The more the merrier: how homo-oligomerization alters the interactome and function of ribonucleotide reductase

Tyrosine phosphorylation of both STAT5A and STAT5B is necessary for maximal IL-2 signaling and T cell proliferation

Cytokine-mediated STAT5 protein activation is vital for lymphocyte development and function. In vitro tyrosine phosphorylation of a C-terminal tyrosine is critical for activation of STAT5A and STAT5B; however, the importance of STAT5 tyrosine phosphorylation in vivo has not been assessed. Here we generate Stat5a and Stat5b tyrosine-to-phenylalanine mutant knockin mice and find they have greatly reduced CD8+ T-cell numbers and profoundly diminished IL-2-induced proliferation of these cells, and this correlates with reduced induction of Myc, pRB, a range of cyclins and CDKs, and a partial G1→S phase-transition block. These mutant CD8+ T cells also exhibit decreased IL-2-mediated activation of pERK and pAKT, which we attribute in part to diminished expression of IL-2Rβ and IL-2Rγ. Our findings thus demonstrate that tyrosine phosphorylation of both STAT5A and STAT5B is essential for maximal IL-2 signaling. Moreover, our transcriptomic and proteomic analyses elucidate the molecular basis of the IL-2-induced proliferation of CD8+ T cells.

Cryo-EM structure of the EBV ribonucleotide reductase BORF2 and mechanism of APOBEC3B inhibition

Viruses use a plethora of mechanisms to evade immune responses. A recent example is neutralization of the nuclear DNA cytosine deaminase APOBEC3B by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) ribonucleotide reductase subunit BORF2. Cryo-EM studies of APOBEC3B-BORF2 complexes reveal a large >1000-Å2 binding surface composed of multiple structural elements from each protein, which effectively blocks the APOBEC3B active site from accessing single-stranded DNA substrates. Evolutionary optimization is suggested by unique insertions in BORF2 absent from other ribonucleotide reductases and preferential binding to APOBEC3B relative to the highly related APOBEC3A and APOBEC3G enzymes. A molecular understanding of this pathogen-host interaction has potential to inform the development of drugs that block the interaction and liberate the natural antiviral activity of APOBEC3B. In addition, given a role for APOBEC3B in cancer mutagenesis, it may also be possible for information from the interaction to be used to develop DNA deaminase inhibitors.

Science's Response to CoVID-19

CoVID-19 is a multi-symptomatic disease which has made a global impact due to its ability to spread rapidly, and its relatively high mortality rate. Beyond the heroic efforts to develop vaccines, which we do not discuss herein, the response of scientists and clinicians to this complex problem has reflected the need to detect CoVID-19 rapidly, to diagnose patients likely to show adverse symptoms, and to treat severe and critical CoVID-19. Here we aim to encapsulate these varied and sometimes conflicting approaches and the resulting data in terms of chemistry and biology. In the process we highlight emerging concepts, and potential future applications that may arise out of this immense effort.

Wrangling Shape-Shifting Morpheeins to Tackle Disease and Approach Drug Discovery

Homo-multimeric proteins that can come apart, change shape, and reassemble differently with functional consequences have been called morpheeins and/or transformers; these provide a largely unexplored context for understanding disease and developing allosteric therapeutics. This article describes such proteins within the context of protein structure dynamics, provides one detailed example related to an inborn error of metabolism and potential herbicide development, and describes the context for applying these ideas for understanding disease and designing bioactive molecules, such as therapeutics.

Time to Get Turned on by Chemical Biology

The pressing need for innovation in drug discovery is spurring the emergence of drugs that turn on protein function, as opposed to shutting activity down. Several pharmacophores usher protein target gain-of-function, for instance: PROTACs promote protein target degradation; other drug candidates have been reported to function through dominant-negative inhibition of their target enzyme. Such classes of molecules are typically active at low target occupancy and display numerous advantages relative to canonical inhibitors, whose function is intrinsically tied to achieving, or exceeding a threshold occupancy. However, our ability to generally tap into gain-of-function processes through small molecule interventions is overall in its infancy. Herein, I outline how chemical biology is poised to help us bring this powerful idea to fruition. I further outline means through which gain-of-function events can be identified and harnessed.

Ribonucleotide Reductases: Structure, Chemistry, and Metabolism Suggest New Therapeutic Targets

Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) catalyze the de novo conversion of nucleotides to deoxynucleotides in all organisms, controlling their relative ratios and abundance. In doing so, they play an important role in fidelity of DNA replication and repair. RNRs' central role in nucleic acid metabolism has resulted in five therapeutics that inhibit human RNRs. In this review, we discuss the structural, dynamic, and mechanistic aspects of RNR activity and regulation, primarily for the human and Escherichia coli class Ia enzymes. The unusual radical-based organic chemistry of nucleotide reduction, the inorganic chemistry of the essential metallo-cofactor biosynthesis/maintenance, the transport of a radical over a long distance, and the dynamics of subunit interactions all present distinct entry points toward RNR inhibition that are relevant for drug discovery. We describe the current mechanistic understanding of small molecules that target different elements of RNR function, including downstream pathways that lead to cell cytotoxicity. We conclude by summarizing novel and emergent RNR targeting motifs for cancer and antibiotic therapeutics.

Neighborhood watch: tools for defining locale-dependent subproteomes and their contextual signaling activities

Transient associations between numerous organelles-e.g., the endoplasmic reticulum and the mitochondria-forge highly-coordinated, particular environments essential for cross-compartment information flow. Our perspective summarizes chemical-biology tools that have enabled identifying proteins present within these itinerant communities against the bulk proteome, even when a particular protein's presence is fleeting/substoichiometric. However, proteins resident at these ephemeral junctions also experience transitory changes to their interactomes, small-molecule signalomes, and, importantly, functions. Thus, a thorough census of sub-organellar communities necessitates functionally probing context-dependent signaling properties of individual protein-players. Our perspective accordingly further discusses how repurposing of existing tools could allow us to glean a functional understanding of protein-specific signaling activities altered as a result of organelles pulling together. Collectively, our perspective strives to usher new chemical-biology techniques that could, in turn, open doors to modulate functions of specific subproteomes/organellar junctions underlying the nuanced regulatory subsystem broadly termed as contactology.