1H, 13C and 15N assignment of self-complemented MrkA protein antigen from Klebsiella pneumoniae

Abstract Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp) poses an escalating threat to public health, particularly given its association with nosocomial infections and its emergence as a leading cause of neonatal sepsis, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Host cell adherence and biofilm formation of Kp is mediated by type 1 and type 3 fimbriae whose major fimbrial subunits are encoded by the fimA and mrkA genes, respectively. In this study, we focus on MrkA subunit, which is a 20 KDa protein whose 3D molecular structure remains elusive. We applied solution NMR to characterize a recombinant version of MrkA in which the donor strand segment situated at the protein's N-terminus is relocated to the C-terminus, preceded by a hexaglycine linker. This construct yields a self-complemented variant of MrkA. Remarkably, the self-complemented MrkA monomer loses its capacity to interact with other monomers and to extend into fimbriae structures. We succeed to assign the 13C-15N- self-complemented MrkA monomer, with carbon atoms resonances accounting for 81%, backbone nitrogen atoms resonances for 92%, and proton resonances for 92%. Furthermore, an examination of its internal mobility unveiled that relaxation parameters are predominantly uniform across the polypeptide sequence, except for the glycine-rich region within loop 175-180. These data pave the way to a comprehensive structural elucidation of the MrkA monomer and to structurally map the molecular interaction regions between MrkA and antigen-induced antibodies.