Modulating uranium binding affinity in engineered Calmodulin EF-hand peptides: effect of phosphorylation

To improve our understanding of uranium toxicity, the determinants of uranyl affinity in proteins must be better characterized. In this work, we analyzed the contribution of a phosphoryl group on uranium binding affinity in a protein binding site, using the site 1 EF-hand motif of calmodulin. The recombinant domain 1 of calmodulin from A. thaliana was engineered to impair metal binding at site 2 and was used as a structured template. Threonine at position 9 of the loop was phosphorylated in vitro, using the recombinant catalytic subunit of protein kinase CK2. Hence, the T9TKE12 sequence was substituted by the CK2 recognition sequence TAAE. A tyrosine was introduced at position 7, so that uranyl and calcium binding affinities could be determined by following tyrosine fluorescence. Phosphorylation was characterized by ESI-MS spectrometry, and the phosphorylated peptide was purified to homogeneity using ion-exchange chromatography. The binding constants for uranyl were determined by competition experiments with iminodiacetate. At pH 6, phosphorylation increased the affinity for uranyl by a factor of ∼5, from Kd=25±6 nM to Kd=5±1 nM. The phosphorylated peptide exhibited a much larger affinity at pH 7, with a dissociation constant in the sub-nanomolar range (Kd = 0.25±0.06 nM). FTIR analyses showed that the phospho-threonine side chain is partly protonated at pH 6, while it is fully deprotonated at pH 7. Moreover, formation of the uranyl-peptide complex at pH 7 resulted in significant frequency shifts of the νas(P-O) and νs(P-O) IR modes of phospho-threonine, supporting its direct interaction with uranyl. Accordingly, a bathochromic shift in νas(UO2)2+ vibration (from 923 cm-1 to 908 cm-1) was observed upon uranyl coordination to the phosphorylated peptide. Together, our data demonstrate that the phosphoryl group plays a determining role in uranyl binding affinity to proteins at physiological pH. (authors)