Elena Matei

Direct Measurement of Glyconanoparticles and Lectin Interactions by Isothermal Titration Calorimetry

Glyconanomaterials have shown high potential in applications including bioanalysis and nanomedicine. Here, a quantitative analytical technique, based on isothermal titration calorimetry, was developed to characterize the interactions between glyconanoparticles and lectins. By titrating lectins into the glyconanoparticle solution, the apparent dissociation constant, thermodynamic parameters, and the number of binding sites were derived simultaneously. For the glyconanoparticles-lectin binding pairs investigated, a 3-5 order of magnitude affinity enhancement over the free ligand-lectin interactions was observed which can be attributed to the multivalent ligand presentation on the nanoparticles. The impact of ligand density was also studied, and results showed that the affinity increased with the number of glycans on the nanoparticle.

Solution and Crystal Structures of a Sugar Binding Site Mutant of Cyanovirin-N: No Evidence of Domain Swapping

The cyanobacterial lectin Cyanovirin-N (CV-N) exhibits antiviral activity against HIV at a low nanomolar concentration by interacting with high-mannose oligosaccharides on the virus surface envelope glycoprotein gp120. Atomic structures of wild-type CV-N revealed a monomer in solution and a domain-swapped dimer in the crystal, with the monomer comprising two independent carbohydrate binding sites that individually bind with micromolar affinity to di- and trimannoses. In the mutant CVN(mutDB), the binding site on domain B was abolished and the protein was found to be completely inactive against HIV. We determined the solution NMR and crystal structures of this variant and characterized its sugar binding properties. In solution and the crystal, CVN(mutDB) is a monomer and no domain-swapping was observed. The protein binds to Man-3 and Man-9 with similar dissociation constants ( approximately 4 muM). This confirms that the nanomolar activity of wild-type CV-N is related to the multisite nature of the protein carbohydrate interaction.

Multivalent Glyconanoparticles with Enhanced Affinity to the Anti-Viral Lectin Cyanovirin-N

Low-mannose (LM) structures were coupled to gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) to amplify the affinity of LMs with Cyanovirin-N (CV-N) lectins and to study the structures of CV-N variants CVN(Q50C) and CVN(MutDB).

Anti-HIV Activity of Defective Cyanovirin-N Mutants Is Restored by Dimerization

Cyanovirin-N (CV-N) is a two-domain, cyanobacterial protein that inhibits human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at nanomolar concentrations by binding to high mannose sugars on the HIV envelope glycoprotein gp120. The wild type protein can exist as a monomer or a domain-swapped dimer with the monomer and dimer containing two or four sugar binding sites, respectively, one on each domain. Here we demonstrate that monomeric, single binding site mutants are completely inactive and that a single site, whether located on domain A or B, is insufficient to impart the antiviral activity. Linking inactive, monomeric proteins in a head-to-head fashion by an intermolecular disulfide bond or by creating an exclusively domain-swapped dimer via a hinge residue deletion restored antiviral activity to levels similar to that of wild type CV-N. These findings demonstrate unequivocally that multisite binding by CV-N type lectins is necessary for viral inhibition.

Sensing lectin-glycan interactions using lectin super-microarrays and glycans labeled with dye-doped silica nanoparticles

A new microarray platform, based on lectin super-microarrays and glycans labeled with dye-doped nanoparticles, has been developed to study glycan-lectin interactions. Glycan ligands were conjugated onto fluorescein-doped silica nanoparticles (FSNPs) using a general photocoupling chemistry to afford FSNP-labeled glycan probes. Lectins were printed on epoxy slides in duplicate sets to generate lectin super-microarrays where multiple assays could be carried out simultaneously in each lectin microarray. Thus, the lectin super-microarray was treated with FSNP-labeled glycans to screen for specific binding pairs. Furthermore, a series of ligand competition assays were carried out on a single lectin super-microarray to generate the dose-response curve for each glycan-lectin pair, from which the apparent affinity constants were obtained. Results showed 4-7 orders of magnitude increase in affinity over the free glycans with the corresponding lectins. Thus, the glycan epitope structures having weaker affinity than the parent glycans could be readily identified and analyzed from the lectin super-microarrays.

