Mapping the energy of superantigen Staphylococcus enterotoxin C3 recognition of an α/β T cell receptor using alanine scanning mutagenesis

Binding of the T cell receptor (TCR) to a bacterial superantigen (SAG) results in stimulation of a large population of T cells and subsequent inflammatory reactions. To define the functional contribution of TCR residues to SAG recognition, binding by 24 single-site alanine substitutions in the TCR V beta domain to Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin (SE) C3 was measured, producing an energy map of the TCR-SAG interaction. The results showed that complementarity determining region 2 (CDR2) of the V beta contributed the majority of binding energy, whereas hypervariable region 4 (HV4) and framework region 3 (FR3) contributed a minimal amount of energy. The crystal structure of the V beta 8.2-SEC3 complex suggests that the CDR2 mutations act by disrupting V beta main chain interactions with SEC3, perhaps by affecting the conformation of CDR2. The finding that single V beta side chain substitutions had significant effects on binding and that other SECS-reactive V beta are diverse at these same positions indicates that SECS binds to other TCRs through compensatory mechanisms. Thus, there appears to be strong selective pressure on SAGs to maintain binding to diverse T cells.