Sahapat Barusrux. Functional characterisation of two β-hairpins in the receptor-binding domain of the Bacillus thuringiensis Cry4B toxin . Doctoral Degree(Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2003.
Functional characterisation of two β-hairpins in the receptor-binding domain of the Bacillus thuringiensis Cry4B toxin
Abstract:
PCR-based mutagenesis was employed to examine the role in insecticidal specificity of two surface-exposed loops (β2-β3 and β4-β5 loops) in the receptorbinding domain of the B. thuringiensis Cry4B mosquito-larvicidal protein. A total of 11 mutants with a single alanine substitution within the β2-β3 loop (Y332A, Q333A, D334A and R336A), β4 (Y359A and S361A), the β4-β5 loop (S362A, S366A and N367A) and β5 (T369A and H370A) were initially generated. Similar to the wild type, all mutant toxins were over-expressed as inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli and were structurally stable upon solubilisation and trypsin activation. Mosquito bioassays of alanine substituted mutants showed that only Y332A and T369A mutants made no toxic effect on the Aedes. aegypti larvae. The mutagenic effect of these two positions was also confirmed by an ex vivo cytotoxicity assay using A. aegypti isolated larval midguts. This result suggested that Tyr-332 and Thr-369 are the critical residues for larvicidal activity of the Cry4B toxin. In addition, Y332A and T369A mutants were still able to release entrapped calcein from liposomes as comparable to the wild type toxin, but showed a decrease in binding activity to larval midgut sections detected by immunohistochemical staining. Further mutagenic analysis of these two critical residues showed
that only the conversions of Ala-332 to phenylalanine or tryptophan, and Ala-369 to serine, cysteine or aspartate were able to restore the larvicidal activity. The results suggested that an aromatic structure at the 332-residue and specific side chainside chain H-bonding between the 369 and 328-residues also play an important role in larvicidal activity of the Cry4B toxin, most likely being involved in receptor binding rather than membrane insertion and pore formation. In addition, an aromatic structure at Phe-364 at the tip of the β4-β5 loop was also found to be important for toxicity. In this study, it is proposed that two critical residues, Tyr-332 and Phe-364, are optimally exposed as the aromatic structure to the specific receptor by the optimal conformation of both the β2-β3 and the β4-β5 loops. The specific side chain-side chain interaction via H-bonding between the residues 328 and 369 apparently stabilises the β 2-β3 and β4-β5 loop structures.