Binding Mode Of Peptide Research Articles

Evolvability of the mode of peptide binding by an RNA

The HIV Rev-response element (RRE) RNA binds strongly to two unrelated peptides, the HIV Rev peptide and an RRE-binding aptamer, the RSG-1.2 peptide, at a similar site, but using distinct sets of interactions. In this study, the nucleotide base requirements for the binding of the RRE to the Rev and RSG-1.2 peptides were determined by selection of Rev- and RSG-1.2-binding RRE variants using a bacterial reporter system. As a result, distinct differences in the bases necessary for binding the two peptides were found in the upper stem of the RRE. Strikingly, single nucleotide changes in this region were found to switch the peptide-binding specificity of the RRE from a bifunctional Rev- and RSG-1.2-binding mode to either a Rev-specific or a RSG-1.2- specific mode, demonstrating how an RNA can evolve alternative binding strategies in discrete steps without intermediate loss of function. This evolvability of the mode of peptide binding by an RNA presumably reflects the multidimensionality of conformational space that a given RNA has available for ligand recognition, which may have been utilized in the evolution of RNA-polypeptide complexes.

Structure of the p53 Binding Domain of HAUSP/USP7 Bound to Epstein-Barr Nuclear Antigen 1: Implications for EBV-Mediated Immortalization

USP7/HAUSP is a key regulator of p53 and Mdm2 and is targeted by the Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1) protein of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). We have determined the crystal structure of the p53 binding domain of USP7 alone and bound to an EBNA1 peptide. This domain is an eight-stranded beta sandwich similar to the TRAF-C domains of TNF-receptor associated factors, although the mode of peptide binding differs significantly from previously observed TRAF-peptide interactions in the sequence (DPGEGPS) and the conformation of the bound peptide. NMR chemical shift analyses of USP7 bound by EBNA1 and p53 indicated that p53 binds the same pocket as EBNA1 but makes less extensive contacts with USP7. Functional studies indicated that EBNA1 binding to USP7 can protect cells from apoptotic challenge by lowering p53 levels. The data provide a structural and conceptual framework for understanding how EBNA1 might contribute to the survival of Epstein-Barr virus-infected cells.

Plasticity within the Antigen-Combining Site May Manifest as Molecular Mimicry in the Humoral Immune Response

Structural and physiological facets of carbohydrate-peptide mimicry were addressed by analyzing the Ab response to alpha-d-mannopyranoside. mAbs against alpha-d-mannopyranoside were generated and screened with the carbohydrate-mimicking 12 mer (DVFYPYPYASGS) peptide. Three mAbs, 2D10, 1H11, and 1H7, which were subjected to detailed analysis, exhibit diverse V gene usage, indicating their independent germline origins. Although the mAb 1H7 was specific in binding only to the immunizing Ag, the Abs 2D10 and 1H11 recognize the 12 mer peptide as well as the immunogen, alpha-d-mannopyranoside. The Abs that recognize mimicry appear to bind to a common epitope on the peptide and do not share the mode of peptide binding with Con A. Binding kinetics and thermodynamics of Ag recognition suggest that the Ab that does not recognize peptide-carbohydrate mimicry probably has a predesigned mannopyranoside-complementing site. In contrast, the mimicry-recognizing Abs adopt the Ag-combining site only on exposure to the sugar, exploiting the conformational flexibility in the CDRs. Although the mAb 1H7 showed unique specificity toward mannopyranoside, the mimicry-recognizing Abs 2D10 and 1H11 exhibited degenerate specificities with regard to other sugar moieties. It is proposed that the degeneracy of specificity arising from the plasticity at the Ag-combining site in a subset of the Ab clones may be responsible for exhibiting molecular mimicry in the context of Ab response.

The Crystal Structure of Helicobacter Cysteine-rich Protein C at 2.0 Å Resolution: Similar Peptide-binding Sites in TPR and SEL1-like Repeat Proteins

Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative human pathogen that infects the gastric mucosa and causes an inflammatory process leading to gastritis, ulceration and cancer. Bacterial cell-surface and secreted proteins often play an important role in pathogen–host interactions and are thought to be selective mediators for the pathology of the infection. The Helicobacter cysteine-rich proteins (Hcp) represent a large family of secreted proteins that seem to be specific for microorganisms from the ε-subfamily of proteobacteria. Although significantly elevated levels of anti-Hcp antibodies were observed in many patients infected with H.pylori, details on the biological functions of Hcp proteins are sparse. Hcps belong to a large family of Sel1-like multi-repeat proteins. The crystal structure of HcpC was refined at 2.0Å resolution and revealed a super-helical topology composed of seven disulfide bridged α/α-repeats, an N-terminal capping helix and an extended C-terminal coil consisting of alternating hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues. In the crystal packing, the C-terminal coil interacts with the concave surface of a symmetry-related HcpC super-helix. A hydrophobic pocket and a cluster of negatively charged residues recognize the side-chains of Val290 and Lys287 from the C-terminal coil, respectively. The peptide nitrogen atom of His291 forms a short hydrogen bond with the side-chain of Asn66. The interactions seen in this crystal contact are strikingly similar to the peptide-binding modes of the Hsp70/Hsp90 organizing protein and the PEX5 receptor. The conservation of the peptide-binding mode suggests that HcpC might recognize its binding partner in a similar way.

The Crystal Structure of Helicobacter Cysteine-rich Protein C at 2.0p Resolution: Similar Peptide-binding Sites in TPR and SEL1-like Repeat Proteins

Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative human pathogen that infects the gastric mucosa and causes an inflammatory process leading to gastritis, ulceration and cancer. Bacterial cell-surface and secreted proteins often play an important role in pathogen–host interactions and are thought to be selective mediators for the pathology of the infection. The Helicobacter cysteine-rich proteins (Hcp) represent a large family of secreted proteins that seem to be specific for microorganisms from the ε-subfamily of proteobacteria. Although significantly elevated levels of anti-Hcp antibodies were observed in many patients infected with H. pylori, details on the biological functions of Hcp proteins are sparse. Hcps belong to a large family of Sel1-like multi-repeat proteins. The crystal structure of HcpC was refined at 2.0 Å resolution and revealed a super-helical topology composed of seven disulfide bridged α/α-repeats, an N-terminal capping helix and an extended C-terminal coil consisting of alternating hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues. In the crystal packing, the C-terminal coil interacts with the concave surface of a symmetry-related HcpC super-helix. A hydrophobic pocket and a cluster of negatively charged residues recognize the side-chains of Val290 and Lys287 from the C-terminal coil, respectively. The peptide nitrogen atom of His291 forms a short hydrogen bond with the side-chain of Asn66. The interactions seen in this crystal contact are strikingly similar to the peptide-binding modes of the Hsp70/Hsp90 organizing protein and the PEX5 receptor. The conservation of the peptide-binding mode suggests that HcpC might recognize its binding partner in a similar way.

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The Molecular Basis of FHA Domain:Phosphopeptide Binding Specificity and Implications for Phospho-Dependent Signaling Mechanisms

Forkhead-associated (FHA) domains are a class of ubiquitous signaling modules that appear to function through interactions with phosphorylated target molecules. We have used oriented peptide library screening to determine the optimal phosphopeptide binding motifs recognized by several FHA domains, including those within a number of DNA damage checkpoint kinases, and determined the X-ray structure of Rad53p-FHA1, in complex with a phospho-threonine peptide, at 1.6 Å resolution. The structure reveals a striking similarity to the MH2 domains of Smad tumor suppressor proteins and reveals a mode of peptide binding that differs from SH2, 14-3-3, or PTB domain complexes. These results have important implications for DNA damage signaling and CHK2-dependent tumor suppression, and they indicate that FHA domains play important and unsuspected roles in S/T kinase signaling mechanisms in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

Peptides, antibodies, and FRET on beads in flow cytometry: A model system using fluoresceinated and biotinylated β‐endorphin

Background: Particulate surfaces such as beads are routinely used as platforms for molecular assembly for fundamental and practical applications in flow cytometry. Molecular assembly is transduced as the direct analysis of fluorescence, or as a result of fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Binding of fluorescent ligands to beads sometimes alters their emission yield relative to the unbound ligands. Characterizing the physical basis of factors that regulate the fluorescence yield of bound fluorophores (on beads) is a necessary step toward their rational use as mediators of numerous fluorescence based applications. Methods: We have examined the binding between two biotinylated and fluoresceinated β-endorphin peptides and commercial streptavidin beads using flow cytometric analysis. We have analyzed the assembly between a specific monoclonal antibody and an endorphin peptide in solution using resonance energy transfer and compared the results on beads in flow cytometry using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence. Results: We have defined conditions for binding biotinylated and fluoresceinated endorphin peptides to beads. These measurements suggest that the peptide structure can influence both the intensity of fluorescence and the mode of peptide binding on the bead surface. We have defined conditions for binding antibody to the bead using biotinylated protein A. We compared and contrasted the interactions between the fluoresceinated endorphin peptide and the rhodamine- labeled antibody. In solution we measure a Kd of <38 nM by resonance energy transfer and on beads 22 nM. Discussion: Some issues important to the modular assembly of a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) based sensing scheme have been resolved. The affinity of peptides used herein is a function of their solubility in water, and the emission intensity of the bound species depends on the separation distance between the fluorescein and the biotin moiety. This is due to the quasi-specific quenching interaction between the fluorescein and a proximal binding pocket of streptavidin. Detection of antibodies in solution and on beads either by FRET or capture of fluorescent ligands by dark antibodies subsequently enables the determination of Kd values, which indicate agreement between solution and flow cytometric determinations. Cytometry 37:21–31, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Peptides, antibodies, and FRET on beads in flow cytometry: A model system using fluoresceinated and biotinylated ?-endorphin

