Topochemistry for preparing ligands that dimerize receptors

X-ray crystallographic studies of streptavidin mutants binding to biotin

On the basis of high resolution crystallographic studies of streptavidin and its biotin complex, three principal binding motifs have been identified that contribute to the tight binding. A flexible binding loop can undergo a conformational change from an open to a closed form when biotin is bound. Additional studies described here of unbound wild-type streptavidin have provided structural views of the open conformation. Several tryptophan residues packing around the bound biotin constitute the second binding motif, one dominated by hydrophobic interactions. Mutation of these residues to alanine or phenylalanine have variable effects on the thermodynamics and kinetics of binding, but they generate only small changes in the molecular structure. Hydrogen bonding interactions also contribute significantly to the binding energetics of biotin, and the D128A mutation which breaks a hydrogen bond between the protein and a ureido NH group results in a significant structural alteration that could mimic an intermediate on the dissociation pathway. In this review, we summarize the structural aspects of biotin recognition that have been gained from crystallographic analyses of wild-type and site-directed streptavidin mutants.

Streptavidin-binding and -dimerizing ligands discovered by phage display, topochemistry, and structure-based design

Structural and mechanistic determinants of affinity of streptavidin-binding peptide ligands discovered by phage display are reviewed along with the use of streptavidin as a paradigm for structure-based design. A novel way of producing protein-dimerizing ligands in the streptavidin model system is discussed, in which crystal packing topochemically mediates or even catalyzes dimerization of adjacent bound ligands whose reactive ligating groups are presented toward one another in productive orientations in the crystal lattice. Finally, through crystallography on a set of streptavidin complexes with small molecule and peptide ligands at multiple pHs in two space groups, the mechanism by which ligands enhance intersubunit stabilization of the streptavidin tetramer is probed.

Binding of biotin to streptavidin stabilizes intersubunit salt bridges between Asp61 and His87 at low pH

The remarkable stability of the streptavidin tetramer towards subunit dissociation becomes even greater upon binding of biotin. At two equivalent extensive monomer-monomer interfaces, monomers tightly associate into dimers that in turn associate into the tetramer at a less extensive dimer-dimer interface. To probe the structural basis for the enhancement of the stability of streptavidin by biotin, the crystal structures of apostreptavidin and its complexes with biotin and other small molecule and cyclic peptide ligands were determined and compared at resolutions as high as 1.36 A over a range of pH values from as low as 1.39. At low pH dramatic changes occur in the conformation and intersubunit hydrogen bonds involving the loop comprising Asp61 to Ser69. The hydrogen-bonded salt bridge between Asp61 Odelta2 and His87 Ndelta1, observed at higher pH, is replaced with a strong hydrogen bond between Asp61 Odelta1 and Asn85 Odelta1. Through crystallography at multiple pH values, the pH where this conformational change occurs, and thus the pKa of Asp61, was determined in crystals of space group I222 and/or I4122 of apostreptavidin and complexes. A range in pKa values for Asp61 was observed in these structures, the lowest being 1.78+/-0.19 for I222 streptavidin-biotin in 2.9 M (NH4)2SO4. At low pH the decrease in pKa of Asp61 and preservation of the intersubunit Asp61 Odelta2-Ndelta1 His87 hydrogen-bonded salt bridge in streptavidin-biotin versus apostreptavidin or streptavidin-peptide complexes is associated with an ordering of the flexible flap comprising residues Ala46 to Glu51, that in turn orders the Arg84 side-chain of a neighboring loop through resulting hydrogen bonds. Ordering of Arg84 in close proximity to the strong intersubunit interface appears to stabilize the conformation associated with the Asp61 Odelta2-Ndelta1 His87 hydrogen-bonded salt bridge. Thus, in addition to the established role of biotin in tetramer stabilization by direct mediation of intersubunit interactions at the weak interface through contact with Trp120, biotin may enhance tetramer stability at the strong interface more indirectly by ordering loop residues.

Structural studies of the streptavidin binding loop

The streptavidin-biotin complex provides the basis for many important biotechnological applications and is an interesting model system for studying high-affinity protein-ligand interactions. We report here crystallographic studies elucidating the conformation of the flexible binding loop of streptavidin (residues 45 to 52) in the unbound and bound forms. The crystal structures of unbound streptavidin have been determined in two monoclinic crystal forms. The binding loop generally adopts an open conformation in the unbound species. In one subunit of one crystal form, the flexible loop adopts the closed conformation and an analysis of packing interactions suggests that protein-protein contacts stabilize the closed loop conformation. In the other crystal form all loops adopt an open conformation. Co-crystallization of streptavidin and biotin resulted in two additional, different crystal forms, with ligand bound in all four binding sites of the first crystal form and biotin bound in only two subunits in a second. The major change associated with binding of biotin is the closure of the surface loop incorporating residues 45 to 52. Residues 49 to 52 display a 3(10) helical conformation in unbound subunits of our structures as opposed to the disordered loops observed in other structure determinations of streptavidin. In addition, the open conformation is stabilized by a beta-sheet hydrogen bond between residues 45 and 52, which cannot occur in the closed conformation. The 3(10) helix is observed in nearly all unbound subunits of both the co-crystallized and ligand-free structures. An analysis of the temperature factors of the binding loop regions suggests that the mobility of the closed loops in the complexed structures is lower than in the open loops of the ligand-free structures. The two biotin bound subunits in the tetramer found in the MONO-b1 crystal form are those that contribute Trp 120 across their respective binding pockets, suggesting a structural link between these binding sites in the tetramer. However, there are no obvious signatures of binding site communication observed upon ligand binding, such as quaternary structure changes or shifts in the region of Trp 120. These studies demonstrate that while crystallographic packing interactions can stabilize both the open and closed forms of the flexible loop, in their absence the loop is open in the unbound state and closed in the presence of biotin. If present in solution, the helical structure in the open loop conformation could moderate the entropic penalty associated with biotin binding by contributing an order-to-disorder component to the loop closure.

