Fluorescence resonance energy transfer in single enzyme molecules with a quantum dot as donor

3 FigurasH+-ATPsynthases couple a transmembrane proton transport with ATP synthesis and ATP hydrolysis. Previously, the relative subunit movement during this process has been measured by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between two organic fluorophores covalently bound to different subunits. To improve the photophysical stability, a luminescent CdSe/ZnS nanocrystal (quantum dot) was bound to the enzyme and an organic fluorophore, Alexa568, was used as fluorescence acceptor. Single-molecule spectroscopy with the membrane integrated labeled H+-ATPsynthase was carried out. Single-pair FRET indicates three different conformations of the enzyme. During ATP hydrolysis relative intramolecular subunit movements are observed in real time.Eva M. Galvez was supported by the DeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).Peer reviewe

Blinking effect and the use of quantum dots in single molecule spectroscopy

Luminescent semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots, QD) have unique photo-physical properties: high photostability, brightness and narrow size-tunable fluorescence spectra. Due to their unique properties, QD-based single molecule studies have become increasingly more popular during the last years. However QDs show a strong blinking effect (random and intermittent light emission), which may limit their use in single molecule fluorescence studies. QD blinking has been widely studied and some hypotheses have been done to explain this effect. Here we summarise what is known about the blinking effect in QDs, how this phenomenon may affect single molecule studies and, on the other hand, how the “on”/“off” states can be exploited in diverse experimental settings. In addition, we present results showing that site-directed binding of QD to cysteine residues of proteins reduces the blinking effect. This option opens a new possibility of using QDs to study protein–protein interactions and dynamics by single molecule fluorescence without modifying the chemical composition of the solution or the QD surface.Authors thank Gobierno de Aragón-Fondo Social Europeo for financial support. EMG thanks Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for a grant.Peer reviewe

Aggregation of Human Recombinant Monoclonal Antibodies Influences the Capacity of Dendritic Cells to Stimulate Adaptive T-cell Responses In Vitro

Subvisible proteinaceous particles which are present in all therapeutic protein formulations are in the focus of intense discussions between health authorities, academics and biopharmaceutical companies in the context of concerns that such particles could promote unwanted immunogenicity via anti-drug antibody formation. In order to provide further understanding of the subject, this study closely examines the specific biological effects proteinaceous particles may exert on dendritic cells (DCs) as the most efficient antigen-presenting cell population crucial for the initiation of the adaptive immune response. Two different model IgG antibodies were subjected to three different types of exaggerated physical stress to generate subvisible particles in far greater concentrations than the ones typical for the currently marketed biotherapeutical antibodies. The aggregated samples were used in in vitro biological assays in order to interrogate the early DC-driven events that initiate CD4 T-cell dependent humoral adaptive immune responses – peptide presentation capacity and co-stimulatory activity of DCs. Most importantly, antigen presentation was addressed with a unique approach called MHC-associated peptide proteomics (MAPPs), which allows for identifying the sequences of HLA-DR associated peptides directly from human dendritic cells [1]. The experiments demonstrated that highly aggregated solutions of two model mAbs generated under controlled conditions can induce activation of human monocyte-derived DCs as indicated by upregulation of typical maturation markers including co-stimulatory molecules necessary for CD4 T-cell activation. Additional data suggest that highly aggregated proteins could induce in vitro T-cell responses. Intriguingly, strong aggregation-mediated changes in the pattern and quantity of antigen-derived HLA-DR associated peptides presented on DCs were observed, indicating a change in protein processing and presentation. Increasing the amounts of subvisible proteinaceous particles correlated very well with the pronounced increase in the peptide number and clusters presented in the context of class II HLA-DR molecules, suggesting a major involvement of a mass-action mechanism of altering the presentation

Correlation of HLA-DR associated peptides and peptide clusters measured by MAPPs to the amount of protein present in subvisible particles.

<p>Linear regression analyses of the increase of the HLA-DR associated peptides and clusters as functions of the calculated amount of protein present in the subvisible particles. Left up: HLA-DR associated peptides of mAb1 vs protein amount in subvisible particles (r² = 0.994), left down: HLA-DR associated peptide clusters of mAb1 vs protein amount in subvisible particles (r² = 0.993), right up: HLA-DR associated peptides of mAb2 vs protein amount in subvisible particles (r² = 0.86), right down: HLA-DR associated peptide clusters of mAb2 vs protein amount in subvisible particles (r² = 0.943). HS: aggregates generated by heat and shake stress; FT: aggregates generated by freeze and thaw stress, S: aggregates generated by shear stress mAb1: monoclonal antibody 1, mAb2: monoclonal antibody 2, 1: stress level 1, 2: stress level 2. For further details, please, see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0086322#s4" target="_blank">Materials and Methods</a>.</p

Induction of DC maturation by stressed mAb materials.

<p>(A) Percentage of responding donors determined as an at least 1.5-fold upregulation of the response index above unstressed mAb of the maturation markers CD83, CD80 and CD86. (B) Scatter plots of the response indices of individual donors for the measured maturation markers. The dotted line indicates the reference to unstressed mAb at 1.0. The horizontal line represents the average of the individual response indices. HS: aggregates generated by heat and shake stress, FT: aggregates generated by freeze and thaw stress, S: aggregates generated by shear stress, mAb1: monoclonal antibody 1, mAb2: monoclonal antibody 2, RI: Response index, sl1: stress level 1, sl2: stress level 2.</p

Physicochemical characterization of stressed mAb materials.

<p>Representative MFI screenshots after freeze/thaw (FT) stress of mAb1 (A) unstressed, un; (B) stress level 1, sl1; (C) stress level 2, sl2 and mAb2 un, (E) sl1 and (F) sl2. (G) Particle Size distribution obtained by MFI of mAb1 (left) and mAb2 (right). For visualization the size binning 2–2.5, 2.5–5, 5–10 10–25, 25–50 and 50–400 µm was used. Representative images of individual particles formed by (H) heat/shake, HS; (I) freeze/thaw, FT and (J) shear stress, S. Polydispersity in % (PD%) revealed by DLS for (K) mAb1 and (L) mAb2.</p

Results from T-cell activation assay.

<p>T-cell responses determined by IFN-γ ELISpot from donors treated with mAb1, un, sl1 and sl2 material from (A) FT condition (8 donors) and from (B) HS condition (13 donors). The respective heat maps specify to which extent each single donor responded to each treatment. The horizontal line shows the geometric mean of the populations. ***: statistically significant (p<0.001); ns: statistically not significant. HS: aggregates generated by heat and shake stress, FT: aggregates generated by freeze and thaw stress, mAb1: monoclonal antibody 1, SI: Stimulation index, un: unstressed, sl1: stress level 1, sl2: stress level 2.</p