Frédéric Ducancel

High-resolution picture of a venom gland transcriptome: Case study with the marine snail Conus consors

Although cone snail venoms have been intensively investigated in the past few decades, little is known about the whole conopeptide and protein content in venom ducts, especially at the transcriptomic level. If most of the previous studies focusing on a limited number of sequences have contributed to a better understanding of conopeptide superfamilies, they did not give access to a complete panorama of a whole venom duct. Additionally, rare transcripts were usually not identified due to sampling effect. This work presents the data and analysis of a large number of sequences obtained from high throughput 454 sequencing technology using venom ducts of Conus consors, an Indo-Pacific living piscivorous cone snail. A total of 213,561 Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) with an average read length of 218 base pairs (bp) have been obtained. These reads were assembled into 65,536 contiguous DNA sequences (contigs) then into 5039 clusters. The data revealed 11 conopeptide superfamilies representing a total of 53 new isoforms (full length or nearly full-length sequences). Considerable isoform diversity and major differences in transcription level could be noted between superfamilies. A, O and M superfamilies are the most diverse. The A family isoforms account for more than 70% of the conopeptide cocktail (considering all ESTs before clustering step). In addition to traditional superfamilies and families, minor transcripts including both cysteine free and cysteine-rich peptides could be detected, some of them figuring new clades of conopeptides. Finally, several sets of transcripts corresponding to proteins commonly recruited in venom function could be identified for the first time in cone snail venom duct. This work provides one of the first large-scale EST project for a cone snail venom duct using next-generation sequencing, allowing a detailed overview of the venom duct transcripts. This leads to an expanded definition of the overall cone snail venom duct transcriptomic activity, which goes beyond the cysteine-rich conopeptides. For instance, this study enabled to detect proteins involved in common post-translational maturation and folding, and to reveal compounds classically involved in hemolysis and mechanical penetration of the venom into the prey. Further comparison with proteomic and genomic data will lead to a better understanding of conopeptides diversity and the underlying mechanisms involved in conopeptide evolution.

Recombinant antibody-alkaline phosphatase conjugates for diagnosis of human IgGs: application to anti-HBsAg detection

We have designed an expression vector permitting the production in the periplasm of Escherichia coli of a fusion protein comprising a dimer of bacterial alkaline phosphatase (PhoA) and two Fab or scFv fragments of a monoclonal antibody directed against human IgG. Each hybrid protein expressed both high specificity for the antigen and full PhoA activity. We show that crude periplasmic extracts containing these conjugates can be used as such in enzyme immunoassays for the detection of human IgG, as exemplified in the case of anti-hepatitis B immunoglobulin.

Improving Escherichia coli Alkaline Phosphatase Efficacy by Additional Mutations inside and outside the Catalytic Pocket

We describe a strategy that allowed us to confer on a bacterial (E. coli) alkaline phosphatase (AP) the high catalytic activity of the mammalian enzyme while maintaining its high thermostability. First, we identified mutations, at positions other than those occupied by essential catalytic residues, which inactivate the bacterial enzyme without destroying its overall conformation. We transferred concomitantly into the bacterial enzyme four residues of the mammalian enzyme, two being in the catalytic pocket and two being outside. Second, the gene encoding the inactive mutant was submitted to random mutagenesis. Enzyme activity was restored upon the single mutation D330N, at a position that is 12 Å away from the center of the catalytic pocket. Third, this mutation was combined with other mutations previously reported to increase AP activity slightly in the presence of magnesium. As a result, at pH 10.0 the phosphatase activity of both mutants D330N/D153H and D330N/D153G was 17‐fold higher than that of the wild‐type AP. Strikingly, although the two individual mutations D153H and D153G destabilize the enzyme, the double mutant D330N/D153G remained highly stable (Tm=87 °C). Moreover, when combining the phosphatase and transferase activities, the catalytic activity of the mutant D330N/D153G increased 40‐fold (kcat=3200 s−1) relative to that of the wild‐type enzyme (kcat=80 s−1). Due to the simultaneous increase in Km, the resulting kcat/Km value was only increased by a factor of two. Therefore, a single mutation occurring outside a catalytic pocket can dramatically control not only the activity of an enzyme, but also its thermostability. Preliminary crystallographic data of a covalent D330N/D153G enzyme–phosphate complex show that the phosphate group has significantly moved away from the catalytic pocket, relative to its position in the structure of another mutant previously reported.

