Characterization of an acid-resistant mutant of foot-and-mouth disease virus.

A foot-and-mouth disease virus mutant which is stable at pH 6.4 has been isolated from a virus of serotype A. In contrast to the parent (P) virus, which gave a mixture of large and small plaques in BHK21 cells and in a bovine kidney cell line, the acid-resistant (AR) virus gave small plaques which did not increase markedly in size after 24 hr. The infectivity titer of the acid-resistant virus was about 100-fold lower in suckling mice than in BHK21 cells, whether the inoculation was made intraperitoneally or intracerebrally, whereas the parent virus gave similar titers in both systems. Furthermore, in mice the AR virus reached its end point two to three times more slowly. The diameter of the AR virus was almost 20% less than that of the P virus and it had a more distinct topography, but the two viruses cosedimented in sucrose gradients. However, the buoyant density in CsCl of the AR virus was slightly lower (1.42 compared with 1.43 g/cc) in coruns. The RNAs and capsid proteins of the two viruses gave similar profiles in sucrose gradients and by SDS-PAGE, respectively. However, isoelectric focusing of the capsid proteins revealed considerable differences between the two viruses. Whereas the P virus gave four protein bands, corresponding to VP1-VP4, the AR virus gave one band for VP4, two for VP3, two for VP2, and four for VP1. Sequence analysis of the genes coding for the capsid protein regions of the two viruses showed four changes (one silent), resulting in an Ala-3-->Ser substitution in VP1 and Glu-131-->Lys and Asp-133-->Ser substitutions in VP2.

Circular dichroism, molecular modeling, and serology indicate that the structural basis of antigenic variation in foot-and-mouth disease virus is alpha-helix formation.

Seven antigenic variants obtained from a single field isolate of foot-and-mouth disease virus, serotype A12, differ only at residues 148 and 153 in the immunodominant loop of viral protein VP1. Synthetic peptides corresponding to the region 141-160 are highly immunogenic. UV circular dichroism shows that (i) in aqueous solution the peptides are nearly identical, but in 100% trifluoroethanol they display helix-forming properties which correlate well with their serological crossreactivities for anti-peptide sera, and (ii) these properties are insensitive to substitutions at position 153, except for proline, but are highly sensitive to substitutions at position 148. This pattern can be explained by the effects of these substitutions on the amphiphilic character and positions of helices postulated in the region 146-156. Molecular models indicate that residues 147, 148, 150, 151, 153-155, and 157 are most likely to interact with residues of the antibody paratopes. The data are consistent with the existence of an inverse gamma-turn around Pro-153, and a beta-turn at the cell-attachment site at residues 145-147.

Evidence for an alpha-helical epitope on outer surface protein A from the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi: an application of steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence quenching techniques.

Outer surface protein A (OspA) is a major antigen of Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiological agent of Lyme disease. A recombinant form of OspA (OspA-257) from B. burgdorferi, strain B31, contains 257 amino acids and a single tryptophan residue at position 216 (Trp-216). Mapping studies indicate that Trp-216 is involved in the epitope for the agglutinating monoclonal antibody 105.5. However, the fluorescence emission maximum of the native protein is 330 nm, indicating that Trp-216 is not solvent-exposed. Primary structure analysis suggests an alpha-helical conformation for residues approx. 204-217, which, if located on the protein surface, would allow Trp-216 to be buried, while leaving hydrophilic residues on the opposite side of the helix exposed. This helix would place Lys-212 within approx. 6 A of Trp-216; the presence of such a positively-charged residue can, in principle, be ascertained from fluorescence quenching studies. Stern-Volmer plots confirm that Trp-216 is indeed buried in the native protein, but is readily accessible to the small polar quencher, acrylamide. Furthermore, the dominant component of the fluorescence emission shows only weak dynamic quenching by the positively-charged quencher, Cs+, while the minor component undergoes static quenching by I-, indicating the proximity of a positively-charged residue. These data are consistent with the existence of an alpha-helix from residues 204-217 in the predicted orientation at the protein surface, hence indicating the structure of the antigenic determinant.

pH-induced conformational changes in spinach ferredoxin: steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence studies.

Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence techniques were used to monitor pH-induced conformational changes in spinach ferredoxin. An increase was seen in the wave-length maximum of tryptophan-73 (Trp-73) emission, from 325 nm below pH 6.0 to 342 nm above pH 7.0, indicating significantly diminished hydrophobicity, at pH 7.0, in the environment of the indole ring. Raising the solution pH from 6.0 to 7.6 also decreased the binding of the detergent Brij-96, showing that the ferredoxin molecule as a whole became more hydrophilic at higher pH. Nonionic (acrylamide) and ionic (I- and Cs+) quenchers were used to probe the tryptophan environment. Trp-73 is partially shielded from I-, presumably by negatively charged residues, as predicted from the amino acid sequence and three-dimensional structure of plant-type ferredoxins. Ionic strength and pH effects on tryptophan fluorescence lifetimes follow a pattern common to single-tryptophan proteins: the emission decays can be fit to a biexponential model in which the lifetime of the excited state increases with increasing pH. The indication of a pH-induced conformational change in the range pH 6.0 to 7.6 is discussed with reference to the physiological association of ferredoxin with ferredoxin:NADP+ oxidoreductase and the rise in chloroplast stromal pH in the light.

Circular dichroism user facility at the National Synchrotron Light Source: estimation of protein secondary structure.

The ultraviolet circular dichroism of a protein can be used to estimate the net fraction of its amino acids in different classes of secondary structure. Recent advances in the accuracy of such calculations have resulted from improved computational techniques, as well as extension of the spectral region analyzed to wavelengths less than 180 nm, a wavelength range beyond the limit of most laboratory-based circular dichroism spectrometers. We describe a spectrometer that uses UV radiation from the National Synchrotron Light Source at the Brookhaven National Laboratory to record circular dichroism spectra of proteins (and other biologically important molecules) in aqueous solution over the optimum wavelength range required for calculation of secondary structures. This instrument is available for use by scientists from academic, commercial and research institutions.

Structural analysis of an outer surface protein from the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, using circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy.

The etiological agent of Lyme disease is the tick-borne spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. A major antigen of B. burgdorferi is a 31 kDa lipoprotein called outer surface protein A (OspA). Recently, a truncated form of OspA (lacking 17 amino acids at the N-terminus) was cloned, expressed and purified in large quantities (Dunn, J.J., Lade, B.A. and Barbour, A.G. (1990) Protein Expression and Purification 1, 159-168). The truncated protein (OspA-257) is water-soluble, retains the ability to bind antibodies from the sera of Lyme disease patients and may prove useful in development of a vaccine against Lyme disease. We have used far UV circular dichroism (CD) and fluorescence spectroscopy to characterize the secondary structure of and to study conformational changes in OspA-257. CD spectra from 260 to 178 nm predict five classes of secondary structure: alpha-helix (11%), anti-parallel beta-sheet (32%), parallel beta-sheet (10%), beta-turns (18%) and aperiodic structures (including 'random coil') (30%). Analysis of the primary sequence of OspA yielded the most likely sites for alpha-helical regions (residues 100-107, 121-134, 253-273) and for antigenic determinants (Lys-46, Asp-82, Lys-231). CD spectra of the native protein show little change from pH 3 to 11. Thermal denaturation curves, indicate that 'salt bridges' play a role in stabilizing the native protein. Both thermal and chemical denaturations that eliminate all secondary structure as judged by CD or fluorescence are reversible. Denaturation by guanidine-HCl (gdn-HCl) appears to be a cooperative, two-state transition, as indicated by a sudden change in the CD spectrum at approximately 0.75 M gdn-HCl, and an isodichroic point at 208 nm in all CD spectra measured from 0.0-1.75 M gdn-HCl.