The ABC exporter IrtAB imports and reduces mycobacterial siderophores.

Intracellular replication of the deadly pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis relies on the production of small organic molecules called siderophores that scavenge iron from host proteins1. M. tuberculosis produces two classes of siderophore, lipid-bound mycobactin and water-soluble carboxymycobactin2,3. Functional studies have revealed that iron-loaded carboxymycobactin is imported into the cytoplasm by the ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter IrtAB4, which features an additional cytoplasmic siderophore interaction domain5. However, the predicted ABC exporter fold of IrtAB is seemingly contradictory to its import function. Here we show that membrane-reconstituted IrtAB is sufficient to import mycobactins, which are then reduced by the siderophore interaction domain to facilitate iron release. Structure determination by X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy not only confirms that IrtAB has an ABC exporter fold, but also reveals structural peculiarities at the transmembrane region of IrtAB that result in a partially collapsed inward-facing substrate-binding cavity. The siderophore interaction domain is positioned in close proximity to the inner membrane leaflet, enabling the reduction of membrane-inserted mycobactin. Enzymatic ATPase activity and in vivo growth assays show that IrtAB has a preference for mycobactin over carboxymycobactin as its substrate. Our study provides insights into an unusual ABC exporter that evolved as highly specialized siderophore-import machinery in mycobacteria.

Deep mutational scan of a drug efflux pump reveals its structure-function landscape.

Drug efflux is a common resistance mechanism found in bacteria and cancer cells, but studies providing comprehensive functional insights are scarce. In this study, we performed deep mutational scanning (DMS) on the bacterial ABC transporter EfrCD to determine the drug efflux activity profile of more than 1,430 single variants. These systematic measurements revealed that the introduction of negative charges at different locations within the large substrate binding pocket results in strongly increased efflux activity toward positively charged ethidium, whereas additional aromatic residues did not display the same effect. Data analysis in the context of an inward-facing cryogenic electron microscopy structure of EfrCD uncovered a high-affinity binding site, which releases bound drugs through a peristaltic transport mechanism as the transporter transits to its outward-facing conformation. Finally, we identified substitutions resulting in rapid Hoechst influx without affecting the efflux activity for ethidium and daunorubicin. Hence, single mutations can convert EfrCD into a drug-specific ABC importer.

Biparatopic sybodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and mitigate drug resistance.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented global health crisis. Here, we report the identification of a synthetic nanobody (sybody) pair, Sb#15 and Sb#68, that can bind simultaneously to the SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD and efficiently neutralize pseudotyped and live viruses by interfering with ACE2 interaction. Cryo-EM confirms that Sb#15 and Sb#68 engage two spatially discrete epitopes, influencing rational design of bispecific and tri-bispecific fusion constructs that exhibit up to 100- and 1,000-fold increase in neutralization potency, respectively. Cryo-EM of the sybody-spike complex additionally reveals a novel up-out RBD conformation. While resistant viruses emerge rapidly in the presence of single binders, no escape variants are observed in the presence of the bispecific sybody. The multivalent bispecific constructs further increase the neutralization potency against globally circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Our study illustrates the power of multivalency and biparatopic nanobody fusions for the potential development of therapeutic strategies that mitigate the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 escape mutants.

Spin-labeled nanobodies as protein conformational reporters for electron paramagnetic resonance in cellular membranes.

Nanobodies are emerging tools in a variety of fields such as structural biology, cell imaging, and drug discovery. Here we pioneer the use of their spin-labeled variants as reporters of conformational dynamics of membrane proteins using DEER spectroscopy. At the example of the bacterial ABC transporter TM287/288, we show that two gadolinium-labeled nanobodies allow us to quantify, via analysis of the modulation depth of DEER traces, the fraction of transporters adopting the outward-facing state under different experimental conditions. Additionally, we quantitatively follow the interconversion from the outward- to the inward-facing state in the conformational ensemble under ATP turnover conditions. We finally show that the specificity of the nanobodies for the target protein allows the direct attainment of structural information on the wild-type TM287/288 expressed in cellular membranes without the need to purify or label the investigated membrane protein.

Engineered peptide barcodes for in-depth analyses of binding protein libraries.

