Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Virology, November 2008, p. 11217-11227, Vol. 82, No. 22
0022-538X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.01673-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Medicine and Immunology, University of Colorado Denver, 1775 N. Ursula Street, Aurora, Colorado 80045,1 Edinburgh Biomolecular NMR Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JJ, Scotland, United Kingdom,2 Institute of Structural Biology and Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Mayfield Road, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JR, Scotland, United Kingdom3
Received 6 August 2008/ Accepted 2 September 2008
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
EBV gp350/220 is an extensively glycosylated polypeptide (907 residues) that is expressed as two alternatively spliced forms of approximately 350 and 220 kDa (4). The three-dimensional structure of a truncated form of gp350 comprising the amino-terminal 470 residues has been elucidated by X-ray crystallography at a 3.5-Å resolution (40). Three distinct domains were identified (residues 4 to 153, 165 to 305, and 317 to 426), each comprising an anti-parallel β-barrel structure and joined by two linker regions, each of 11 amino acid residues. These domains are packed tightly against each other, forming a distinctive L-shaped arrangement that is almost uniformly glycosylated (Fig. 1A). A limited multiple-site mutagenesis study, targeting a glycan-free area of gp350, suggested a putative CR2-binding site within a negatively charged region of this molecule that incorporates the two N-terminal domains and the linker region connecting them (residues 154 to 164) (40). Those mutations affecting CR2 binding also disrupted the ability of gp350 to be recognized by its major neutralizing MAb, 72A1. These data are consistent with two separate peptide mapping analyses that have identified a number of linear sequences of gp350 that are involved in EBV binding to CR2. These sequences are in close proximity to, or directly overlap with, the CR2-binding region identified from the mutagenesis and crystal studies (30, 43).
![]() View larger version (37K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 1. Schematic ribbon representations of (A) EBV gp350 and (B) CR2 SCR1-2, as determined by X-ray crystallography. (A) The secondary structure of the gp350 fragment corresponding to residues 4 to 443 of the native sequence of gp350 (B95-8 strain) is shown in green. Indicated are the three independent β-barrel domains comprising the major structural components: D1, corresponding to residues 4 to 153; D2 (residues 165 to 305); and D3 (residues 317 to 426). Also indicated are two structured linker regions, designated linker-1 (residues 154 to 164) and linker-2 (residues 306 to 316), connecting D1 and D2 as well as D2 and D3, respectively. A total of 14 glycan moieties identified in the crystal structure also are indicated in blue. (PDB accession code 2H6O) (40). (B) The secondary structure of the two amino-terminal domains (SCR1-2) of CR2 as identified in the cocrystal structure of the CR2-C3d complex are shown in cyan. Each SCR domain comprises five short β-strands and four cysteine residues forming disulfide bonds at either end of the domain. Indicated are SCR1 (residues 1 to 62), SCR2 (residues 71 to 129), and the linker region connecting both domains (residues 63 to 70) (PDB accession code 1GHQ) (39). N-term, N terminus; C-term, C terminus.
|
The goal of the current work was to accumulate sufficient data to underpin the reliable knowledge-based docking of an SCR1-2-gp350 complex by significantly increasing the available mutagenesis data. To achieve this, we developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based analysis in which wild-type or mutant forms of SCR1-2 of CR2 were expressed as maltose-binding protein (MBP) fusion proteins using Escherichia coli. To minimize disruption to potential long-range electrostatic charge effects that have previously been associated with CR2-ligand interactions (29, 47), we decided to pursue an alanine substitution mutagenesis strategy, with only a single additional serine-to-proline mutation being generated. To delineate the corresponding CR2-binding site on gp350, we also employed an alanine-screening approach, targeting residues within the two N-terminal domains of gp350 and the connecting linker region using the ELISA described above. This ELISA-based characterization of the CR2-binding site on gp350 was verified by employing wild-type CR2-expressing K562 cells to measure the binding of our gp350 point mutants using flow cytometry. The resulting sets of ELISA- and cell-based mutagenesis data were utilized to generate a series of ambiguous interaction restraints (AIRs) that then were used to calculate a model of the CR2-gp350 complex (8). The validation of the model was provided by experiments in which our MBP-CR2 mutant library was used to characterize the structured epitope for an anti-CR2 MAb, 171, which strongly inhibits all known CR2-ligand interactions (1, 13, 46). Our data clearly show that the epitope for the 171 MAb on CR2 directly overlaps with a region of CR2 that interacts with the surface of the gp350 molecule.
