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Exploiting sequence and stability information for directing nanobody stability engineering

Tijdschriftbijdrage - Tijdschriftartikel

Background: Variable domains of camelid heavy-chain antibodies, commonly named nanobodies, have high biotechnological potential. In view of their broad range of applications in research, diagnostics and therapy, engineering their stability is of particular interest. One important aspect is the improvement of thermostability, because it can have immediate effects on conformational stability, protease resistance and aggregation propensity of the protein. Methods: We analyzed the sequences and thermostabilities of 78 purified nanobody binders. From this data, potentially stabilizing amino acid variations were identified and studied experimentally. Results: Some mutations improved the stability of nanobodies by up to 6.1 degrees C, with an average of 2.3 degrees C across eight modified nanobodies. The stabilizing mechanism involves an improvement of both conformational stability and aggregation behavior, explaining the variable degree of stabilization in individual molecules. In some instances, variations predicted to be stabilizing actually led to thermal destabilization of the proteins. The reasons for this contradiction between prediction and experiment were investigated. Conclusions: The results reveal a mutational strategy to improve the biophysical behavior of nanobody binders and indicate a species-specificity of nanobody architecture.
Tijdschrift: Biochimica et biophysica acta : G : general subjects
ISSN: 0304-4165
Volume: 186
Pagina's: 2196 - 2205
Jaar van publicatie:2017
Trefwoorden:A1 Journal article
Toegankelijkheid:Open