Molecular basis for the enantioselective binding of a novel class of cytochrome bc1 complex inhibitors

Cytochrome bc1-aa3 oxidase supercomplex as emerging and potential drug target against tuberculosis

The cytochrome bc1-aa3 supercomplex plays an essential role in the cellular respiratory system of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. It transfers electrons from menaquinol to cytochrome aa3 (Complex IV) via cytochrome bc1 (Complex III), which reduces the oxygen. The electron transfer from a variety of donors into oxygen through the respiratory electron transport chain is essential to pump protons across the membrane creating an electrochemical transmembrane gradient (proton motive force, PMF) that regulates the synthesis of ATP via the oxidative phosphorylation process. Cytochrome bc1-aa3 supercomplex in M. tuberculosis is, therefore, a major drug target for antibiotic action. In recent years, several respiratory chain components have been targeted for developing new candidate drugs, illustrating the therapeutic potential of obstructing energy conversion of M. tuberculosis. The recently available cryo-EM structure of mycobacterial cytochrome bc1-aa3 supercomplex with open and closed conformations has opened new avenues for understanding its structure and function for developing more effective, new therapeutics against pulmonary tuberculosis. In this review, we discuss the role and function of several components, subunits, and drug targeting elements of the supercomplex cytochrome bc1-aa3, and its potential inhibitors in detail.

Search for Novel Lead Inhibitors of Yeast Cytochrome bc1, from Drugbank and COCONUT

In this work we introduce a novel filtering and molecular modeling pipeline based on a fingerprint and descriptor similarity procedure, coupled with molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD), to select potential novel quoinone outside inhibitors (QoI) of cytochrome bc1 with the aim of determining the same or different chromophores to usual. The study was carried out using the yeast cytochrome bc1 complex with its docked ligand (stigmatellin), using all the fungicides from FRAC code C3 mode of action, 8617 Drugbank compounds and 401,624 COCONUT compounds. The introduced drug repurposing pipeline consists of compound similarity with C3 fungicides and molecular docking (MD) simulations with final QM/MM binding energy determination, while aiming for potential novel chromophores and perserving at least an amide (R1HN(C=O)R2) or ester functional group of almost all up to date C3 fungicides. 3D descriptors used for a similarity test were based on the 280 most stable Padel descriptors. Hit compounds that passed fingerprint and 3D descriptor similarity condition and had either an amide or an ester group were submitted to docking where they further had to satisfy both Chemscore fitness and specific conformation constraints. This rigorous selection resulted in a very limited number of candidates that were forwarded to MD simulations and QM/MM binding affinity estimations by the ORCA DFT program. In this final step, stringent criteria based on (a) sufficiently high frequency of H-bonds; (b) high interaction energy between protein and ligand through the whole MD trajectory; and (c) high enough QM/MM binding energy scores were applied to further filter candidate inhibitors. This elaborate search pipeline led finaly to four Drugbank synthetic lead compounds (DrugBank) and seven natural (COCONUT database) lead compounds—tentative new inhibitors of cytochrome bc1. These eleven lead compounds were additionally validated through a comparison of MM/PBSA free binding energy for new leads against those obtatined for 19 QoIs.

Three point-mutations in cytochrome b confer resistance to trifloxystrobin in Magnaporthe oryzae

BACKGROUND

Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, is the most devastating disease in rice. Recently, trifloxystrobin was registered for the control of M. oryzae in China. The resistance profile and mechanism of M. oryzae to trifloxystrobin were investigated in the present study, providing important data for the recommended use of trifloxystrobin.

RESULTS

The baseline sensitivity was established at a half maximal effective concentration (EC₅₀ ) of 0.024 μg mL^-1 . Nine stable trifloxystrobin-resistant mutants were generated with EC₅₀ values ranging from 12.75 to 171.49 μg mL^-1 . The mutants exhibited strong adaptive traits in sporulation, conidial germination, and pathogenicity. Positive cross-resistance was only observed between trifloxystrobin and azoxystrobin, but not between trifloxystrobin and carbendazim, isoprothiolane, prochloraz, or chlorothalonil. The point mutation G143S in cytochrome b (cyt b) protein was found in eight high-resistance mutants with resistant factor ranging from 2295.16 to 13 200.00; and the double mutation G137R/M296V only occurred in Mg117-1 with resistance factor ≈ 900. The G143S mutation weakened hydrogen bond interactions, and G137R/M296V changed the conformation of trifloxystrobin in the cyt b binding pocket. A molecular detection method was established for the rapid detection of G143S mutants in M. oryzae.

CONCLUSION

The resistance risk of M. oryzae to trifloxystrobin could be moderate to high. Two genotypes with three point-mutations G143S, G137R, and M296V conferred resistance to trifloxystrobin in M. oryzae. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Resistance Mechanisms and Molecular Docking Studies of Four Novel QoI Fungicides in Peronophythora litchii

Peronophythora litchii is the causal agent of litchi downy blight. Enestroburin, SYP-1620, SYP-2815 and ZJ0712 are four novel QoI fungicides developed by China. Eight mutants of P. litchii resistant to these QoI fungicides and azoxystrobin (as a known QoI fungicide) were obtained in our preliminary work. In this study, the full length of the cytochrome b gene in P. litchii, which has a full length of 382 amino acids, was cloned from both sensitive isolates and resistant mutants, and single-site mutations G142A, G142S, Y131C, or F128S were found in resistant mutants. Molecular docking was used to predict how the mutations alter the binding of the five QoI fungicides to the Qo-binding pockets. The results have increased our understanding of QoI fungicide-resistance mechanisms and may help in the development of more potent inhibitors against plant diseases in the fields.

Conformationally linked interaction in the cytochrome bc(1) complex between inhibitors of the Q(o) site and the Rieske iron-sulfur protein

The modified Q cycle mechanism accounts for the proton and charge translocation stoichiometry of the bc(1) complex, and is now widely accepted. However the mechanism by which the requisite bifurcation of electron flow at the Q(o) site reaction is enforced is not clear. One of several proposals involves conformational gating of the docking of the Rieske ISP at the Q(o) site, controlled by the stage of the reaction cycle. Effects of different Q(o)-site inhibitors on the position of the ISP seen in crystals may reflect the same conformational mechanism, in which case understanding how different inhibitors control the position of the ISP may be a key to understanding the enforcement of bifurcation at the Q(o) site (Table 1). Here we examine the available structures of cytochrome bc(1) with different Q(o)-site inhibitors and different ISP positions to look for clues to this mechanism. The effect of ISP removal on binding affinity of the inhibitors stigmatellin and famoxadone suggest a "mutual stabilization" of inhibitor binding and ISP docking, however this thermodynamic observation sheds little light on the mechanism. The cd(1) helix of cytochrome b moves in such a way as to accommodate docking when inhibitors favoring docking are bound, but it is impossible with the current structures to say whether this movement of α-cd(1) is a cause or result of ISP docking. One component of the movement of the linker between E and F helices also correlates with the type of inhibitor and ISP position, and seems to be related to the H-bonding pattern of Y279 of cytochrome b. An H-bond from Y279 to the ISP, and its possible modulation by movement of F275 in the presence of famoxadone and related inhibitors, or its competition with an alternate H-bond to I269 of cytochrome b that may be destabilized by bound famoxadone, suggest other possible mechanisms. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Allosteric cooperativity in respiratory proteins.