Recognition of an α-helical hairpin in P22 large terminase by a synthetic antibody fragment.

Authors

Ravi K Lokareddy, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Ying Hui Ko, Thomas Jefferson University HospitalFollow
Nathaniel Hong, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Steven G Doll, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Marcin Paduch, University of Chicago
Michael Niederweis, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Anthony A Kossiakoff, University of Chicago
Gino Cingolani, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2020

Comments

This is the authors' final copy of the article published in Acta Crystallographica Section D Structural Biology, 2020, Volume 76, Pt 9, pages 876-888

The publised version of the article can be found at http://doi.org/10.1107/S2059798320009912

Published by the International Union of Crystallograthe

Abstract

The genome-packaging motor of tailed bacteriophages and herpesviruses is a multisubunit protein complex formed by several copies of a large (TerL) and a small (TerS) terminase subunit. The motor assembles transiently at the portal protein vertex of an empty precursor capsid to power the energy-dependent packaging of viral DNA. Both the ATPase and nuclease activities associated with genome packaging reside in TerL. Structural studies of TerL from bacteriophage P22 have been hindered by the conformational flexibility of this enzyme and its susceptibility to proteolysis. Here, an unbiased, synthetic phage-display Fab library was screened and a panel of high-affinity Fabs against P22 TerL were identified. This led to the discovery of a recombinant antibody fragment, Fab4, that binds a 33-amino-acid α-helical hairpin at the N-terminus of TerL with an equilibrium dissociation constant Kd of 71.5 nM. A 1.51 Å resolution crystal structure of Fab4 bound to the TerL epitope (TLE) together with a 1.15 Å resolution crystal structure of the unliganded Fab4, which is the highest resolution ever achieved for a Fab, elucidate the principles governing the recognition of this novel helical epitope. TLE adopts two different conformations in the asymmetric unit and buries as much as 1250 Å2 of solvent-accessible surface in Fab4. TLE recognition is primarily mediated by conformational changes in the third complementarity-determining region of the Fab4 heavy chain (CDR H3) that take place upon epitope binding. It is demonstrated that TLE can be introduced genetically at the N-terminus of a target protein, where it retains high-affinity binding to Fab4.

Recommended Citation

Lokareddy, Ravi K; Ko, Ying Hui; Hong, Nathaniel; Doll, Steven G; Paduch, Marcin; Niederweis, Michael; Kossiakoff, Anthony A; and Cingolani, Gino, "Recognition of an α-helical hairpin in P22 large terminase by a synthetic antibody fragment." (2020). Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers. Paper 171.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/bmpfp/171

PubMed ID

32876063

Language

English