Engineering of ligand specificity of periplasmic binding protein for glucose sensing

A novel glucose-sensing molecule was created based on galactose/glucose-binding protein (GGBP). GGBP mutants at Asp14, a residue interacting with the 4th hydroxyl group of the sugar molecule, were constructed by mutagenesis to improve the ligand specificity of GGBP. The autofluorescence-based analysis of the binding abilities of these engineered GGBPs showed that the GGBP mutants Asp14Asn and Asp14Glu bound only to glucose in a concentration-dependent manner, without being affected by the presence of galactose. The Phe16Ala mutation, which leads to an increase in the K (d) value toward glucose, was then introduced into these two glucose-specific mutant GGBPs. One of the constructed GGBP double-mutants, Asp14Glu/Phe16Ala, had a glucose specificity with a K(d) value of 3.9 mM, which makes it suitable for use in the measurement of the physiological glucose concentration. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to construct a GGBP which specifically recognizes glucose and has a higher K(d) value and use it as a molecular recognition element of blood glucose monitoring systems by combining two different mutations based on the 3D structure of GGBP.