|
|
|---|
Expression of wild-type and mutant MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. DNA corresponding to residues 1 to 133 of wild-type CR2 (SCR1-2) was PCR amplified and then ligated into the prokaryotic expression vector pMAL-p2x (New England Biolabs), which encodes a maltose-binding protein (MBP) tag at the 5' end of the inserted DNA, as previously described (46). Plasmid DNA subsequently was transformed into E. coli BL21 cells, and wild-type recombinant MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 was produced according to earlier protocols (46). To summarize, recombinant wild-type MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 protein was expressed from overnight cultures induced with isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside. Cultures then were harvested by centrifugation, and the resulting pellets were resuspended in a column buffer containing 20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, 0.2 M NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, and lysed by sonication. The lysate was clarified by centrifugation and then purified by successive affinity (amylose resin; New England Biolabs) and size-exclusion (Hiload S200 26/60; GE Biosciences) chromatography stages.
Recombinant L10A, N11A, R13A, S15P, Y16A, R28A, S32A, T34A, R36A, K41A, K50A, K57A, Y64A, K67A, Y68A, R83A, T86A, R89A, and M117A forms of CR2 SCR1-2 DNA were produced from wild-type MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 DNA by utilizing a QuikChange site-directed mutagenesis kit (Stratagene) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Plasmid DNA containing the mutant CR2 SCR1-2 insert then was transformed into E. coli BL21, and recombinant mutant CR2 SCR1-2 proteins were expressed and purified as described above.
Expression of recombinant gp350 proteins. EBV genomic DNA was extracted from previously obtained cell supernatants of the marmoset B95-8 leukocyte cell line (ATCC) using a QIAamp UltraSens virus kit (Qiagen) as described previously (46). DNA corresponding to residues 1 to 470 of EBV gp350/220 and a fragment of the E. coli biotin carboxyl carrier protein (BCCP) corresponding to residues 70 to 156 were separately PCR amplified. PCR fragments then were ligated into the pSecTag2/Hygro B eukaryotic expression vector (Invitrogen), which encodes a myc epitope and a hexahistidine tag at the 3' end of the inserted DNA. Plasmid DNA subsequently was transfected into human embryonic kidney 293f freestyle cells (Invitrogen) for the soluble expression of recombinant EBV gp350 into the medium. Resulting recombinant gp350 was concentrated and concurrently exchanged into a sodium phosphate column buffer for purification purposes. Recombinant gp350 protein was purified by utilizing successive immobilized metal affinity and size-exclusion chromatography steps. After being purified, gp350 either was aliquoted and then frozen at –70°C until required for ELISA or was biotinylated (gp350-biotin) using biotin ligase (Avidity). The resulting gp350-biotin was conjugated to phycoerythrin (PE)-NeutrAvidin (Molecular Probes), generating fluorochrome-tagged gp350 monomers for dual-color flow cytometric binding analysis.
Mutant forms of gp350 were generated to target a number of residues located within domain 1 (D1) and domain 2 (D2) of gp350 and also the 11-residue linker region (linker-1) connecting the two domains. Residues Glu-21, Asp-22, Asp-53, Glu-119, Tyr-151, Glu-155, Tyr-159, Ile-160, Trp-162, Asp-163, Glu-201, Asp-208, Glu-210, Glu-214, Asp-215, Glu-236, and Glu-296 were selected for alanine-screening studies to delineate the CR2-binding site on the gp350 molecule and also to characterize the nature of the interaction between the two molecules. Single-site mutant forms of recombinant EBV gp350 were produced from wild-type B95-8 gp350 DNA by utilizing a QuikChange site-directed mutagenesis kit (Stratagene) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Recombinant mutant gp350 proteins were expressed and purified as described above for the wild type.
