Rapid discovery and evolution of nanosensors containing fluorogenic amino acids

Binding-activated optical sensors are powerful tools for imaging, diagnostics, and biomolecular sensing. However, biosensor discovery is slow and requires tedious steps in rational design, screening, and characterization. Here we report on a platform that streamlines biosensor discovery and unlocks directed nanosensor evolution through genetically encodable fluorogenic amino acids (FgAAs). Building on the classical knowledge-based semisynthetic approach, we engineer ~15 kDa nanosensors that recognize specific proteins, peptides, and small molecules with up to 100-fold fluorescence increases and subsecond kinetics, allowing real-time and wash-free target sensing and live-cell bioimaging. An optimized genetic code expansion chemistry with FgAAs further enables rapid (~3 h) ribosomal nanosensor discovery via the cell-free translation of hundreds of candidates in parallel and directed nanosensor evolution with improved variant-specific sensitivities (up to ~250-fold) for SARS-CoV-2 antigens. Altogether, this platform could accelerate the discovery of fluorogenic nanosensors and pave the way to modify proteins with other non-standard functionalities for diverse applications.

Engineering repeat proteins of the immune system

Limitations associated with immunoglobulins have motivated the search for novel binding scaffolds. Repeat proteins have emerged as one promising class of scaffolds, but often are limited to binding protein and peptide targets. An exception is the repeat proteins of the immune system, which have in recent years served as an inspiration for binding scaffolds which can bind glycans and other classes of biomolecule. Like other repeat proteins, these proteins can be very stable and have a monomeric mode of binding, with elongated and highly variable binding surfaces. The ability to target glycans and glycoproteins fill an important gap in current tools for research and biomedical applications.

Nano and Microsensors for Mammalian Cell Studies

This review presents several sensors with dimensions at the nano- and micro-scale used for biological applications. Two types of cantilever beams employed as highly sensitive temperature sensors with biological applications will be presented. One type of cantilever beam is fabricated from composite materials and is operated in the deflection mode. In order to achieve the high sensitivity required for detection of heat generated by a single mammalian cell, the cantilever beam temperature sensor presented in this review was microprocessed with a length at the microscale and a thickness in the nanoscale dimension. The second type of cantilever beam presented in this review was operated in the resonant frequency regime. The working principle of the vibrating cantilever beam temperature sensor is based on shifts in resonant frequency in response to temperature variations generated by mammalian cells. Besides the cantilever beam biosensors, two biosensors based on the electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) used to monitor mammalian cells attachment and viability will be presented in this review. These ECIS sensors have dimensions at the microscale, with the gold films used for electrodes having thickness at the nanoscale. These micro/nano biosensors and their mammalian cell applications presented in the review demonstrates the diversity of the biosensor technology and applications.

Advances in the Application of Designed Ankyrin Repeat Proteins (DARPins) as Research Tools and Protein Therapeutics

Nonimmunoglobulin scaffolds have been developed to overcome the limitations of monoclonal antibodies with regard to stability and size. Of these scaffolds, the class of designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPins) has advanced the most in biochemical and biomedical applications. This review focuses on the recent progress in DARPin technology, highlighting the scaffold's potential and possibilities.

Design Principles for SuCESsFul Biosensors: Specific Fluorophore/Analyte Binding and Minimization of Fluorophore/Scaffold Interactions

Quantifying protein location and concentration is critical for understanding function in situ. Scaffold conjugated to environment-sensitive fluorophore (SuCESsFul) biosensors, in which a reporting fluorophore is conjugated to a binding scaffold, can, in principle, detect analytes of interest with high temporal and spatial resolution. However, their adoption has been limited due to the extensive empirical screening required for their development. We sought to establish design principles for this class of biosensor by characterizing over 400 biosensors based on various protein analytes, binding proteins, and fluorophores. We found that the brightest readouts are attained when a specific binding pocket for the fluorophore is present on the analyte. Also, interaction of the fluorophore with the binding protein it is conjugated to can raise background fluorescence, considerably limiting sensor dynamic range. Exploiting these two concepts, we designed biosensors that attain a 100-fold increase in fluorescence upon binding to analyte, an order of magnitude improvement over the previously best-reported SuCESsFul biosensor. These design principles should facilitate the development of improved SuCESsFul biosensors.

Generation of Fluorogen-Activating Designed Ankyrin Repeat Proteins (FADAs) as Versatile Sensor Tools

Fluorescent probes constitute a valuable toolbox to address a variety of biological questions and they have become irreplaceable for imaging methods. Commonly, such probes consist of fluorescent proteins or small organic fluorophores coupled to biological molecules of interest. Recently, a novel class of fluorescence-based probes, fluorogen-activating proteins (FAPs), has been reported. These binding proteins are based on antibody single-chain variable fragments and activate fluorogenic dyes, which only become fluorescent upon activation and do not fluoresce when free in solution. Here we present a novel class of fluorogen activators, termed FADAs, based on the very robust designed ankyrin repeat protein scaffold, which also readily folds in the reducing environment of the cytoplasm. The FADA generated in this study was obtained by combined selections with ribosome display and yeast surface display. It enhances the fluorescence of malachite green (MG) dyes by a factor of more than 11,000 and thus activates MG to a similar extent as FAPs based on single-chain variable fragments. As shown by structure determination and in vitro measurements, this FADA was evolved to form a homodimer for the activation of MG dyes. Exploiting the favorable properties of the designed ankyrin repeat protein scaffold, we created a FADA biosensor suitable for imaging of proteins on the cell surface, as well as in the cytosol. Moreover, based on the requirement of dimerization for strong fluorogen activation, a prototype FADA biosensor for in situ detection of a target protein and protein-protein interactions was developed. Therefore, FADAs are versatile fluorescent probes that are easily produced and suitable for diverse applications and thus extend the FAP technology.

