Kinetic analysis of tentoxin binding to chloroplast F1-ATPase. A model for the overactivation process

Recent Advances in Alternaria Phytotoxins: A Review of Their Occurrence, Structure, Bioactivity and Biosynthesis

Alternaria is a ubiquitous fungal genus in many ecosystems, consisting of species and strains that can be saprophytic, endophytic, or pathogenic to plants or animals, including humans. Alternaria species can produce a variety of secondary metabolites (SMs), especially low molecular weight toxins. Based on the characteristics of host plant susceptibility or resistance to the toxin, Alternaria phytotoxins are classified into host-selective toxins (HSTs) and non-host-selective toxins (NHSTs). These Alternaria toxins exhibit a variety of biological activities such as phytotoxic, cytotoxic, and antimicrobial properties. Generally, HSTs are toxic to host plants and can cause severe economic losses. Some NHSTs such as alternariol, altenariol methyl-ether, and altertoxins also show high cytotoxic and mutagenic activities in the exposed human or other vertebrate species. Thus, Alternaria toxins are meaningful for drug and pesticide development. For example, AAL-toxin, maculosin, tentoxin, and tenuazonic acid have potential to be developed as bioherbicides due to their excellent herbicidal activity. Like altersolanol A, bostrycin, and brefeldin A, they exhibit anticancer activity, and ATX V shows high activity to inhibit the HIV-1 virus. This review focuses on the classification, chemical structure, occurrence, bioactivity, and biosynthesis of the major Alternaria phytotoxins, including 30 HSTs and 50 NHSTs discovered to date.

Cholesterol-mediated conformational changes in the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein are essential for steroidogenesis

Although the mechanism by which the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) promotes steroidogenesis has been studied extensively, it remains incompletely characterized. Because structural analysis has revealed a hydrophobic sterol-binding pocket (SBP) within StAR, this study sought to examine the regulatory role of cholesterol concentrations on protein folding and mitochondrial import. Stopped-flow analyses revealed that at low concentrations, cholesterol promotes StAR folding. With increasing cholesterol concentrations, an intermediate state is reached followed by StAR unfolding. With 5 μg/mL cholesterol, the apparent binding was 0.011 s(-1), and the unfolding time (t1/2) was 63 s. The apparent binding increased from 0.036 to 0.049 s(-1) when the cholesterol concentration was increased from 50 μg/mL to 100 μg/mL while t1/2 decreased from 19 to 14 s. These cholesterol-induced conformational changes were not mediated by chemical chaperones. Protein fingerprinting analysis of StAR in the absence and presence of cholesterol by mass spectrometry revealed that the cholesterol binding region, comprising amino acids 132-188, is protected from proteolysis. In the absence of cholesterol, a longer region of amino acids from position 62 to 188 was protected, which is suggestive of organization into smaller, tightly folded regions with cholesterol. In addition, rapid cholesterol metabolism was required for the import of StAR into the mitochondria, suggesting that the mitochondria have a limited capacity for import and processing of steroidogenic proteins, which is dependent on cholesterol storage. Thus, cholesterol regulates StAR conformation, activating it to an intermediate flexible state for mitochondrial import and its enhanced cholesterol transfer capacity.

Energetic cost of protein import across the envelope membranes of chloroplasts

Chloroplasts are the organelles of green plants in which light energy is transduced into chemical energy, forming ATP and reduced carbon compounds upon which all life depends. The expenditure of this energy is one of the central issues of cellular metabolism. Chloroplasts contain ~3,000 proteins, among which less than 100 are typically encoded in the plastid genome. The rest are encoded in the nuclear genome, synthesized in the cytosol, and posttranslationally imported into the organelle in an energy-dependent process. We report here a measurement of the amount of ATP hydrolyzed to import a protein across the chloroplast envelope membranes--only the second complete accounting of the cost in Gibbs free energy of protein transport to be undertaken. Using two different precursors prepared by three distinct techniques, we show that the import of a precursor protein into chloroplasts is accompanied by the hydrolysis of ~650 ATP molecules. This translates to a ΔG(protein) (transport) of some 27,300 kJ/mol protein imported. We estimate that protein import across the plastid envelope membranes consumes ~0.6% of the total light-saturated energy output of the organelle.

ATP synthase and the actions of inhibitors utilized to study its roles in human health, disease, and other scientific areas

ATP synthase, a double-motor enzyme, plays various roles in the cell, participating not only in ATP synthesis but in ATP hydrolysis-dependent processes and in the regulation of a proton gradient across some membrane-dependent systems. Recent studies of ATP synthase as a potential molecular target for the treatment of some human diseases have displayed promising results, and this enzyme is now emerging as an attractive molecular target for the development of new therapies for a variety of diseases. Significantly, ATP synthase, because of its complex structure, is inhibited by a number of different inhibitors and provides diverse possibilities in the development of new ATP synthase-directed agents. In this review, we classify over 250 natural and synthetic inhibitors of ATP synthase reported to date and present their inhibitory sites and their known or proposed modes of action. The rich source of ATP synthase inhibitors and their known or purported sites of action presented in this review should provide valuable insights into their applications as potential scaffolds for new therapeutics for human and animal diseases as well as for the discovery of new pesticides and herbicides to help protect the world's food supply. Finally, as ATP synthase is now known to consist of two unique nanomotors involved in making ATP from ADP and P(i), the information provided in this review may greatly assist those investigators entering the emerging field of nanotechnology.

Molecular processes of inhibition and stimulation of ATP synthase caused by the phytotoxin tentoxin

F1-ATPase is the smallest mechanical motor known. Tentoxin, a cyclic peptide produced by phytopathogenic fungi, inactivates the F1 motor in sensitive plants at nanomolar to micromolar concentrations, whereas higher concentrations surpass the natural activity of the enzyme. Single molecule studies now have clarified the molecular steps involved in both processes. Inactivation delays the dwell time of a single step in the complete 360 degrees turn and results in an asymmetric rotation of the central rotor subunit. In contrast, rotation in the stimulated F1 particle is smooth and accompanied by strongly reduced ADP inhibition. Our study provides for the first time the direct observation of a noncompetitively inhibited state of the enzyme and directly visualizes the regulation of the molecular motor by an external natural compound. In addition, the ADP release step during catalysis was revealed by analysis of the single molecule rotation behavior. Hence, tentoxin is a sophisticated molecular tool to mark and control certain catalytic steps within the reaction pathway of the molecular F1 motor.

C-Terminal mutations in the chloroplast ATP synthase gamma subunit impair ATP synthesis and stimulate ATP hydrolysis

Two highly conserved amino acid residues, an arginine and a glutamine, located near the C-terminal end of the gamma subunit, form a "catch" by hydrogen bonding with residues in an anionic loop on one of the three catalytic beta subunits of the bovine mitochondrial F1-ATPase [Abrahams, J. P., Leslie, A. G., Lutter, R., and Walker, J. E. (1994) Nature 370, 621-628]. The catch is considered to play a critical role in the binding change mechanism whereby binding of ATP to one catalytic site releases the catch and induces a partial rotation of the gamma subunit. This role is supported by the observation that mutation of the equivalent arginine and glutamine residues in the Escherichia coli F1 gamma subunit drastically reduced all ATP-dependent catalytic activities of the enzyme [Greene, M. D., and Frasch, W. D. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278, 5194-5198]. In this study, we show that simultaneous substitution of the equivalent residues in the chloroplast F1 gamma subunit, arginine 304 and glutamine 305, with alanine decreased the level of proton-coupled ATP synthesis by more than 80%. Both the Mg2+-dependent and Ca2+-dependent ATP hydrolysis activities increased by more than 3-fold as a result of these mutations; however, the sulfite-stimulated activity decreased by more than 60%. The Mg2+-dependent, but not the Ca2+-dependent, ATPase activity of the double mutant was insensitive to inhibition by the phytotoxic inhibitor tentoxin, indicating selective loss of catalytic cooperativity in the presence of Mg2+ ions. The results indicate that the catch residues are required for efficient proton coupling and for activation of multisite catalysis when MgATP is the substrate. The catch is not, however, required for CaATP-driven multisite catalysis or, therefore, for rotation of the gamma subunit.

