Abstract
Human α-defensins are potent anti-microbial peptides with the ability to neutralize bacterial and viral targets. Single alanine mutagenesis has been used to identify determinants of anti-bacterial activity and binding to bacterial proteins such as anthrax lethal factor. Similar analyses of α-defensin interactions with non-enveloped viruses are limited. We used a comprehensive set of human α-defensin 5 (HD5) and human neutrophil peptide 1 (HNP1) alanine scan mutants in a combination of binding and neutralization assays with human adenovirus (AdV) and human papillomavirus (HPV). We have identified a core of critical hydrophobic residues that are common determinants for all of the virus-defensin interactions that were analyzed, while specificity in viral recognition is conferred by specific surface-exposed charged residues. The hydrophobic residues serve multiple roles in maintaining the tertiary and quaternary structure of the defensins as well as forming an interface for virus binding. Many of the important solvent-exposed residues of HD5 group together to form a critical surface. However, a single discrete binding face was not identified for HNP1. In lieu of whole AdV, we used a recombinant capsid subunit comprised of penton base and fiber in quantitative binding studies and determined that the anti-viral potency of HD5 was a function of stoichiometry rather than affinity. Our studies support a mechanism in which α-defensins depend on hydrophobic and charge-charge interactions to bind at high copy number to these non-enveloped viruses to neutralize infection and provide insight into properties that guide α-defensin anti-viral activity.