Characterization of novel bangle lectin from Photorhabdus asymbiotica with dual sugar-binding specificity and its effect on host immunity
[['Photorhabdus is a genus of three species belonging to the gram-negative entomopathogenic bacteria of the family Morganellaceae .', 'Unlike the other two species of the genus , P . asymbiotica is not only an insect pathogen .', 'Using a still poorly understood mechanism , P . asymbiotica can infect humans and cause both locally invasive soft tissue infection and disseminated bacteraemic disease characterised by multifocal skin and soft tissue abscesses [1–4] .', 'While other members of the genus are not able to replicate and survive above 32–34°C , P . asymbiotica has the ability to grow at temperatures above 37°C [4–6] .', 'P . asymbiotica can be further subdivided into two apparent subspecies—American and Australian isolates according to genotypic criteria and the occurrence of human infection .', 'In general , it was found that Australian strains are more virulent than American ones [3 , 7 , 8] .', 'The life cycle of Photorhabdus as an insect pathogen is well-characterized [2 , 9] .', 'Photorhabdus does not exist in a free-living form in the soil , but engages in a specific mutualistic association with entomopathogenic nematodes ( EPN ) of the genus Heterorhabditis .', 'This nematobacterial complex is highly pathogenic for a broad range of insects .', 'Using EPN as a vector , Photorhabdus bacteria cells are delivered into the haemocoel of insect larvae , where they are regurgitated by the nematodes and kill the host within 48 h by a combination of the toxins’ action and septicaemia [3 , 10] .', 'The cadaver serves as a nutrient source for both the bacterial pathogen and developing nematodes .', 'Subsequently , the bacteria and new infective juvenile nematodes re-associate and search for a new host .', 'In humans , P . asymbiotica employs a so-called “nutritional virulence” strategy—it aggressively acquires amino acids , peptides and other nutrients from the host [5] .', 'Previous studies revealed that many of the cytotoxins and virulence factors produced by Photorhabdus are equally effective against both insect and mammalian immune defence mechanisms [5 , 11] .', 'The treatment of reported cases has required extensive antibiotic intervention with relapses in many cases [1 , 4] .', 'It is interesting to note that P . asymbiotica is not the only bacterial symbiont of nematodes associated with human diseases .', 'Wolbachia , an endosymbiont of the nematodes Onchocera volvulus and Brugia malayia that cause river blindness and lymphatic filariasis , was reported to stimulate human immune system via production of endo-toxins that are released from nematodes upon death or damage [1 , 12–14] .', 'Compared with P . asymbiotica , Wolbachia is not capable of active reproduction in the human host , which makes P . asymbiotica a potentially more dangerous pathogen [15] .', 'There is also a close phylogenetic relation to Yersinia pestis , a cause of plague , and the parallel between their behaviour is noteworthy [3 , 5] .', 'Pathogenic bacteria often use lectins , i . e . protein receptors with a high specificity for glycoconjugates , to recognize and adhere to human tissues [16 , 17] .', 'In general , lectins are ubiquitous carbohydrate-binding proteins , which play a crucial role in many physiological and pathophysiological processes [18] .', 'Different affinity towards various ligands enables lectins to “read” the information stored in carbohydrate molecules , thus making them a powerful tool in cell-cell recognition , immunity , cancer , pathogen adhesion , etc .', '[19 , 20] .', 'Recently , a new fucose-binding lectin PLL was identified in P . luninescens and structurally characterized [21] .', 'This article describes the identification , cloning and production of a novel recombinant l-fucose/d-galactose-binding lectin from P . asymbiotica ( designated PHL ) .', 'The interaction of PHL with carbohydrate ligands was analysed through biophysical methods , and the structures of PHL and its complexes with saccharides were solved .', 'The ability of PHL to act as a host-cell recognizing agent was investigated through interaction with the haemolymph of Galleria mellonella ( order Lepidoptera , family Pyralidae ) and human blood components .'], ['PHL was identified as a PLL-like protein in the translated genome of Photorhabdus asymbiotica ( strain ATCC 43949 ) .', 'The protein consists of 369 amino acids with 72% similarity to PLL ( 63% identity ) ( Fig 1 ) .', 'The synthetic phl gene was cloned and overexpressed in E . coli .', 'The recombinant protein was isocratically purified using single-step affinity chromatography on a mannose-agarose column , and its purity was verified by SDS-PAGE .', 'The protein was confirmed to be PHL ( 40 . 