CR2-gp350, CR2-171 MAb, and CR2-629 MAb ELISAs. Plates were coated overnight at 4°C with 5 µg/ml of gp350, MAb 171, or MAb 629 in 20 mM sodium bicarbonate buffer, pH 8.8. After being coated, the plates were blocked using 0.1% bovine serum albumin (BSA) in a PBS solution, pH 7.4, for 1 h at room temperature. The plates then were washed and incubated with either wild-type or mutant MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 at concentrations ranging from 0.03125 to 2.0 µg/ml in PBS for 1 h at room temperature. After further washes, wild-type or mutant MBP-CR2 binding was detected using commercially available horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-MBP MAb (New England Biolabs) according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Flow cytometry. Flow cytometric experiments were carried out using K562 erythroleukemia cells transfected with full-length wild-type CR2 as described previously (17, 46). Binding analyses were carried out using wild-type or mutant forms of gp350-biotin. For each condition, 5 x 105 human CR2-transfected K562 cells first were incubated with anti-CR2 HB5 MAb at 1 µg/ml on ice for 1 h. The HB5-coated cells subsequently were incubated with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-conjugated goat anti-mouse polyclonal antibody (BD Biosciences) at 1 µg/ml on ice for 30 min. The primary epitope for HB5 has been identified within the N-terminal SCR3-4 domains of CR2 and accordingly does not interfere with ligand binding. During this incubation, 100 µl of gp350-biotin monomers in PBS-0.1% BSA-0.01% sodium azide were prepared for each condition by adding 0.5 µg of recombinant wild-type or mutant gp350-biotin and 0.4 µg PE-conjugated NeutrAvidin (Molecular Probes) and incubating them at room temperature for 30 min. Following the washing of the FITC-stained K562 cells, 100 µl of monomeric PE-conjugated gp350-biotin was added to each sample of cells and incubated for 30 min on ice. After being washed, the cells were fixed and analyzed by multicolor flow cytometry in the University of Colorado Cancer Center Flow Cytometry Core Facility (Denver). Cells were analyzed as previously described, with gating on either whole-cell populations and/or the intermediate 25% of CR2-expressing cells (FITC positive). Wild-type or mutant gp350-biotin binding was determined by PE mean channel fluorescence. A minimum of three separate experiments was carried out for each mutation.
Generation by HADDOCK of a CR2-gp350 model. Mutagenesis data from these and previous studies were used to derive a series of models of the CR2-gp350 complex utilizing version 1.3 of the soft-docking program HADDOCK (8). This employs a knowledge-based approach by which the program utilizes experimentally derived data, in conjunction with the available structures, to drive the docking of two macromolecules. Residues that have been experimentally implicated in a binding interaction and that are therefore likely to form part of the interface between two molecules are designated active. In this case, active residues for each molecule were defined as those residues that our mutagenesis data have identified as playing a significant role in the binding interaction between CR2 and EBV (46) and that possessed a main chain or side chain solvent accessibility of 50% or greater (as determined by the program NACCESS (S. Hubbard and J. Thornton). Selected active residues for CR2 were Arg-13, Ser-15, Arg-28, Lys-41, Lys-67, and Arg-83. For gp350, the selected active residues were Glu-21, Tyr-151, Glu-155, Ile-160, Trp-162, Asp-208, Glu-210, and Asp-296. Also used in the HADDOCK calculations are passive residues, defined as those residues in close proximity to active residues with high main chain or side chain solvent accessibility. This information is introduced in the form of AIRs consisting of calculated distance restraints between any atom within the active residues of one protein and all atoms within the active and passive residues on the respective binding partner (8). Standard analyses were performed by HADDOCK on 100 water-refined structures from an initial 2,000 structures calculated and include an analysis of the energy contributions from buried surface area and electrostatic interactions.
|
|
|---|
MBP-CR2 SCR1-2-gp350 mutant ELISA. To characterize the CR2 SCR1-2-binding site on gp350, we generated single-site substitutions targeting a glycan-free area of this molecule that was broadly implicated in CR2-ligand binding by previous crystal-driven multiple-site mutagenesis studies and, separately, by peptide mapping studies (30, 43, 46). Our alanine substitutions targeted residues within the two N-terminal β-barrel domains (D1, residues 4 to 153; and D2, residues 165 to 305) and the 11-residue linker region that connects them (linker-1).
