Yuetian Yan

Fast Photochemical Oxidation of Proteins (FPOP) Maps the Epitope of EGFR Binding to Adnectin

AbstractEpitope mapping is an important tool for the development of monoclonal antibodies, mAbs, as therapeutic drugs. Recently, a class of therapeutic mAb alternatives, adnectins, has been developed as targeted biologics. They are derived from the 10th type III domain of human fibronectin (10Fn3). A common approach to map the epitope binding of these therapeutic proteins to their binding partners is X-ray crystallography. Although the crystal structure is known for Adnectin 1 binding to human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), we seek to determine complementary binding in solution and to test the efficacy of footprinting for this purpose. As a relatively new tool in structural biology and complementary to X-ray crystallography, protein footprinting coupled with mass spectrometry is promising for protein–protein interaction studies. We report here the use of fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP) coupled with MS to map the epitope of EGFR-Adnectin 1 at both the peptide and amino-acid residue levels. The data correlate well with the previously determined epitopes from the crystal structure and are consistent with HDX MS data, which are presented in an accompanying paper. The FPOP-determined binding interface involves various amino-acid and peptide regions near the N terminus of EGFR. The outcome adds credibility to oxidative labeling by FPOP for epitope mapping and motivates more applications in the therapeutic protein area as a stand-alone method or in conjunction with X-ray crystallography, NMR, site-directed mutagenesis, and other orthogonal methods. Figureᅟ

Isomerization and Oxidation in the Complementarity-Determining Regions of a Monoclonal Antibody: A Study of the Modification–Structure–Function Correlations by Hydrogen–Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry

Chemical modifications can potentially change monoclonal antibodys (mAb) local or global conformation and therefore impact their efficacy as therapeutic drugs. Modifications in the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) are especially important because they can impair the binding affinity of an antibody for its target and therefore drug potency as a result. In order to understand the impact on mAb attributes induced by specific chemical modifications within the CDR, hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX MS) was used to interrogate the conformational impact of Asp isomerization and Met oxidation in the CDRs of a model monoclonal antibody (mAb1). Our results indicate that despite their proximity to each other, Asp54 isomerization and Met56 oxidation in CDR2 in the heavy chain of mAb1 result in opposing conformational impacts on the local and nearby regions, leading directly to different alterations on antibody-antigen binding affinity. This study revealed direct evidence of local and global conformational changes caused by two of the most common degradation pathways in the CDRs of a mAb and identified correlations between chemical modification, structure, and function of the therapeutic monoclonal antibody.

Mass Spectrometry Combinations for Structural Characterization of Sulfated-Steroid Metabolites

AbstractSteroid conjugates, which often occur as metabolites, are challenging to characterize. One application is female-mouse urine, where steroid conjugates serve as important ligands for the pheromone-sensing neurons. Although the two with the highest abundance in mouse urine were previously characterized with mass spectrometry (MS) and NMR to be sulfated steroids, many more exist but remain structurally unresolved. Given that their physical and chemical properties are similar, they are likely to have a sulfated steroid ring structure. Because these compounds occur in trace amounts in mouse urine and elsewhere, their characterization by NMR will be difficult. Thus, MS methods become the primary approach for determining structure. Here, we show that a combination of MS tools is effective for determining the structures of sulfated steroids. Using 4-pregnene analogs, we explored high-resolving power MS (HR-MS) to determine chemical formulae; HD exchange MS (HDX-MS) to determine number of active, exchangeable hydrogens (e.g., OH groups); methoxyamine hydrochloride (MOX) derivatization MS, or reactive desorption electrospray ionization with hydroxylamine to determine the number of carbonyl groups; and tandem MS (MSn), high-resolution tandem MS (HRMS/MS), and GC-MS to obtain structural details of the steroid ring. From the fragmentation studies, we deduced three major fragmentation rules for this class of sulfated steroids. We also show that a combined MS approach is effective for determining structure of steroid metabolites, with important implications for targeted metabolomics in general and for the study of mouse social communication in particular. Figureᅟ

“De-novo” amino acid sequence elucidation of protein G′e by combined “Top-Down” and “Bottom-Up” mass spectrometry

AbstractMass spectrometric de-novo sequencing was applied to review the amino acid sequence of a commercially available recombinant protein G´ with great scientific and economic importance. Substantial deviations to the published amino acid sequence (Uniprot Q54181) were found by the presence of 46 additional amino acids at the N-terminus, including a so-called “His-tag” as well as an N-terminal partial α-N-gluconoylation and α-N-phosphogluconoylation, respectively. The unexpected amino acid sequence of the commercial protein G′ comprised 241 amino acids and resulted in a molecular mass of 25,998.9 ± 0.2 Da for the unmodified protein. Due to the higher mass that is caused by its extended amino acid sequence compared with the original protein G′ (185 amino acids), we named this protein “protein G′e.” By means of mass spectrometric peptide mapping, the suggested amino acid sequence, as well as the N-terminal partial α-N-gluconoylations, was confirmed with 100% sequence coverage. After the protein G′e sequence was determined, we were able to determine the expression vector pET-28b from Novagen with the Xho I restriction enzyme cleavage site as the best option that was used for cloning and expressing the recombinant protein G′e in E. coli. A dissociation constant (Kd) value of 9.4 nM for protein G′e was determined thermophoretically, showing that the N-terminal flanking sequence extension did not cause significant changes in the binding affinity to immunoglobulins. Graphical Abstractᅟ

Analysis of SecA dimerization in solution.

The Sec pathway mediates translocation of protein across the inner membrane of bacteria. SecA is a motor protein that drives translocation of preprotein through the SecYEG channel. SecA reversibly dimerizes under physiological conditions, but different dimer interfaces have been observed in SecA crystal structures. Here, we have used biophysical approaches to address the nature of the SecA dimer that exists in solution. We have taken advantage of the extreme salt sensitivity of SecA dimerization to compare the rates of hydrogen–deuterium exchange of the monomer and dimer and have analyzed the effects of single-alanine substitutions on dimerization affinity. Our results support the antiparallel dimer arrangement observed in one of the crystal structures of Bacillus subtilis SecA. Additional residues lying within the preprotein binding domain and the C-terminus are also protected from exchange upon dimerization, indicating linkage to a conformational transition of the preprotein binding domain from an open to a closed state. In agreement with this interpretation, normal mode analysis demonstrates that the SecA dimer interface influences the global dynamics of SecA such that dimerization stabilizes the closed conformation.