18 kDa monomer ) by MALDI-MS/MS .', 'A screening of PHL binding to various glycans was performed using glycan array microchips containing over 600 different mammalian glycans , bacterial polysaccharides , glycosylated peptides and proteins ( S1 and S2 Tables ) .', 'PHL recognized 12 saccharides with at least a 5-fold higher response than that with trehalose ( standard blank , sugar ID 629 ) .', 'The lectin was found to be specific mainly towards fucose and oligosaccharides containing terminal fucose residues as shown in Fig', '2 . PHL displays a considerable preference for α-fucoside , but β-fucoside is also strongly recognized .', 'The most preferred complex saccharide was 3 , 6-O-Me2-Glcβ1-4 ( 2 , 3-O-Me2 ) Rhaα-O- ( p-C6H4 ) -OCH2CH2NH2 , an unusual disaccharide present in the Mycobacterium leprae glycolipid PGL-I [22 , 23] .', 'PHL displayed a preference for short fucosylated glycans , as is demonstrated by its preference towards Fucα1-4GlcNAc and Fucα1-3GlcNAc disaccharides over the complex saccharides , e . g . whole Lewis antigens .', 'The strongest binding to human-related oligosaccharides is observed towards blood group B trisaccharide .', 'The Surface Plasmon Resonance ( SPR ) technique was employed to further analyze the specificity/affinity of PHL towards various sugars .', 'It was revealed that PHL interacts with the immobilized α-l-fucoside , giving an apparent KD of 1 . 4±0 . 21 μM , whereas no visible binding to d-mannoside and d-galactoside was observed .', 'Its competitive inhibition with seven monosaccharides ( l-Fuc , Me-α-l-Fuc , Me-β-l-Fuc , d-Man , d-Gal , d-Glc , d-GlcNAc ) and five oligosaccharides ( Fucα1-3GlcNAc , Fucα1-4GlcNAc , blood group H , A and B trisaccharides ) were also tested ( Table 1 , Fig 3A and 3B ) .', 'The lowest IC50 was determined for Me-α-l-Fuc and blood group B trisaccharide , being about 10 and 5 times stronger inhibitors than free l-fucose , respectively .', 'Its binding to a range of saccharides was further characterized by isothermal titration calorimetry ( ITC ) , enabling determination of the complete thermodynamic profile of the molecular interaction ( Fig 3C ) .', 'The calculated dissociation constants ( Table 2 ) are in the millimolar range , indicating a low affinity to the chosen carbohydrate ligands , as is usually observed for lectin/saccharide interactions .', 'Me-α-l-Fuc , blood group B trisaccharide and d-Gal were revealed to be stronger binders than l-Fuc ( KD is in submillimolar values ) .', 'The highest affinity was determined towards Me-α-l-Fuc , with a KD 5 times lower than l-Fuc .', 'With Me-α-l-Fuc and the blood group B trisaccharide , the equilibrium dissociation constants are 0 . 27 mM and 0 . 49 mM , with binding stoichiometry of approx .', '2 . 9 and 4 . 3 , respectively .', 'However , the stoichiometry value n cannot be properly calculated , and especially for other ligands , due to the low affinity .', 'Therefore , the stoichiometry was fixed during the fitting procedure to 3 and 4 , respectively , which enabled a comparison of individual sugars ( Table 2 ) .', 'The determination of the oligomeric state of the PHL lectin was carried out via both techniques of analytical ultracentrifugation ( AUC ) –sedimentation velocity and sedimentation equilibrium .', 'The continuous size distribution of sedimentation profiles for PHL resulted in a peak with a sedimentation coefficient of 4 . 98 S suggesting that a PHL exists as a dimer ( Fig 4A and 4B ) .', 'This result was also supported by sedimentation equilibrium experiment ( Fig 4C ) .', 'A global analysis of multi-speed experiments gave a molecular weight of 78 . 6 kDa what corresponds well with the theoretical molecular weight of the dimer ( 80 . 1 kDa ) .', 'In solution , PHL forms a homo-dimer in contrast to the homologous PLL from P . luminescens , which exists as a tetramer [21] .', 'PHL forms a single domain structure , which exhibits a seven-bladed β-propeller fold organized around a seven-fold pseudoaxis of symmetry ( Fig 5A ) .', 'Each repeat of the PHL lectin ( W-motif ) consists of a four-stranded antiparallel β-sheet connected by relatively long loops .', 'Superposition of the seven β-blades for the PHL lectin gives an overall RMSD value no larger than 0 . 