Within D1 of gp350, E21A (in the crystal structure of gp350 identified as Asp-21), D22A, and Y151A showed significant (greater than 20%) decreases in CR2 SCR1-2 binding relative to that of wild-type gp350, while D53A and E119A exhibited approximately wild-type-like levels of binding (Fig. 2, Table 1).
![]() View larger version (39K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 2. MBP-CR2 SCR1-2-gp350 ELISA data targeting residues within gp350. The abilities of MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 to bind plate-bound mutant forms of gp350 (E21A, D22A, Y151A, E155A, I160A, W162A, E201A, D208A, E210A D215A, and D296A) are shown. The averages and standard errors of the means of the normalized values relative to those of wild-type gp350 binding are given. Data are not shown for a number of gp350 mutants that exhibited wild-type-like (<20% reduction) binding: D53A, E119A, Y159A, D163A, E214A, and E236A (Table 1).
|
|
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 1. Summary of wild-type CR2 binding to mutant forms of gp350a
|
Within D2, a double-site opposite-charge substitution targeting residues Asp-208 and Glu-210 (D208R/E210R) was previously shown to inhibit the binding of gp350 to CR2 and also to disrupt the epitope for MAb 72A1 (40). These data were used to direct alanine-screening experiments targeting residues Glu-201, Asp-208, Glu-210, Glu-214, Asp-215, Glu-236, and Asp-296. Plate-bound forms of E201A, D208A, E210A, D215A, and D296A exhibited a decreased ability to bind MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 (Fig. 2). The remaining D2-based mutants generated in the current study, E214A and E236A, which are spatially close to each other, exhibited no significant decreases in their capacity to bind MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 (Table 1).
Mapping the results of the gp350 mutant ELISA onto the crystal structure of gp350 reveals a single binding surface for CR2 SCR1-2 on the rigid β-barrel domains comprising D1 and D2 (Fig. 3). This region is dominated by negatively charged residues. However, additional contributions to the CR2-binding interaction are provided by residues within linker-1. These include some significant non-charge-dependent interactions arising from Ile-160 and Trp-162.
![]() View larger version (37K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 3. Effect of gp350 mutagenesis on wild-type CR2 binding (ELISA). (A) Alanine substitutions mapped onto a ribbon representation of the region comprising D1 and D2 of gp350. The scheme used to color residues represents the percent binding of wild-type MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 to mutant forms of gp350 (at a concentration of 5 µg/ml of mutant gp350 and 2 µg/ml of wild-type MBP-CR2 SCR1-2). The image in panel B was constructed similarly to that for panel A, except the molecule has been rotated about the y axis by 60°. N-term, N terminus.
|
![]() View larger version (42K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 4. K562 cell-binding flow cytometry analysis of the wild-type CR2-mutant gp350-biotin interaction. (A to G) The capacity of wild-type CR2 SCR1-15-expressing cell populations, which have been labeled with FITC, to bind wild-type or mutant forms of PE-conjugated gp350-biotin. (A to F) Representative whole-cell populations of K562 erythroleukemia cells expressing wild-type CR2 to bind wild-type (A), D22A (B), Y151A (C), I160A (D), W162A (E), and D296A (F) forms of gp350. (G) Bar chart of the normalized values of the intermediate CR2-expressing population (25%) for binding to all 17 gp350-biotin mutants generated in this study. Averages and standard errors of the normalized values for the mean fluorescence intensity of the intermediate CR2-expressing population (25%) are shown. An asterisk indicates that plate-bound forms of mutant gp350 also exhibited a decreased ability to bind MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 in the ELISA study. A plus indicates that data are inconsistent with those observed in the MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 ELISA study (Table 1).
