Chad D. Paavola

Construction of a fluorescent biosensor family

Bacterial periplasmic binding proteins (bPBPs) are specific for a wide variety of small molecule ligands. bPBPs undergo a large, ligand‐mediated conformational change that can be linked to reporter functions to monitor ligand concentrations. This mechanism provides the basis of a general system for engineering families of reagentless biosensors that share a common physical signal transduction functionality and detect many different analytes. We demonstrate the facility of designing optical biosensors based on fluorophore conjugates using 8 environmentally sensitive fluorophores and 11 bPBPs specific for diverse ligands, including sugars, amino acids, anions, cations, and dipeptides. Construction of reagentless fluorescent biosensors relies on identification of sites that undergo a local conformational change in concert with the global, ligand‐mediated hinge‐bending motion. Construction of cysteine mutations at these locations then permits site‐specific coupling of environmentally sensitive fluorophores that report ligand binding as changes in fluorescence intensity. For 10 of the bPBPs presented in this study, the three‐dimensional receptor structure was used to predict the location of reporter sites. In one case, a bPBP sensor specific for glutamic and aspartic acid was designed starting from genome sequence information and illustrates the potential for discovering novel binding functions in the microbial genosphere using bioinformatics.

Identification of the Glycosaminoglycan Binding Site of the CC Chemokine, MCP-1 IMPLICATIONS FOR STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN VIVO

In a recent study, we demonstrated that glycosaminoglycan (GAG) binding and oligomerization are essential for the in vivo function of the chemokines MCP-1/CCL2, RANTES/CCL5, and MIP-1β/CCL4 (1). Binding to the GAG chains of cell surface proteoglycans is thought to facilitate the formation of high localized concentrations of chemokines, which in turn provide directional signals for leukocyte migration. To understand the molecular details of the chemokine-GAG interaction, in the present study we identified the GAG binding epitopes of MCP-1/CCL2 by characterizing a panel of surface alanine mutants in a series of heparin-binding assays. Using sedimentation equilibrium and cross-linking methods, we also observed that addition of heparin octasaccharide induces tetramer formation of MCP-1/CCL2. Although MCP-1/CCL2 forms a dimer in solution, both a dimer and tetramer have been observed by x-ray crystallography, providing a glimpse of the putative heparin-bound state. When the GAG binding residues are mapped onto the surface of the tetramer, the pattern that emerges is a continuous ring of basic residues encircling the tetramer, creating a positively charged surface well suited for binding GAGs. The structure also suggests several possible functional roles for GAG-induced oligomerization beyond retention of chemokines at the site of production.

Molecular determinants for CC-chemokine recognition by a poxvirus CC-chemokine inhibitor

Poxviruses express a family of secreted proteins that bind with high affinity to chemokines and antagonize the interaction with their cognate G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These viral inhibitors are novel in structure and, unlike cellular chemokine receptors, are able to specifically interact with most, if not all, CC-chemokines. We therefore sought to define the structural features of CC-chemokines that facilitate this broad-spectrum interaction. Here, we identify the residues present on human monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) that are required for high-affinity interaction with the vaccinia virus 35-kDa CC-chemokine binding protein (VV-35kDa). Not only do these residues correspond to those required for interaction with the cognate receptor CCR2b but they are also conserved among many CC-chemokines. Thus, the results provide a structural basis for the ability of VV-35kDa to promiscuously recognize CC-chemokines and block binding to their receptors.

The rosettazyme: a synthetic cellulosome.

Cellulose is an attractive feedstock for biofuel production because of its abundance, but the cellulose polymer is extremely stable and its constituent sugars are difficult to access. In nature, extracellular multi-enzyme complexes known as cellulosomes are among the most effective ways to transform cellulose to useable sugars. Cellulosomes consist of a diversity of secreted cellulases and other plant cell-wall degrading enzymes bound to a protein scaffold. These scaffold proteins have cohesin modules that bind conserved dockerin modules on the enzymes. It is thought that the localization of these diverse enzymes on the scaffold allows them to function synergistically. In order to understand and harness this synergy smaller, simplified cellulosomes have been constructed, expressed, and reconstituted using truncated cohesin-containing scaffolds. Here we show that an 18-subunit protein complex called a rosettasome can be genetically engineered to bind dockerin-containing enzymes and function like a cellulosome. Rosettasomes are thermostable, group II chaperonins from the hyperthermo-acidophilic archaeon Sulfolobus shibatae, which in the presence of ATP/Mg(2+) assemble into 18-subunit, double-ring structures. We fused a cohesin module from Clostridium thermocellum to a circular permutant of a rosettasome subunit, and we demonstrate that the cohesin-rosettasomes: (1) bind dockerin-containing endo- and exo-gluconases, (2) the bound enzymes have increased cellulose-degrading activity compared to their activity free in solution, and (3) this increased activity depends on the number and ratio of the bound glucanases. We call these engineered multi-enzyme structures rosettazymes.

