Academic Journal
AlphaFold reveals how pathogenic Leptospira use cross-kingdom thiol-disulfide exchange to evade the complement membrane attack complex.
| Τίτλος: | AlphaFold reveals how pathogenic Leptospira use cross-kingdom thiol-disulfide exchange to evade the complement membrane attack complex. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Hinds A; Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Chester, Neston, United Kingdom., Johnson E; Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.; Computational Biology Facility, LIV-SRF, MerseyBio, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom., Staton G; Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Chester, Neston, United Kingdom., Njume FN; Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Chester, Neston, United Kingdom., Crosby-Durrani HE; Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Chester, Neston, United Kingdom., Nally JE; Infectious Bacterial Disease Research Unit, National Animal Disease Centre, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Ames, Iowa, USA., Carter S; Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Chester, Neston, United Kingdom., Rigden DJ; Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom., Evans NJ; Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Chester, Neston, United Kingdom. |
| Πηγή: | MBio [mBio] 2026 Jul 08; Vol. 17 (7), pp. e0087826. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jun 15. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: American Society for Microbiology Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101519231 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2150-7511 (Electronic) NLM ISO Abbreviation: mBio Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: Washington, D.C. : American Society for Microbiology |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Disulfides*/metabolism , Disulfides*/chemistry , Complement Membrane Attack Complex*/metabolism , Complement Membrane Attack Complex*/immunology , Leptospira*/pathogenicity , Leptospira*/immunology , Leptospira*/genetics , Leptospira*/metabolism , Sulfhydryl Compounds*/metabolism , Sulfhydryl Compounds*/chemistry , Complement C8*/metabolism , Complement C8*/immunology , Immune Evasion*, Leptospirosis/microbiology ; Leptospirosis/immunology ; Lipoproteins/metabolism ; Lipoproteins/genetics ; Lipoproteins/chemistry ; Protein Binding ; Humans ; Animals ; Models, Molecular ; Bacterial Adhesion |
| Περίληψη: | Leptospirosis is a globally significant severe infectious disease that affects a range of mammals. To understand its complex aetiopathogenesis, Leptospira spp. are classified as pathogenic or saprophytic, with serum resistance a key differentiator of virulence. LIC13259 is a leptospiral surface lipoprotein that binds C8 of the host complement system; however, the molecular basis of this interaction has remained unclear. AlphaFold2 structural predictions, together with protein engineering, biochemical, and immunological validations, revealed that LIC13259 binds specifically to the C8γ subunit via thiol-disulfide exchange. Binding assays confirmed that LIC13259 from pathogenic, but not saprophytic, Leptospira adheres to C8γ, preventing C8α binding, and enabling membrane attack complex evasion. Substitution of cysteine-133 with an alanine abolished both C8γ binding and complement inhibition. Removal (alanine substitution) of the target cysteine from C8γ prevented pathogenic LIC13259 binding, whereas removing LIC13259 cysteine-108, which forms a predicted intramolecular disulfide bond with cysteine-133, enhanced C8γ binding. These results identify an unprecedented cross-kingdom intermolecular disulfide bond mediating complement evasion and highlight the value of AlphaFold structural modeling, combined with targeted mutagenesis and biochemical validation, for discovering host-pathogen protein-protein interactions. The discovery of this novel immune evasion mechanism may allow recognition of this unique host-pathogen interaction in a range of diseases, while therapeutics and vaccines targeting such cross-kingdom disulfide-mediated mimicry may enable future infectious disease control. Importance: Leptospirosis is a globally important zoonotic disease of humans and animals, caused by the bacteria Leptospira. A central determinant of virulence is the ability for these bacteria to evade complement, a host defense system that assembles the membrane attack complex to eliminate pathogens. Here, we elucidate a novel immune evasion mechanism in which the leptospiral surface protein LIC13259 forms a disulfide bond with complement component C8γ, preventing binding of C8α. This interaction disrupts the membrane attack complex assembly and promotes bacterial survival. To our knowledge, this represents the first example of a cross-kingdom disulfide bond mediating bacterial pathogenesis. These findings provide novel insights into leptospiral immune modulation and demonstrate the power of AlphaFold-based structural predictions to reveal unique host-pathogen interactions. |
| Competing Interests: | The authors declare no conflict of interest. |
| Grant Information: | BB/W016133/1 United Kingdom BB_ Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: AlphaFold2; Leptospira; complement evasion; cross-kingdom; host-pathogen interactions; membrane attack complex (MAC); thiol-disulfide exchange |
| Substance Nomenclature: | 0 (Disulfides) 0 (Complement Membrane Attack Complex) 0 (Sulfhydryl Compounds) 0 (Complement C8) 0 (Lipoproteins) |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260615 Date Completed: 20260708 Latest Revision: 20260726 |
| Update Code: | 20260726 |
| PubMed Central ID: | PMC13344006 |
| DOI: | 10.1128/mbio.00878-26 |
| PMID: | 42294672 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 2150-7511 |
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| DOI: | 10.1128/mbio.00878-26 |