Gene, 116 (1992) 139-150 © 1992 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved. 0378-1119/92/$05.00

139

GENE 06493

Mapping of a region of dengue virus type-2 glycoprotein required for binding by a neutralizing monoclonal antibody (Recombinant DNA; 2 PL promoter; expression in Escherichia coil; epitope mapping; PCR; deletion mutagenesis; mAb; synthetic peptide antigen)

T h a w e e s a k Trirawatanapong a, Bala Chandran b, Robert Putnak c and R. P a d m a n a b h a n a "Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. and b Department of Microbiology. Molecular Genetics and hnmunoiogy, University of Kansas Medical Center. Kansas City, KS 66103 (USA) Tel. (913)$88.7043; and" Department of Vints Diseases. Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington,DC 20307 (USA) Tel. (202)576.3478

Received by JJ. Schlesinger: 12 September 1990; Revised/Accepted: 4 November/10 December 1991; Received at publishers: 13 March 1992

SUMMARY

Envelope glycoprotein E of flaviviruses is exposed at the surface of the virion, and is responsible for eliciting a neutralizing antibody (Ab) response, as well as protective immunity in the host. In this report, we describe a method for the fine mapping of a linear sequence of the E protein of dengue virus type-2 (DEN-2), recognized by a type-specific and neutralizing monoclonal Ab (mAb), 3H5. First, an Escherichia coli expression vector containing a heat-inducible A PL promoter was used to synthesize several truncated, and near-full length E polypeptides. Reactivities of these polypeptides with polyclonal mouse hyperimmune sera, as well as the 3H5 mAb revealed the location of the 3H5-binding site to be within a region of 166 amino acids (aa) between aa 255 and 422. For fine mapping, a series oi" targeted deletions were made inframe within this region using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The hydrophilicity pattern of this region was used as a guide to systematically delete the regions encoding the various groups of surface aa residues within the context of a near-full-length E polypeptide by using PCR. The 3H5-binding site was thus precisely mapped to a region encoding 12 aa (between aa 386 and 397). A synthetic peptide containing this sequence was able to bind to the 3H5 mAb specifically, as shown by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, we show that rabbit Abs raised against the synthetic peptide of 12 aa were able to bind to the authentic E protein, and to neutralize DEN-2 virus in a plaque reduction assay.

Correspondence to: Dr. R. Padmanabhan, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, 39th and Rainbow Blvd., Kansas City, KS 66103 (USA) Tel. (913)588-7018; Fax (913)588-4903.

Abbreviations: A, absorbance; aa, amino acid(s); Ap, ampicillin; bp, base pair(s); C, capsid protein; eDNA, DNA complementary to RNA; DEN2, dellgue virus type 2; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; D e c , deoxycholate; E, envelope protein; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; HI, hemagglutination-inhibition;HMAF, hyperimmune mouse ascitic fluid containing polyclonal antibodies against a mixture of DEN-2 antigens; HPLC, high-performanceliquid chromatography; HSV2, herpes simplex virus type 2; JE, Japanese encephalitis virus; kb, kilo-

base(s) or 1000 bp; KLH, keyhole limpet hemocyanin; LB, Luria-Bertani (medium); M, membrane protein; mAb, monoclonal antibody; MBS, mmaleimidobenzoylsulfosuccinimideester; m.o.i., multiplicity of infection; NGS-C, New Guinea C strain; nt, nucleotide(s); oligo, oligodeoxyribc,nucleotide; ORF, open reading frame; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline (10 mM Na.phosphate, pH 7.2/150 mM NaCi); Pollk, Klenow (large) fragment of E. cell DNA polymerase I; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; pfu, plaque forming units; PMSF, phenylmethylsulfonyi fluoride; prM, precursor to membrane protein; PRNT, plaque reduction neutralization test; RBS, ribosome binding site; SDS, sodium dodecyl sulfate; Taq, Thermus aquaticus YTI; TBE, uck-borne encephalitis; WN, West Nile virus; YF, yellow fever virus.

140 of D E N are transmitted to h u m a n s principally by Aedes aegypti mosquitos. The three structural proteins are the C, p r M and E in mature flavivirus virion (Stollar, 1969), and the E protein has been shown to exhibit multiple biological activities. It is the major target for the induction o f neutralizing antibodies, and has the property of inducing a protective immune response in the host (Buckley a n d Gould, 1985; Della-Porta and Westaway, 1977; Kitano etal., 1974; Heinz et al., 1981; M o n a t h et al., 1984). It can also passively protect mice in vivo against lethal intracerebral D E N - 2 challenge ( K a u f m a n et al., 1987). The E protein is

INTRODUCTION Dengue is a human disease caused by dengue virus (DEN), a member of the family flaviviridae (Westaway et al., 1985). The viral genome is a single-stranded R N A o f 10723 nt (New Guinea C strain) in length, having a type1 cap at the 5' end, but lacking a poly(A) tract at the 3' end (for a review, see C h a m b e r s 1990). The genomic R N A is o f positive-strand polarity having a single O R F that encodes a polyprotein of 3391 aa in length, which is then p r o c e s s e d into three structural and at least seven nonstrucrural proteins so far identified. The four distinct serotypes

Dengue2 genome C

M

E

I I,I P T nt

an

S

NSI

l-.. Sp

N

4A 411

NS3

I I I B

914 1000 i!09 1380 1591 -7 22 58 148 219 R~

2A 2B

"'-,.,. B

1696 254

NS$

III

I

E protein coding sequence from pKT2.4

E

2203 2340 423 470

ell RBS

indlll BamH! and Pollk

Pollk and Blunt-endligation

,,.o e

~li!!