|
![]() View larger version (35K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 5. MBP-CR2 SCR1-2-gp350 ELISA data targeting residues within CR2 SCR1-2. The ability of mutant forms of MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 to bind plate-bound wild-type gp350 is shown. Data are shown for R13A, S15P, R28A, R36A, K41A, K50A, K57A, K67A, R83A, and R89A. The averages and standard errors of the means of the normalized values relative to those for wild-type gp350 binding are given. Data are not shown for a number of MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 mutants that exhibited wild-type-like levels of binding (<20% reduction): L10A, N11A, Y16A, S32A, T34A, Y64A, Y68A, T86A, and M117A (Table 2).
|
|
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 2. Summary of wild-type or mutant MBP-CR2 SCR1-2-gp350 binding ELISA dataa
|
Within SCR2, a total of four residues were selected for mutagenesis screening: Arg-83 (R83A), Thr-86 (T86A), Arg-89 (R89A), and Met-117 (M117A). Arg-83 previously has been suggested to play an important role in gp350 binding and also to be essential in the interaction between CR2 and its major physiologic ligand, C3d (17, 39, 46). Of the four alanine substitutions generated in SCR2, only the R83A and R89A mutants exhibited decreased binding affinities for gp350 (Fig. 5).
When mapped onto the crystal structure of CR2 SCR1-2, the data obtained using the MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 mutants delineates a binding interface that consists of a contiguous positively charged surface spread over SCR1 and SCR2, with two hot spots centered around Arg-83 and Arg-89 on SCR2 and Arg-13, Ser-15, Arg-28, Arg-36, and Lys-41 on SCR1 (Fig. 6) that are essential for the attachment of gp350.
![]() View larger version (35K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 6. Effect of CR2 mutagenesis on wild-type gp350 binding (ELISA). (A) Alanine and proline substitutions mapped onto a ribbon representation of CR2 SCR1-2. The scheme used to color residues represents the percent binding of wild-type gp350 to mutant forms of MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 (at a concentration of 5 µg/ml gp350 and 2 µg/ml of mutant MBP-CR2 SCR1-2). The image in panel B was constructed similarly to that for panel A, except the molecule has been rotated about the y axis by 90°. N-term, N terminus; C-term, C terminus.
|
150%) to MAb 629 relative to that of wild-type MBP-CR2 SCR1-2. |
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 3. Summary of wild-type or mutant MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 binding to the anti-CR2 SCR1-2 MAbs 171 and 629a
|
![]() View larger version (51K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 7. Ribbon representative of the HADDOCK-derived model of the CR2-gp350 complex generated utilizing the mutagenesis data described in Tables 1 and 2 and the crystal structures of CR2 SCR1-2 and gp350.
|
|
|
|---|
An effective ELISA was developed that has allowed us, for the first time, to map out the binding interface for the CR2 SCR1-2-EBV gp350 interaction on both molecules. Our ELISA data are supported by cell-binding studies in which PE-conjugated gp350-biotin mutants were incubated with K562 cells transfected with human CR2 SCR1-15. Indeed, the cell-binding assays delineate an identical CR2-binding surface on gp350, with only two mutants, E201A and D215A, behaving differently from what would be expected from the ELISA. Both of these point mutants exhibited wild-type levels of binding in the cell-binding assay and approximately 60 to 70% activity by ELISA. Interestingly, Asp-215 is remote from the major CR2 interaction center within gp350, and it is likely that Glu-201 and Asp-215 play only a peripheral or negligible role in the docking of gp350. A likely explanation for any observed differences in binding utilizing the two methodologies employed in this study may be attributable to a lower sensitivity of the cell-binding approach or to the differing solution conditions used for the experiments.
Of the 17 single-site gp350 mutants generated in the current study, targeting D1, D2, and linker-1 of gp350, 10 consistently exhibited compromised ability to bind CR2: E21A, D22A, Y151A, E155A, I160A, W162A, E201A, D208A, D210A, and D296A. The remaining seven (D53A, E119A, Y159A, D163A, E214A, D215A, and E236A) demonstrated wild-type-like or only slightly reduced levels of gp350 binding. When mapped onto the gp350 crystal structure, the mutations that affect binding correspond to a predominantly electronegative binding surface within D1 and D2 (Fig. 3); this appears to be complementary to the positively charged binding region identified in SCR1-2 of CR2.
