Search Results
Affinity for the Interface Underpins Potency of Antibodies Operating In Membrane Environments
2020, Rujas, Edurne, Insausti, Sara, Leaman, Daniel P., Carravilla, Pablo, González-Resines, Saul, Monceaux, Valérie, Sánchez-Eugenia, Rubén, Garcıá-Porras, Miguel, Iloro, Ibon, Zhang, Lei, Elortza, Félix, Julien, Jean-Philippe, Saéz-Cirión, Asier, Zwick, Michael B., Eggeling, Christian, Ojida, Akio, Domene, Carmen, Caaveiro, Jose M.M., Nieva, José L.
The contribution of membrane interfacial interactions to recognition of membrane-embedded antigens by antibodies is currently unclear. This report demonstrates the optimization of this type of antibodies via chemical modification of regions near the membrane but not directly involved in the recognition of the epitope. Using the HIV-1 antibody 10E8 as a model, linear and polycyclic synthetic aromatic compounds are introduced at selected sites. Molecular dynamics simulations predict the favorable interactions of these synthetic compounds with the viral lipid membrane, where the epitope of the HIV-1 glycoprotein Env is located. Chemical modification of 10E8 with aromatic acetamides facilitates the productive and specific recognition of the native antigen, partially buried in the crowded environment of the viral membrane, resulting in a dramatic increase of its capacity to block viral infection. These observations support the harnessing of interfacial affinity through site-selective chemical modification to optimize the function of antibodies that target membrane-proximal epitopes. © 2020 The Author(s)Rujas et al. describe the site-selective chemical modification of antibodies to improve the molecular recognition of epitopes at membrane surfaces. The modification using aromatic compounds dramatically enhanced the virus neutralization potency and native antigen binding efficiency of HIV-1 antibodies directed against the membrane-embedded MPER epitope. © 2020 The Author(s)
Flotillin-Dependent Membrane Microdomains Are Required for Functional Phagolysosomes against Fungal Infections
2020, Schmidt, Franziska, Thywißen, Andreas, Goldmann, Marie, Cunha, Cristina, Cseresnyés, Zoltán, Schmidt, Hella, Rafiq, Muhammad, Galiani, Silvia, Gräler, Markus H., Chamilos, Georgios, Lacerda, João, Campos, António, Jr., Eggeling, Christian, Figge, Marc Thilo, Heinekamp, Thorsten, Filler, Scott G., Carvalho, Agostinho, Brakhage, Axel A.
Schmidt el al. show that lipid rafts in phagolysosomal membranes of macrophages depend on flotillins. Lipid rafts are required for assembly of vATPase and NADPH oxidase. Conidia of the human-pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus dysregulate assembly of flotillin-dependent lipid rafts in the phagolysosomal membrane and can thereby escape phagolysosomal digestion. © 2020 The Author(s)Lipid rafts form signaling platforms on biological membranes with incompletely characterized role in immune response to infection. Here we report that lipid-raft microdomains are essential components of phagolysosomal membranes of macrophages and depend on flotillins. Genetic deletion of flotillins demonstrates that the assembly of both major defense complexes vATPase and NADPH oxidase requires membrane microdomains. Furthermore, we describe a virulence mechanism leading to dysregulation of membrane microdomains by melanized wild-type conidia of the important human-pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus resulting in reduced phagolysosomal acidification. We show that phagolysosomes with ingested melanized conidia contain a reduced amount of free Ca2+ ions and that inhibition of Ca2+-dependent calmodulin activity led to reduced lipid-raft formation. We identify a single-nucleotide polymorphism in the human FLOT1 gene resulting in heightened susceptibility for invasive aspergillosis in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Collectively, flotillin-dependent microdomains on the phagolysosomal membrane play an essential role in protective antifungal immunity. © 2020 The Author(s)
Aggregation and mobility of membrane proteins interplay with local lipid order in the plasma membrane of T cells
2021, Urbančič, Iztok, Schiffelers, Lisa, Jenkins, Edward, Gong, Weijian, Santos, Ana Mafalda, Schneider, Falk, O'Brien-Ball, Caitlin, Vuong, Mai Tuyet, Ashman, Nicole, Sezgin, Erdinc, Eggeling, Christian
To disentangle the elusive lipid-protein interactions in T-cell activation, we investigate how externally imposed variations in mobility of key membrane proteins (T-cell receptor [TCR], kinase Lck, and phosphatase CD45) affect the local lipid order and protein colocalisation. Using spectral imaging with polarity-sensitive membrane probes in model membranes and live Jurkat T cells, we find that partial immobilisation of proteins (including TCR) by aggregation or ligand binding changes their preference towards a more ordered lipid environment, which can recruit Lck. Our data suggest that the cellular membrane is poised to modulate the frequency of protein encounters upon alterations of their mobility, for example in ligand binding, which offers new mechanistic insight into the involvement of lipid-mediated interactions in membrane-hosted signalling events.