Particulate surfaces such as beads are routinely used as platforms for molecular assembly for fundamental and practical applications in flow cytometry. Molecular assembly is transduced as the direct analysis of fluorescence, or as a result of fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Binding of fluorescent ligands to beads sometimes alters their emission yield relative to the unbound ligands. Characterizing the physical basis of factors that regulate the fluorescence yield of bound fluorophores (on beads) is a necessary step toward their rational use as mediators of numerous fluorescence based applications. We have examined the binding between two biotinylated and fluoresceinated beta-endorphin peptides and commercial streptavidin beads using flow cytometric analysis. We have analyzed the assembly between a specific monoclonal antibody and an endorphin peptide in solution using resonance energy transfer and compared the results on beads in flow cytometry using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence. We have defined conditions for binding biotinylated and fluoresceinated endorphin peptides to beads. These measurements suggest that the peptide structure can influence both the intensity of fluorescence and the mode of peptide binding on the bead surface. We have defined conditions for binding antibody to the bead using biotinylated protein A. We compared and contrasted the interactions between the fluoresceinated endorphin peptide and the rhodamine- labeled antibody. In solution we measure a K(d) of <38 nM by resonance energy transfer and on beads 22 nM. Some issues important to the modular assembly of a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) based sensing scheme have been resolved. The affinity of peptides used herein is a function of their solubility in water, and the emission intensity of the bound species depends on the separation distance between the fluorescein and the biotin moiety. This is due to the quasi-specific quenching interaction between the fluorescein and a proximal binding pocket of streptavidin. Detection of antibodies in solution and on beads either by FRET or capture of fluorescent ligands by dark antibodies subsequently enables the determination of K(d) values, which indicate agreement between solution and flow cytometric determinations.

Structural Features Impose Tight Peptide Binding Specificity in the Nonclassical MHC Molecule HLA-E

The crystal structure of the nonclassical human class Ib MHC molecule HLA-E has been determined in complex with a prototypic ligand, the nonamer peptide (VMAPRTVLL), derived from the highly conserved residues 3–11 of the human MHC class Ia leader sequence. The mode of peptide binding retains some of the standard features observed in MHC class Ia complexes, but novel features imply that HLA-E has evolved to mediate specific binding to a tightly defined set of almost identical hydrophobic peptides from the highly conserved class I leader sequences. These molecular adaptations make HLA-E a rigorous checkpoint at the cell surface reporting on the integrity of the antigen processing pathway to CD94/NKG2 receptor–bearing natural killer cells.

Sequence-specific recognition of the internalization motif of the Alzheimer's amyloid precursor protein by the X11 PTB domain.

The crystal structure of the phosphotyrosine-binding domain (PTB) of the X11 protein has been determined, in complex with unphosphorylated peptides corresponding to a region of beta-amyloid precursor protein (betaAPP) that is required for receptor internalization. The mode of binding to X11 of the unphosphorylated peptides, which contain an NPxY motif, resembles that of phosphorylated peptides bound to the Shc and IRS-1 PTB domains. Eight peptide residues make specific contacts with the X11 PTB domain, and they collectively achieve high affinity (KD = 0.32 microM) and specificity. These results suggest that, in contrast to the SH2 domains, the PTB domains are primarily peptide-binding domains that have, in some cases, acquired specificity for phosphorylated tyrosines.

Modes of peptide binding in G protein-coupled receptors.

The G-protein coupled seven transmembrane domain receptors bind a wide variety of ligands of different molecular size ranging from small monoamines to large neuropeptides and peptide hormones. This review summarises data from studies on the localisation of the binding site for a few neuropeptides in their receptors and compares this to the binding pockets for non peptide ligands. The main conclusion is that neuropeptide binding involves residues on the top of several transmembrane domains and in extracellular loops of the receptors while the non peptide type ligands to the same receptors tend to bind deeper in the plane of the membrane, between several transmembrane domains--similarly to monoamines. Thus the antagonism exerted by most of the non peptide type ligands is an allosteric phenomenon whereby binding of these to another site than the peptide binding site stablises a "non agonist" binding, and for signalling inactive, conformation of the 7 TM receptor.