From fluorescence polarization to Quenchbody: Recent progress in fluorescent reagentless biosensors based on antibody and other binding proteins

Recently, antibody-based fluorescent biosensors are receiving considerable attention as a suitable biomolecule for diagnostics, namely, homogeneous immunoassay and also as an imaging probe. To date, several strategies for "reagentless biosensors" based on antibodies and natural and engineered binding proteins have been described. In this review, several approaches are introduced including a recently described fluorescent antibody-based biosensor Quenchbody, which works on the principle of fluorescence quenching of attached dye and its antigen-dependent release. The merits and possible demerits of each approach are discussed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Recent advances in molecular engineering of antibody.

Equilibrium and dynamic design principles for binding molecules engineered for reagentless biosensors

Reagentless biosensors rely on the interaction of a binding partner and its target to generate a change in fluorescent signal using an environment-sensitive fluorophore or Förster resonance energy transfer. Binding affinity can exert a significant influence on both the equilibrium and the dynamic response characteristics of such a biosensor. We here develop a kinetic model for the dynamic performance of a reagentless biosensor. Using a sinusoidal signal for ligand concentration, our findings suggest that it is optimal to use a binding moiety whose equilibrium dissociation constant matches that of the average predicted input signal, while maximizing both the association rate constant and the dissociation rate constant at the necessary ratio to create the desired equilibrium constant. Although practical limitations constrain the attainment of these objectives, the derivation of these design principles provides guidance for improved reagentless biosensor performance and metrics for quality standards in the development of biosensors. These concepts are broadly relevant to reagentless biosensor modalities.

Knowledge-based design of a biosensor to quantify localized ERK activation in living cells

Investigation of protein activation in living cells is fundamental to understanding how proteins are influenced by the full complement of upstream regulators they experience. Here, we describe the generation of a biosensor based on the DARPin binding scaffold suited for intracellular applications. Combining library selection and knowledge-based design, we created an ERK activity biosensor by derivatizing a DARPin specific for phosphorylated ERK with a solvatochromatic merocyanine dye, whose fluorescence increases upon pERK binding. The biosensor specifically responded to pERK2, recognized by its conformation, but not to ERK2 or other closely related mitogen-activated kinases tested. Activated endogenous ERK was visualized in mouse embryo fibroblasts, revealing greater activation in the nucleus, perinuclear regions, and especially the nucleoli. The DARPin-based biosensor will serve as a useful tool for studying biological functions of ERK in vitro and in vivo.

A hot-spot motif characterizes the interface between a designed ankyrin-repeat protein and its target ligand

Nonantibody scaffolds such as designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPins) can be rapidly engineered to detect diverse target proteins with high specificity and offer an attractive alternative to antibodies. Using molecular simulations, we predicted that the binding interface between DARPin off7 and its ligand (maltose binding protein; MBP) is characterized by a hot-spot motif in which binding energy is largely concentrated on a few amino acids. To experimentally test this prediction, we fused MBP to a transmembrane domain to properly orient the protein into a polymer-cushioned lipid bilayer, and characterized its interaction with off7 using force spectroscopy. Using this, to our knowledge, novel technique along with surface plasmon resonance, we validated the simulation predictions and characterized the effects of select mutations on the kinetics of the off7-MBP interaction. Our integrated approach offers scientific insights on how the engineered protein interacts with the target molecule.

Quantitation of protein-protein interactions by thermal stability shift analysis

Thermal stability shift analysis is a powerful method for examining binding interactions in proteins. We demonstrate that under certain circumstances, protein-protein interactions can be quantitated by monitoring shifts in thermal stability using thermodynamic models and data analysis methods presented in this work. This method relies on the determination of protein stabilities from thermal unfolding experiments using fluorescent dyes such as SYPRO Orange that report on protein denaturation. Data collection is rapid and straightforward using readily available real-time polymerase chain reaction instrumentation. We present an approach for the analysis of the unfolding transitions corresponding to each partner to extract the affinity of the interaction between the proteins. This method does not require the construction of a titration series that brackets the dissociation constant. In thermal shift experiments, protein stability data are obtained at different temperatures according to the affinity- and concentration-dependent shifts in unfolding transition midpoints. Treatment of the temperature dependence of affinity is, therefore, intrinsic to this method and is developed in this study. We used the interaction between maltose-binding protein (MBP) and a thermostable synthetic ankyrin repeat protein (Off7) as an experimental test case because their unfolding transitions overlap minimally. We found that MBP is significantly stabilized by Off7. High experimental throughput is enabled by sample parallelization, and the ability to extract quantitative binding information at a single partner concentration. In a single experiment, we were able to quantify the affinities of a series of alanine mutants, covering a wide range of affinities (∼ 100 nM to ∼ 100 μM).

Reagentless fluorescent biosensors from artificial families of antigen binding proteins

Antibodies and artificial families of antigen binding proteins (AgBP) are constituted by a connected set of hypervariable (or randomized) residue positions, supported by a constant polypeptide backbone. The residues that form the binding site for a given antigen, are selected among the hypervariable residues. We showed that it is possible to transform any AgBP of these families into a reagentless fluorescent biosensor, specific of the target antigen, simply by coupling a solvatochromic fluorophore to one of the hypervariable residues that have little or no importance for the interaction with the antigen, after changing this residue into cysteine by mutagenesis. We validated this approach with a DARPin (Designed Ankyrin Repeat Protein) and a Nanofitin (also known as Affitin) with high success rates. Reagentless fluorescent biosensors recognize their antigen in an immediate, quantitative, selective and specific way, without any manipulation of the sample to analyze or addition of reagent.