ABSTRACT
Wasp venom allergy is the most common insect venom allergy in Europe. It is manifested by large local reaction or anaphylactic shock occurring after a wasp sting. The allergy can be treated by specific immunotherapy with whole venom extracts. Wasp venom is difficult and costly to obtain and is a subject to composition variation, therefore it can be advantageous to substitute it with a cocktail of recombinant allergens. One of the major venom allergens is phospholipase A1, which so far has been expressed in Escherichia coli and in insect cells. Our aim was to produce the protein in secreted form in yeast Pichia pastoris, which can give high yields of correctly folded protein on defined minimal medium and secretes relatively few native proteins simplifying purification.Residual amounts of enzymatically active phospholipase A1 could be expressed, but the venom protein had a deleterious effect on growth of the yeast cells. To overcome the problem we introduced three different point mutations at the critical points of the active site, where serine137, aspartate165 or histidine229 were replaced by alanine (S137A, D165A and H229A). All the three mutated forms could be expressed in P. pastoris. The H229A mutant did not have any detectable phospholipase A1 activity and was secreted at the level of several mg/L in shake flask culture. The protein was purified by nickel-affinity chromatography and its identity was confirmed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The protein could bind IgE antibodies from wasp venom allergic patients and could inhibit the binding of wasp venom to IgE antibodies specific for phospholipase A1 as shown by Enzyme Allergo-Sorbent Test (EAST). Moreover, the recombinant protein was allergenic in a biological assay as demonstrated by its capability to induce histamine release of wasp venom-sensitive basophils.The recombinant phospholipase A1 presents a good candidate for wasp venom immunotherapy.
Subject(s)
Phospholipases A1/metabolism , Pichia/metabolism , Wasp Venoms/metabolism , Blotting, Western , Cloning, Molecular , Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel , Enzyme Activation , Fermentation , Gene Expression Regulation , Histamine Release/immunology , Humans , Hypersensitivity/blood , Hypersensitivity/immunology , Immunoglobulin E , Models, Molecular , Mutant Proteins/chemistry , Mutant Proteins/genetics , Mutant Proteins/isolation & purification , Mutant Proteins/metabolism , Mutation/genetics , Phospholipases A1/chemistry , Phospholipases A1/genetics , Phospholipases A1/isolation & purification , Protein Binding , Protein Structure, Tertiary , Recombinant Proteins/isolation & purification , Recombinant Proteins/metabolism , Wasp Venoms/chemistry , Wasp Venoms/genetics , Wasp Venoms/isolation & purificationABSTRACT
A gene cluster involved in maltodextrin transport and metabolism was identified in the genome of Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM, which encoded a maltodextrin-binding protein, three maltodextrin ATP-binding cassette transporters and five glycosidases, all under the control of a transcriptional regulator of the LacI-GalR family. Enzymatic properties are described for recombinant maltose phosphorylase (MalP) of glycoside hydrolase family 65 (GH65), which is encoded by malP (GenBank: AAV43670.1) of this gene cluster and produced in Escherichia coli. MalP catalyses phosphorolysis of maltose with inversion of the anomeric configuration releasing beta-glucose 1-phosphate (beta-Glc 1-P) and glucose. The broad specificity of the aglycone binding site was demonstrated by products formed in reverse phosphorolysis using various carbohydrate acceptor substrates and beta-Glc 1-P as the donor. MalP showed strong preference for monosaccharide acceptors with equatorial 3-OH and 4-OH, such as glucose and mannose, and also reacted with 2-deoxy glucosamine and 2-deoxy N-acetyl glucosamine. By contrast, none of the tested di- and trisaccharides served as acceptors. Disaccharide yields obtained from 50 mmbeta-Glc 1-P and 50 mm glucose, glucosamine, N-acetyl glucosamine, mannose, xylose or l-fucose were 99, 80, 53, 93, 81 and 13%, respectively. Product structures were determined by NMR and ESI-MS to be alpha-Glcp-(1-->4)-Glcp (maltose), alpha-Glcp-(1-->4)-GlcNp (maltosamine), alpha-Glcp-(1-->4)-GlcNAcp (N-acetyl maltosamine), alpha-Glcp-(1-->4)-Manp, alpha-Glcp-(1-->4)-Xylp and alpha-Glcp-(1-->4)- L-Fucp, the three latter being novel compounds. Modelling using L. brevis GH65 as the template and superimposition of acarbose from a complex with Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum GH15 glucoamylase suggested that loop 3 of MalP involved in substrate recognition blocked the binding of candidate acceptors larger than monosaccharides.
