Anthrax Toxin Protective Antigen: Inhibition of Channel Function by Chloroquine and Related Compounds and Study of Binding Kinetics Using the Current Noise Analysis

Protective antigen (PA) of the tripartite anthrax toxin binds to a cell surface receptor and mediates the transport of two enzymatic components, edema factor and lethal factor, into the cytosol of host cells. Here recombinant PA63 from Bacillus anthracis was reconstituted into artificial lipid bilayer membranes and formed ion permeable channels. The heptameric PA63-channel contains a binding site for 4-aminoquinolones, which block ion transport through PA in vitro. This result allowed a detailed investigation of ligand binding and the stability constants for the binding of chloroquine, fluphenazine, and quinacrine to the binding site inside the PA63-channel were determined using titration experiments. Open PA63-channels exhibit 1/f noise in the frequency range between 1 and 100 Hz, whereas the spectral density of the ligand-induced current noise was of Lorentzian type. The analysis of the power density spectra allowed the evaluation of the on- and off-rate constants (k1k1 and k−1k−1) of ligand binding. The on-rate constants of ligand binding were between 106 and 108 M−1 s−1 and were dependent on the ionic strength of the aqueous phase, sidedness of ligand addition, as well as the orientation and intensity of the applied electric field. The off-rates varied between ∼10 s−1 and 2600 s−1 and depended mainly on the structure of the ligand.