Differences in the mannose oligomer specificities of the closely related lectins from Galanthus nivalis and Zea mays strongly determine their eventual anti-HIV activity

Abstract

Background: In a recent report, the carbohydrate-binding specificities of the plant lectins Galanthus nivalis (GNA) and the closely related lectin from Zea mays (GNAmaize) were determined by glycan array analysis and indicated that GNAmaizerecognizes complex-type N-glycans whereas GNA has specificity towards high-mannose-type glycans. Both lectins are tetrameric proteins sharing 64% sequence similarity.Results: GNAmaizeappeared to be ~20- to 100-fold less inhibitory than GNA against HIV infection, syncytia formation between persistently HIV-1-infected HuT-78 cells and uninfected CD4+T-lymphocyte SupT1 cells, HIV-1 capture by DC-SIGN and subsequent transmission of DC-SIGN-captured virions to uninfected CD4+T-lymphocyte cells. In contrast to GNA, which preferentially selects for virus strains with deleted high-mannose-type glycans on gp120, prolonged exposure of HIV-1 to dose-escalating concentrations of GNAmaizeselected for mutant virus strains in which one complex-type glycan of gp120 was deleted. Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) analysis revealed that GNA and GNAmaizeinteract with HIV IIIBgp120 with affinity constants (KD) of 0.33 nM and 34 nM, respectively. Whereas immobilized GNA specifically binds mannose oligomers, GNAmaizeselectively binds complex-type GlcNAcβ1,2Man oligomers. Also, epitope mapping experiments revealed that GNA and the mannose-specific mAb 2G12 can independently bind from GNAmaizeto gp120, whereas GNAmaizecannot efficiently bind to gp120 that contained prebound PHA-E (GlcNAcβ1,2man specific) or SNA (NeuAcα2,6X specific).Conclusion: The markedly reduced anti-HIV activity of GNAmaizecompared to GNA can be explained by the profound shift in glycan recognition and the disappearance of carbohydrate-binding sites in GNAmaizethat have high affinity for mannose oligomers. These findings underscore the need for mannose oligomer recognition of therapeutics to be endowed with anti-HIV activity and that mannose, but not complex-type glycan binding of chemotherapeutics to gp120, may result in a pronounced neutralizing activity against the virus. © 2011 Hoorelbeke et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.