Self-assembling choline mimicks with enhanced binding affinities to C-LytA protein

Sci Rep. 2014 Oct 15:4:6621. doi: 10.1038/srep06621.

Abstract

Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) causes multiple illnesses in humans. Exploration of effective inhibitors with multivalent attachment sites for choline-binding modules is of great importance to reduce the pneumococcal virulence. In this work, we successfully developed two self-assembling choline mimicks, Ada-GFFYKKK' and Nap-GFFYKKK', which have the abilities to self-assemble into nanoparticles and nanofibers, respectively, yielding multivalent architectures. Additionally, the best characterized choline-binding module, C-terminal moiety of the pneumococcal cell-wall amidase LytA (C-LytA) was also produced with high purity. The self-assembling Ada-GFFYKKK' and Nap-GFFYKKK' show strong interactions with C-LytA, which possess much higher association constant values to the choline-binding modules as compared to the individual peptide Fmoc-K'. This study thus provides a self-assembly approach to yield inhibitors that are very promising for reducing the pneumococcal virulence.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amidohydrolases / metabolism*
  • Biomimetics
  • Cell Wall / enzymology
  • Choline / chemistry
  • Choline / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Nanofibers / administration & dosage
  • Nanofibers / chemistry
  • Nanoparticles / administration & dosage
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry
  • Pneumococcal Infections / drug therapy*
  • Pneumococcal Infections / microbiology
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae / drug effects*
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae / pathogenicity

Substances

  • Amidohydrolases
  • amidase
  • Choline