Abstract
Escherichia coli
K1, the most common cause of meningitis in neonates, has been shown to interact with GlcNAc1–4GlcNAc epitopes of Ecgp96 on human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs) via OmpA (
o
uter
m
embrane
p
rotein
A
). However, the precise domains of extracellular loops of OmpA interacting with the chitobiose epitopes have not been elucidated. We report the loop-barrel model of these OmpA interactions with the carbohydrate moieties of Ecgp96 predicted from molecular modeling. To test this model experimentally, we generated
E. coli
K1 strains expressing OmpA with mutations of residues predicted to be critical for interaction with the HBMEC and tested
E. coli
invasion efficiency. For these same mutations, we predicted the interaction free energies (including explicit calculation of the entropy) from molecular dynamics (MD), finding excellent correlation (R
2
= 90%) with experimental invasion efficiency. Particularly important is that mutating specific residues in loops 1, 2, and 4 to alanines resulted in significant inhibition of
E. coli
K1 invasion in HBMECs, which is consistent with the complete lack of binding found in the MD simulations for these two cases. These studies suggest that inhibition of the interactions of these residues of Loop 1, 2, and 4 with Ecgp96 could provide a therapeutic strategy to prevent neonatal meningitis due to
E. coli
K1.
