Construction of chimeric dual-chain avidin by tandem fusion of the related avidins.

BACKGROUND: Avidin is a chicken egg-white protein with high affinity to vitamin H, also known as D-biotin. Many applications in life science research are based on this strong interaction. Avidin is a homotetrameric protein, which promotes its modification to symmetrical entities. Dual-chain avidin, a genetically engineered avidin form, has two circularly permuted chicken avidin monomers that are tandem-fused into one polypeptide chain. This form of avidin enables independent modification of the two domains, including the two biotin-binding pockets; however, decreased yields in protein production, compared to wt avidin, and complicated genetic manipulation of two highly similar DNA sequences in the tandem gene have limited the use of dual-chain avidin in biotechnological applications. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To overcome challenges associated with the original dual-chain avidin, we developed chimeric dual-chain avidin, which is a tandem fusion of avidin and avidin-related protein 4 (AVR4), another member of the chicken avidin gene family. We observed an increase in protein production and better thermal stability, compared with the original dual-chain avidin. Additionally, PCR amplification of the hybrid gene was more efficient, thus enabling more convenient and straightforward modification of the dual-chain avidin. When studied closer, the generated chimeric dual-chain avidin showed biphasic biotin dissociation. SIGNIFICANCE: The improved dual-chain avidin introduced here increases its potential for future applications. This molecule offers a valuable base for developing bi-functional avidin tools for bioseparation, carrier proteins, and nanoscale adapters. Additionally, this strategy could be helpful when generating hetero-oligomers from other oligomeric proteins with high structural similarity.

Controlling quaternary structure assembly: subunit interface engineering and crystal structure of dual chain avidin.

Dual chain avidin (dcAvd) is an engineered avidin form, in which two circularly permuted chicken avidin monomers are fused into one polypeptide chain. DcAvd can theoretically form two different pseudotetrameric quaternary assemblies because of symmetry at the monomer-monomer interfaces. Here, our aim was to control the assembly of the quaternary structure of dcAvd. We introduced the mutation I117C into one of the circularly permuted domains of dcAvd and scanned residues along the 1-3 subunit interface of the other domain. Interestingly, V115H resulted in a single, disulfide locked quaternary assembly of dcAvd, whereas I117H could not guide the oligomerisation process even though it stabilised the protein. The modified dcAvd forms were found to retain their characteristic pseudotetrameric state both at high and low pH, and were shown to bind D-biotin at levels comparable to that of wild-type chicken avidin. The crystal structure of dcAvd-biotin complex at 1.95 Angstroms resolution demonstrates the formation of the functional dcAvd pseudotetramer at the atomic level and reveals the molecular basis for its special properties. Altogether, our data facilitate further engineering of the biotechnologically valuable dcAvd scaffold and gives insights into how to guide the quaternary structure assembly of oligomeric proteins.

Avidin related protein 2 shows unique structural and functional features among the avidin protein family.

BACKGROUND: The chicken avidin gene family consists of avidin and several avidin related genes (AVRs). Of these gene products, avidin is the best characterized and is known for its extremely high affinity for D-biotin, a property that is utilized in numerous modern life science applications. Recently, the AVR genes have been expressed as recombinant proteins, which have shown different biotin-binding properties as compared to avidin. RESULTS: In the present study, we have employed multiple biochemical methods to better understand the structure-function relationship of AVR proteins focusing on AVR2. Firstly, we have solved the high-resolution crystal structure of AVR2 in complex with a bound ligand, D-biotin. The AVR2 structure reveals an overall fold similar to the previously determined structures of avidin and AVR4. Major differences are seen, especially at the 1-3 subunit interface, which is stabilized mainly by polar interactions in the case of AVR2 but by hydrophobic interactions in the case of AVR4 and avidin, and in the vicinity of the biotin binding pocket. Secondly, mutagenesis, competitive dissociation analysis and differential scanning calorimetry were used to compare and study the biotin-binding properties as well as the thermal stability of AVRs and avidin. These analyses pinpointed the importance of residue 109 for biotin binding and stability of AVRs. The I109K mutation increased the biotin-binding affinity of AVR2, whereas the K109I mutation decreased the biotin-binding affinity of AVR4. Furthermore, the thermal stability of AVR2(I109K) increased in comparison to the wild-type protein and the K109I mutation led to a decrease in the thermal stability of AVR4. CONCLUSION: Altogether, this study broadens our understanding of the structural features determining the ligand-binding affinities and stability as well as the molecular evolution within the protein family. This novel information can be applied to further develop and improve the tools already widely used in avidin-biotin technology.

Dual-affinity avidin molecules.