63 Å .', 'The shape of the PHL lectin monomer is a short torus , with a diameter of 45 Å and a height of 30 Å .', 'The tunnel in the center broadens from 13 Å at the C- and N- termini side to a diameter of 18 Å on the opposite side .', 'The data-collection and refinement statistics are given in Table', '3 . The overall structure of the PHL monomer is very similar to the recently determined structure of a homologous PLL lectin , with a backbone RMSD of 0 . 65 Å [21] .', 'The dimeric state of PHL shown by AUC was also seen in the crystal ( Fig 5B ) .', 'A pseudo-2-fold axis of symmetry generates the dimer associated in a “tunnel to tunnel” manner , so that the C- and N-termini are exposed to the solvent .', 'The main dimer-stabilizing element is a disulfide bridge formed between the Cys279 residues of both monomers in the loop interconnecting β-strands in repeat W6 ( Fig 5B ) .', 'Additional hydrogen bonds are formed by residues in the loops of all repeats except W5 .', 'The analysis of PHL/Me-α-l-Fuc and PHL/BGH complexes revealed fucose-binding sites located between individual blades of the β-propeller in the upper half of the monomer , where the N- and C- termini are located ( Fig 5A ) .', 'Based on the sequence alignment of individual repetitions , there may be up to seven potential fucose-binding sites per PHL monomer forming a circle ( Fig 5 ) .', 'They are referred to as site 1F ( between blades W1 and W2 ) , site 2F ( between W2 and W3 ) and so on .', 'In the crystal structure of PHL/Me-α-l-Fuc , which was solved after soaking ligand-free PHL crystals with Me-α-l-Fuc , only sites 3F and 6F were occupied by the ligand .', 'At site 3F ( Fig 6A ) Fuc-O3 , Fuc-O4 and Fuc-O5 atoms are coordinated by the Thr194 side chain and backbone atoms of Thr194 and Val172 .', 'The side chains of Trp199 and Trp214 form a hydrophobic pocket which adopts the C6 methyl group of Fuc .', 'Trp199 also forms CH-π interactions with the hydrophobic surface of Fuc C3 , C4 and C5 .', 'Analogously , hydrogen bonds are formed by Val316 and Thr338 , while Trp343 and Trp355 stabilize the hydrophobic part of the saccharide in site 6F ( Fig 6A ) .', 'Soaking with blood group H trisaccharide resulted in three saccharides coordinated in sites 1F , 3F and 6F ( Fig 6B ) .', 'In all cases , the Fuc moiety of the trisaccharide is recognized in the same way as with Me-α-l-Fuc .', 'The oligosaccharide conformation is identical in all binding sites .', 'In addition to interactions of the Fuc part with the protein , the trisaccharide in site 1F is further stabilized by the interaction of Gal-O4 with the Gly76 backbone and interaction of GlcNAc-N2 and GlcNAc-O3 with the Trp118 backbone .', 'Analogously , in site 3F the saccharide interacts with the Gly171 and Trp214 backbone , in site 6F with the Gly315 and Trp355 backbone .', 'The conformation of the trisaccharide is further stabilized by a water molecule bridging Gal-O4 , Gal-O5 and GlcNAc-O3 to backbone of Trp118 , Trp214 and Trp355 , respectively .', 'An additional water molecule was detected in sites 1F and 3F , bridging Gal-O3 with Gly76 and Gln77 ( site 1F ) and Gal-O3 with Gly171 ( site 3F ) .', 'The crystal structure of the PHL/d-Gal complex revealed three d-Gal monosaccharides coordinated in binding pockets other than the Fuc-binding sites .', 'These Gal-binding sites are located in between blades in the opposite half to the N- and C- termini of the protein monomer ( Fig 7 ) .', 'Similarly to Fuc-binding sites , potential Gal-binding sites are further reffered to as 1G ( between blades W1 and W2 ) , 2G and so on .', 'The binding sites consist of several polar amino acids forming a complex hydrogen bond net with Gal oxygen atoms .', 'For site 2G , Gal-O1 , O2 , O3 , O4 and O5 atoms are coordinated by Arg91 , Glu93 , Gln155 , Ser160 and Trp163 side chains and by the Gly161 main chain ( Fig 6C ) .', 'The Trp107 side chain stabilizes the hydrophobic surface of C1 , C3 and C5 atoms of the coordinated Gal molecule through CH-π interactions .', 'The saccharide is further stabilized by water molecules bridging the sugar hydroxyls to His105 , Trp107 , Gln119 and Ser160 side chains and the His159 main chain .', 'The ligand at site 4G is coordinated in the same manner by Arg186 , Glu188 , Gln251 and Trp259 side chains , the Gly256 main chain and through a stacking interaction with a Trp202 side chain .', 'Water bridges to Arg186 and Ser256 side chains and His255 main chain were also detected .', 'In site 6G the hydrogen bonds with the Arg282 , Glu284 , Gln347 and Trp352 side chains are established , while the Trp298 side