Binding protein generation typically relies on laborious screening cascades that process candidate molecules individually. We have developed NestLink, a binder selection and identification technology able to biophysically characterize thousands of library members at once without the need to handle individual clones at any stage of the process. NestLink uses genetically encoded barcoding peptides termed flycodes, which were designed for maximal detectability by mass spectrometry and support accurate deep sequencing. We demonstrate NestLink's capacity to overcome the current limitations of binder-generation methods in three applications. First, we show that hundreds of binder candidates can be simultaneously ranked according to kinetic parameters. Next, we demonstrate deep mining of a nanobody immune repertoire for membrane protein binders, carried out entirely in solution without target immobilization. Finally, we identify rare binders against an integral membrane protein directly in the cellular environment of a human pathogen. NestLink opens avenues for the selection of tailored binder characteristics directly in tissues or in living organisms.

The structure of the Legionella response regulator LqsR reveals amino acids critical for phosphorylation and dimerization.

The water-borne bacterium Legionella pneumophila replicates in environmental protozoa and upon inhalation destroys alveolar macrophages, thus causing a potentially fatal pneumonia termed 'Legionnaires' disease'. L. pneumophila employs the Legionella quorum sensing (Lqs) system to control its life cycle, pathogen-host cell interactions, motility and natural competence. Signaling through the Lqs system occurs through the α-hydroxyketone compound Legionella autoinducer-1 (LAI-1) and converges on the prototypic response regulator LqsR, which dimerizes upon phosphorylation of the conserved aspartate, D108 . In this study, we determine the high-resolution structure of monomeric LqsR. The structure reveals a receiver domain adopting a canonical (ßα)5 fold, which is connected through an additional sixth helix and an extended α5-helix to a novel output domain. The two domains delineate a mainly positively charged groove, and the output domain adopts a five-stranded antiparallel ß-sheet fold similar to nucleotide-binding proteins. Structure-based mutagenesis identified amino acids critical for LqsR phosphorylation and dimerization. Upon phosphorylation, the LqsRD172A and LqsRD302N/E303Q mutant proteins dimerized even more readily than wild-type LqsR, and no evidence for semi-phosphorylated heterodimers was obtained. Taken together, the high-resolution structure of LqsR reveals functionally relevant amino acid residues implicated in signal transduction of the prototypic response regulator.

Atomistic Mechanism of Large-Scale Conformational Transition in a Heterodimeric ABC Exporter.

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are ATP-driven molecular machines, in which ATP binding and hydrolysis in the nucleotide-binding domains (NBDs) is chemomechanically coupled to large-scale, alternating access conformational changes in the transmembrane domains (TMDs), ultimately leading to the translocation of substrates across biological membranes. The precise nature of the structural dynamics behind the large-scale conformational transition as well as the coupling of NBD and TMD motions is still unresolved. In this work, we combine all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to unravel the atomic-level mechanism of the dynamic conformational transitions underlying the functional working cycle of the heterodimeric ABC exporter TM287/288. Extensive multimicrosecond simulations in an explicit membrane/water environment show how in response to ATP binding, TM287/288 undergoes spontaneous conformational transitions from the inward-facing (IF) state via an occluded (Occ) intermediate to an outward-facing (OF) state. The latter two states have thus far not been characterized at atomic level. ATP-induced tightening of the NBD dimer involves closing and reorientation of the two NBD monomers concomitant with a closure of the intracellular TMD gate, which leads to the occluded state. Subsequently, opening at the extracellular TMD gate yields the OF conformer. The obtained mechanism imposes NBD-TMD coupling via a tight orchestration of conformational transitions, between both the two domains and also within the TMDs, ensuring that the cytoplasmic and periplasmic gate regions are never open simultaneously.

Structural basis for triacylglyceride extraction from mycobacterial inner membrane by MFS transporter Rv1410.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is protected from antibiotic therapy by a multi-layered hydrophobic cell envelope. Major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporter Rv1410 and the periplasmic lipoprotein LprG are involved in transport of triacylglycerides (TAGs) that seal the mycomembrane. Here, we report a 2.7 Å structure of a mycobacterial Rv1410 homologue, which adopts an outward-facing conformation and exhibits unusual transmembrane helix 11 and 12 extensions that protrude ~20 Å into the periplasm. A small, very hydrophobic cavity suitable for lipid transport is constricted by a functionally important ion-lock likely involved in proton coupling. Combining mutational analyses and MD simulations, we propose that TAGs are extracted from the core of the inner membrane into the central cavity via lateral clefts present in the inward-facing conformation. The functional role of the periplasmic helix extensions is to channel the extracted TAG into the lipid binding pocket of LprG.

Mechanistic basis of choline import involved in teichoic acids and lipopolysaccharide modification.

