Isothermal titration calorimetry analysis of the binding between the maltodextrin binding protein malE of Staphylococcus aureus with maltodextrins of various lengths

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), a Gram-positive bacterium, causes a wide range of infections, and diagnosis at an early stage is challenging. Targeting the maltodextrin transporter has emerged as a promising strategy for imaging bacteria and has been able to image a wide range of bacteria including S. aureus. However, little is known about the maltodextrin transporter in S. aureus, and this prevents new S. aureus specific ligands for the maltodextrin transporter from being developed. In Gram-positive bacteria, including S. aureus, the first step of maltodextrin transport is the binding of the maltodextrin-binding protein malE to maltodextrins. Thus, understanding the binding affinity and characteristics of malE from S. aureus is important to developing efficient maltodextrin-based imaging probes. We evaluated the affinity of malE of S. aureus to maltodextrins of various lengths. MalE of S. aureus (SAmalE) was expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) and purified by Ni-NTA resin. The affinities of SAmalE to maltodextrins were evaluated with isothermal titration calorimetry. SAmalE has low affinity to maltose but binds to maltotriose and longer maltodextrins up to maltoheptaose with affinities up to Ka = 9.02 ± 0.49 × 105 M−1. SAmalE binding to maltotriose-maltoheptaose was exothermic and fit a single-binding site model. The van't Hoff enthalpy in the binding reaction of SAmalE with maltotriose was 9.9 ± 1.3 kcal/mol, and the highest affinity of SAmalE was observed with maltotetraose with Ka = 9.02 ± 0.49 × 105 M−1. In the plot of ΔH-T*ΔS, the of Enthalpy−Entropy Compensation effect was observed in binding reaction of SAmalE to maltodextrins. Acarbose and maltotetraiol bind with SAmalE indicating that SAmalE is tolerant of modifications on both the reducing and non-reducing ends of maltodextrins. Our results show that unlike ECmalE and similar to the maltodextrin binding protein of Streptococci, SAmalE primarily binds to maltodextrins via hydrogen bonds. This is distinct from the maltodextrin binding protein of Streptococci, SAmalE that binds to maltotetraiol with high affinity. Understanding the binding characteristics and tolerance to maltodextrins modifications by maltodextrin binding proteins will hopefully provide the basis for developing bacterial species-specific maltodextrin-based imaging probes.