Intracellular localization of a group II chaperonin indicates a membrane-related function

Chaperonins are protein complexes that are believed to function as part of a protein folding system in the cytoplasm of the cell. We observed, however, that the group II chaperonins known as rosettasomes in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus shibatae, are not cytoplasmic but membrane associated. This association was observed in cultures grown at 60°C and 76°C or heat-shocked at 85°C by using immunofluorescence microscopy and in thick sections of rapidly frozen cells grown at 76°C by using immunogold electron microscopy. We observed that increased abundance of rosettasomes after heat shock correlated with decreased membrane permeability at lethal temperature (92°C). This change in permeability was not seen in cells heat-shocked in the presence of the amino acid analogue azetidine 2-carboxylic acid, indicating functional protein synthesis influences permeability. Azetidine experiments also indicated that observed heat-induced changes in lipid composition in S. shibatae could not account for changes in membrane permeability. Rosettasomes purified from cultures grown at 60°C and 76°C or heat-shocked at 85°C bind to liposomes made from either the bipolar tetraether lipids of Sulfolobus or a variety of artificial lipid mixtures. The presence of rosettasomes did not significantly change the transition temperature of liposomes, as indicated by differential scanning calorimetry, or the proton permeability of liposomes, as indicated by pyranine fluorescence. We propose that these group II chaperonins function as a structural element in the natural membrane based on their intracellular location, the correlation between their functional abundance and membrane permeability, and their potential distribution on the membrane surface.

Site-selective dual modification of periplasmic binding proteins for sensing applications

We have developed three sensitive and specific amino acid sensors based on bacterial periplasmic solute binding proteins. A site-specific amino-terminal transamination reaction provides a useful complement to cysteine chemistry for the covalent modification of biomolecules in this application. We demonstrate this combination to attach two different chromophores to a single biomolecule in two locations. The periplasmic glutamine binding protein from E. coli was modified with a pair of dyes suitable for fluorescence resonance energy transfer, and this conjugate exhibited an l-glutamine dependent optical response. Two periplasmic binding proteins from the thermophilic organism Thermotoga maritima, for arginine and aliphatic amino acids, were modified and evaluated similarly. All three conjugates manifested signal changes mediated by resonant energy transfer upon binding their respective ligands, with nanomolar dissociation constants and stereochemical specificity. This represents a readily generalizable method for construction of reagentless biosensors. The double-labeling strategy was also exploited for the surface attachment of a dye-labeled glutamine binding protein via a biotin-streptavidin interaction.

Mutant chaperonin proteins: new tools for nanotechnology

Much effort has gone into finding peptides that bind potentially useful nanoparticles, but relatively little effort has focused on the scaffolds that organize these peptides into useful nanostructures. Chaperonins are protein complexes with 14?18 protein subunits that self-assemble into double-ring complexes and function as scaffolds for peptides or amino acids that bind metallic and semiconductor quantum dots. The utility of chaperonins as scaffolds depends on their structure and their ability to self-assemble into double-rings and higher-order structures, such as filaments and two-dimensional arrays. To better understand the structure of chaperonins, we constructed a model of a group II chaperonin and, based on this model, genetically constructed five mutant subunits with significant deletions. We expressed these mutants as recombinant proteins and observed by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) that they all self-assembled into double rings. Our model predicted and TEM confirmed that these deletions did not significantly change the 17?nm diameter of the wild-type double rings, but decreased their height and opened their central cavities. Four of the five mutants formed higher-order structures: chains of rings, bundles of chains or filaments, and two-dimensional arrays, which we suggest can be useful nanostructures.