chain stabilizes the hydrophobic part .', 'An additional water molecule forms a bridge to the Ser351 main chain .', 'In all binding sites , only the beta anomer of d-Gal was identified .', 'It is oriented in such a way , that only a Gal monomer could be bound .', 'In sites 2G and 4G two conformations of Gal-C6 hydroxyl were identified as not being directly stabilized by the protein residues .', 'Based on sequence alignment of the repetitions ( Fig 5C ) , only 5 Gal-binding sites contain the sugar binding motif .', 'The conserved Trp residue is missing in sites 2G and 7G .', 'Interestingly , site 2F is occupied by the Met60 side chain of the symmetry-related molecule in all structures .', 'For site 7F in PHL/ Me-α-l-Fuc and PHL/d-Gal complexes , electron density corresponding to another Met side chain was found ( Fig 6A ) .', 'This residue was identified as the initial Met1 , since no other unassigned Met residue is present in the crystal .', 'In addition , the electron density was also clear enough to assign Gln2 and Pro3 residues in the PHL/d-Gal complex .', 'An overview of site occupancy of PHL protein by sugars is given in Table', '4 . Several methods were used to prove the biological influence of PHL on human blood and insect haemolymph .', 'Using human blood samples , its interaction with red blood cells ( RBCs ) , effect on production of cytotoxic factors and serum antibacterial activity were determined .', 'The potential influence of PHL on insects was tested on haemolymph: its antimicrobial and phenoloxidase activity were measured .', 'The carbohydrate specificity of PHL lectin was observed through its interaction with the surface oligosaccharides of human RBCs under microscope .', 'PHL displays considerable haemagglutination activity with RBCs of blood group O , but not with blood groups A and B . Experiments with FITC-labeled PHL under fluorescence microscope revealed that PHL was able to bind all RBC types , but only O RBCs were agglutinated ( Fig 8 ) .', 'A set of biologically relevant mono- and oligosaccharides was used to determine their inhibition potency on haemagglutination by PHL .', 'Interestingly , the best inhibitor proved to be the blood group B trisaccharide ( its minimal inhibitory concentration ( MIC ) was 0 . 313 mM ) followed by Me-α-l-Fuc ( MIC 0 . 390 mM ) that are 10 times and 8 times more effective than l-fucose ( MIC 3 . 125 mM ) , respectively ( Table 5 ) .', 'This indicates that blood group oligosaccharides are well recognized in their free form ( terminal trisaccharides ) , while in bound form the least sterically demanding one ( BGH ) is preferred .', 'Except for fucosylated sugars , no other carbohydrates inhibited the haemagglutination reaction at any of the concentrations tested ( up to 250 mM ) .', 'PHL was shown to bind to host cells , but interestingly we also observed a modulation of the host immune response when the lectin was present .', 'Reactive oxygen species ( ROS ) are highly effective oxidants which are produced by immune cells after pathogen recognition and are responsible for the primary antimicrobial response .', 'The level of ROS production was very low in whole human blood A/B/O in the absence of immune activators both in the blood mixed with PBS ( integral of bioluminescence 45 . 7±11 . 2 x 103 counts per second , CPS , during 2 hours of reaction ) and control protein BSA ( 26 . 9±16 . 9 x 103 CPS*min ) .', 'In contrast , the constitutive production of reactive oxidants was significantly increased in blood which was pre-treated with PHL ( 926 . 2±650 . 4 x 103 CPS*min ) , confirming the interaction of the lectin with immune cells and its recognition by the immune system ( Fig 9A ) .', 'Interestingly , in the blood challenged with the activator zymosan A , the production of ROS was significantly lower after pre-treatment with PHL ( 2 . 8±1 . 0 x 106 CPS*min ) compared to PBS and BSA ( 6 . 5±3 . 6 x 106 and 5 . 3±1 . 