Affiliation:
1. Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
2. South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Many pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria use repeats-in-toxin adhesins for colonization and biofilm formation. In the cholera agent
Vibrio cholerae
, flagellar-regulated hemagglutinin A (FrhA) enables these functions. Using bioinformatic analysis, a sugar-binding domain was identified in FrhA adjacent to a domain of unknown function. AlphaFold2 indicated the boundaries of both domains to be slightly shorter than previously predicted and assisted in the recognition of the unknown domain as a split immunoglobulin-like fold that can assist in projecting the sugar-binding domain toward its target. The AlphaFold2-predicted structure is in excellent agreement with the molecular envelope obtained from small-angle X-ray scattering analysis of a recombinant construct spanning the sugar-binding and unknown domains. This two-domain construct was probed by glycan micro-array screening and showed binding to mammalian fucosylated glycans, some of which are characteristic erythrocyte markers and intestinal cell epitopes. Isothermal titration calorimetry further showed the construct-bound
l
-fucose with a
K
d
of 21 µM. Strikingly, this recombinant protein construct bound and lysed erythrocytes in a concentration-dependent manner, and its hemolytic activity was blocked by the addition of
l
-fucose. A protein ortholog construct from
Aeromonas veronii
was also produced and showed a similar glycan-binding pattern, binding affinity, erythrocyte-binding, and hemolytic activities. As demonstrated here with Hep-2 cells, fucose-based inhibitors of this sugar-binding domain can potentially be developed to block colonization by
V. cholerae
and other pathogenic bacteria that share this adhesin domain.
IMPORTANCE
The bacterium,
Vibrio cholerae
, which causes cholera, uses an adhesion protein to stick to human cells and begin the infection process. One part of this adhesin protein binds to a particular sugar, fucose, on the surface of the target cells. This binding can lead to colonization and killing of the cells by the bacteria. Adding
l
-fucose to the bacteria before they bind to the human cells can prevent attachment and has promise as a preventative drug to protect against cholera.
Funder
Gouvernement du Canada | Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology