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Bosch SS, Lunev S, Batista FA, Linzke M, Kronenberger T, Dömling ASS, Groves MR, Wrenger C. Molecular Target Validation of Aspartate Transcarbamoylase from Plasmodium falciparum by Torin 2. ACS Infect Dis 2020; 6:986-999. [PMID: 32129597 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.9b00411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Malaria is a tropical disease that kills about half a million people around the world annually. Enzymatic reactions within pyrimidine biosynthesis have been proven to be essential for Plasmodium proliferation. Here we report on the essentiality of the second enzymatic step of the pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway, catalyzed by aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATC). Crystallization experiments using a double mutant ofPlasmodium falciparum ATC (PfATC) revealed the importance of the mutated residues for enzyme catalysis. Subsequently, this mutant was employed in protein interference assays (PIAs), which resulted in inhibition of parasite proliferation when parasites transfected with the double mutant were cultivated in medium lacking an excess of nutrients, including aspartate. Addition of 5 or 10 mg/L of aspartate to the minimal medium restored the parasites' normal growth rate. In vitro and whole-cell assays in the presence of the compound Torin 2 showed inhibition of specific activity and parasite growth, respectively. In silico analyses revealed the potential binding mode of Torin 2 to PfATC. Furthermore, a transgenic ATC-overexpressing cell line exhibited a 10-fold increased tolerance to Torin 2 compared with control cultures. Taken together, our results confirm the antimalarial activity of Torin 2, suggesting PfATC as a target of this drug and a promising target for the development of novel antimalarials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soraya S. Bosch
- Unit for Drug Discovery, Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Avenida Professor Lineu Prestes 1374, 05508-000 São Paulo-SP, Brazil
- Structural Biology Unit, XB20 Drug Design, Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9700 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Sergey Lunev
- Structural Biology Unit, XB20 Drug Design, Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9700 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Fernando A. Batista
- Structural Biology Unit, XB20 Drug Design, Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9700 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marleen Linzke
- Unit for Drug Discovery, Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Avenida Professor Lineu Prestes 1374, 05508-000 São Paulo-SP, Brazil
| | - Thales Kronenberger
- Department of Internal Medicine VIII, University Hospital Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Strasse 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Alexander S. S. Dömling
- Structural Biology Unit, XB20 Drug Design, Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9700 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Matthew R. Groves
- Structural Biology Unit, XB20 Drug Design, Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9700 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Carsten Wrenger
- Unit for Drug Discovery, Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, Avenida Professor Lineu Prestes 1374, 05508-000 São Paulo-SP, Brazil
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Lei Z, Wang B, Lu Z, Wang N, Tan H, Zheng J, Jia Z. New regulatory mechanism-based inhibitors of aspartate transcarbamoylase for potential anticancer drug development. FEBS J 2020; 287:3579-3599. [PMID: 31967710 DOI: 10.1111/febs.15220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2019] [Revised: 01/06/2020] [Accepted: 01/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) is a key enzyme which regulates and catalyzes the second step of de novo pyrimidine synthesis in all organisms. Escherichia coli ATCase is a prototypic enzyme regulated by both product feedback and substrate cooperativity, whereas human ATCase is a potential anticancer target. Through structural and biochemical analyses, we revealed that R167/130's loop region in ATCase serves as a gatekeeper for the active site, playing a new and unappreciated regulatory role in the catalytic cycle of ATCase. Based on virtual compound screening simultaneously targeting the new regulatory region and active site of human ATCase, two compounds were identified to exhibit strong inhibition of ATCase activity, proliferation of multiple cancer cell lines, and growth of xenograft tumors. Our work has not only revealed a previously unknown regulatory region of ATCase that helps uncover the catalytic and regulatory mechanism of ATCase, but also successfully guided the identification of new ATCase inhibitors for anticancer drug development using a dual-targeting strategy. DATABASE: Structure data are available in Protein Data Bank under the accession numbers: 6KJ7 (G166P ecATCase), 6KJ8 (G166P ecATCase-holo), 6KJ9 (G128/130A ecATCase), and 6KJA (G128/130A ecATCase-holo).
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhen Lei
- College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Biying Wang
- College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Zhifang Lu
- College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Nan Wang
- College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, China.,Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Brain Disease Bioinformation, Research Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xuzhou Medical University, China
| | - Hongwei Tan
- College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Jimin Zheng
- College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Zongchao Jia
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
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Shi D, Allewell NM, Tuchman M. From Genome to Structure and Back Again: A Family Portrait of the Transcarbamylases. Int J Mol Sci 2015; 16:18836-64. [PMID: 26274952 PMCID: PMC4581275 DOI: 10.3390/ijms160818836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2015] [Revised: 07/29/2015] [Accepted: 07/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Enzymes in the transcarbamylase family catalyze the transfer of a carbamyl group from carbamyl phosphate (CP) to an amino group of a second substrate. The two best-characterized members, aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase) and ornithine transcarbamylase (OTCase), are present in most organisms from bacteria to humans. Recently, structures of four new transcarbamylase members, N-acetyl-l-ornithine transcarbamylase (AOTCase), N-succinyl-l-ornithine transcarbamylase (SOTCase), ygeW encoded transcarbamylase (YTCase) and putrescine transcarbamylase (PTCase) have also been determined. Crystal structures of these enzymes have shown that they have a common overall fold with a trimer as their basic biological unit. The monomer structures share a common CP binding site in their N-terminal domain, but have different second substrate binding sites in their C-terminal domain. The discovery of three new transcarbamylases, l-2,3-diaminopropionate transcarbamylase (DPTCase), l-2,4-diaminobutyrate transcarbamylase (DBTCase) and ureidoglycine transcarbamylase (UGTCase), demonstrates that our knowledge and understanding of the spectrum of the transcarbamylase family is still incomplete. In this review, we summarize studies on the structures and function of transcarbamylases demonstrating how structural information helps to define biological function and how small structural differences govern enzyme specificity. Such information is important for correctly annotating transcarbamylase sequences in the genome databases and for identifying new members of the transcarbamylase family.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dashuang Shi
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Medical Center, the George Washington University, Washington, DC 20010, USA.
- Department of Integrative Systems Biology, Children's National Medical Center, the George Washington University, Washington, DC 20010, USA.
| | - Norma M Allewell
- Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
| | - Mendel Tuchman
- Center for Genetic Medicine Research, Children's National Medical Center, the George Washington University, Washington, DC 20010, USA.
- Department of Integrative Systems Biology, Children's National Medical Center, the George Washington University, Washington, DC 20010, USA.
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Structural Characterisation of Non-Deamidated Acidic Variants of Erwinia chrysanthemi L-asparaginase Using Small-Angle X-ray Scattering and Ion-Mobility Mass Spectrometry. Pharm Res 2015; 32:3636-48. [DOI: 10.1007/s11095-015-1722-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2015] [Accepted: 05/20/2015] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
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Vestergaard B, Sayers Z. Investigating increasingly complex macromolecular systems with small-angle X-ray scattering. IUCRJ 2014; 1:523-9. [PMID: 25485132 PMCID: PMC4224470 DOI: 10.1107/s2052252514020843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2014] [Accepted: 09/17/2014] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The biological solution small-angle X-ray scattering (BioSAXS) field has undergone tremendous development over recent decades. This means that increasingly complex biological questions can be addressed by the method. An intricate synergy between advances in hardware and software development, data collection and evaluation strategies and implementations that readily allow integration with complementary techniques result in significant results and a rapidly growing user community with ever increasing ambitions. Here, a review of these developments, by including a selection of novel BioSAXS method-ologies and recent results, is given.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bente Vestergaard
- Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 2, Copenhagen, DK-2100, Denmark
- Correspondence e-mail:
| | - Zehra Sayers
- Faculty of Engineering and Natural Science, Sabanci University, Orhanli, Istanbul Tuzla 34956, Turkey
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Petoukhov MV, Svergun DI. Applications of small-angle X-ray scattering to biomacromolecular solutions. Int J Biochem Cell Biol 2012; 45:429-37. [PMID: 23142499 DOI: 10.1016/j.biocel.2012.10.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2012] [Revised: 10/25/2012] [Accepted: 10/30/2012] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Small-angle scattering of X-rays (SAXS) is an established method for low-resolution structural characterization of biological macromolecules in solution. Being complementary to the high resolution methods (X-ray crystallography and NMR), SAXS is often used in combination with them. The technique provides overall three-dimensional structures using ab initio reconstructions and hybrid modeling, and allows one to quantitatively characterize equilibrium mixtures as well as flexible systems. Recent progress in SAXS instrumentation, most notably, high brilliance synchrotron sources, has paved the way for high throughput automated SAXS studies allowing screening of external conditions (pH, temperature, ligand binding etc.). The modern approaches for SAXS data analysis are presented in this review including rapid characterization of macromolecular solutions in terms of low-resolution shapes, validation of high-resolution models in close-to-native conditions, quaternary structure analysis of complexes and quantitative description of the oligomeric composition in mixtures. Practical aspects of SAXS as a standalone tool and its combinations with other structural, biophysical or bioinformatics methods are reviewed. The capabilities of the technique are illustrated by a selection of recent applications for the studies of biological molecules. Future perspectives on SAXS and its potential impact to structural molecular biology are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxim V Petoukhov
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Outstation, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
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