Complete inhibition and partial Re-activation of single F1-ATPase molecules by tentoxin: new properties of the re-activated enzyme

During hydrolysis of ATP, the gamma subunit of the rotary motor protein F(1)-ATPase rotates within a ring of alpha(3)beta(3) subunits. Tentoxin is a phyto-pathogenic cyclic tetrapeptide, which influences F(1)-ATPase activity of sensitive species. At low concentrations, tentoxin inhibits ATP hydrolysis of ensembles of F(1) molecules in solution. At higher concentrations, however, ATP hydrolysis recovers. Here we have examined how tentoxin acts on individual molecules of engineered F(1)-ATPase from the thermophilic Bacillus PS3 (Groth, G., Hisabori, T., Lill, H., and Bald, D. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 20117-20119). We found that inhibition by tentoxin caused a virtually complete stop of rotation, which was partially relieved at higher tentoxin concentrations. Re-activation, however, was not simply a reversal of inhibition; while the torque appears unaffected as compared with the situation without tentoxin, F(1) under re-activating conditions was less susceptible to inhibitory ADP binding but displayed a large number of short pauses, indicating infringed energy conversion.

Complete inhibition of the tentoxin-resistant F1-ATPase from Escherichia coli by the phytopathogenic inhibitor tentoxin after substitution of critical residues in the alpha - and beta -subunit

Substitution of critical residues in the alpha- and beta-subunit can turn the typically resistant ATP synthase from the bacterium Escherichia coli into an enzyme showing high sensitivity to the phytopathogenic inhibitor tentoxin, which usually affects only certain sensitive plant species. In contrast to recent results obtained with the thermophilic F(1) (Groth, G., Hisabori, T., Lill, H., and Bald, D. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 20117-20119), substitution of a critical serine in the beta-subunit (betaSer(59)), which is supposed to provide an important intermolecular hydrogen bond in the binding site, was not sufficient on its own for conferring tentoxin sensitivity to the E. coli F(1) complex. Superimposition of the chloroplast F(1)-tentoxin inhibitor complex on a homology model of the E. coli F(1) complex provided detailed information on the critical residues in the alpha-subunit of the binding cleft and allowed us to model the binding site according to the steric requirements of the inhibitor. Substitution of the highly conserved residue alphaLeu(64) seems to be most important for allowing access of the inhibitor to the binding site. Combining this substitution with either additional replacements in the alpha-subunit (Q49A, L95A, E96Q, I273M) or the replacement of Ser(59) in the beta-subunit enhanced the sensitivity to the inhibitor and resulted in a complete inhibition of the E. coli F(1)-ATPase by the plant-specific inhibitor tentoxin.

Characterization of two pharmacophores on the multidrug transporter P-glycoprotein

The multidrug transporter P-glycoprotein is a plasma membrane protein involved in cell and tissue detoxification and the multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotype. It actively expels from cells a number of cytotoxic molecules, all amphiphilic but chemically unrelated. We investigated the molecular characteristics involved in the binding selectivity of P-glycoprotein by means of a molecular modeling approach using various substrates combined with an enzymological study using these substrates and native membrane vesicles prepared from MDR cells. We determined affinities and mutual relationships from the changes in P-glycoprotein ATPase activity induced by a series of cyclic peptides and peptide-like compounds, used alone or in combination. Modeling of the intramolecular distribution of the hydrophobic and polar surfaces of this series of molecules made it possible to superimpose some of these surface elements. These molecular alignments were correlated with the observed mutual exclusions for binding on P-glycoprotein. This led to the characterization of two different, but partially overlapping, pharmacophores. On each of these pharmacophores, the ligands compete with each other. The typical MDR-associated molecules, verapamil, cyclosporin A, and actinomycin D, bound to pharmacophore 1, whereas vinblastine bound to pharmacophore 2. Thus, the multispecific binding pocket of P-glycoprotein can be seen as sites, located near one another, that bind ligands according to the distribution of their hydrophobic and polar elements rather than their chemical motifs. The existence of two pharmacophores increases the possibilities for multiple chemical structure recognition. The size of the ligands affects their ability to compete with other ligands for binding to P-glycoprotein.

Rebuilt 3D structure of the chloroplast f1 ATPase-tentoxin complex

The F1 part of the chloroplast H+ adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-synthase (CF1) strongly interacts with tentoxin, a natural fungous cyclic tetrapeptide known to inhibit the chloroplast enzyme and not the mammalian mitochondrial enzyme. Whereas the synthesis or the hydrolysis of ATP requires the stepwise rotation of the protein rotor gamma within the (alphabeta)3 crown, only one molecule of tentoxin is needed to fully inhibit the complex. With the help of an original homology modeling technique, based on robust distance geometry protocols, we built a tridimensional model of the alpha3beta3gamma CF1) subcomplex (3200 esidues), in which we introduced three different nucleotide occupancies to check their possible influence on the tentoxin binding site. Simultaneous comparison of three available high-resolution X-ray structures of F1, performed with a local structural alignment search tool, led to characterizing common structural blocks and the distorsions experienced by the complex during the catalytic turnover. The common structural blocks were used as a starting point of the spinach CF1 structure rebuilding. Finally, tentoxin was docked into its putative binding site of the reconstructed structure. The docking method was initially validated in the mitochondrial enzyme by its ability to relocate nucleotides into their original position in the crystal. Tentoxin binding was found possible to the two alpha/beta interfaces associated with the empty and adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-loaded catalytic sites, but not to the one associated with the ATP-loaded site. These results suggest a mechanism of CF1 inhibition by one molecule of tentoxin, by the impossibility of the alpha/beta interface bearing tentoxin to pass through the ATP-loaded state.

Substitution of a single amino acid switches the tentoxin-resistant thermophilic F1-ATPase into a tentoxin-sensitive enzyme

In contrast to the homologous bacterial and mitochondrial enzymes the chloroplast F(1)-ATPase (CF(1)) is strongly affected by the phytopathogenic inhibitor tentoxin. Based on structural information obtained from crystals of a CF(1)-tentoxin co-complex (Groth, G. (2002) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 99, 3464-3468) we have replaced residues betaSer(66) and alphaArg(132) in the alpha(3)beta(3)gamma subcomplex of the thermophilic F(1)-ATPase from Bacillus PS3 by the corresponding residues of the chloroplast ATPase to confer tentoxin sensitivity to the thermophilic enzyme. The mutation alphaArg(132) --> Pro, proposed to relieve steric constraints on tentoxin binding, did not have any significant effect. However, mutation betaSer(66) --> Ala, predicted to provide a crucial hydrogen bond with the inhibitor, resulted in tentoxin inhibition of ATP hydrolysis comparable with the situation found with the chloroplast enzyme.

An insight into the mechanism of inhibition and reactivation of the F(1)-ATPases by tentoxin

The mechanism of inhibition and reactivation of chloroplast ATP-synthase by the fungal cyclotetrapeptide tentoxin was investigated by photolabeling experiments, binding studies, and kinetic analysis using synthetic analogues of tentoxin. The alpha-subunit of chloroplast F(1)-ATPase (CF(1)) was specifically labeled by a photoactivatable tentoxin derivative, providing the first direct evidence of tentoxin binding to the alpha-subunit, and 3D homology modeling was used to locate tentoxin in its putative binding site at the alpha/beta interface. The non-photosynthetic F(1)-ATPase from thermophilic bacterium (TF(1)) proved to be also tentoxin-sensitive, and enzyme turnover dramatically increased the rate of tentoxin binding to its inhibitory site, contrary to what was previously observed with epsilon-depleted CF(1) [Santolini, J., Haraux, F., Sigalat, C., Moal, G., and André, F. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 849-858]. We propose that tentoxin preferentially binds to an ADP-loaded alpha beta pair, and mechanically blocks the catalytic cycle, perhaps by the impossibility of converting this alpha beta pair into an ATP-loaded alpha beta pair. Using (14)C-tentoxin and selected synthetic analogues, we found that toxin binding to the tight inhibitory site of CF(1) exerts some cooperative effect on the loose reactivatory site, but that no reciprocal effect exists. When the two tentoxin-binding sites are filled in reactivated F(1)-ATPase, they do not exchange their role during catalytic turnover, indicating an impairment between nucleotide occupancy and the shape of tentoxin-binding pocket. This analysis provides a mechanical interpretation of the inhibition of F(1)-ATPase by tentoxin and a clue for understanding the reactivation process.

Structure of spinach chloroplast F1-ATPase complexed with the phytopathogenic inhibitor tentoxin

Tentoxin, a natural cyclic tetrapeptide produced by phytopathogenic fungi from the Alternaria species affects the catalytic function of the chloroplast F(1)-ATPase in certain sensitive species of plants. In this study, we show that the uncompetitive inhibitor tentoxin binds to the alphabeta-interface of the chloroplast F(1)-ATPase in a cleft localized at betaAsp-83. Most of the binding site is located on the noncatalytic alpha-subunit. The crystal structure of the tentoxin-inhibited CF(1)-complex suggests that the inhibitor is hydrogen bonded to Asp-83 in the catalytic beta-subunit but forms hydrophobic contacts with residues Ile-63, Leu-65, Val-75, Tyr-237, Leu-238, and Met-274 in the adjacent alpha-subunit. Except for minor changes around the tentoxin-binding site, the structure of the chloroplast alpha(3)beta(3)-core complex is the same as that determined with the native chloroplast ATPase. Tentoxin seems to act by inhibiting inter-subunit contacts at the alphabeta-interface and by blocking the interconversion of binding sites in the catalytic mechanism.

Role of the ATP synthase alpha-subunit in conferring sensitivity to tentoxin

Tentoxin, produced by phytopathogenic fungi, selectively affects the function of the ATP synthase enzymes of certain sensitive plant species. Binding of tentoxin to a high affinity (K(i) approximately 10 nM) site on the chloroplast F(1) (CF(1)) strongly inhibits catalytic function, whereas binding to a second, lower affinity site (K(d) > 10 microM) leads to restoration and even stimulation of catalytic activity. Sensitivity to tentoxin has been shown to be due, in part, to the nature of the amino acid residue at position 83 on the catalytic beta subunit of CF(1). An aspartate in this position is required, but is not sufficient, for tentoxin inhibition. By comparison with the solved structure of mitochondrial F(1) [Abrahams, J. P., Leslie, A. G. W., Lutter, R., and Walker, J. E. (1994) Nature 370, 621-628], Asp83 is probably located at an interface between alpha and beta subunits on CF(1) where residues on the alpha subunit could also participate in tentoxin binding. A hybrid core F(1) enzyme assembled with beta and gamma subunits of the tentoxin-sensitive spinach CF(1), and an alpha subunit of the tentoxin-insensitive photosynthetic bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum F(1) (RrF(1)), was stimulated but not inhibited by tentoxin [Tucker, W. C., Du, Z., Gromet-Elhanan, Z. and Richter, M. L. (2001) Eur. J. Biochem. 268, 2179-2186]. In this study, chimeric alpha subunits were prepared by introducing short segments of the spinach CF(1) alpha subunit from a poorly conserved region which is immediately adjacent to beta-Asp83 in the crystal structure, into equivalent positions in the RrF(1) alpha subunit using oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis. Hybrid enzymes containing these chimeric alpha subunits had both the high affinity inhibitory tentoxin binding site and the lower affinity stimulatory site. Changing beta-Asp83 to leucine resulted in loss of both inhibition and stimulation by tentoxin in the chimeras. The results indicate that tentoxin inhibition requires additional alpha residues that are not present on the RrF(1) alpha subunit. A structural model of a putative inhibitory tentoxin binding pocket is presented.