3 x 106 CPS*min , respectively ) .', 'Mixing blood with PBS and BSA neither affected the oxidative burst in phagocytes positively nor negatively .', 'It is worth noting that the level of ROS produced in blood with the activator was more than 140-fold higher than their constitutive level ( without the activator ) ; this is not apparent from the normalised results shown at Fig 9A .', 'In the presented results , the integral of ROS production was normalized to the PBS control for each particular sample of blood to exclude blood donor variability .', 'The effect of PHL was apparent both at room temperature and 37°C; the temperature influenced only course of the reaction which was faster in human optimum at 37°C .', 'Inhibition of antimicrobial response was also observed upon the challenge of immune effectors with live bacteria .', 'An antimicrobial assay using the Gram-negative bacteria E . coli K12 found a weaker antimicrobial activity in human serum and insect haemolymph treated with PHL ( Fig 9B ) .', 'The viability of the bacteria used is not influenced in the absence of human serum and haemolymph , but decreases in the presence of body fluids containing antimicrobial factors .', 'Unlike PBS or BSA that are not able to block the effect of antimicrobial factors present in body fluids , PHL interacts both with human serum and haemolymph , resulting in a delay of the observed antimicrobial effect .', 'PHL-dependent inhibition of antimicrobial activity was also observed in whole human blood , yet the measured luminescence and variability of results were negatively influenced by the presence of erythrocytes and absorption of haemoglobin , therefore these data are not presented .', 'Although , the ROS production is still disputable in some insect species [25 , 26] , even they possess immune mechanisms that are able to respond quickly to pathogen recognition .', 'The phenoloxidase ( PO ) cascade is well described in insects , activated upon the detection of pathogen structures and accompanied by the production of cytotoxic factors [27] .', 'The effect of PHL on PO activity was examined in G . mellonella haemolymph where the PO activity is manifested in rapid melanisation .', 'A significant increase in melanisation was observed in haemolymph treated with micrograms of PHL ( Fig 10A ) .', 'This activation was inhibited in the presence of both 0 . 2M l-Fuc and 0 . 2M Me-α-l-Fuc ( Fig 10B ) .', 'Unlike PHL , the high doses of homologous protein PLL and control protein BSA did not have any effect on PO activity .'], ['A functionally unique lectin PHL from the insect and human pathogen Photorhabdus asymbiotica was identified as a homologue of a recently published lectin from the strictly entomopathogenic bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens [21] .', 'Individual steps of P . asymbiotica human infection have not been determined , however lectins produced by this pathogen can play an important role in its pathogenicity and/or the process of infection .', 'The aim of this work was to prepare a novel PHL lectin and describe its structure-functional properties .', 'Its biological relevance was tested on human blood and insect haemolymph , with an emphasis on early immune response and lectin interaction with circulating cells .', 'PHL , a homo-dimer lectin ( ~ 80 . 4 kDa ) with subunits linked by a disulfide bridge , was characterized as a dual-specific l-fucose/d-galactose binding protein with an unusually high number of potential binding sites .', 'The results of biological activity assays suggest that PHL significantly affects host defense mechanisms , specifically antimicrobial effectors such as reactive oxygen species and their production .', 'The structure of PHL was solved using the structure of the lectin PLL from Photorhabdus luminescens [21] .', 'Similarly to PLL , the PHL monomer consists of a seven-bladed β-propeller that has not been observed in any other lectin [21] .', 'The seven-bladed propeller of PVL from Psathyrella velutina differs in the formation of its blades , the insertion of its N-terminus into the central cavity , and also in its larger propeller diameter .', 'Propellers of the AAL lectin family are designed in a similar way to PHL , but contain only six blades .', 'In contrast to tetrameric PLL , PHL exists as a dimer stabilized through a disulfide bridge .', 'This is remarkable , as the protein is produced in an E . coli strain not expected to support disulfide formation , however this uncommon feature was already reported for PLL [21] .', 'Unlike all lectins studied so far , PHL is unique in the presence of two sets of binding sites in one domain .', 'So-called superlectins consist of two different domains , each with a different specificity ( e . g . BC2L-C from Burkholderia cenocepacia or CRLL lectin from Cycas revoluta ) [28 , 29] .', 'Also , the ABL from Agaricus bisporus , the SRL from Sclerotium rolfsii or XCL from Xerocomus chrysenteron possess the ability to bind two different saccharides within one unit [30 , 31] .', 'However , two sets of well-defined binding sites specific for two unrelated saccharides has never been reported before .', 'Hence this is a unique bangle lectin