Strikingly, both ELISA and cell-binding data identify a significant additional contribution from residues within the gp350 D1-D2 linker. A total of five point mutations were generated within the linker-1 region, three of which appeared to critically affect CR2 binding (E155A, I160A, and W162A) and two of which did not (Y159A and D163A). In support of these data, the side chains of Glu-155, Ile-160, and Trp-162 are oriented toward the putative binding site delineated by Glu-21, Asp-22, Tyr-151, Asp-208, Glu-210, and Asp-296 in the gp350 crystal structure, while the side chains of Tyr-159 and Asp-163 are oriented away from this region (Fig. 3). Taking these findings together, it is unlikely that the reduction in binding observed for those deleterious mutations targeting the D1-D2 linker are the result of a significant reorientation. From the crystal structure of gp350, Glu-155, Ile-160, and Trp-162 all possess side chain solvent accessibilities of greater than 50% (according to NACCESS) and do not appear to significantly contribute to the overall fold of the gp350 molecule.
With regard to delineating the gp350-binding site on CR2, 19 single-site CR2 SCR1-2 mutants were engineered as soluble recombinant MBP fusion proteins, and binding was measured using the ELISA described above. The data obtained were considered in conjunction with a previously published study in which wild-type or mutant full-length CR2-transfected K562 cells were incubated with wild-type gp350 and binding interactions assessed by flow cytometry (46). The ELISA-derived data delineate a contiguous positively charged gp350-binding surface upon CR2 that is consistent with the cell-binding assay (46). Arg-83 and Arg-89 on SCR2 both play important roles in the ligation of gp350. Of the other mutations within SCR2, Thr-86 is in close proximity to the putative gp350-binding site outlined in Fig. 6, but T86A binds gp350 with wild-type-like affinity. Notably, the side chain of this amino acid residue extends downwards and away from the plane formed by residues 83 and 89. Met-117, on the other hand, is located on the opposite face of the domain and, unsurprisingly, the M117A mutant binds gp350 with the same affinity as wild-type CR2. Point mutations that target CR2-SCR1 indicate that residues Arg-13, Ser-15, Arg-28, Arg-36, and Lys-41 play an important role in the interaction between CR2 and gp350, consistent with previous work (46). The R13A, S15P, and K41A mutations, in particular, have a deleterious effect on gp350 binding. The S15P substitution is likely to induce a localized structural perturbation of the viral binding surface on CR2, while the R13A and K41A mutations (as well as the R36A and R28A substitutions) are likely to interfere with the well-established charge dependence of the CR2-gp350 interaction (12, 36). In previous work, R13A, S15P, R28A, R36A, K41A, K57A, K67A, and R83A MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 demonstrated reduced or zero capacity to pull down concentrated intact virus; this supports the case for the recombinant gp350-binding interface identified on CR2 SCR1-2, reflecting that of intact gp350/220 expressed on the surface of enveloped EBV virions (46).
It has previously been suggested that the available crystal structures of CR2 SCR1-2 do not reflect the physiological orientation of the two amino-terminal domains with respect to one another. Both crystallized forms of the protein were expressed using Pichia pastoris and then deglycosylated prior to crystallization. Prota et al. suggested that the presence of the nonnative N-glycan moiety attached to Asn-107 would sterically force the two SCR domains apart in the native protein (34). We have demonstrated in the current study, however, that the data obtained using E. coli-derived recombinant MBP-CR2 SCR1-2, with no posttranslational processing, are similar to those obtained from a K562 mammalian cell expression system that produced glycosylated protein (5). These data suggest that glycosylation within the two N-terminal domains of human CR2 does not significantly contribute to its structure-function relationships. With regard to the CR2 SCR1-2 architecture under solution conditions, an analytical ultracentrifugation and solution-scattering study, carried out in conjunction with molecular modeling by Perkins and coworkers, suggested that the domain packing of CR2 SCR1-2 is more extended than that observed in the available crystal elucidations, but that the molecule still adopts an overall constrained V-shaped conformation (11).
