Detailseite
Projekt Druckansicht

How phage fd uses prolyl isomerization and partial unfolding to activate its gene-3-protein for infection

Fachliche Zuordnung Biochemie
Förderung Förderung von 2004 bis 2015
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 5423444
 
Erstellungsjahr 2015

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

The infection of E. coli by filamentous phages is a two-step process mediated by the gene-3-protein (G3P) located at the tip of the phage. First, G3P attaches to the tip of E. coli pili before reaching the ultimate phage receptor TolA at the cell surface. Analyses of this infection process by biochemical and biophysical experiments revealed different molecular mechanisms for phages fd, IF1, and IKe. The G3P of all studied phages comprise three domains, one for anchoring in the phage coat, a second for pilus binding and a third for binding to the E. coli receptor. In terms of thermodynamic stability of cis-proline containing proteins, one proline residue in the isolated pilus binding domain of phage fd was systematically analyzed by combining mutagenesis and protein folding experiments. About 10 kJ/mol gained from conformational folding of the protein domain is required to keep the majority of protein molecules in the cis-proline state. In the G3P of phage fd, the receptor binding domain is blocked by tight binding of the pilus binding domain rendering the phages in the latent, non-infectious form. Pilus binding opens this domain pair and a single proline residue functions as a molecular times by preventing re-association for an extended amount of time to facilitate receptor binding. A net of hydrogen binds communicate the status of this proline residue to the remote domain interface. The pilus and receptor binding domains in phage IF1 are independent units and therefore the receptor binding domain is not buried. IF1 therefore developed an different mechanism for a robust infectivity by individually stabilizing each of the domains. A surprising result was obtained for phage IKe. Although both domains are also as independent as found in phage IF1, but the rank order of pilus binding and TolA receptor binding are reversed finally leading to a much lower infectivity. One of our publications was paper of the week in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (May 3, 2013).

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

Zusatzinformationen

Textvergrößerung und Kontrastanpassung