Fluorinated Carbohydrates as Lectin Ligands: Dissecting Glycan–Cyanovirin Interactions by Using 19F NMR Spectroscopy

NMR spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) are powerful methods to investigate ligand-protein interactions. Here, we present a versatile and sensitive fluorine NMR spectroscopic approach that exploits the (19)F nucleus of (19)F-labeled carbohydrates as a sensor to study glycan binding to lectins. Our approach is illustrated with the 11 kDa Cyanovirin-N, a mannose binding anti-HIV lectin. Two fluoro-deoxy sugar derivatives, methyl 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-α-D-mannopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-D-mannopyranoside and methyl 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-α-D-mannopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-D-mannopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-D-mannopyranoside were utilized. Binding was studied by (19)F NMR spectroscopy of the ligand and (1)H-(15)N HSQC NMR spectroscopy of the protein. The NMR data agree well with those obtained from the equivalent reciprocal and direct ITC titrations. Our study shows that the strategic design of fluorinated ligands and fluorine NMR spectroscopy for ligand screening holds great promise for easy and fast identification of glycan binding, as well as for their use in reporting structural and/or electronic perturbations that ensue upon interaction with a cognate lectin.

NMR solution structure of a cyanovirin homolog from wheat head blight fungus

Members of the cyanovirin‐N homolog (CVNH) lectin family are found in bacteria, fungi and plants. As part of our ongoing work on CVNH structure‐function studies, we determined the high‐resolution NMR solution structure of the homolog from the wheat head blight disease causing ascomycetous fungus Gibberella zeae (or Fusarium graminearum), hereafter called GzCVNH. Like cyanovirin‐N (CV‐N), GzCVNH comprises two tandem sequence repeats and the protein sequence exhibits 30% identity with CV‐N. The overall structure is similar to those of other members of the CVNH family, with the conserved pseudo‐symmetric halves of the structure, domains A and B, closely resembling recently determined structures of Tuber borchii, Neurospora crassa, and Ceratopteris richardii CVNH proteins. Although GzCVNH exhibits a similar glycan recognition profile to CV‐N and specifically binds to Manα(1‐2)Manα, its weak carbohydrate binding affinity to only one binding site is insufficient for conferring anti‐HIV activity. Proteins 2011;

19F Paramagnetic Relaxation Enhancement: A Valuable Tool for Distance Measurements in Proteins

Fluorine NMR paramagnetic relaxation enhancement was evaluated as a versatile approach for extracting distance information in selectively F-labeled proteins. Proof of concept and initial applications are presented for the HIV-inactivating lectin cyanovirin-N. Single F atoms were introduced at the 4-, 5-, 6- or 7 positions of Trp49 and the 4-position of Phe4, Phe54, and Phe80. The paramagnetic nitroxide spin label was attached to Cys residues that were placed into the protein at positions 50 or 52. (19)F-T2  NMR spectra with different relaxation delays were recorded and the transverse (19)F-PRE rate, (19)F-Γ2 , was used to determine the average distance between the F nucleus and the paramagnetic center. Our data show that experimental (19)F PRE-based distances correspond to 0.93 of the (1)HN-PRE distances, in perfect agreement with the gyromagnetic γ(19)F/γ(1)H ratio, thereby demonstrating that (19)F PREs are excellent alternative parameters for quantitative distance measurements in selectively F-labeled proteins.

Structure and Glycan Binding of a New Cyanovirin-N Homolog.

The HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120 is heavily glycosylated and bears numerous high mannose sugars. These sugars can serve as targets for HIV-inactivating compounds, such as antibodies and lectins, which bind to the glycans and interfere with viral entry into the target cell. We determined the 1.6 Å x-ray structure of Cyt-CVNH, a recently identified lectin from the cyanobacterium Cyanothece7424, and elucidated its glycan specificity by NMR. The Cyt-CVNH structure and glycan recognition profile are similar to those of other CVNH proteins, with each domain specifically binding to Manα(1–2)Manα units on the D1 and D3 arms of high mannose glycans. However, in contrast to CV-N, no cross-linking and precipitation of the cross-linked species in solution was observed upon Man-9 binding, allowing, for the first time, investigation of the interaction of Man-9 with a member of the CVNH family by NMR. HIV assays showed that Cyt-CVNH is able to inhibit HIV-1 with ∼4-fold higher potency than CV-NP51G, a stabilized version of wild type CV-N. Therefore, Cyt-CVNH may qualify as a valuable lectin for potential microbicidal use.

Frontispiece: 19F Paramagnetic Relaxation Enhancement: A Valuable Tool for Distance Measurements in Proteins

NMR Spectroscopy. (19) F NMR paramagnetic relaxation enhancements that were evaluated for extracting distance information in a selectively (19) F-labeled protein are reported by A. M. Gronenborn and E. Matei in their Communication on page 150 ff.