In crystals of complexes of streptavidin with peptide ligands containing the HPQ sequence the pKa of the peptide histidine is less than 3.0

The pH dependences of the affinities for streptavidin of linear and cyclic peptide ligands containing the HPQ sequence discovered by phage display were determined by plasmon resonance measurements. At pH values ranging from 3.0 to 9.0, the Kd values for Ac-AEFSHPQNTIEGRK-NH2, cyclo-Ac-AE[CHPQGPPC]IEGRK-NH2, and cyclo-Ac-AE[CHPQFC]IEGRK-NH2, were determined by competition, and those for cyclo-[5-S-valeramide-HPQGPPC]K-NH2 were determined directly by equilibrium affinity measurements. The Kd values of the ligands increase by an average factor of 3.0 +/- 0.8 per decrease in pH unit between pH approximately 4.5 and pH approximately 6.3. Below pH approximately 4.5 there is a smaller increase in Kd values, and above pH approximately 6.3 the Kd values become relatively pH-independent. We determined the crystal structures of complexes of streptavidin with cyclo-[5-S-valeramide-HPQGPPC]K-NH2 at pH 1.5, 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5, with cyclo-Ac-[CHPQFC]-NH2 at pH 2.0, 3.0, 3.6, 4.2, 4.8, and 11.8, with cyclo-Ac-[CHPQGPPC]-NH2 at pH 2.5, 2.9, and 3.7, and with FSHPQNT at pH 4.0 and compared the structures with one another and with those previously determined at other pH values. At pH values from 3.0 to 11.8, the electron density for the peptide His side chain is strong, flat, and well defined. A hydrogen bond between the Ndelta1 atom of the His and the peptide Gln amide group indicates the His of the bound peptide in the crystals is uncharged at pH >/= 3.0. By determining selected structures in two different space groups, I222 with two crystallographically inequivalent ligand sites and I4122 with one site, we show that below pH approximately 3.0, the pKa of the bound peptide His in the crystals is influenced by crystal packing interactions. The presence of the Ndelta1His-NGln hydrogen bond along with pH dependences of the peptide affinities suggest that deprotonation of the peptide His is required for high affinity binding of HPQ-containing peptides to streptavidin both in the crystals and in solution.

Structural and mechanistic determinants of affinity and specificity of ligands discovered or engineered by phage display

The scope and utility of phage display is reviewed with emphasis on medical applications and structure-based ligand and drug design, from literature mostly after 1994. General principles by which phage-displayed peptides achieve affinity and selectivity for targets are described, along with selected structural or mechanistic studies of the binding of peptides or proteins discovered or engineered by phage display. Such engineered proteins whose wild-type or mutant crystal or 2D-NMR structures yield insight about the basis for enhanced affinity or altered specificity include antibodies, zinc fingers, human growth hormone, protein A, and atrial natriuretic peptide. Structures of complexes of de novo phage-discovered peptide ligands with targets such as the Src SH3 domain, streptavidin, and erythropoietin receptor reveal the structural basis for receptor-peptide recognition in these systems.

Topochemical catalysis achieved by structure-based ligand design

Recently, a cyclic peptide ligand, cyclo-Ac-[CHPQG-PPC]-NH2, that binds to streptavidin with high affinity was discovered by screening phage libraries. From the streptavidin-bound crystal structures of cyclo-Ac-[CHPQGPPC]-NH2 and of a related but more weakly binding linear ligand, FSHPQNT, we designed linear thiol-containing streptavidin binding ligands, FCH-PQNT-NH2 and Ac-CHPQNT-NH2, which are dimerized catalytically by the streptavidin crystal lattice of space group I222, as demonstrated by high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. The catalytic dimerization relies on presentation of the ligand thiols toward one another in the lattice. The streptavidin crystal lattice-mediated catalysis achieved by structure-based design is the first example of catalysis of a chemical reaction by a protein crystal lattice. The spontaneous and crystal catalyzed rates of disulfide formation were determined by high performance liquid chromatography at pH 3.1, 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0. The ratio of the catalyzed to uncatalyzed rate was maximal at pH 3.1 (kcat/kuncat = 3.8), diminishing to 1.2 at pH 6.0. The crystal structures of the streptavidin-bound dimerized peptide ligands, FCHPQNT-NH2 dimer at 1.95 A and Ac-CHPQNT-NH2 dimer at 1.80 A, are described and compared with the structures of streptavidin-bound FSHPQNT monomer and cyclo-Ac-[CHPQGPPC]-NH2 dimer.