Organische Synthese und biologische Signaltransduktion

Label-Free Imaging of Dynamic and Transient Calcium Signaling in Single Cells

Cell signaling consists of diverse events that occur at various temporal and spatial scales, ranging from milliseconds to hours and from single biomolecules to cell populations. The pathway complexities require the development of new techniques that detect the overall signaling activities and are not limited to quantifying a single event. A plasmonic-based electrochemical impedance microscope (P-EIM) that can provide such data with excellent temporal and spatial resolution and does not require the addition of any labels for detection has now been developed. The highly dynamic and transient calcium signaling activities at the early stage of G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) stimulation were thus studied. It could be shown that a subpopulation of cells is more responsive towards agonist stimulation, and the heterogeneity of the local distributions and the transient activities of the ion channels during agonist-activated calcium flux in single HeLa cells were investigated.

A natural product inspired tetrahydropyran collection yields mitosis modulators that synergistically target CSE1L and tubulin

A Prins cyclization between a polymer-bound aldehyde and a homoallylic alcohol served as the key step in the synthesis of tetrahydropyran derivatives. A phenotypic screen led to the identification of compounds that inhibit mitosis (as seen by the accumulation of round cells with condensed DNA and membrane blebs). These compounds were termed tubulexins as they target the CSE1L protein and the vinca alkaloid binding site of tubulin.

Identification of Inhibitors for Mycobacterial Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase B (MptpB) by Biology-Oriented Synthesis (BIOS)

Protein phosphatases have recently emerged as important targets for research in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, and new classes of phosphatase inhibitors are in high demand. BIOS (biology-oriented synthesis) employs the criteria of relevance to nature and biological prevalidation for the design and synthesis of compound collections. In an application of the BIOS principle, an efficient solid-phase synthesis of highly substituted indolo[2,3-a]quinolizidines by using a vinylogous Mannich-Michael reaction in combination with phosgene- or acid-mediated ring closure was developed. Screening of this library for phosphatase inhibitors yielded a new inhibitor class for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis phosphatase MptpB.

Phosphate Recognition in Structural Biology

Drug-discovery research in the past decade has seen an increased selection of targets with phosphate recognition sites, such as protein kinases and phosphatases, in the past decade. This review attempts, with the help of database-mining tools, to give an overview of the most important principles in molecular recognition of phosphate groups by enzymes. A total of 3003 X-ray crystal structures from the RCSB Protein Data Bank with bound organophosphates has been analyzed individually, in particular for H-bonding interactions between proteins and ligands. The various known binding motifs for phosphate binding are reviewed, and similarities to phosphate complexation by synthetic receptors are highlighted. An analysis of the propensities of amino acids in various classes of phosphate-binding enzymes showed characteristic distributions of amino acids used for phosphate binding. This review demonstrates that structure-based lead development and optimization should carefully address the phosphate-binding-site environment and also proposes new alternatives for filling such sites.

Inhibitors of protein tyrosine phosphatases: next-generation drugs?

The protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) constitute a family of closely related key regulatory enzymes that dephosphorylate phosphotyrosine residues in their protein substrates. Malfunctions in PTP activity are linked to various diseases, ranging from cancer to neurological disorders and diabetes. Consequently, PTPs have emerged as promising targets for therapeutic intervention in recent years. In this review, general aspects of PTPs and the development of small-molecule inhibitors of PTPs by both academic research groups and pharmaceutical companies are discussed. Different strategies have been successfully applied to identify potent and selective inhibitors. These studies constitute the basis for the future development of PTP inhibitors as drugs.

Solid-Phase Synthesis of Lipidated Peptides

A new flexible and efficient methodology for the solid-phase synthesis of lipidated peptides has been developed. The approach is based on the use of previously synthesized building blocks and overcomes the limitations of previously reported methods, since long doubly lipidated peptides can be synthesized by using this route. Furthermore, it was thus possible to prepare a large number of N- and H-Ras peptides bearing a wide range of reporter and/or linking groups--efficient tools for the investigation of biological processes. In terms of efficiency and flexibility this solid-phase method is superior to the solution-phase synthesis. It gives pure peptides in multimilligram amounts within a much shorter time and with superior overall yield.

Molecular signal transduction by conformational transmission: use of tetrasubstituted perhydroanthracenes as transducers

2,3,6,7-Tetrasubstituted cis-anti-cis perhydroanthracenes have been studied as conformational transducers for molecular signal transduction. 2,2'-Bipyridine groups attached to the perhydroanthracene through ether linkages were chosen as receptor substituents, while pyrene groups were selected as effectors. A chelation-induced triple ring flip of the perhydroanthracene could be achieved by the complexation of zinc(II) ions at the bipyridine sites of ligands 13 and 15. It was found that two pyrene substituents attached to the perhydroanthracene via a linker with an E double bond and an ester group could be used to monitor the triple ring flip. In the equatorial positions, the pyrenes are sufficiently close to form an excimer in the excited state, giving a fluorescence signal at 480 nm. In the axial positions, they are far away from each other and give mainly a monomer fluorescence signal at 380 nm. Both the bipyridine receptor and the pyrene effector are present in compound 33. The conformational switching 34-->35 (the two conformers of 33) has successfully been used for a signal transduction over a signal distance of 2 nm.

Acid-labile protecting groups for the synthesis of lipidated peptides

Lipidated peptides and their neolipoprotein derivatives are efficient tools for the investigation of biological processes in molecular detail. These compounds are often acid- and base-labile, and their synthesis requires the use of a combination of blocking groups that can be removed under very mild conditions. In this article we demonstrate that the Boc urethane and different trityl-type protecting groups can be cleaved selectively under acidic conditions that are mild enough to be compatible with the demands of lipopeptide synthesis. Thus, the Boc group was cleaved with TMS triflate in the presence of lutidine, and the methyltrityl (Mtt) and the methoxytrityl (Mmt) group were removed with 1% TFA in dichloromethane in the presence of triethylsilane as cation scavenger. Removal of the phenylfluorenyl group was achieved with up to 3% TFA in dichloromethane in the presence of triethylsilane at 0 degrees C. These protecting-group techniques were successfully applied in the synthesis of differently lipidated H-Ras peptides.

Synthesis of functional Ras lipoproteins and fluorescent derivatives

For the study of biological signal transduction, access to correctly lipidated proteins is of utmost importance. Furthermore, access to bioconjugates that embody the correct structure of the protein but that may additionally carry different lipid groups or labels (i.e., fluorescent tags) by which the protein can be traced in biological systems, could provide invaluable reagents. We report here of the development of techniques for the synthesis of a series of modified Ras proteins. These modified Ras proteins carry a number of different, natural and non-natural lipid residues, and the process was extended to also provide access to a number of fluorescently labeled derivatives. The maleimide group provided the key to link chemically synthesized lipopeptide molecules in a specific and efficient manner to a truncated form of the H-Ras protein. Furthermore, a preliminary study on the biological activity of the natural Ras protein derivative (containing the normal farnesyl and palmitoyl lipid residues) has shown full biological activity. This result highlights the usefulness of these compounds as invaluable tools for the study of Ras signal transduction processes and the plasma membrane localization of the Ras proteins.