Rapid Identification of Phosphopeptide Ligands for SH2 Domains

A method for the identification of high-affinity ligands to SH2 domains by fluorescence-activated bead sorting (FABS) was established. Recombinant SH2 domains, expressed as glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion proteins, were incubated with a phosphotyrosine (Y*)-containing peptide library. 6.4 x 10(5) individual peptides of nine amino acids in length (EPX6Y*X19X7X19X7X6) were each displayed on beads. Phosphopeptide interaction of a given SH2 domain was monitored by binding of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled antibodies directed against GST. High-fluorescence beads were isolated by flow cytometric sorting. Subsequent pool sequencing of the selected beads revealed a distinct pattern of phosphotyrosine-containing motifs for each individual SH2 domain: the SH2 domain of the adapter protein Grb2 predominantly selected beads with the sequence Y*ENDP, whereas the C-terminal SH2 domain of the tyrosine kinase Syk selected Y*EELD, each motif representing the most frequently found residues C-terminal to the phosphotyrosine. For deconvolution studies, soluble phosphopeptides comprising variations of the Grb2 motifs were resynthesized and analyzed by surface plasmon resonance.