RESUMO
Actinoporins have emerged as archetypal α-pore-forming toxins (PFTs) that promote the formation of pores in membranes upon oligomerization and insertion of an α-helix pore-forming domain in the bilayer. These proteins have been used as active components of immunotoxins, therefore, understanding their lytic mechanism is crucial for developing this and other applications. However, the mechanism of how the biophysical properties of the membrane modulate the properties of pores generated by actinoporins remains unclear. Here we studied the effect of membrane fluidity on the permeabilizing activity of sticholysin I (St I), a toxin that belongs to the actinoporins family of α-PFTs. To modulate membrane fluidity we used vesicles made of an equimolar mixture of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and egg sphingomyelin (eggSM), in which PC contained fatty acids of different acyl chain lengths and degrees of unsaturation. Our detailed single-vesicle analysis revealed that when membrane fluidity is high, most of the vesicles are partially permeabilized in a graded manner. In contrast, more rigid membranes can be either completely permeabilized or not, indicating an all-or-none mechanism. Altogether, our results reveal that St I pores can be heterogeneous in size and stability, and that these properties depend on the fluid state of the lipid bilayer. We propose that membrane fluidity at different regions of cellular membranes is a key factor to modulate the activity of the actinoporins, which has implications for the design of different therapeutic strategies based on their lytic action.
Assuntos
Venenos de Cnidários , Anêmonas-do-Mar , Animais , Fluidez de Membrana , Compostos Orgânicos/química , Bicamadas Lipídicas , Membrana Celular/metabolismo , Fosfatidilcolinas , Venenos de Cnidários/química , Anêmonas-do-Mar/químicaRESUMO
The cytotoxic synapse formed between cytotoxic T lymphocytes or natural killer cells expressing CD95L and target cells with CD95 on their surface is a key pathway for apoptosis induction by the immune system. Despite similarities with the immune synapse in antigen presenting cells, little is known about the role of the spatiotemporal organization of agonistic proteins/receptor interactions for CD95 signaling. Here, we have developed an artificial cytotoxic synapse to examine how mobility and geometry of an anti-CD95 agonistic antibody affect receptor aggregation and mobility, ie the first step of receptor activation. By measuring the distribution, diffusion coefficient, and fraction of immobile CD95 receptor in living cells, we show that at short times, the initial activation of CD95 occurs locally and is limited to the contact region of the cytotoxic synapse. This anisotropic activation of apoptotic signaling supports a role for confined interactions on the efficiency of signal transduction that may have implications for biomedical applications of extrinsic apoptosis induction.
Assuntos
Sinapses/metabolismo , Receptor fas/metabolismo , Linhagem Celular , Membrana Celular/metabolismo , Proteína Ligante Fas/metabolismo , Recuperação de Fluorescência Após Fotodegradação , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde/genética , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde/metabolismo , Humanos , Bicamadas Lipídicas , Espectrometria de Fluorescência , Linfócitos T Citotóxicos/metabolismo , Receptor fas/genética , Receptor fas/imunologiaRESUMO
Crystallographic data of the dimeric and octameric forms of fragaceatoxin C (FraC) suggested the key role of a small hydrophobic protein-protein interaction surface for actinoporins oligomerization and pore formation in membranes. However, site-directed mutagenesis studies supporting this hypothesis for others actinoporins are still lacking. Here, we demonstrate that disrupting the key hydrophobic interaction between V60 and F163 (FraC numbering scheme) in the oligomerization interface of FraC, equinatoxin II (EqtII), and sticholysin II (StII) impairs the pore formation activity of these proteins. Our results allow for the extension of the importance of FraC protein-protein interactions in the stabilization of the oligomeric intermediates of StII and EqtII pointing out that all of these proteins follow a similar pathway of membrane disruption. These findings support the hybrid pore proposal as the universal model of actinoporins pore formation. Moreover, we reinforce the relevance of dimer formation, which appears to be a functional intermediate in the assembly pathway of some different pore-forming proteins.
Assuntos
Venenos de Cnidários/química , Proteínas Citotóxicas Formadoras de Poros/química , Multimerização Proteica , Humanos , Interações Hidrofóbicas e HidrofílicasRESUMO
Actinoporins are pore-forming toxins (PFT) produced by sea anemones with molecular mass around 20 kDa and high affinity for sphingomyelin. The most studied atinoporins are sticholysins I and II (StI/StII) from Stichodactyla helianthus, equinatoxin II (EqtII) from Actinia equina, and fragaceatoxin C (FraC) from Actinia fragacea. Their N-terminal sequences encompassing residues 1-30 seem to be the best candidates for pore formation. This segment comprises an amphipathic α-helix preceded by a more or less hydrophobic segment, depending on the toxin, of around 10 amino acid residues. Although it is clear that the N-terminal is the most variable sequence in this protein family, the role of their hydrophobic segment in not fully understood. Here we show a comparison of StI, StII, EqtII, and FraC activities with that of their respective N-terminal synthetic peptides. The hemolytic and permeabilizing activity of the peptides reproduce qualitatively the behavior of their respective parental proteins and are particularly related to the hydrophobicity of the corresponding 1-10 segment. Furthermore, the dendrogram analysis of actinoporins' N-terminal sequence allows relating differences in alignment with differences in activity among the four toxins. We have also evaluated the penetration depth of the N-terminal segment of StI and StII by using Trp-containing peptide-analogs. Our data suggest that the N-terminus of StII is more deeply buried into the hydrophobic core of the bilayer than that of StI. We hypothesize that the highest activity of StII could be ascribed to a larger hydrophobic continuum, an uninterrupted sequence of non-charged mainly hydrophobic amino acid residues, of its N-terminus promoting a highest ability to partially insert in the membrane core. Moreover, as we show for four related peptides that a higher hydrophobicity contributes to increase the activity, we reinforce the notion that this property must be taken into account to design new potent membranotropic agents.
Assuntos
Peptídeos/química , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Hemólise/efeitos dos fármacos , Humanos , Interações Hidrofóbicas e Hidrofílicas , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Peptídeos/efeitos adversos , Homologia de Sequência de AminoácidosRESUMO
Pore-forming proteins (PFPs) punch holes in their target cell membrane to alter their permeability. Permeabilization of lipid membranes by PFPs has received special attention to study the basic molecular mechanisms of protein insertion into membranes and the development of biotechnological tools. PFPs act through a general multi-step mechanism that involves (i) membrane partitioning, (ii) insertion into the hydrophobic core of the bilayer, (iii) oligomerization, and (iv) pore formation. Interestingly, PFPs and membranes show a dynamic interplay. As PFPs are usually produced as soluble proteins, they require a large conformational change for membrane insertion. Moreover, membrane structure is modified upon PFPs insertion. In this context, the toroidal pore model has been proposed to describe a pore architecture in which not only protein molecules but also lipids are directly involved in the structure. Here, we discuss how PFPs and lipids cooperate and remodel each other to achieve pore formation, and explore new evidences of protein-lipid pore structures.