Further evidence that the gp350-binding site located within SCR1 of CR2 identified by our mutagenesis studies is indeed a primary site of EBV attachment is provided by our mutagenesis screening of the MAb 171 and MAb 629 epitopes on CR2 SCR1-2. MAb 171 is an effective inhibitor of all CR2-ligand interactions (1, 13, 46). Our data demonstrate that the structured epitope for MAb 171 is located within a patch of residues within the first intercysteine region of SCR1 and also the initial part of the eight-residue linker region connecting SCR1 and SCR2 (Asn-11, Arg-13, Ser-32, Thr-34, Arg-36, and Tyr-64) (Table 3). Residues important in the binding of 171 MAb overlap directly with residues that we have identified as being present at the CR2-gp350 interface (Table 2) (46) and that also have been shown to play a significant role in C3d/C3dg ligation (Arg-13 and Arg-36) by both site-directed mutagenesis (17) and, more recently, heteronuclear nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (J. M. Kovacs, J. P. Hannan, E. Z. Eissenmesser, and V. M. Holers, unpublished data). Our data delineating the MAb 171 structured epitope differ significantly from those obtained by overlapping peptide-based approaches, which have demarcated the linear epitope of MAb 171 to residues 86-TPYRH-90 located within SCR2 of CR2 (13). However, it is likely that the 171 epitope delineated by our mutagenesis mapping is a better reflection of the experimentally defined inhibitory properties that have been described for MAb 171, since all competition studies have utilized folded proteins expressed either on cell surfaces or as soluble recombinant molecules (1, 13, 46). Notably, of the 86-TPYRH-90 sequence described by the use of mimotope sequences displayed on pins, Tyr-88 and His-90 are buried beneath the protein surface in both of the available crystal structures of CR2 (34, 39). Interestingly, when our mutant MBP-CR2 SCR1-2 library was employed to screen a control noninhibitory anti-CR2 antibody, MAb 629, none of our mutants targeting the CR2 ligand-binding sites were found to disrupt binding to any significant extent (Table 3). It therefore is likely that the structured epitope for 629 is located on a surface discrete from the characterized gp350 and C3d/C3dg binding sites (Table 3).
A goal of assembling this extensive set of mutagenesis data was to drive a plausible model of the CR2-gp350 complex using a molecular docking algorithm. Our best-fit model of the complex generated by HADDOCK locates the CR2 SCR1-2 binding site within a glycan-free area of gp350. These data are consistent with previous studies demonstrating that the numerous N-linked glycans coating gp350 do not play a significant role in the binding interaction between CR2 and gp350 (40). The nature of the binding pocket for CR2 SCR1-2 observed within gp350 is consistent with a conformation of the CR2 SCR1-2 molecule in which the domain orientation approximates a V-shaped topography. Whether the two SCR domains make contact with each other, as reflected in the two crystallographic studies (34, 39), or adopt a more open but still V-shaped conformation, as observed in solution studies, does not have a significant bearing on the model (11). The complex predicted by HADDOCK aligns SCR1 of CR2 with the electronegative region on gp350 delineated primarily by Glu-201, Asp-208, Glu-210, and Asp-296 and SCR2 oriented toward Glu-21, Asp-22, and Glu-155. Another notable feature of the interaction is the presence of aromatic and nonpolar residues dominating the center of the complex. In all, our CR2-gp350 model appears to describe a classic protein-protein interaction, whereupon opposite charges on each molecule direct complex initiation and formation and surround a hydrophobic/nonpolar core that is buried within the complex.
In summary, we have carried out a site-directed mutagenesis study to provide the basis of a structural understanding of the initial contact that occurs between EBV and B lymphocytes. We have extensively characterized the gp350-binding site on CR2 and compared this binding site to the structured epitope of an effective inhibitory anti-CR2 MAb, 171. Furthermore, we have provided the first detailed delineation of the CR2-binding site on gp350, describing a predominantly negatively charged binding surface within the two N-terminal domains of gp350, and identified additional side chain contributions from the linker region between them. Furthermore, we have identified nonpolar and hydrophobic residues on gp350 that are necessary for efficient binding. Finally, our mutagenesis data have been used as the basis for generating a testable constraint-derived model of the CR2-gp350 complex. In toto, these data provide a structural basis for developing inhibitors of this important virus-receptor interaction.
Published ahead of print on 10 September 2008. ![]()
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»