MM294 -k lysogen with wild-type repressor

m N5151 ~. lysogen with cI ts8S7 repressor

Fig. i. Plasmid constructs for the expression of DEN-2 E polypeptides. DEN-2 polyprotein precursor encoded from a single ORF is shown in the top line. The eDNA clone pKT 2.4 (irie et al., 1989) was digested with B, BamHI; E, E¢oRI; N, Ncol (partial); P, Pvull; S, Seal; Sp, Sphl; or 1", Tth 1111, and the fragments were made blunt by treatment with Pollk in each case. These fragments were cloned into the pOTS vector (pOTSV) plasmid [conraining ;. phage left operator and promoter (OtPL), and a Cll ribosome-binding site (¢!! RBS)], which was digested with BmnHl and treated with Pulik prior to cloning using standard techniques (Maniatis et al., 1982). The expression plasmids of general structure pOTS-D2E were obtained in which the size ofthe DEN-2 E coding sequence varied as follows:p'i'F 10 (Pvull-EcoRi), pTTI5 (Tth I 1ll-EcoRl), pTT20 ($cal-EcoRl), pTT25 (Sphl-EcoRl), pTT30 (Nc'oi-EcoRI), and p'I-r35 (deletion of nt 1697-2203 between the two BamHl sites), in all cases, the reading frame for the expression of the corresponding E polypeptide was kept in-frame and was verified by the m sequence analysis. For transformation, and initial screening of the proper orientation of the eDNA insert, E. coli MM 294(2cl ÷) was used, and for expression N515 l(ta:lts857) was used.

141 involved in binding of the virus to the host cell, and is also the antigen responsible for hemagglutination of erythrocytes at acid pH (Sweet and Sabin, 1954). Similar to the membrane glycoproteins of other enveloped viruses, the flavivirus E protein is quite variable at least in certain antigenically active domains (Heinz, 1986). The variable portion of the E protein contains epitopes which determine the type specificity and complex specificity. These antigenic specificities form the basis for serological classification of flaviviruses as determined by HI and neutralization tests. Identification of the neutralizing epitopes of the E protein is important to understand the mechanism of virus-host cell interaction, and to develop an effective vaccine to control the dengue virus infections. Various methods are available to determine the precise location of antigenic sites on a protein molecule (Benjamin et al., 1984; Berzofsky, 1985). One approach involves the use ofmAbs as specific reagents for defining single epitopes on the complex antigenic structure of protein molecules. Using methods involving screening of purified proteolytic fragments of a protein molecule and/or screening a collection of overlapping synthetic peptides, the antigenic determinants of a number of viral glycoproteins have been studied (Emini et al., 1982; Lubeck and Gerhard, 1982; Massey and Schochetman, 1981; Mehra et al., 1986; Roehrig et al., 1982; Volk et al., 1982). Using RNA recombination as a genetic tool, the antigenic determinants involved in neutralization, as well as virus neuropathogenicity of the peplomer protein encoded by gene C of murine coronavirus were localized at the C-terminal one third of the peplomer (Makino et al., 1987). Lobigs et al. (1987) defined the antigenic determinant involved in the neutralization of YF on

the N-terminal region of the E protein, which is hydrophilic, rich in Cys, and not conserved among flavivirus subgroups. The approach used was to select neutralization escape variants against two neutralizing mAbs, and sequence the variants in the region of the genomc encoding the E and M proteins. It was found that each of the variants resulted from a single base change in the E protein coding sequence leading to a nonconservative substitution at aa ~ or aa 72. An alternative method involves the construction of expression libraries using the ).gtl 1 system and fragments ofgene encoding the antigen, and sequence all the cDNA expression clones that reacted with a specific mAb. The DNA sequence encoding the epitope is attributed to sequences that are shared by multiple antibody-positive recombinant clones (Mehra et al., 1986). The aim of the present study was to map the antigenic determinant of the DEN-2 E protein recognized by the 3H5, a type-specific mAb, which was shown to have a significantly high neutralization titer (Gentry et al., 1982; Henchal et al., 1995). The expression system used by us for mapping the 3HS-binding site on the E protein significantly differs from the previously reported method (Mehra et al., 1986) in that in our system the polypeptides produced in E. coli cells are not fused to any bacterial protein.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

(a) Synthesis of the E protein in Escherichia coil In order to map the neutralizing determinant of DEN2 E recognized by the 3H5 mAb, we have made use of an E. coil expression vector pOTS (Fig. 1). It contains a unique

TABLE I Map positions of E polypeptides encoded by expression clones Restriction fragment of cDNA used for cloning a

Recombinant expression clone

Amino acid coordinates of E polypeptide

Size of polypeptides in SDS/PAGE (kDa)

Pvull-EcoRl (nt 914-2340) Tth ! 1ll-EcoRl (nt 1000-2340) ScaI-EcoRI (nt 1109-2340) Sphl-EcoRl (nt 1380-2340) NcoI-EcoRI (nt 1591-2340) Deletion of BamHI fragment (A nt 1696-2203) from pTT15

pTT10

aa - 8b-470 c