Production of D-xylonic acid from hemicellulose using artificial enzyme complexes.

Lignocellulosic biomass represents a potentially large resource to supply the worlds fuel and chemical feedstocks. Enzymatic bioconversion of this substrate offers a reliable strategy for accessing this material under mild reaction conditions. Owing to the complex nature of lignocellulose, many different enzymatic activities are required to function in concert to perform efficient transformation. In nature, large multienzyme complexes are known to effectively hydrolyze lignocellulose into constituent monomeric sugars. We created artificial complexes of enzymes, called rosettazymes, in order to hydrolyze glucuronoxylan, a common lignocellulose component, into its cognate sugar D-xylose and then further convert the D-xylose into D-xylonic acid, a Department of Energy top-30 platform chemical. Four different types of enzymes (endoxylanase, α-glucuronidase, β-xylosidase, and xylose dehydrogenase) were incorporated into the artificial complexes. We demonstrated that tethering our enzymes in a complex resulted in significantly more activity (up to 71%) than the same amount of enzymes free in solution. We also determined that varying the enzyme composition affected the level of complex-related activity enhancement as well as overall yield.

Saccharification of thermochemically pretreated cellulosic biomass using native and engineered cellulosomal enzyme systems

Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) of pretreated lignocellulosic biomass using microbes like Clostridium thermocellum allows simultaneous polysaccharide saccharification and sugar fermentation to produce fuels or chemicals using a one-pot process. C. thermocellum is a thermophilic bacterium that deconstructs biomass using large multi-enzyme complexes called cellulosomes. Characterization of cellulosomal enzymes tethered to native or engineered scaffoldin proteins has revealed that enzyme complexation is critical to the bacteriums cellulolytic ability. However, we have a limited understanding of the impact of enzyme complexation on the saccharification efficiency of various forms of industrially relevant pretreated biomass substrates. Here, we compared the hydrolytic activity of the most abundant cellulosomal enzymes from C. thermocellum and investigate the importance of enzyme complexation using a model engineered protein scaffold (called ‘rosettasome’). The hydrolytic performance of non-complexed enzymes, enzyme-rosettasome (or rosettazyme) complexes, and cellulosomes was tested on distinct cellulose allomorphs formed during biomass pretreatment. The scaffold-immobilized enzymes always gave higher activity than free enzymes. However, cellulosomes exhibited higher activity than rosettazyme complexes. This was likely due to the greater flexibility of the native versus engineered scaffold, as deciphered using small angle X-ray scattering. Surprisingly, scaffold-tethered enzymes also gave comparable activity on all the cellulose allomorphs tested, which is unlike the preferential activity of non-complexed cellulases seen for certain allomorph forms. Tethered enzyme complexes also gave lower saccharification yields on industrially relevant lignin-rich switchgrass than cellulose alone. In summary, we find that the type of pretreatment can significantly impact the saccharification efficiency of cellulosomal enzymes for various CBP scenarios.

Beyond helper phage: Using "helper cells" to select peptide affinity ligands

Peptides are important affinity ligands for microscopy, biosensing, and targeted delivery. However, because they can have low affinity for their targets, their selection from large naïve libraries can be challenging. When selecting peptidic ligands from display libraries, it is important to: 1) ensure efficient display; 2) maximize the ability to select high affinity ligands; and 3) minimize the effect of the display context on binding. The “helper cell” packaging system has been described as a tool to produce filamentous phage particles based on phagemid constructs with varying display levels, while remaining free of helper phage contamination. Here we report on the first use of this system for peptide display, including the systematic characterization and optimization of helper cells, their inefficient use in antibody display and their use in creating and selecting from a set of phage display peptide libraries. Our libraries were analyzed with unprecedented precision by standard or deep sequencing, and shown to be superior in quality than commercial gold standards. Using our helper cell libraries, we have obtained ligands recognizing Yersinia pestis surface antigen F1V and L-glutamine-binding periplasmic protein QBP. In the latter case, unlike any of the peptide library selections described so far, we used a combination of phage and yeast display to select intriguing peptide ligands. Based on the success of our selections we believe that peptide libraries obtained with helper cells are not only suitable, but preferable to traditional phage display libraries for selection of peptidic ligands.