Site I inactivation of calmodulin (CaM) was used to examine the importance of aspartic acid 22 at position 3 in CaM calcium binding, protein folding, and activation of the Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase toxin domain (CyaA-ACD). NMR calcium titration experiments showed that site I in the CaM mutant (D22A) remained largely unperturbed, while sites II, III, and IV exhibited calcium-induced conformational changes similar to wild-type CaM (CaMWt). Circular dichroism analyses revealed that D22A had comparable α-helical content to CaMWt, and only modest differences in α-helical composition were detected between CaMWt-CyaA-ACD and D22A-CyaA-ACD complexes. However, the thermal stability of the D22A-CyaA-ACD complex was reduced, as compared to the CaMWt-CyaA-ACD complex. Moreover, CaM-dependent activity of CyaA-ACD decreased 87% in the presence of D22A. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that D22A engages CyaA-ACD, likely through C-terminal mediated binding, and that site I inactivation exerts functional effects through the modification of stabilizing interactions that occur between N-terminal CaM and CyaA-ACD.
Keywords: CyaA toxin; NMR; calcium; calmodulin.