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Streptococcal M1 protein constructs a pathological host fibrinogen network

Nature volume 472, pages 64–68 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

M1 protein, a major virulence factor of the leading invasive strain of group A Streptococcus, is sufficient to induce toxic-shock-like vascular leakage and tissue injury. These events are triggered by the formation of a complex between M1 and fibrinogen that, unlike M1 or fibrinogen alone, leads to neutrophil activation. Here we provide a structural explanation for the pathological properties of the complex formed between streptococcal M1 and human fibrinogen. A conformationally dynamic coiled-coil dimer of M1 was found to organize four fibrinogen molecules into a specific cross-like pattern. This pattern supported the construction of a supramolecular network that was required for neutrophil activation but was distinct from a fibrin clot. Disruption of this network into other supramolecular assemblies was not tolerated. These results have bearing on the pathophysiology of streptococcal toxic shock.

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Figure 1: M1 assembles fibrinogen into a cross-like pattern.
Figure 2: M1–fibrinogen interface.
Figure 3: Conformational dynamics.
Figure 4: M1–fibrinogen network.
Figure 5: Fibrinogen binding and neutrophil activation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Argonne Photon Source Laboratory GM/CA CAT staff for help with data collection, R. Doolittle and A. Royant for advice, and S. Mel and G. Ghosh for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by NIH R21 AI071167 (P.G.), T32 GM007240 (C.B.), R01 AI077780 (V.N.), R01 GM54076 (J.E.J.), and a fellowship (J.N.C.) from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (514639).

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Author notes

  1. Pauline Macheboeuf & Annelies S. Zinkernagel

    Present address: Present addresses: Unit of Virus Host Cell Interactions, UMI 3265, Université Joseph Fourier-EMBL-CNRS, 6 rue Jules Horowitz 38042 Grenoble, France (P.M.); University Hospital Zurich, University Zurich, Rämistrstr. 100, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland (A.S.Z.).,

  2. Annelies S. Zinkernagel and Jason N. Cole: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92093, California, USA

    Pauline Macheboeuf, Cosmo Buffalo & Partho Ghosh

  2. Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, 92037, California, USA

    Chi-yu Fu & John E. Johnson

  3. Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92093, California, USA

    Annelies S. Zinkernagel, Jason N. Cole & Victor Nizet

  4. School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072, Queensland, Australia

    Jason N. Cole

  5. School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92093, California, USA

    Victor Nizet

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Contributions

P.M. and P.G. designed the experiments. P.M. carried out the structure determination, modelling and FgD co-precipitation assay. C.B. carried out the Fc co-precipitation assay. P.M. and C.-y.F. carried out the electron microscopy under the supervision of J.E.J. P.M., A.S.Z. and J.N.C. carried out the HBP release assays under the supervision of V.N. P.M. and P.G. wrote the manuscript, and the other authors provided editorial advice.

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Correspondence to Partho Ghosh.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Additional information

Atomic coordinates and structure factors for M1BC1–FgD (2XNX) and M1A–FgD (2XNY) have been deposited with the Protein Data Bank.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file is contains Supplementary Table 1 and Supplementary Figures 1-7 with legends. (PDF 5524 kb)

Supplementary Movie 1

The movie shows the M1-Fg network in surface representation (M1 in red, Fg in blue). (MOV 7898 kb)

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Macheboeuf, P., Buffalo, C., Fu, Cy. et al. Streptococcal M1 protein constructs a pathological host fibrinogen network. Nature 472, 64–68 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09967

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