arrangement .', 'Remarkably , due to architecture of PHL , all potential binding sites are exposed at its surface and therefore accessible to ligands in solution .', 'The PHL fucose-binding site exhibits a high similarity to the recently characterized binding site of homologous PLL [21] .', 'It shares the characteristic employment of two Trp residues for ligand binding via CH-π interactions rather than creating a complex structure of H-bonds , as is common for fucose-specific AAL family lectins [32–35] .', 'In the structure of the PLL complex with l-Fuc , the saccharide was observed in three binding sites .', 'Similarly , three fucose sites were occupied in the PHL/BGH complex , however , the distribution of confirmed binding sites is not equal , only two of them sharing the same position and the third one being different .', 'Moreover , the crucial amino acids in the fucose sites of PHL are more conserved than in PLL ( Fig 11 ) , where at least one site lacks a conserved Trp residue .', 'The uniqueness of PHL resides in the presence of the second set of binding sites within the same monomer .', 'These sites form a ring around the PHL monomer below the fucose-binding sites ( Fig 7 ) and , in contrast to them , prefer d-galactose .', 'Galactose-binding sites exhibit a common binding scheme , with the hydrophobic part of the saccharide being stabilized by the Trp residue , while the rest of the binding pocket coordinates the saccharide hydroxyl groups .', 'Even though PHL exhibits submillimolar affinity towards d-Gal , it is unlikely to be its natural ligand .', 'Lectins are mostly considered to be oligosaccharide-recognizing proteins , especially if the saccharides are linked to a surface ( such as to the cell , another protein or intercellular matrix ) .', 'In the PHL/d-Gal complex , the d-Gal anomeric oxygen is oriented towards the bottom of the binding pocket , so that recognition of the more complex saccharide is sterically hindered .', 'This corresponds well with the inability of PHL to recognize a d-Gal-modified surface in SPR measurements .', 'Hence , we can assume that the natural ligand is different from d-Gal , e . g . d-Man , which is utilized for PHL purification and exhibits low overall affinity .', 'Glycan microarray experiments demonstrated that the binding of PHL is highly selective for fucosylated compounds out of more than 600 tested glycans , and therefore PHL was defined as a fucose-specific lectin .', 'The highest relative binding was observed with α-l-fucoside .', 'PHL displayed significant preferences for short glycans , as is demonstrated by its preference for Fucα1-4GlcNAc and Fucα1-3GlcNAc disaccharides over complex fucosylated saccharides , such as Lewis antigens or blood group ABH determinants .', 'Unexpectedly , among the highest responding epitopes unusual O-methylated saccharides were found– 3 , 6-O-Me2-Glcβ1–4 ( 2 , 3-O-Me2 ) Rhaα-O-phenol ( the terminal disaccharide from Mycobacterium leprae glycolipid I ) and monosaccharide 3 , 6-O-Me2-Glcpβ [22 , 23] .', 'It is interesting to know that O-methyl glycans are frequently present in some species of bacteria , fungi , algae , plants , worms ( e . g . nematodes ) and molluscs , but not in mammals [36 , 37] .', 'The results published in [37] also suggest that O-methylated glycans constitute a conserved target of the fungal and animal innate immune system .', 'Therefore , the specificity of PHL to O-methylated glycans can point to its role in interactions with both nematodes and insects .', 'It also nicely corresponds with specificity of PLL [21] .', 'The ITC measurement revealed a different behavior in solution , where more complex oligosaccharides such as blood group A/B trisaccharides were determined to have a higher affinity , comparable to the above-mentioned disaccharides .', 'Blood group B trisaccharide and d-galactose turned out to be more strongly bound ligands than l-fucose .', 'This apparent discrepancy follows from differences between the surface assay and solution assay .', 'This is further supported by the fact that d-galactose can probably be only bound in free form , as was demonstrated by the X-ray structure of the PHL/d-Gal complex .', 'In comparison with PLL , PHL has a higher affinity to both l-Fuc and Me-α-l-Fuc .', 'During ITC measurements , PHL interacted with both saccharides with an approx .', '4-fold higher affinity .', 'IC50 based on SPR inhibition experiments found a 15-fold better inhibition effect of l-Fuc for PHL than for PLL and even a 42-fold stronger effect with Me-α-l-Fuc .', 'There