T cell receptor and peptide-contacting residues in the HLA-DR17(3) beta 1 chain.

Previously, we have proposed that the beta 1 residues 9-13, 26, 28 and 86 in HLA-DR17, the most common subtype of DR3, might be critical for the binding of an immunodominant, mycobacterial epitope (peptide 3-13 of the 65-kDa heat shock protein). In order to examine directly (i) which DR17 residues are involved in peptide binding, (ii) whether the same or other DR17 residues are involved in the binding of different peptides, and (iii) whether subtle differences in the mode of peptide binding can influence T cell stimulation, we have now systematically mutated 15 highly polymorphic DR17 beta 1 residues, located in the proposed peptide binding groove of DR17, and examined the effect thereof on binding and presentation of two peptides, hsp65 p3-13 and p56-65 of the 30/31-kDa secreted mycobacterial protein. Mutations in residues 28 (D-->H) and 86 (V-->G) completely eliminated binding of p3-13 and significantly reduced binding of p56-65. A mutation in residue 26 (Y-->F) decreased binding of p3-13 but did not affect binding of p56-65. Substitutions of amino acid residues 28, 67, 71 and 86 in the DR17 beta 1 chain abrogated peptide-specific stimulation of both the p3-13- and the p56-65-specific T cell clones, while specific stimulation by only one peptide was eliminated by substitution at positions 26 and 74 (p3-13) and by substitution of residues 11 and 37 (p56-65). The observation that substitution of several other peptide-contacting DR17 beta 1 chain residues does not significantly affect peptide binding but does affect T cell stimulation, suggests that these substitutions alter the conformation of the bound peptide.

Phosphopeptide binding to the N-terminal SH2 domain of the p85 alpha subunit of PI 3'-kinase: a heteronuclear NMR study.

The N-terminal src-homology 2 domain of the p85 alpha subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3' kinase (SH2-N) binds specifically to phosphotyrosine-containing sequences. Notably, it recognizes phosphorylated Tyr 751 within the kinase insert of the cytoplasmic domain of the activated beta PDGF receptor. A titration of a synthetic 12-residue phosphopeptide (ESVDY*VPMLDMK) into a solution of the SH2-N domain was monitored using heteronuclear 2D and 3D NMR spectroscopy. 2D-(15N-1H) heteronuclear single-quantum correlation (HSQC) experiments were performed at each point of the titration to follow changes in both 15N and 1H chemical shifts in NH groups. When mapped onto the solution structure of the SH2-N domain, these changes indicate a peptide-binding surface on the protein. Line shape analysis of 1D profiles of individual (15N-1H)-HSQC peaks at each point of the titration suggests a kinetic exchange model involving at least 2 steps. To characterize changes in the internal dynamics of the domain, the magnitude of the (15N-1H) heteronuclear NOE for the backbone amide of each residue was determined for the SH2-N domain with and without bound peptide. These data indicate that, on a nanosecond timescale, there is no significant change in the mobility of either loops or regions of secondary structure. A mode of peptide binding that involves little conformational change except in the residues directly involved in the 2 binding pockets of the p85 alpha SH2-N domain is suggested by this study.

Crystal structure of the human class II MHC protein HLA-DR1 complexed with an influenza virus peptide.

An influenza virus peptide binds to HLA-DR1 in an extended conformation with a pronounced twist. Thirty-five per cent of the peptide surface is accessible to solvent and potentially available for interaction with the antigen receptor on T cells. Pockets in the peptide-binding site accommodate five of the thirteen side chains of the bound peptide, and explain the peptide specificity of HLA-DR1. Twelve hydrogen bonds between conserved HLA-DR1 residues and the main chain of the peptide provide a universal mode of peptide binding, distinct from the strategy used by class I histocompatibility proteins.

Structure of the product complex of acetyl-Ala-Pro-Ala with porcine pancreatic elastase at 1.65 Å resolution

A single crystal of porcine pancreatic elastase was mounted in a thin-walled capillary and allowed to react with acetyl-Ala-Pro-Ala-paranitroanalide. Diffraction data to 1.65 Å resolution were measured and the isomorphous structure was solved from the difference Fourier map. The structure contains two surprises. 1. (1) Two molecules of the product: acetyl-Ala-Pro-Ala molecule are bound in the extended binding site. 2. (2) Both molecules are bound backwards with respect to the established mode of peptide binding.