Stepwise conformational transition of crystalline disodium adenosine 5′-triphosphate with relative humidity as studied by high resolution solid state 13C and 31P NMR

How does the mood stabilizer lithium bind ATP, the energy currency of the cell: Insights from solid-state NMR

BACKGROUND

Lithium, in the form of a salt, is a mood stabilizer and a leading drug for the treatment of bipolar disorder. It has a very narrow therapeutic range and a variety of side effects. Lithium can replace magnesium and other cations in enzymes and small molecules, among them ATP, thereby affecting and inhibiting many biochemical pathways. The form of binding of lithium ions to ATP is not known.

METHODS

Here we extract the binding environment of lithium in solid ATP using a multi-nuclear multi-dimensional solid-state NMR approach.

RESULTS

We determine that the coordination sphere of lithium includes, at a distance of 3.0(±0.4) Å, three phosphates; the two phosphates closest to the ribose ring from one ATP molecule, and the middle phosphate from another ATP molecule. A water molecule most probably completes the fourth coordination. Despite the use of excess lithium in the preparations, sodium ions still remain bound to the sample, at distances of 4.3-5.5 Å from Li, and coordinate the first phosphate and two terminal phosphates.

CONCLUSIONS

Solid-state NMR enables to unravel the exact coordination of lithium in ATP showing binding to three phosphates from two molecules, none of which are the terminal gamma phosphate.

GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE

The methods we use are applicable to study lithium bound to a variety of ATP-bound enzymes, or to other cellular targets of lithium, consequently suggesting a molecular basis for its mode of action.

Hydration of AMP and ATP molecules in aqueous solution and solid films

Water enables life and plays a critical role in biology. Considered as a versatile and adaptive component of the cell, water engages a wide range of biomolecular interactions. An organism can exist and function only if its self-assembled molecular structures are hydrated. It was shown recently that switching of AMP/ATP binding to the insulin-independent glucose transporter Human Erythrocyte Glucose Transport Protein (GLUT1) may greatly influence the ratio of bulk and bound water during regulation of glucose uptake by red blood cells. In this paper, we present the results on the hydration properties of AMP/ATP obtained by means of dielectric spectroscopy in aqueous solution and for fully ionized forms in solid amorphous films with the help of gravimetric studies.

A practical guide for the setup of a 1H-31P-13C double cross-polarization (DCP) experiment

O-phospho-L-threonine is a convenient sample to setup a (1)H-(31)P-(13)C double cross-polarization (DCP) Hartmann-Hahn match. The (1)H-(31)P-(13)C technique is extremely sensitive to the rate of the sample spinning. Both zero-quantum (ZQ) and double-quantum (DQ) cross-polarization operate at an average spinning rate (6-7 kHz). At higher spinning rates (10 kHz), the DQCP mechanism dominates and leads to a reduction of signal intensity, in particular for lower (31)P RF field strength. The application of two shape pulses during the second cross-polarization greatly improves the signal to noise ratio allowing the recording of better quality spectra. (31)P-(13)C spectrally induced filtering in combination with cross-polarization (SPECIFIC-CP) experiments can be carried out under ZQCP and DQCP conditions if careful attention is paid to the choice of RF field amplitudes and carriers Ω. Application of 1D and 2D (1)H-(31)P-(13)C experiments is demonstrated on model samples; disodium ATP hydrate and O-phospho-L-tyrosine.

Stepwise hydration and evaporation of adenosine monophosphate nucleotide anions: a multiscale theoretical study

The structure and finite-temperature properties of hydrated nucleotide anion adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP) have been theoretically investigated with a variety of methods. Using a polarizable version of the Amber force field and replica-exchange molecular dynamics simulations, putative lowest-energy structures have been located for the AMP(-)(H(2)O)(n) cluster anions with n = 0-20. The hydration energies obtained with the molecular mechanics potential slightly overestimate experimental measurements. However, closer values are found after reoptimizing the structures locally at more sophisticated levels, namely semi-empirical (PM6) and density-functional theory (B3LYP/6-31+G*). Upon heating the complexes, various indicators such as the heat capacity, number of hydrogen bonds or surface area provide evidence that the water cluster melts below 200 K but remains bonded to the AMP anion. The sequential loss of water molecules after sudden heating has been studied using a statistical approach in which unimolecular evaporation is described using the orbiting transition state version of phase space theory, together with anharmonic densities of vibrational states. The evaporation rates are calibrated based on the results of molecular dynamics trajectories at high internal energy. Our results indicate that between 4 and 10 water molecules are lost from AMP(-)(H(2)O)(20) after one second depending on the initial heating in the 250-350 K range, with a concomitant cooling of the remaining cluster by 75-150 K.

Analysis of low-frequency phonons in guanosine dihydrate based on molecular dynamics simulations

Fourier analysis, using the atomic trajectory calculated by molecular dynamics simulation at 300 K, is applied to the study of low-frequency phonons of guanine dihydrate. The vibrational modes of guanine bases are analyzed, and the optically active modes associated with the guanine moieties are extracted. There are a few significant peaks in the low-frequency region. A possible assignment of the Raman active mode near 27 cm(-1), whose origin would be common to the S-mode of DNA double helices, is discussed.

Density functional calculations of ATP systems. 1. Crystalline ATP hydrates and related molecules

Adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) is an essential energy carrier in mammalian and other cells, and its hydrolysis to the diphosphate (ADP) in the presence of metal cations (e.g., Mg(2+) or Ca(2+)) is one of the most prevalent biochemical reactions. We describe here density functional (DF) calculations on closely related systems and compare the results with other calculations and available experimental data: Na(H2O)n +, Mg(H2O)n 2+, and Ca(H2O)n 2+ clusters (n = 1, 4-7), the crystalline pyrophosphates Mg(2)P(2)O(7).6H2O and alpha-CaNa(2)P(2)O(7).4H2O, and crystalline Na(2)ATP.3H2O. The last of these comprises asymmetric units of ATP dimers (monomers A and B) in a double-protonated state H(2)(ATP)(2-). The calculated structures agree well with available measurements and provide additional information, including the location of the H atoms. Analysis of the dipole moments of individual ATP monomers and their dimers shows that the crystal comprises blocks of opposing dipoles. Replacing one Na+ ion with Mg2+ or Ca2+ results in a significant elongation of the terminal bridging P-O bond. The calculations provide benchmarks for the use of DF methods in ATP systems and are used in the companion paper to study the hydrolysis of ATP at the active site of the protein actin.

Distance measurements in disodium ATP hydrates by means of 31P double quantum two-dimensional solid-state NMR spectroscopy

POST-C7 measurements provide constraints allowing distinguishing crystal lattice organization and establishing intra and/or intermolecular distances between phosphorus atoms of triphosphate chains for different hydrates of disodium ATP salts. Double-quantum efficiency in function of excitation time obtained from series of two-dimensional spectra for POST-C7 experiments was used to set up of buildup curves and semi-quantitative measure of 31P-31P length.