The voltage-gated proton channel Hv1 (or VSOP) has a voltage-sensor domain (VSD) with dual roles of voltage sensing and proton permeation. Its gating is sensitive to pH and Zn(2+). Here we present a crystal structure of mouse Hv1 in the resting state at 3.45-Å resolution. The structure showed a 'closed umbrella' shape with a long helix consisting of the cytoplasmic coiled coil and the voltage-sensing helix, S4, and featured a wide inner-accessible vestibule. Two out of three arginines in S4 were located below the phenylalanine constituting the gating charge-transfer center. The extracellular region of each protomer coordinated a Zn(2+), thus suggesting that Zn(2+) stabilizes the resting state of Hv1 by competing for acidic residues that otherwise form salt bridges with voltage-sensing positive charges on S4. These findings provide a platform for understanding the general principles of voltage sensing and proton permeation.
Antibodies against the receptor-binding-domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the effects of antibodies against other spike protein domains are largely unknown. Here, we screened a series of anti-spike monoclonal antibodies from COVID-19 patients, and found that some of antibodies against the N-terminal-domain (NTD) induced the open conformation of receptor binding domain (RBD) and thus enhanced the binding capacity of the spike protein to ACE2 and infectivity of SARS-CoV-2. Mutational analysis revealed that all the infectivity-enhancing antibodies recognized a specific site on the NTD. Structural analysis demonstrated that all the infectivity-enhancing antibodies bound to NTD in a similar manner. The antibodies against this infectivity-enhancing site were detected at high levels in severe patients. Moreover, we identified antibodies against the infectivity-enhancing site in uninfected donors, albeit at a lower frequency. These findings demonstrate that not only neutralizing antibodies but also enhancing antibodies are produced during SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Ciona intestinalis voltage-sensing phosphatase (Ci-VSP) has a transmembrane voltage sensor domain and a cytoplasmic region sharing similarity to the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN). It dephosphorylates phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate and phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate upon membrane depolarization. The cytoplasmic region is composed of a phosphatase domain and a putative membrane interaction domain, C2. Here we determined the crystal structures of the Ci-VSP cytoplasmic region in three distinct constructs, wildtype (248 -576), wild-type (236 -576), and G365A mutant (248 -576). The crystal structure of WT-236 and G365A-248 had the disulfide bond between the catalytic residue Cys-363 and the adjacent residue Cys-310. On the other hand, the disulfide bond was not present in the crystal structure of WT-248. These suggest the possibility that Ci-VSP is regulated by reactive oxygen species as found in PTEN. These structures also revealed that the conformation of the TI loop in the active site of the Ci-VSP cytoplasmic region was distinct from the corresponding region of PTEN; Ci-VSP has glutamic acid (Glu-411) in the TI loop, orienting toward the center of active site pocket. Mutation of Glu-411 led to acquirement of increased activity toward phosphatidylinositol 3,5-bisphosphate, suggesting that this site is required for determining substrate specificity. Our results provide the basic information of the enzymatic mechanism of Ci-VSP.The voltage-sensing phosphatase (VSP) 3 was discovered through the survey of the genome of the ascidian, Ciona intestinalis, as a hybrid protein that has a voltage sensor domain (VSD) consisting of four ␣-helices (S1-S4) for voltage sensing and a cytoplasmic region encoding a phosphatidylinositol phosphatase domain (1). The VSP gene is conserved from sea urchins to humans where it is expressed in the testis (2). In the recent report, C. intestinalis VSP (Ci-VSP) is expressed in the cells of the stomach, intestine, and blood of juveniles detected by whole mount in situ hybridization (3). The VSD of VSP bears homology to the VSD of voltage-gated ion channels and a recently identified voltage-gated proton channel protein that contains only the VSD without pore domain, VSOP or Hv1 (4, 5). The Ci-VSP cytoplasmic region, which consists of a phosphatase domain (PD) and a C2 domain, shares high sequence similarity with the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) (1, 6). The amino acid sequence of the Ci-VSP cytoplasmic region has similarity to that of PTEN with 36% identity. A unique feature of both invertebrate and vertebrate VSPs is that depolarization induces phosphoinositide phosphatase activity through coupling of VSD to the phosphatase region (7-9). The enzymatic activity of Ci-VSP increases in the range of membrane potentials, from Ϫ80 to 100 mV, correlating with the extent of voltage sensor movement (7-8). Ci-VSP most likely operates as a monomer as shown by a study of single molecule imaging in heterologous expression system (10). The linker region between the VSD and ...
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