are also differences in their haemagglutination assays .', 'PHL binds all types of RBCs , but agglutination was observed only for O RBCs .', 'This might be caused by several factors including PHL binding site non-equivalency , partial sterical hindrance of cell-bound saccharide or local interference with other epitopes on the cell [38] .', 'However , it is interesting that homologous PLL agglutinates only A RBCs , showing different overall behaviour to RBCs [21] .', 'P . asymbiotica is known as a facultative intracellular pathogen which is engulfed by human macrophages and insect haemocytes , but is able to avoid destruction and later disseminate from phagocytic cells [3] .', 'Therefore , P . asymbiotica must possess efficient defense mechanisms that enable survival of the detrimental effects of antimicrobial compounds constitutively present or induced in the host organism upon its recognition .', 'We focused on early immune response and its effectors , which are responsible for the primary response to pathogens such as P . asymbiotica .', 'PHL interacts with host cells and was also shown to interfere with the production of ROS in human blood .', 'The observed increase in constitutive ROS level in all blood types , including A and B that are not agglutinated by PHL , suggests the possible recognition of this lectin by the immune system .', 'P . asymbiotica as well as P . luminescens and P . temperata are able to kill insect haemocytes and vertebrate macrophages [3 , 39] and higher concentrations of ROS can certainly contribute to this by causing oxidative damage in host tissues .', 'However , it is worth noting that the apoptosis of host cells occurs later , and the level of ROS produced after immune activation was significantly higher than the amount of oxidants produced in reaction to PHL itself .', 'Overall , in our experiments we did not observe any detrimental effect of PHL on host cells , which could be attributed to increased ROS concentration .', 'Moreover , PHL was able to impair the ability of human blood cells to produce ROS after immune activation by zymosan A , which indicates the major role of PHL is to help in overcoming host defenses instead of evading their activation .', 'The observed inhibitory effect of PHL on oxidant production could further contribute to the reported survival of P . asymbiotica in mammals [3] , which is essential for its clinical manifestation .', 'The PHL-dependent inhibition of antimicrobial response was further confirmed using live bacteria E . coli; the lectin was able to impair the antimicrobial effect of both whole blood and haemolymph and thus provide bacteria with more time for their growth , which is accompanied by the reported depletion of host nutritional resources [5] .', 'Surprisingly , we also observed inhibitory activity in human serum , suggesting that the PHL-mediated immune suppression is not only limited to the inhibition of cellular immunity .', 'Cell-free body fluids of vertebrates and invertebrates contains potent antimicrobials , such as antimicrobial peptides , complement proteins or complement-like molecules with bacteriostatic or bactericidal effect [40–42] .', 'In particular , the complement cascade is known for its activation by lectins .', 'The mechanism of PHL interaction with the humoral immunity of the host is not known , but their competition in binding to bacterial surfaces can be assumed .', 'An important fact , which must be taken into account when considering the ecological relevance of PHL , is the amount of the lectin produced by P . asymbiotica during infection .', 'To inhibit the ROS production in human blood and weaken the antimicrobial activity of human serum , the dose of 100 μg was needed in our experiments ( S1 and S2 Figs ) .', 'It is supposed that PHL is produced in significantly lower amounts within natural conditions , however , the activity of PHL during infection could be promoted by cooperation with other factors produced by bacteria and possibly even their nematode vector which might result in increased effectivity of lower lectin concentrations .', 'Taken together , PHL might act as inhibitor of antimicrobial response , although it seems it is recognized by host defenses .', 'Interestingly , more pronounced effect of PHL was observed on phenoloxidase activity in G . mellonella haemolymph , in which it induced melanisation , the reaction activated by pathogen-associated molecular patterns , aberrant tissues or artificial particles and mediated by enzyme phenoloxidase [27 , 43] .', 'It is of note that two