Photoschaltbare cyclische Bis(cysteinyl)peptide katalysieren die oxidative Proteinfaltung

Genetically encoding photoswitchable click amino acids in Escherichia coli and mammalian cells

The ability to reversibly control protein structure and function with light would offer high spatiotemporal resolution for investigating biological processes. To confer photoresponsiveness on general proteins, we genetically incorporated a set of photoswitchable click amino acids (PSCaas), which contain both a reversible photoswitch and an additional click functional group for further modifications. Orthogonal tRNA-synthetases were evolved to genetically encode PSCaas bearing azobenzene with an alkene, keto, or benzyl chloride group in E. coli and in mammalian cells. After incorporation into calmodulin, the benzyl chloride PSCaa spontaneously generated a covalent protein bridge by reacting with a nearby cysteine residue through proximity-enabled bioreactivity. The resultant azobenzene bridge isomerized in response to light, thereby changing the conformation of calmodulin. These genetically encodable PSCaas will prove valuable for engineering photoswitchable bridges into proteins for reversible optogenetic regulation.

DNA and RNA-controlled switching of protein kinase activity

Protein switches use the binding energy gained upon recognition of ligands to modulate the conformation and binding properties of protein segments. We explored whether the programmable nucleic acid mediated recognition might be used to design or mimic constraints that limit the conformational freedom of peptide segments. The aim was to design nucleic acid-peptide conjugates in which the peptide portion of the conjugate would change the affinity for a protein target upon hybridization. This approach was used to control the affinity of a PNA-phosphopeptide conjugate for the signal transduction protein Src kinase, which binds the cognate phosphopeptides in a linear conformation. Peptide-nucleic acid arms were attached to known peptide binders. The chimeric molecules were studied in three modes: 1) as single strands, 2) constrained by intermolecular hybridization (duplex formation) and 3) constrained by intramolecular hybridization (hairpin formation). Of note, duplexes that were designed to accommodate bulged peptide structures (for example, in hairpins or bulges) had lower binding affinities than duplexes in which the peptide was allowed to adopt a more relaxed conformation. Greater than 90-fold differences in binding affinities were observed. It was, thus, feasible to make use of DNA hybridization to reversibly switch from no to almost complete inhibition of Src-SH2-peptide binding, and vice versa. A series of DNA and PNA-based hybridization experiments revealed the importance of charges and conformational effects. Nucleic acid mediated switching was extended to the use of RNA; this enabled a regulation of the enzymatic activity of the Src kinase. The proof-of-principle results demonstrate for the first time that PNA-peptide chimeras can transduce changes of the concentration of a given RNA molecule to changes of the activity of a signal transduction enzyme.

Azobenzene as conformational switch in model peptides

The photoinduced isomerization of azobenzene between the extended (trans) and compact (cis) conformations is reversibly triggered by light of two differing wavelengths. The resulting changes in molecular geometry have been extensively utilized to photoswitch transformations in chemical species reversibly for applications in optoelectronic devises as well as to photocontrol conformational states in (bio)polymers. The high isomerization yield, remarkable photostability and ultrafast kinetics (few ps) of azobenzene are well suited for the design of small, defined model systems that allow detailed folding studies to be carried out both experimentally and theoretically on the same molecules. In our and other laboratories such systems were recently obtained with cyclic peptides of defined conformational preferences as well as with alpha-helical and beta-hairpin peptides. These should, by comparison of simulation and experiment, permit an assessment and improvement of the theoretical description on the one hand and a detailed interpretation of the ultrafast conformational dynamics on the other. The phototriggered changes in conformational states lead to concurrent changes in biophysical properties that can be exploited in the photocontrol of biochemical and biological events, as exemplarily discussed with redox-active cyclic bis-cysteinyl peptides and receptor ligands.

Photoactivation of an Inhibitor of the 12/15‐Lipoxygenase Pathway

Lipoxygenases are lipid-peroxidizing enzymes that have been implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases and lipoxygenase inhibitors may be developed as anti-inflammatory drugs. Structure comparison with known lipoxygenase inhibitors has suggested that (2Z)-2-(3-benzylidene)-3-oxo-2,3-dihydrobenzo[b]thiophene-7-carboxylic acid methyl ester might inhibit the lipoxygenase pathway but we found that it exhibited only a low inhibitory potency for the pure 12/15-lipoxygenase (IC(50) = 0.7 mM). However, photoactivation, which induces a Z-to-E isomerization of the double bond, strongly augmented the inhibitory potency and an IC(50) value of 0.021 mM was determined for the pure E isomer. Similar isomer-specific differences were observed with the recombinant enzyme and its 12-lipoxygenating Ile418Ala mutant, as well as in intracellular lipoxygenase activity. Structure modeling of the enzyme/inhibitor complex suggested the molecular reasons for this isomer specificity. Since light-induced isomerization may proceed in the skin, such photoreactive compounds might be developed as potential drugs for inflammatory skin diseases.

A Photocontrolled β-Hairpin Peptide

Beta-hairpins constitute the smallest beta-type structures in peptides and proteins. The development of highly stable, yet monomeric beta-hairpins based on the tryptophan zipper motif was therefore a remarkable success [A. G. Cochran, N. J. Skelton, M. A. Starovasnik, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 2001, 98, 5578-5583]. We have been able to design, synthesize and characterize a hairpin based on this motif which incorporates an azobenzene-based photoswitch, that allows for time-resolved folding studies of beta-structures with unprecedented time resolution. At room temperature the trans-azo isomer exhibits a mostly disordered structure; however, light-induced isomerization to the cis-azo form leads to a predominantly extended and parallel conformation of the two peptide parts, which are linked by the novel photoswitch, [3-(3-aminomethyl)phenylazo]phenylacetic acid (AMPP). While in the original sequence the dipeptide Asn-Gly forms a type I' beta-turn which connects the two strands of the hairpin, this role is adopted by the AMPP chromophore in our photoresponsive beta-hairpin that can apparently act as a beta I'-turn mimetic. The beta-hairpin structure was determined and confirmed by NMR spectroscopy, but the folding process can be monitored by pronounced changes in the CD, IR and fluorescence spectra. Finally, incorporation of the structurally and functionally important beta-hairpin motif into proteins by chemical ligation might allow for the photocontrol of protein structures and/or functions.