Quantitative Evaluation of Viral Protein Binding to Phosphoinositide Receptors and Pharmacological Inhibition

Selective Recognition of Phosphatidylinositol Phosphate Receptors by C-Terminal Tail of Mitotic Kinesin-like Protein 2 (MKlp2)

The mitotic kinesin-like protein 2 (MKlp2) plays a key role in the proper completion of cytokinetic abscission. Specifically, the C-terminal tail of MKlp2 (CTM peptides) offers a stable tethering on the plasma membrane and microtubule cytoskeleton in the midbody during abscission. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism of how the CTM peptides bind to the plasma membrane of the intercellular bridge. Herein, we identify the specific molecular interaction between the CTM peptides and phosphatidylinositol phosphate (PIP) receptors using quartz crystal microbalance-dissipation and atomic force microscopy force spectroscopic measurements. To systematically examine the effects of amino acids, we designed a series of synthetic 33-mer peptides derived from the wild-type (CTM1). First, we evaluated the peptide binding amount caused by electrostatic interactions based on 100% zwitterionic and 30% negatively charged model membranes, whereby the nonspecific attractions were nearly proportional to the net charge of peptides. Upon incubating with PIP-containing model membranes, the wild-type CTM1 and its truncated mutation showed significant PI(3)P-specific binding, which was evidenced by a 15-fold higher binding mass and 6-fold stronger adhesion force compared to other negatively charged membranes. The extent of the specific binding was predominantly dependent on the existence of S21, whereby substitution or deletion of S21 significantly hindered the binding affinity. Taken together, our findings based on a correlative measurement platform enabled the quantification of the nonelectrostatic, selective binding interactions of the C-terminal of MKlp2 to certain PIP receptors and contributed to understanding the molecular mechanisms on complete cytokinetic abscission in cells.

Regulatory Role of Phospholipids in Hepatitis C Virus Replication and Protein Function

Positive-strand RNA viruses such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) hijack key factors of lipid metabolism of infected cells and extensively modify intracellular membranes to support the viral lifecycle. While lipid metabolism plays key roles in viral particle assembly and maturation, viral RNA synthesis is closely linked to the remodeling of intracellular membranes. The formation of viral replication factories requires a number of interactions between virus proteins and host factors including lipids. The structure-function relationship of those proteins is influenced by their lipid environments and lipids that selectively modulate protein function. Here, we review our current understanding on the roles of phospholipids in HCV replication and of lipid-protein interactions in the structure-function relationship of the NS5A protein. NS5A is a key factor in membrane remodeling in HCV-infected cells and is known to recruit phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase III alpha to generate phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate at the sites of replication. The dynamic interplay between lipids and viral proteins within intracellular membranes is likely key towards understanding basic mechanisms in the pathobiology of virus diseases, the mode of action of specific antiviral agents and related drug resistance mechanisms.

Interaction of vascular endothelial growth factor and heparin quantified by single molecule force spectroscopy

Heparin, as an effective anticoagulant, has been increasingly used in clinical practice, but the binding characteristics and influence of exogenous heparin on heparin-affinity proteins in the body are still unclear. Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) is a kind of protein with heparin affinity involved in the pathogenesis and progression of many angiogenesis-dependent diseases including cancer. As an important step in the angiogenesis-related cascade, it is necessary to clarify the interaction between VEGF165 (the major form of VEGF-A) and heparin. In this work, we investigated this interaction based on single molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. From the SMFS study, binding forces between VEGF165 and heparin at different loading rates were quantified under near-physiological conditions. Meanwhile, the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the VEGF165/heparin complex dissociation process were also obtained. Results of MD simulation visually displayed the most likely binding conformation of VEGF165/heparin* complex, indicating that hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interaction play a positive role in the binding between the two molecules. This work provides a new insight into the binding between VEGF165 and heparin and offers a research framework to study the interaction between heparin and multiple heparin affinity proteins, which is helpful for guiding the safe application of heparin in the clinic.

Exploring Interactions of Aptamers with Aβ40 Amyloid Aggregates and Its Application: Detection of Amyloid Aggregates

The exhaustive investigating interactions between recognition probes and amyloid aggregates, especially simultaneous recognition events, are challenging and crucial for the design of biosensing probes and further diagnosis of amyloid diseases. In the present work, the interactions of aptamers (Apts) with β-amyloid (Aβ) aggregates were explored thoroughly by single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS). Indeed, it was found that the interaction of aptamer1 (Apt1)-amyloid aggregates was different from that of aptamer2 (Apt2)-Aβ₄₀ aggregates at the single-molecule level. Especially, the interaction force of Apt1-Aβ₄₀ fibril showed a double distinguishing Gaussian fitting. The only unimodal distribution of the force histogram was displayed for the interactions of Apt2-Aβ₄₀ oligomer, Apt2-Aβ₄₀ fibril, and Apt1-Aβ₄₀ oligomer. More intriguingly, two Apts could bind to amyloid aggregates simultaneously. With the assistance of two Apts recognition, a novel sensitive dual Apt-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor using Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) was developed for quantifying Aβ₄₀ aggregates. The dual Apt-based SPR sensor not only avoided the limitation of steric hindrance and epitope but also employed simple operation as well as inexpensive recognition probes. A detection limit as low as 0.2 pM for Aβ₄₀ oligomer and 0.05 pM for Aβ₄₀ fibril could be achieved. Moreover, the established sensor could be successfully applied to detect Aβ₄₀ aggregates in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and undiluted real CSF. This work could provide a strategy to monitor a simultaneous recognition event using SMFS and broaden the application of Apts in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases.