Synthesis of thiophosphate analogues of DL-myo-inositol 1.2-Cyclic phosphate

The chemical biology of phosphoinositide 3-kinases

Since its discovery in the late 1980s, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), and its isoforms have arguably reached the forefront of signal transduction research. Regulation of this lipid kinase, its functions, its effectors, in short its entire signaling network, has been extensively studied. PI3K inhibitors are frequently used in biochemistry and cell biology. In addition, many pharmaceutical companies have launched drug-discovery programs to identify modulators of PI3Ks. Despite these efforts and a fairly good knowledge of the PI3K signaling network, we still have only a rudimentary picture of the signaling dynamics of PI3K and its lipid products in space and time. It is therefore essential to create and use novel biological and chemical tools to manipulate the phosphoinositide signaling network with spatial and temporal resolution. In this review, we discuss the current and potential future tools that are available and necessary to unravel the various functions of PI3K and its isoforms.

Preparation and application of an affinity matrix for phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C

A non-hydrolyzable phosphonate analogue of phosphatidyl inositol, racemic myo-inosityl-(1)-5-oxa-16-trifluoroacetamidohexadecyl phosphonate, was synthesized. This phosphonate inhibited the activity of phosphatidyl inositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) from Bacillus cereus with an IC50 of approximately 10 mM. Removal of the trifluoroacetyl blocking group followed by covalent binding of the phosphonate to cyanogen bromide activated Sepharose 4B via the amino group produced an affinity matrix specific for the PI-PLC from B. cereus. This affinity matrix was used to purify the phospholipase C from a complex mixture of proteins in a single step. Competition experiments with myo-inositol in the elution medium indicated that specific binding of the enzyme to the matrix most likely involves the enzyme active site. The inositol phosphonate derivatized matrix was stable over several months in neutral and alkaline media and was used repeatedly without loss of binding capacity. These results show that affinity matrices employing myo-inositol phosphonate ligands are useful for isolation and binding studies of PI-PLC and possibly of other enzymes interacting with phosphoinositides or myo-inositol phosphate derivatives.

Phospholipids chiral at phosphorus. Stereochemical mechanism of reactions catalyzed by phosphatidylinositide-specific phospholipase C from Bacillus cereus and guinea pig uterus

(Rp)- and (Sp)-1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-thiophosphoinositol (DPPsI) were synthesized as a mixture and their configurations assigned on the basis of the stereospecific hydrolysis catalyzed by phospholipase A2 (PLA2) from bee venom. PLA2 is known to be stereospecific to the Rp isomer of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-thiophosphocholine (DPPsC) and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-thiophosphoethanolamine (DPPsE). Since the configurations of (Rp)- and (Sp)-DPPsI correspond to those of (Sp)- and (Rp)-DPPsC, respectively, due to a change in priority, the isomer specifically hydrolyzed by PLA2 was assigned to (Sp)-DPPsI. The DPPsI analogues were then used to probe the mechanism and to elucidate the steric course of the reaction catalyzed by phosphatidylinositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) from Bacillus cereus and for both isozyme I and isozyme II of PI-PLC from guinea pig uterus. It was found that the Rp isomer of DPPsI is the preferred substrate for all three PI-PLCs. Thus PI-PLC shows the same stereospecificity as phosphatidylcholine-specific PLC (PC-PLC), which prefers the Sp isomer of DPPsC. The ratio of the two products inositol 1,2-cyclic phosphorothioate (cIPs) and inositol phosphorothioate (IPs) was not significantly perturbed by the use of phosphorothioate analogue for all three PI-PLCs, which implies that IPs is not produced by enzyme-mediated ring opening of cIPs and supports a parallel pathway for the formation of both products. In order to elucidate the steric course of the cyclization reaction, exo and endo isomers of cIPs were synthesized and their absolute configurations at phosphorus were determined by nuclear magnetic resonance and other techniques. It was found that exo-cIPs is the product produced by all three PI-PLCs. Thus the steric course of the conversion DPPsI to cIPs catalyzed by all three PI-PLCs was inversion of configuration at phosphorus. These results taken together suggest that the reaction catalyzed by PI-PLC most likely proceeds via direct attack by the 2-OH group to generate the cyclic product, and parallelly by water to generate the noncyclic inositol phosphates, without involving a covalent enzyme-phosphoinositol intermediate.

Synthesis of phosphonate derivatives of myo-inositol for use in biochemical studies of inositol-binding proteins

Phospholipids containing the inositol headgroup (phosphoinositides) serve as membrane storage forms of a family of messenger molecules that transmit signals in cells. In this study a general synthesis of myo-inositol phosphate derivatives in which the phosphorus oxygen bond is replaced with a phosphorus carbon bond (i.e. phosphonates) is presented. Four specific examples of phosphonate analogs of phosphatidylinositol (PI) are prepared which have a single alkyl chain in place of the diacylglycerol. These derivatives are stable in neutral and alkaline solutions and are designed for use in biochemical studies of PI-specific phospholipases C and other enzymes involved in the phosphoinositide signal transduction pathway.