Phosphocholine molecules decorating bacterial cell wall teichoic acids and outer-membrane lipopolysaccharide have fundamental roles in adhesion to host cells, immune evasion, and persistence. Bacteria carrying the operon that performs phosphocholine decoration synthesize phosphocholine after uptake of the choline precursor by LicB, a conserved transporter among divergent species. Streptococcus pneumoniae is a prominent pathogen where phosphocholine decoration plays a fundamental role in virulence. Here, we present cryo-electron microscopy and crystal structures of S. pneumoniae LicB, revealing distinct conformational states and describing architectural and mechanistic elements essential to choline import. Together with in vitro and in vivo functional characterization, we found that LicB displays proton-coupled import activity and promiscuous selectivity involved in adaptation to choline deprivation conditions, and describe LicB inhibition by synthetic nanobodies (sybodies). Our results provide previously unknown insights into the molecular mechanism of a key transporter involved in bacterial pathogenesis and establish a basis for inhibition of the phosphocholine modification pathway across bacterial phyla.

Allosteric modulation of LRRC8 channels by targeting their cytoplasmic domains.

Members of the LRRC8 family form heteromeric assemblies, which function as volume-regulated anion channels. These modular proteins consist of a transmembrane pore and cytoplasmic leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domains. Despite their known molecular architecture, the mechanism of activation and the role of the LRR domains in this process has remained elusive. Here we address this question by generating synthetic nanobodies, termed sybodies, which target the LRR domain of the obligatory subunit LRRC8A. We use these binders to investigate their interaction with homomeric LRRC8A channels by cryo-electron microscopy and the consequent effect on channel activation by electrophysiology. The five identified sybodies either inhibit or enhance activity by binding to distinct epitopes of the LRR domain, thereby altering channel conformations. In combination, our work provides a set of specific modulators of LRRC8 proteins and reveals the role of their cytoplasmic domains as regulators of channel activity by allosteric mechanisms.

Kinetic mechanism of Na+-coupled aspartate transport catalyzed by GltTk.

It is well-established that the secondary active transporters GltTk and GltPh catalyze coupled uptake of aspartate and three sodium ions, but insight in the kinetic mechanism of transport is fragmentary. Here, we systematically measured aspartate uptake rates in proteoliposomes containing purified GltTk, and derived the rate equation for a mechanism in which two sodium ions bind before and another after aspartate. Re-analysis of existing data on GltPh using this equation allowed for determination of the turnover number (0.14 s-1), without the need for error-prone protein quantification. To overcome the complication that purified transporters may adopt right-side-out or inside-out membrane orientations upon reconstitution, thereby confounding the kinetic analysis, we employed a rapid method using synthetic nanobodies to inactivate one population. Oppositely oriented GltTk proteins showed the same transport kinetics, consistent with the use of an identical gating element on both sides of the membrane. Our work underlines the value of bona fide transport experiments to reveal mechanistic features of Na+-aspartate symport that cannot be observed in detergent solution. Combined with previous pre-equilibrium binding studies, a full kinetic mechanism of structurally characterized aspartate transporters of the SLC1A family is now emerging.

A synthetic nanobody targeting RBD protects hamsters from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-191, features a receptor-binding domain (RBD) for binding to the host cell ACE2 protein1-6. Neutralizing antibodies that block RBD-ACE2 interaction are candidates for the development of targeted therapeutics7-17. Llama-derived single-domain antibodies (nanobodies, ~15 kDa) offer advantages in bioavailability, amenability, and production and storage owing to their small sizes and high stability. Here, we report the rapid selection of 99 synthetic nanobodies (sybodies) against RBD by in vitro selection using three libraries. The best sybody, MR3 binds to RBD with high affinity (KD = 1.0 nM) and displays high neutralization activity against SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses (IC50 = 0.42 µg mL-1). Structural, biochemical, and biological characterization suggests a common neutralizing mechanism, in which the RBD-ACE2 interaction is competitively inhibited by sybodies. Various forms of sybodies with improved potency have been generated by structure-based design, biparatopic construction, and divalent engineering. Two divalent forms of MR3 protect hamsters from clinical signs after live virus challenge and a single dose of the Fc-fusion construct of MR3 reduces viral RNA load by 6 Log10. Our results pave the way for the development of therapeutic nanobodies against COVID-19 and present a strategy for rapid development of targeted medical interventions during an outbreak.

An improved fluorescent tag and its nanobodies for membrane protein expression, stability assay, and purification.

Green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) are widely used to monitor membrane protein expression, purification, and stability. An ideal reporter should be stable itself and provide high sensitivity and yield. Here, we demonstrate that a coral (Galaxea fascicularis) thermostable GFP (TGP) is by such reasons an improved tag compared to the conventional jellyfish GFPs. TGP faithfully reports membrane protein stability at temperatures near 90 °C (20-min heating). By contrast, the limit for the two popular GFPs is 64 °C and 74 °C. Replacing GFPs with TGP increases yield for all four test membrane proteins in four expression systems. To establish TGP as an affinity tag for membrane protein purification, several high-affinity synthetic nanobodies (sybodies), including a non-competing pair, are generated, and the crystal structure of one complex is solved. Given these advantages, we anticipate that TGP becomes a widely used tool for membrane protein structural studies.

Generation of synthetic nanobodies against delicate proteins.

Here, we provide a protocol to generate synthetic nanobodies, known as sybodies, against any purified protein or protein complex within a 3-week period. Unlike methods that require animals for antibody generation, sybody selections are carried out entirely in vitro under controlled experimental conditions. This is particularly relevant for the generation of conformation-specific binders against labile membrane proteins or protein complexes and allows selections in the presence of non-covalent ligands. Sybodies are especially suited for cases where binder generation via immune libraries fails due to high sequence conservation, toxicity or insufficient stability of the target protein. The procedure entails a single round of ribosome display using the sybody libraries encoded by mRNA, followed by two rounds of phage display and binder identification by ELISA. The protocol is optimized to avoid undesired reduction in binder diversity and enrichment of non-specific binders to ensure the best possible selection outcome. Using the efficient fragment exchange (FX) cloning method, the sybody sequences are transferred from the phagemid to different expression vectors without the need to amplify them by PCR, which avoids unintentional shuffling of complementary determining regions. Using quantitative PCR (qPCR), the efficiency of each selection round is monitored to provide immediate feedback and guide troubleshooting. Our protocol can be carried out by any trained biochemist or molecular biologist using commercially available reagents and typically gives rise to 10-30 unique sybodies exhibiting binding affinities in the range of 500 pM-500 nM.

Biotinylation of Membrane Proteins for Binder Selections.

The selective immobilization of proteins represents an essential step in the selection of binding proteins such as antibodies. The immobilization strategy determines how the target protein is presented to the binders and thereby directly affects the experimental outcome. This poses specific challenges for membrane proteins due to their inherent lack of stability and limited exposed hydrophilic surfaces. Here we detail methodologies for the selective immobilization of membrane proteins based on the strong biotin-avidin interaction and with a specific focus on its application for the selection of nanobodies and sybodies. We discuss the challenges in generating and benefits of obtaining an equimolar biotin to target-protein ratio.

The extracellular gate shapes the energy profile of an ABC exporter.

ABC exporters harness the energy of ATP to pump substrates across membranes. Extracellular gate opening and closure are key steps of the transport cycle, but the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. Here, we generated a synthetic single domain antibody (sybody) that recognizes the heterodimeric ABC exporter TM287/288 exclusively in the presence of ATP, which was essential to solve a 3.2 Å crystal structure of the outward-facing transporter. The sybody binds to an extracellular wing and strongly inhibits ATPase activity by shifting the transporter's conformational equilibrium towards the outward-facing state, as shown by double electron-electron resonance (DEER). Mutations that facilitate extracellular gate opening result in a comparable equilibrium shift and strongly reduce ATPase activity and drug transport. Using the sybody as conformational probe, we demonstrate that efficient extracellular gate closure is required to dissociate the NBD dimer after ATP hydrolysis to reset the transporter back to its inward-facing state.

Structural insights into Legionella RidL-Vps29 retromer subunit interaction reveal displacement of the regulator TBC1D5.

Legionella pneumophila can cause Legionnaires' disease and replicates intracellularly in a distinct Legionella-containing vacuole (LCV). LCV formation is a complex process that involves a plethora of type IV-secreted effector proteins. The effector RidL binds the Vps29 retromer subunit, blocks retrograde vesicle trafficking, and promotes intracellular bacterial replication. Here, we reveal that the 29-kDa N-terminal domain of RidL (RidL2-281) adopts a "foot-like" fold comprising a protruding ß-hairpin at its "heel". The deletion of the ß-hairpin, the exchange to Glu of Ile170 in the ß-hairpin, or Leu152 in Vps29 abolishes the interaction in eukaryotic cells and in vitro. RidL2-281 or RidL displace the Rab7 GTPase-activating protein (GAP) TBC1D5 from the retromer and LCVs, respectively, and TBC1D5 promotes the intracellular growth of L. pneumophila. Thus, the hydrophobic ß-hairpin of RidL is critical for binding of the L. pneumophila effector to the Vps29 retromer subunit and displacement of the regulator TBC1D5.