Contributions of the S100A9 C‑Terminal Tail to High-Affinity Mn(II) Chelation by the Host-Defense Protein Human Calprotectin

Human calprotectin (CP) is an antimicrobial protein that coordinates Mn­(II) with high affinity in a Ca­(II)-dependent manner at an unusual histidine-rich site (site 2) formed at the S100A8/S100A9 dimer interface. We present a 16-member CP mutant family where mutations in the S100A9 C-terminal tail (residues 96–114) are employed to evaluate the contributions of this region, which houses three histidines and four acidic residues, to Mn­(II) coordination at site 2. The results from analytical size-exclusion chromatography, Mn­(II) competition titrations, and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy establish that the C-terminal tail is essential for high-affinity Mn­(II) coordination by CP in solution. The studies indicate that His103 and His105 (HXH motif) of the tail complete the Mn­(II) coordination sphere in solution, affording an unprecedented biological His₆ site. These solution studies are in agreement with a Mn­(II)-CP crystal structure reported recently (Damo, S. M.; et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2013, 110, 3841). Remarkably high-affinity Mn­(II) binding is retained when either H103 or H105 are mutated to Ala, when the HXH motif is shifted from positions 103–105 to 104–106, and when the human tail is substituted by the C-terminal tail of murine S100A9. Nevertheless, antibacterial activity assays employing human CP mutants reveal that the native disposition of His residues is important for conferring growth inhibition against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Within the S100 family, the S100A8/S100A9 heterooligomer is essential for providing high-affinity Mn­(II) binding; the S100A7, S100A9­(C3S), S100A12, and S100B homodimers do not exhibit such Mn­(II)-binding capacity.