A recently reported dual-chain avidin was modified further to contain two distinct, independent types of ligand-binding sites within a single polypeptide chain. Chicken avidin is normally a tetrameric glycoprotein that binds water-soluble d-biotin with extreme affinity (K(d) approximately 10(-15) M). Avidin is utilized in various applications and techniques in the life sciences and in the nanosciences. In a recent study, we described a novel avidin monomer-fusion chimera that joins two circularly permuted monomers into a single polypeptide chain. Two of these dual-chain avidins were observed to associate spontaneously to form a dimer equivalent to the wt tetramer. In the present study, we successfully used this scaffold to generate avidins in which the neighboring biotin-binding sites of dual-chain avidin exhibit two different affinities for biotin. In these novel avidins, one of the two binding sites in each polypeptide chain, the pseudodimer, is genetically modified to have lower binding affinity for biotin, whereas the remaining binding site still exhibits the high-affinity characteristic of the wt protein. The pseudotetramer (i.e., a dimer of dual-chain avidins) has two high and two lower affinity biotin-binding sites. The usefulness of these novel proteins was demonstrated by immobilizing dual-affinity avidin with its high-affinity sites. The sites with lower affinity were then used for affinity purification of a biotinylated enzyme. These "dual-affinity" avidin molecules open up wholly new possibilities in avidin-biotin technology, where they may have uses as novel bioseparation tools, carrier proteins, or nanoscale adapters.

Tetravalent single-chain avidin: from subunits to protein domains via circularly permuted avidins.

scAvd (single-chain avidin, where two dcAvd are joined in a single polypeptide chain), having four biotin-binding domains, was constructed by fusion of topologically modified avidin units. scAvd showed similar biotin binding and thermal stability properties as chicken avidin. The DNA construct encoding scAvd contains four circularly permuted avidin domains, plus short linkers connecting the four domains into a single polypeptide chain. In contrast with wild-type avidin, which contains four identical avidin monomers, scAvd enables each one of the four avidin domains to be independently modified by protein engineering. Therefore the scAvd scaffold can be used to construct spatially and stoichiometrically defined pseudotetrameric avidin molecules showing different domain characteristics. In addition, unmodified scAvd could be used as a fusion partner, since it provides a unique non-oligomeric structure, which is fully functional with four high-affinity biotin-binding sites. Furthermore, the subunit-to-domain strategy described in the present study could be applied to other proteins and protein complexes, facilitating the development of sophisticated protein tools for applications in nanotechnology and life sciences.

Design and construction of highly stable, protease-resistant chimeric avidins.

The chicken avidin gene family consists of avidin and seven separate avidin-related genes (AVRs) 1-7. Avidin protein is a widely used biochemical tool, whereas the other family members have only recently been produced as recombinant proteins and characterized. In our previous study, AVR4 was found to be the most stable biotin binding protein thus far characterized (T(m) = 106.4 degrees C). In this study, we studied further the biotin-binding properties of AVR4. A decrease in the energy barrier between the biotin-bound and unbound state of AVR4 was observed when compared with that of avidin. The high resolution structure of AVR4 facilitated comparison of the structural details of avidin and AVR4. In the present study, we used the information obtained from these comparative studies to transfer the stability and functional properties of AVR4 to avidin. A chimeric avidin protein, ChiAVD, containing a 21-amino acid segment of AVR4 was found to be significantly more stable (T(m) = 96.5 degrees C) than native avidin (T(m) = 83.5 degrees C), and its biotin-binding properties resembled those of AVR4. Optimization of a crucial subunit interface of avidin by an AVR4-inspired point mutation, I117Y, significantly increased the thermostability of the avidin mutant (T(m) = 97.5 degrees C) without compromising its high biotin-binding properties. By combining these two modifications, a hyperthermostable ChiAVD(I117Y) was constructed (T(m) = 111.1 degrees C). This study provides an example of rational protein engineering in which another member of the protein family has been utilized as a source in the optimization of selected properties.

Efficient production of active chicken avidin using a bacterial signal peptide in Escherichia coli.

Chicken avidin is a highly popular tool with countless applications in the life sciences. In the present study, an efficient method for producing avidin protein in the periplasmic space of Escherichia coli in the active form is described. Avidin was produced by replacing the native signal sequence of the protein with a bacterial OmpA secretion signal. The yield after a single 2-iminobiotin-agarose affinity purification step was approx. 10 mg/l of virtually pure avidin. Purified avidin had 3.7 free biotin-binding sites per tetramer and showed the same biotin-binding affinity and thermal stability as egg-white avidin. Avidin crystallized under various conditions, which will enable X-ray crystallographic studies. Avidin produced in E. coli lacks the carbohydrate chains of chicken avidin and the absence of glycosylation should decrease the non-specific binding that avidin exhibits towards many materials [Rosebrough and Hartley (1996) J. Nucl. Med. 37, 1380-1384]. The present method provides a feasible and inexpensive alternative for the production of recombinant avidin, avidin mutants and avidin fusion proteins for novel avidin-biotin technology applications.