Functional Profiling of Antibody Immune Repertoires in Convalescent Zika Virus Disease Patients.

The re-emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV) caused widespread infections that were linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults and congenital malformation in fetuses, and epidemiological data suggest that ZIKV infection can induce protective antibody responses. A more detailed understanding of anti-ZIKV antibody responses may lead to enhanced antibody discovery and improved vaccine designs against ZIKV and related flaviviruses. Here, we applied recently-invented library-scale antibody screening technologies to determine comprehensive functional molecular and genetic profiles of naturally elicited human anti-ZIKV antibodies in three convalescent individuals. We leveraged natively paired antibody yeast display and NGS to predict antibody cross-reactivities and coarse-grain antibody affinities, to perform in-depth immune profiling of IgM, IgG, and IgA antibody repertoires in peripheral blood, and to reveal virus maturation state-dependent antibody interactions. Repertoire-scale comparison of ZIKV VLP-specific and non-specific antibodies in the same individuals also showed that mean antibody somatic hypermutation levels were substantially influenced by donor-intrinsic characteristics. These data provide insights into antiviral antibody responses to ZIKV disease and outline systems-level strategies to track human antibody immune responses to emergent viral infections.

Siroheme synthase orients substrates for dehydrogenase and chelatase activities in a common active site.

Siroheme is the central cofactor in a conserved class of sulfite and nitrite reductases that catalyze the six-electron reduction of sulfite to sulfide and nitrite to ammonia. In Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, siroheme is produced by a trifunctional enzyme, siroheme synthase (CysG). A bifunctional active site that is distinct from its methyltransferase activity catalyzes the final two steps, NAD+-dependent dehydrogenation and iron chelation. How this active site performs such different chemistries is unknown. Here, we report the structures of CysG bound to precorrin-2, the initial substrate; sirohydrochlorin, the dehydrogenation product/chelation substrate; and a cobalt-sirohydrochlorin product. We identified binding poses for all three tetrapyrroles and tested the roles of specific amino acids in both activities to give insights into how a bifunctional active site catalyzes two different chemistries and acts as an iron-specific chelatase in the final step of siroheme synthesis.

NADPH-dependent sulfite reductase flavoprotein adopts an extended conformation unique to this diflavin reductase.

This is the first X-ray crystal structure of the monomeric form of sulfite reductase (SiR) flavoprotein (SiRFP-60) that shows the relationship between its major domains in an extended position not seen before in any homologous diflavin reductases. Small angle neutron scattering confirms this novel domain orientation also occurs in solution. Activity measurements of SiR and SiRFP variants allow us to propose a novel mechanism for electron transfer from the SiRFP reductase subunit to its oxidase metalloenzyme partner that, together, make up the SiR holoenzyme. Specifically, we propose that SiR performs its 6-electron reduction via intramolecular or intermolecular electron transfer. Our model explains both the significance of the stoichiometric mismatch between reductase and oxidase subunits in the holoenzyme and how SiR can handle such a large volume electron reduction reaction that is at the heart of the sulfur bio-geo cycle.

The role of extended Fe4S4 cluster ligands in mediating sulfite reductase hemoprotein activity.

The siroheme-containing subunit from the multimeric hemoflavoprotein NADPH-dependent sulfite reductase (SiR/SiRHP) catalyzes the six electron-reduction of SO32- to S2-. Siroheme is an iron-containing isobacteriochlorin that is found in sulfite and homologous siroheme-containing nitrite reductases. Siroheme does not work alone but is covalently coupled to a Fe4S4 cluster through one of the cluster's ligands. One long-standing hypothesis predicted from this observation is that the environment of one iron-containing cofactor influences the properties of the other. We tested this hypothesis by identifying three amino acids (F437, M444, and T477) that interact with the Fe4S4 cluster and probing the effect of altering them to alanine on the function and structure of the resulting enzymes by use of activity assays, X-ray crystallographic analysis, and EPR spectroscopy. We showed that F437 and M444 gate access for electron transfer to the siroheme-cluster assembly and the direct hydrogen bond between T477 and one of the cluster sulfides is important for determining the geometry of the siroheme active site.

The N-terminal Domain of Escherichia coli Assimilatory NADPH-Sulfite Reductase Hemoprotein Is an Oligomerization Domain That Mediates Holoenzyme Assembly.

Assimilatory NADPH-sulfite reductase (SiR) from Escherichia coli is a structurally complex oxidoreductase that catalyzes the six-electron reduction of sulfite to sulfide. Two subunits, one a flavin-binding flavoprotein (SiRFP, the α subunit) and the other an iron-containing hemoprotein (SiRHP, the ß subunit), assemble to make a holoenzyme of about 800 kDa. How the two subunits assemble is not known. The iron-rich cofactors in SiRHP are unique because they are a covalent arrangement of a Fe4S4 cluster attached through a cysteine ligand to an iron-containing porphyrinoid called siroheme. The link between cofactor biogenesis and SiR stability is also ill-defined. By use of hydrogen/deuterium exchange and biochemical analysis, we show that the α8ß4 SiR holoenzyme assembles through the N terminus of SiRHP and the NADPH binding domain of SiRFP. By use of small angle x-ray scattering, we explore the structure of the SiRHP N-terminal oligomerization domain. We also report a novel form of the hemoprotein that occurs in the absence of its cofactors. Apo-SiRHP forms a homotetramer, also dependent on its N terminus, that is unable to assemble with SiRFP. From these results, we propose that homotetramerization of apo-SiRHP serves as a quality control mechanism to prevent formation of inactive holoenzyme in the case of limiting cellular siroheme.

Screening and characterization of anti-SEB peptides using a bacterial display library and microfluidic magnetic sorting.

Bacterial peptide display libraries enable the rapid and efficient selection of peptides that have high affinity and selectivity toward their targets. Using a 15-mer random library on the outer surface of Escherichia coli (E.coli), high-affinity peptides were selected against a staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) protein after four rounds of biopanning. On-cell screening analysis of affinity and specificity were measured by flow cytometry and directly compared to the synthetic peptide, off-cell, using peptide-ELISA. DNA sequencing of the positive clones after four rounds of microfluidic magnetic sorting (MMS) revealed a common consensus sequence of (S/T)CH(Y/F)W for the SEB-binding peptides R338, R418, and R445. The consensus sequence in these bacterial display peptides has similar amino acid characteristics with SEB peptide sequences isolated from phage display. The Kd measured by peptide-ELISA off-cell was 2.4 nM for R418 and 3.0 nM for R445. The bacterial peptide display methodology using the semiautomated MMS resulted in the discovery of selective peptides with affinity for a food safety and defense threat. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.