Molecular engineering of antibodies for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes

During the past ten years, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have taken center stage in the field of targeted therapy and diagnosis. This increased interest in mAbs is due to their binding accuracy (affinity and specificity) together with the original molecular and structural rules that govern interactions with their cognate antigen. In addition, the effector properties of antibodies constitute a second major advantage associated with their clinical use. The development of molecular and structural engineering and more recently of in vitro evolution of antibodies has opened up new perspectives in the de novo design of antibodies more adapted to clinical and diagnostic use. Thus, efforts are regularly made by researchers to improve or modulate antibody recognition properties, to adapt their pharmacokinetics, engineer their stability, and control their immunogenicity. This review presents the latest molecular engineering results on mAbs with therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

Development of a single-chain variable fragment-alkaline phosphatase fusion protein and a sensitive direct competitive chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay for detection of ractopamine in pork.

A rapid, sensitive chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) for ractopamine (RAC) based on a single-chain variable fragment (scFv)-alkaline phosphatase (AP) fusion protein was developed. The scFv gene was prepared by cloning the heavy- and light-chain variable region genes (V(H) and V(L)) from hybridoma cell line AC2, which secretes antibodies against RAC, and assembling V(H) and V(L) genes with a linker by means of splicing overlap extension polymerase chain reaction. The resulting scFv gene was inserted into the expression vector pLIP6/GN containing AP to produce the fusion protein in Escherichia coli strain BL21. The purified scFv-AP fusion protein was used to develop a direct competitive CLEIA (dcCLEIA) protocol for detection of RAC. The average concentration required for 50% inhibition of binding and the limit of detection of the assay were 0.25±0.03 and 0.02±0.004 ng mL(-1), respectively, and the linear response range extended from 0.05 to 1.45 ng mL(-1). The assay was 10 times as sensitive as the corresponding enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay based on the same fusion protein. Cross-reactivity studies showed that the fusion protein did not cross react with RAC analogs. DcCLEIA was used to analyze RAC spiked pork samples, and the validation was confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). The results showed a good correlation between the data of dc-CLEIA and HPLC-MS (R(2)>0.99), indicating that the assay was an efficient analytical method for monitoring food safety.

On the site by which α‐dendrotoxin binds to voltage‐dependent potassium channels: Site‐directed mutagenesis reveals that the lysine triplet 28–30 is not essential for binding

We constructed a synthetic gene encoding the published amino acid sequence of DTx from Dendroaspis angusticeps, a ligand of voltage‐dependent postassium channels that facilitates neurotransmitter release. We expressed it in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein secreted in the culture medium. The recombinant DTx was generated in vitro by chemical treatment and recovered as two isoforms. One of them (rDTx), like the venom toxin, has an N‐terminal pyroglutamate whereas the other (rQDTx) has a free N‐terminal glutamine. Chromatographic differences between rDTx and natural DTx led us to re‐examine the amino acid sequence of natural DTx. In contrast to what was previously published, position 12 was an Asp and not Asn. Despite this difference, rDTx and DTx had similar toxicity in mice and binding affinity to synaptosomes, suggesting that residue 12 is not important for DTx function. Nor is the N‐terminal residue implicated in DTx function since rDTx and rQDTx also had similar biological activities. We also synthesized and expressed a mutant of the DTx gene in which the lysine triplet 28–30 was changed into Ala‐Ala‐Gly. The two resulting recombinant isoforms exhibited only small decreases in biological activity, excluding the possibility that the positively charged lysine triplet 28–30 of DTx is directly involved in the toxin functional site.

