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Mangano K, Klepacki D, Ohanmu I, Baliga C, Huang W, Brakel A, Krizsan A, Polikanov YS, Hoffmann R, Vázquez-Laslop N, Mankin AS. Inhibition of translation termination by the antimicrobial peptide Drosocin. Nat Chem Biol 2023; 19:1082-1090. [PMID: 36997647 PMCID: PMC10757563 DOI: 10.1038/s41589-023-01300-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 04/01/2023]
Abstract
The proline-rich antimicrobial peptide (PrAMP) Drosocin (Dro) from fruit flies shows sequence similarity to other PrAMPs that bind to the ribosome and inhibit protein synthesis by varying mechanisms. The target and mechanism of action of Dro, however, remain unknown. Here we show that Dro arrests ribosomes at stop codons, probably sequestering class 1 release factors associated with the ribosome. This mode of action is comparable to that of apidaecin (Api) from honeybees, making Dro the second member of the type II PrAMP class. Nonetheless, analysis of a comprehensive library of endogenously expressed Dro mutants shows that the interactions of Dro and Api with the target are markedly distinct. While only a few C-terminal amino acids of Api are critical for binding, the interaction of Dro with the ribosome relies on multiple amino acid residues distributed throughout the PrAMP. Single-residue substitutions can substantially enhance the on-target activity of Dro.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyle Mangano
- Center for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Dorota Klepacki
- Center for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Irueosa Ohanmu
- Center for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Chetana Baliga
- Center for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Weiping Huang
- Center for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Alexandra Brakel
- Faculty of Chemistry and Mineralogy, Institute of Bioanalytical Chemistry, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Center for Biotechnology and Biomedicine (BBZ), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Andor Krizsan
- Faculty of Chemistry and Mineralogy, Institute of Bioanalytical Chemistry, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Center for Biotechnology and Biomedicine (BBZ), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Yury S Polikanov
- Center for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Ralf Hoffmann
- Faculty of Chemistry and Mineralogy, Institute of Bioanalytical Chemistry, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
- Center for Biotechnology and Biomedicine (BBZ), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Nora Vázquez-Laslop
- Center for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| | - Alexander S Mankin
- Center for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
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Koller TO, Morici M, Berger M, Safdari HA, Lele DS, Beckert B, Kaur KJ, Wilson DN. Structural basis for translation inhibition by the glycosylated drosocin peptide. Nat Chem Biol 2023; 19:1072-1081. [PMID: 36997646 PMCID: PMC10449632 DOI: 10.1038/s41589-023-01293-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/07/2023]
Abstract
The proline-rich antimicrobial peptide (PrAMP) drosocin is produced by Drosophila species to combat bacterial infection. Unlike many PrAMPs, drosocin is O-glycosylated at threonine 11, a post-translation modification that enhances its antimicrobial activity. Here we demonstrate that the O-glycosylation not only influences cellular uptake of the peptide but also interacts with its intracellular target, the ribosome. Cryogenic electron microscopy structures of glycosylated drosocin on the ribosome at 2.0-2.8-Å resolution reveal that the peptide interferes with translation termination by binding within the polypeptide exit tunnel and trapping RF1 on the ribosome, reminiscent of that reported for the PrAMP apidaecin. The glycosylation of drosocin enables multiple interactions with U2609 of the 23S rRNA, leading to conformational changes that break the canonical base pair with A752. Collectively, our study reveals novel molecular insights into the interaction of O-glycosylated drosocin with the ribosome, which provide a structural basis for future development of this class of antimicrobials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timm O Koller
- Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Martino Morici
- Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Max Berger
- Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Haaris A Safdari
- Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Deepti S Lele
- National Institute of Immunology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, India
| | - Bertrand Beckert
- Dubochet Center for Imaging (DCI) at EPFL, EPFL SB IPHYS DCI, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Kanwal J Kaur
- National Institute of Immunology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, India
| | - Daniel N Wilson
- Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
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Glycosylation and Lipidation Strategies: Approaches for Improving Antimicrobial Peptide Efficacy. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2023; 16:ph16030439. [PMID: 36986538 PMCID: PMC10059750 DOI: 10.3390/ph16030439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Revised: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 03/12/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have recently gained attention as a viable solution for combatting antibiotic resistance due to their numerous advantages, including their broad-spectrum activity, low propensity for inducing resistance, and low cytotoxicity. Unfortunately, their clinical application is limited due to their short half-life and susceptibility to proteolytic cleavage by serum proteases. Indeed, several chemical strategies, such as peptide cyclization, N-methylation, PEGylation, glycosylation, and lipidation, are widely used for overcoming these issues. This review describes how lipidation and glycosylation are commonly used to increase AMPs’ efficacy and engineer novel AMP-based delivery systems. The glycosylation of AMPs, which involves the conjugation of sugar moieties such as glucose and N-acetyl galactosamine, modulates their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties, improves their antimicrobial activity, and reduces their interaction with mammalian cells, thereby increasing selectivity toward bacterial membranes. In the same way, lipidation of AMPs, which involves the covalent addition of fatty acids, has a significant impact on their therapeutic index by influencing their physicochemical properties and interaction with bacterial and mammalian membranes. This review highlights the possibility of using glycosylation and lipidation strategies to increase the efficacy and activity of conventional AMPs.
