityenhancement can be attributed; and the relationship of the replacementsite to the folding intermediates of the protein, when known.From the above analyses, some general rules arise which suggestwhere amino acid substitutions can be made to enhance proteinthermostability: substitutions are conservative according tothe Dayhoff matrix; mainly occur on conserved stretches of residues;preferentially occur on solvent-accessible residues; maintainor enhance the secondary structure propensity upon substitution;contribute to neutralize the dipole moment of the caps of helicesand strands; and tend to increase the number of potential hydrogenbonding or van der Waals contacts or improve hydrophobic packing.     

Generation and analysis of proline mutants in protein G

The pyrrolidine ring of the amino acid proline reduces the conformational freedom of the protein backbone in its unfolded form and thus enhances protein stability. The strategy of inserting proline into regions of the protein where it does not perturb the structure has been utilized to stabilize many different proteins including enzymes. However, most of these efforts have been based on trial and error, rather than rational design. Here, we try to understand proline's effect on protein stability by introducing proline mutations into various regions of the B1 domain of Streptococcal protein G. We also applied the Optimization of Rotamers By Iterative Techniques computational protein design program, using two different solvation models, to determine the extent to which it could predict the stabilizing and destabilizing effects of prolines. Use of a surface area dependent solvation model resulted in a modest correlation between the experimental free energy of folding and computed energies; on the other hand, use of a Gaussian solvent exclusion model led to significant positive correlation. Including a backbone conformational entropy term to the computational energies increases the statistical significance of the correlation between the experimental stabilities and both solvation models.     

Insertional re-activation of a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase misfolding mutant protein

The deletion of nine residues from the C-terminus of the bacterialchloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) results in depositionof the mutant protein in cytoplasmic inclusion bodies and lossof chloramphenicol resistance in Escherichia coli. This foldingdefect is relieved by C-terminal fusion of the polypeptide withas few as two residues. Based on these observations, efficientpositive selection for the cloning of DNA fragments has beendemonstrated. The cloning vector encodes a C-terminally truncatedCAT protein. Restriction sites in front of the stop codon allowthe insertion of target DNA, resulting in the production ofproperly folded CAT fusion proteins and regained chloramphenicolresistance. The positive selection of recombinants is accomplishedby growth of transformants on chloramphenicol-containing agarplates. The method appears particularly convenient for the cloningof DNA fragments amplified by the PCR because minimal informationto restore CAT folding can be included in the primers. The cloningof random sequences shows that the folding defect can be relievedby fusion to a wide variety of peptides, providing great flexibilityto the positive selection system. This vector may also contributeto the determination of the role of the C-terminus in CAT folding.