Mimicry between Receptors and Antibodies IDENTIFICATION OF SNAKE TOXIN DETERMINANTS RECOGNIZED BY THE ACETYLCHOLINE RECEPTOR AND AN ACETYLCHOLINE RECEPTOR-MIMICKING MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY

In several instances, a monoclonal antibody raised against a receptor ligand has been claimed to mimic the ligand receptor. Thus, a specific monoclonal antibody (Mα2-3) raised against a short-chain toxin from snake was proposed to mimic the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) (1). Further confirming this mimicry, we show that (i) like AChR, Mα2-3 elicits anti-AChR antibodies, which in turn elicit anti-toxin antibodies; and (ii) the region 106-122 of the α-chain of AChR shares 66% primary structure identity with complementarity-determining regions of Mα2-3. Also, a mutational analysis of erabutoxin a reveals that the epitope recognized by Mα2-3 consists of 10 residues, distributed within the three toxin loops. Eight of these residues also belong to the 10-residue epitope recognized by AChR, a result that offers an explanation as to the functional similarities between the receptor and the antibody. Strikingly, however, most of the residues common to the two epitopes contribute differentially to the energetic formation of the antibody-toxin and the receptor-toxin complexes. Together, the data suggest that the mimicry between AChR and Mα2-3 is partial only.

Amino acid sequence of a muscarinic toxin deduced from the cDNA nucleotide sequence

We prepared a cDNA library from venom glands of the green mamba Dendroaspis angusticeps. A cDNA clone was isolated using an appropriate nucleotide probe. The nucleotide sequence codes for a 21 residue signal peptide followed by a 65 residue protein having the amino acid sequence of muscarinic toxin 2, as confirmed in the accompanying paper (Karlsson, E., Risinger, C., Jolkkonen, M., Wernstedt, C. and Adem, A.). The cDNA encoding the muscarinic toxin has been compared with those encoding other snake toxins. There are close similarities with short-chain curaremimetic neurotoxins.

Analysis of the individual contributions of immunoglobulin heavy and light chains to the binding of antigen using cell transfection and plasmon resonance analysis.

We have cloned the Tg10 murine monoclonal antibody, which is specific for a human thyroglobulin (hTg) epitope targeted by autoantibodies in several thyroid pathologies. Transfection of COS-7 cells with plasmids expressing Tg10H and -kappa chains combined with surface plasmon resonance analysis (BIAcore) of culture supernatants showed that the entire cloned Tg10 antibody displays an affinity comparable to that of the parental antibody. This approach also permitted determination of the probable role of each chain to the recognition of the cognate epitope due to the ability of COS-7 cells to secrete independently each of the two constituting immunoglobulin chains. Tg10 heavy chain recognizes hTg in the absence of the light chain, but with a ten-fold lower affinity mainly due to an increase in kappaoff. In contrast, the light chain is unable to bind hTg on its own. This suggests that the latter is probably involved in stabilization rather than in initiating the formation of the antibody/antigen complex and that the specificity of Tg10 is mostly, if not exclusively, carried by the heavy chain. The potential applications of combined cell transfection and surface plasmon resonance to our understanding of antigen/antibody interactions are discussed.

A recombinant snake neurotoxin generated by chemical cleavage of a hybrid protein recovers full biological properties

We previously reported the production of a fused snake neurotoxin composed of protein A and erabutoxin a in E. coli [1]. The hybrid had much lower toxicity and affinity for the acetylcholine nicotinic receptor than natural erabutoxin. By treating the hybrid with cyanogen bromide we generated a toxin which was purified in a single step by RP‐HPLC. This compound, produced in a good yield, recovered all properties of native erabutoxin a, implying that the lower toxic activities of the hybrid were due to the bulky protein A and not to an incorrect folding of the toxin. This work serves as a basis for future studies of toxin‐receptor interactions using engineered toxin mutants.