Formation and properties of hybrid photosynthetic F1-ATPases. Demonstration of different structural requirements for stimulation and inhibition by tentoxin

A hybrid ATPase composed of cloned chloroplast ATP synthase beta and gamma subunits (betaC and gammaC) and the cloned alpha subunit from the Rhodospirillum rubrum ATP synthase (alphaR) was assembled using solubilized inclusion bodies and a simple single-step folding procedure. The catalytic properties of the assembled alpha3Rbeta3CgammaC were compared to those of the core alpha3Cbeta3CgammaC complex of the native chloroplast coupling factor 1 (CF1) and to another recently described hybrid enzyme containing R. rubrum alpha and beta subunits and the CF1 gamma subunit (alpha3Rbeta3RgammaC). All three enzymes were similarly stimulated by dithiothreitol and inhibited by copper chloride in response to reduction and oxidation, respectively, of the disulfide bond in the chloroplast gamma subunit. In addition, all three enzymes exhibited the same concentration dependence for inhibition by the CF1 epsilon subunit. Thus the CF1 gamma subunit conferred full redox regulation and normal epsilon binding to the two hybrid enzymes. Only the native CF1 alpha3Cbeta3CgammaC complex was inhibited by tentoxin, confirming the requirement for both CF1 alpha and beta subunits for tentoxin inhibition. However, the alpha3Rbeta3CgammaC complex, like the alpha3Cbeta3CgammaC complex, was stimulated by tentoxin at concentrations in excess of 10 microm. In addition, replacement of the aspartate at position 83 in betaC with leucine resulted in the loss of stimulation in the alpha3Rbeta3CgammaC hybrid. The results indicate that both inhibition and stimulation by tentoxin require a similar structural contribution from the beta subunit, but differ in their requirements for alpha subunit structure.

The structure of the chloroplast F1-ATPase at 3.2 A resolution

The structure of the F(1)-ATPase from spinach chloroplasts was determined to 3.2 A resolution by molecular replacement based on the homologous structure of the bovine mitochondrial enzyme. The crystallized complex contains four different subunits in a stoichiometry of alpha(3)beta(3)gammaepsilon. Subunit delta was removed before crystallization to improve the diffraction of the crystals. The overall structure of the noncatalytic alpha-subunits and the catalytic beta-subunits is highly similar to those of the mitochondrial and thermophilic subunits. However, in the crystal structure of the chloroplast enzyme, all alpha- and beta-subunits adopt a closed conformation and appear to contain no bound adenine nucleotides. The superimposed crystallographic symmetry in the space group R32 impaired an exact tracing of the gamma- and epsilon-subunits in the complex. However, clear electron density was present at the core of the alpha(3)beta(3)-subcomplex, which probably represents the C-terminal domain of the gamma-subunit. The structure of the spinach chloroplast F(1) has a potential binding site for the phytotoxin, tentoxin, at the alphabeta-interface near betaAsp(83) and an insertion from betaGly(56)-Asn(60) in the N-terminal beta-barrel domain probably increases the thermal stability of the complex. The structure probably represents an inactive latent state of the ATPase, which is unique to chloroplast and cyanobacterial enzymes.