Protein engineering of conger eel galectins by tracing of molecular evolution using probable ancestral mutants.
BACKGROUND
Conger eel galectins, congerin I (ConI) and congerin II (ConII), show the different molecular characteristics resulting from accelerating evolution. We recently reconstructed a probable ancestral form of congerins, Con-anc. It showed properties similar to those of ConII in terms of thermostability and carbohydrate recognition specificity, although it shares a higher sequence similarity with ConI than ConII.


RESULTS
In this study, we have focused on the different amino acid residues between Con-anc and ConI, and have performed the protein engineering of Con-anc through site-directed mutagenesis, followed by the molecular evolution analysis of the mutants. This approach revealed the functional importance of loop structures of congerins: (1) N- and C-terminal and loop 5 regions that are involved in conferring a high thermostability to ConI; (2) loops 3, 5, and 6 that are responsible for stronger binding of ConI to most sugars; and (3) loops 5 and 6, and Thr38 residue in loop 3 contribute the specificity of ConI toward lacto-N-fucopentaose-containing sugars.


CONCLUSIONS
Thus, this methodology, with tracing of the molecular evolution using ancestral mutants, is a powerful tool for the analysis of not only the molecular evolutionary process, but also the structural elements of a protein responsible for its various functions.
Department of Biomolecular Science, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 981-8555, Japan.
Ayumu
A
Konno
Shintarou
S
Yonemaru
Atsushi
A
Kitagawa
Koji
K
Muramoto
Tsuyoshi
T
Shirai
Tomohisa
T
Ogawa
D000818:Animals; D002241:Carbohydrates; D004524:Eels / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D037161:Galectins / Q000235:genetics*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D010802:Phylogeny; D055550:Protein Stability
D002241:Carbohydrates; D037161:Galectins; C122080:congerin II protein, Conger eel; C074516:congerin protein, Conger myriaster