proteins , BSA and PLL , are not recognized in the same way and do not activate haemolymph melanisation .', 'Similar to PHL , the metalloprotease PrtS from P . luminescens TTO1 described previously was associated with the induction of melanisation in insects [44] .', 'Although the precise function of PrtS in the infection process was not specified , a role in the depletion of melanisation response is assumed .', 'The fact that PHL activates constitutive immune mechanisms and at same time is able to restrict antimicrobial activity after immune challenge suggests a possible role of this lectin in depleting the host immune response accompanied by limiting its harmful effects on P . asymbiotica itself .', 'The characterization of the precise mechanism of the PHL-mediated inhibition of antimicrobial response is of interest for further studies , since it could reveal nove
['Introduction', 'Results', 'Discussion', 'Materials and methods']
['Photorhabdus asymbiotica is one of the three recognized species of the Photorhabdus genus , which consists of gram-negative bioluminescent bacteria belonging to the family Morganellaceae .', 'These bacteria live in a symbiotic relationship with nematodes from the genus Heterorhabditis , together forming a complex that is highly pathogenic for insects .', 'Unlike other Photorhabdus species , which are strictly entomopathogenic , P . asymbiotica is unique in its ability to act as an emerging human pathogen .', 'Analysis of the P . asymbiotica genome identified a novel fucose-binding lectin designated PHL with a strong sequence similarity to the recently described P . luminescens lectin PLL .', 'Recombinant PHL exhibited high affinity for fucosylated carbohydrates and the unusual disaccharide 3 , 6-O-Me2-Glcβ1–4 ( 2 , 3-O-Me2 ) Rhaα-O- ( p-C6H4 ) -OCH2CH2NH2 from Mycobacterium leprae .', 'Based on its crystal structure , PHL forms a seven-bladed β-propeller assembling into a homo-dimer with an inter-subunit disulfide bridge .', 'Investigating complexes with different ligands revealed the existence of two sets of binding sites per monomer—the first type prefers l-fucose and its derivatives , whereas the second type can bind d-galactose .', 'Based on the sequence analysis , PHL could contain up to twelve binding sites per monomer .', 'PHL was shown to interact with all types of red blood cells and insect haemocytes .', 'Interestingly , PHL inhibited the production of reactive oxygen species induced by zymosan A in human blood and antimicrobial activity both in human blood , serum and insect haemolymph .', 'Concurrently , PHL increased the constitutive level of oxidants in the blood and induced melanisation in haemolymph .', 'Our results suggest that PHL might play a crucial role in the interaction of P . asymbiotica with both human and insect hosts .']
['Photorhabdus asymbiotica , originally isolated in 1989 from a patient in the USA , was revealed to be not only effective insect pathogen but also bacteria causing serious and difficultly treatable diseases in humans .', 'The genome of P . asymbiotica is being intensively studied but little is known about the details of the host-pathogen interaction at the molecular level .', 'In this paper , we focused on the lectin identified in P . asymbiotica genome that may be crucial for the early stage of infection .', 'We designated this lectin as PHL and prepared it in fully functional recombinant form .', 'We identified its specificity and investigated the structural details of ligand binding .', 'We found the PHL structure unique on the basis of number and arrangement of binding sites present in each monomer .', 'Furthermore , we investigated influence of PHL on immune system of human and insect to propose the biological role for this lectin .', 'The antimicrobial activity as well as phenoloxidase activity and reactive oxygen species production which contribute to antimicrobial effect was modulated after exposition to PHL in both blood and haemolymph supporting the idea that PHL might play important role in the host-pathogen interaction .']
['invertebrates', 'medicine and health sciences', 'body fluids', 'chemical compounds', 'immunology', 'blood groups', 'carbohydrates', 'animals', 'organic compounds', 'parasitic diseases', 'nematode infections', 'materials science', 'materials physics', 'sedimentation', 'proteins', 'chemistry', 'insects', 'immune response', 'arthropoda', 'physics', 'biochemistry', 'lectins', 'blood', 'anatomy', 'organic chemistry', 'physiology', 'biology and life sciences', 'physical sciences', 'organisms']