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Li W, Separovic F, O'Brien-Simpson NM, Wade JD. Chemically modified and conjugated antimicrobial peptides against superbugs. Chem Soc Rev 2021; 50:4932-4973. [PMID: 33710195 DOI: 10.1039/d0cs01026j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 207] [Impact Index Per Article: 69.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest threats to human health that, by 2050, will lead to more deaths from bacterial infections than cancer. New antimicrobial agents, both broad-spectrum and selective, that do not induce AMR are urgently required. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a novel class of alternatives that possess potent activity against a wide range of Gram-negative and positive bacteria with little or no capacity to induce AMR. This has stimulated substantial chemical development of novel peptide-based antibiotics possessing improved therapeutic index. This review summarises recent synthetic efforts and their impact on analogue design as well as their various applications in AMP development. It includes modifications that have been reported to enhance antimicrobial activity including lipidation, glycosylation and multimerization through to the broad application of novel bio-orthogonal chemistry, as well as perspectives on the direction of future research. The subject area is primarily the development of next-generation antimicrobial agents through selective, rational chemical modification of AMPs. The review further serves as a guide toward the most promising directions in this field to stimulate broad scientific attention, and will lead to new, effective and selective solutions for the several biomedical challenges to which antimicrobial peptidomimetics are being applied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenyi Li
- Melbourne Dental School, Centre for Oral Health Research, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia. and Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Frances Separovic
- Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia and School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Neil M O'Brien-Simpson
- Melbourne Dental School, Centre for Oral Health Research, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia. and Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - John D Wade
- School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia and The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia.
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Lele DS, Kaur G, Thiruvikraman M, Kaur KJ. Comparing naturally occurring glycosylated forms of proline rich antibacterial peptide, Drosocin. Glycoconj J 2017; 34:613-624. [PMID: 28656506 DOI: 10.1007/s10719-017-9781-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2017] [Revised: 06/09/2017] [Accepted: 06/13/2017] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are key players of innate immunity. Amongst various classes of AMPs, proline rich AMPs from insects enjoy special attention with few members of this class bearing O-glycosylation as post-translational modification. Drosocin, a 19 amino acid glycosylated AMP is a member of proline rich class, synthesized in the haemolymph of Drosophila melanogaster upon bacterial challenge. We report herein the chemical synthesis of drosocin carrying disaccharide (β-Gal(1 → 3)α-GalNAc) and comparison of its structural and functional properties with another naturally occurring monoglycosylated form of drosocin i.e. α-GalNAc-drosocin as well as with non-glycosylated drosocin. The disaccharide containing drosocin exhibited lower potency compared to monoglycosylated drosocin against all the tested Gram negative bacteria, suggesting the role of the distal sugar or increase in the sugar chain length on the activity. Circular dichroism studies failed to demonstrate the differential effect of sugars on the overall peptide conformation. Haemolytic and cytotoxic properties of drosocin were not altered due to an increase in the sugar chain length. In addition, we have also evaluated the effect of differentially glycosylated drosocins on two pro-inflammatory cytokines secreted by murine macrophages or LPS stimulated macrophages. All the drosocin forms tested, neither could stimulate the secretion of TNF-α and IL-6 nor could modulate LPS-induced levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in murine macrophages. This study provides insights about naturally occurring two different glycosylated forms of drosocin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deepti S Lele
- National Institute of Immunology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, 110067, India
| | - Gagandeep Kaur
- National Institute of Immunology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, 110067, India
| | | | - Kanwal J Kaur
- National Institute of Immunology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, 110067, India.
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