The bulky and the sweet: How neutralizing antibodies and glycan receptors compete for virus binding.

Numerous viruses rely on glycan receptor binding as the initial step in host cell infection. Engagement of specific glycan receptors such as sialylated carbohydrates, glycosaminoglycans, or histo-blood group antigens can determine host range, tissue tropism, and pathogenicity. Glycan receptor-binding sites are typically located in exposed regions on viral surfaces-sites that are also generally prone to binding of neutralizing antibodies that directly interfere with virus-glycan receptor interactions. In this review, we examine the locations and architecture of the glycan- and antibody-binding sites in four different viruses with stalk-like attachment proteins (reovirus, influenza virus, norovirus, and coronavirus) and investigate the mechanisms by which antibodies block glycan recognition. Those viruses exemplify that direct molecular mimicking of glycan receptors by antibodies is rare and further demonstrate that antibodies often partly overlap or bind sufficiently close to the receptor-binding region to hinder access to this site, achieving neutralization partially because of the epitope location and partly due to their sheer size.

Contextual Role of a Salt Bridge in the Phage P22 Coat Protein I-Domain.

The I-domain is a genetic insertion in the phage P22 coat protein that chaperones its folding and stability. Of 11 acidic residues in the I-domain, seven participate in stabilizing electrostatic interactions with basic residues across elements of secondary structure, fastening the ß-barrel fold. A hydrogen-bonded salt bridge between Asp-302 and His-305 is particularly interesting as Asp-302 is the site of a temperature-sensitive-folding mutation. The pKa of His-305 is raised to 9.0, indicating the salt bridge stabilizes the I-domain by ∼4 kcal/mol. Consistently, urea denaturation experiments indicate the stability of the WT I-domain decreases by 4 kcal/mol between neutral and basic pH. The mutants D302A and H305A remove the pH dependence of stability. The D302A substitution destabilizes the I-domain by 4 kcal/mol, whereas H305A had smaller effects, on the order of 1-2 kcal/mol. The destabilizing effects of D302A are perpetuated in the full-length coat protein as shown by a higher sensitivity to protease digestion, decreased procapsid assembly rates, and impaired phage production in vivo By contrast, the mutants have only minor effects on capsid expansion or stability in vitro The effects of the Asp-302-His-305 salt bridge are thus complex and context-dependent. Substitutions that abolish the salt bridge destabilize coat protein monomers and impair capsid self-assembly, but once capsids are formed the effects of the substitutions are overcome by new quaternary interactions between subunits.