The NMR structure of FliK, the trigger for the switch of substrate specificity in the flagellar type III secretion apparatus.

The flagellar cytoplasmic protein FliK controls hook elongation by two successive events: by determining hook length and by stopping the supply of hook protein. These two distinct roles are assigned to different parts of FliK: the N-terminal half (FliK(N)) determines length and the C-terminal half (FliK(C)) switches secretion from the hook protein to the filament protein. The interaction of FliK(C) with FlhB, the switchable secretion gate, triggers the switch. By NMR spectroscopy, we demonstrated that FliK is largely unstructured and determined the structure of a compact domain in FliK(C). The compact domain, denoted the FliK(C) core domain, consists of two α-helices, a ß-sheet with two parallel and two antiparallel strands, and several exposed loops. Based on the functional data obtained by a series of deletion mutants of the FliK(C) core domain, we constructed a model of the complex between the FliK(C) core domain and FlhB(C). The model suggested that one of the FliK(C) loops has a high probability of interacting with the C-terminal domain of FlhB (FlhB(C)) as the FliK molecule enters the secretion gate. We suggest that the autocleaved NPTH sequence in FlhB contacts loop 2 of FliK(C) to trigger the switching event. This contact is sterically prevented when NPTH is not cleaved. Thus, the structure of FliK provides insight into the mechanism by which this bifunctional protein triggers a switch in the export of substrates.

Surface plasmon resonance study on functional significance of clustered organization of lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor (LOX-1).

Lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL) receptor 1 (LOX-1) is the major OxLDL receptor of vascular endothelial cells and is involved in an early step of atherogenesis. LOX-1 exists as a disulfide-linked homodimer on the cell surface, which contains a pair of the ligand-binding domains (CTLD; C-type lectin-like domain). Recent research using living cells has suggested that the clustered state of LOX-1 dimer on the cell is functionally required. These results questioned how LOX-1 exists on the cell to achieve OxLDL binding. In this study, we revealed the functional significance of the clustered organization of the ligand-binding domain of LOX-1 with surface plasmon resonance. Biotinylated CTLD was immobilized on a streptavidin sensor chip to make CTLD clusters on the surface. In this state, the CTLD had high affinity for OxLDL with a dissociation constant (K(D)) in the nanomolar range. This value is comparable to the K(D) measured for LOX-1 on the cell. In contrast, a single homodimeric LOX-1 extracellular domain had lower affinity for OxLDL in the supra-micromolar range of K(D). Monomeric CTLD showed marginal binding to OxLDL. In combination with the analyses on the loss-of-binding mutant W150A, we concluded that the clustered organization of the properly formed homodimeric CTLD is essential for the strong binding of LOX-1 to OxLDL.