Structural basis of the interaction between the putative adhesion-involved and iron-regulated FrpD and FrpC proteins of Neisseria meningitidis

Abstract

The iron-regulated protein FrpD from Neisseria meningitidis is an outer membrane lipoprotein that interacts with very high affinity (K d ∼ 0.2 nM) with the N-terminal domain of FrpC, a Type I-secreted protein from the Repeat in ToXin (RTX) protein family. In the presence of Ca 2+, FrpC undergoes Ca 2+ -dependent protein trans-splicing that includes an autocatalytic cleavage of the Asp 414 -Pro 415 peptide bond and formation of an Asp 414 -Lys isopeptide bond. Here, we report the high-resolution structure of FrpD and describe the structure-function relationships underlying the interaction between FrpD and FrpC 1-414. We identified FrpD residues involved in FrpC 1-414 binding, which enabled localization of FrpD within the low-resolution SAXS model of the FrpD-FrpC 1-414 complex. Moreover, the trans-splicing activity of FrpC resulted in covalent linkage of the FrpC 1-414 fragment to plasma membrane proteins of epithelial cells in vitro, suggesting that formation of the FrpD-FrpC 1-414 complex may be involved in the interaction of meningococci with the host cell surface.