Unraveling the interaction networks among functional proteins is essential in fundamental and clinical biomedical diagnostics by providing a mechanistic understanding of the complex regulatory processes of the cell, identifying their relationships to diseases, accelerating protein biomarker discovery, and assisting drug design. Advances in rational membrane protein design, chemical modification, biomolecular recognition, and single-molecule science will be used in concert for the creation of a new methodology to sample protein-protein interactions at high temporal and spatial resolution, as well as for the detection, exploration, and characterization of individual proteins. These proposed studies are aimed at engineering protein nanopore- based sensing devices featured by ligand-containing flexible tethers. Ample redesign of ferric hydroxamate uptake component A (FhuA), a monomeric b-barrel protein with a remarkable array of advantageous traits, such as robustness, versatility, and tractability, will result in a unique nanostructure with a single tethered proteinor DNA aptamer ligand at a strategic positioning of the nanopore. The FhuA-based scaffold is an attractive choice for this task, because it's open-state, quiet current remains stable for long periods within an unusually broad range of detection circumstances. These benefits will be used in various biosensing schemes, in which individual protein-protein and protein-DNA recognition events will produce detectable, discrete and reversible changes in the conformational dynamics of the movable tether, inducing alterations in the single- channel electrical signature. The expected immediate outcomes will be the following: (i) the creation of sensing elements for examining protein-protein interactions under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions;(ii) the development of highly specific nanopore-based sensing elements for a protein biomarker;(iii) a better understanding of the impact of tunable and constraining tethers on the intermolecular forces among protein partners, which has implications for the in vivo contexts of complex recognition events produced by anchored protein domains;(iv) the improvement in the sensitivity of the single-molecule detection of protein-protein interfaces, pushing forward the nanopore technology for the disentanglement of weak protein-protein interactions;(v) the expansion of the modularity and scalability of engineered protein nanopores as well as their integration with a synthetic membrane, improving their mechanical, thermal, electrical, and chemical stability. The adaptation of these unusual nanostructures with movable arms to an integrated microfabricated chip platform will provide a new generation of research tools for exploring the molecular basis of protein-protein recognition events in a sensitive, specific and quantitative fashion.

Public Health Relevance

Design and development of highly specific and sensitive protein-based detectors will accelerate discoveries in fundamental and clinical molecular biomedical diagnostics, with applications in several realms, including prognosis and detection of cancers at earlier stages than currently possible, as well as protein biomarker profiling. In response to these pressing needs, this grant application is aimed at expanding nanopore technology to that of real-time protein detection and analysis, which will represent a critical ste towards the creation of high-throughput devices for targeted protein sampling.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01GM088403-06
Application #
8760824
Study Section
Nanotechnology Study Section (NANO)
Program Officer
Lewis, Catherine D
Project Start
2009-09-28
Project End
2018-07-31
Budget Start
2014-09-01
Budget End
2015-08-31
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Syracuse University
Department
Physics
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Syracuse
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
13244
Thakur, Avinash Kumar; Movileanu, Liviu (2018) Real-time measurement of protein-protein interactions at single-molecule resolution using a biological nanopore. Nat Biotechnol :
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Wolfe, Aaron J; Gugel, Jack F; Chen, Min et al. (2018) Detergent Desorption of Membrane Proteins Exhibits Two Kinetic Phases. J Phys Chem Lett 9:1913-1919
Thakur, Avinash Kumar; Larimi, Motahareh Ghahari; Gooden, Kristin et al. (2017) Aberrantly Large Single-Channel Conductance of Polyhistidine Arm-Containing Protein Nanopores. Biochemistry 56:4895-4905
Wolfe, Aaron J; Si, Wei; Zhang, Zhengqi et al. (2017) Quantification of Membrane Protein-Detergent Complex Interactions. J Phys Chem B 121:10228-10241
Wolfe, Aaron J; Hsueh, Yi-Ching; Blanden, Adam R et al. (2017) Interrogating Detergent Desolvation of Nanopore-Forming Proteins by Fluorescence Polarization Spectroscopy. Anal Chem 89:8013-8020
Mohammad, Mohammad M; Tomita, Noriko; Ohta, Makoto et al. (2016) The Transmembrane Domain of a Bicomponent ABC Transporter Exhibits Channel-Forming Activity. ACS Chem Biol 11:2506-18
Couoh-Cardel, Sergio; Hsueh, Yi-Ching; Wilkens, Stephan et al. (2016) Yeast V-ATPase Proteolipid Ring Acts as a Large-conductance Transmembrane Protein Pore. Sci Rep 6:24774
Wolfe, Aaron J; Mohammad, Mohammad M; Thakur, Avinash K et al. (2016) Global redesign of a native ?-barrel scaffold. Biochim Biophys Acta 1858:19-29
Cheneke, Belete R; van den Berg, Bert; Movileanu, Liviu (2015) Quasithermodynamic contributions to the fluctuations of a protein nanopore. ACS Chem Biol 10:784-94

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