Stabilization of the R allosteric structure of Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase by disulfide bond formation

New regulatory mechanism-based inhibitors of aspartate transcarbamoylase for potential anticancer drug development

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).

Solution NMR Spectroscopy for the Study of Enzyme Allostery

Allostery is a ubiquitous biological regulatory process in which distant binding sites within a protein or enzyme are functionally and thermodynamically coupled. Allosteric interactions play essential roles in many enzymological mechanisms, often facilitating formation of enzyme-substrate complexes and/or product release. Thus, elucidating the forces that drive allostery is critical to understanding the complex transformations of biomolecules. Currently, a number of models exist to describe allosteric behavior, taking into account energetics as well as conformational rearrangements and fluctuations. In the following Review, we discuss the use of solution NMR techniques designed to probe allosteric mechanisms in enzymes. NMR spectroscopy is unequaled in its ability to detect structural and dynamical changes in biomolecules, and the case studies presented herein demonstrate the range of insights to be gained from this valuable method. We also provide a detailed technical discussion of several specialized NMR experiments that are ideally suited for the study of enzymatic allostery.

Nucleotides, Nucleosides, and Nucleobases

We review literature on the metabolism of ribo- and deoxyribonucleotides, nucleosides, and nucleobases in Escherichia coli and Salmonella,including biosynthesis, degradation, interconversion, and transport. Emphasis is placed on enzymology and regulation of the pathways, at both the level of gene expression and the control of enzyme activity. The paper begins with an overview of the reactions that form and break the N-glycosyl bond, which binds the nucleobase to the ribosyl moiety in nucleotides and nucleosides, and the enzymes involved in the interconversion of the different phosphorylated states of the nucleotides. Next, the de novo pathways for purine and pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis are discussed in detail.Finally, the conversion of nucleosides and nucleobases to nucleotides, i.e.,the salvage reactions, are described. The formation of deoxyribonucleotides is discussed, with emphasis on ribonucleotidereductase and pathways involved in fomation of dUMP. At the end, we discuss transport systems for nucleosides and nucleobases and also pathways for breakdown of the nucleobases.

Allostery and cooperativity in Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase

The allosteric enzyme aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) from Escherichia coli has been the subject of investigations for approximately 50 years. This enzyme controls the rate of pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis by feedback inhibition, and helps to balance the pyrimidine and purine pools by competitive allosteric activation by ATP. The catalytic and regulatory components of the dodecameric enzyme can be separated and studied independently. Many of the properties of the enzyme follow the Monod, Wyman Changeux model of allosteric control thus E. coli ATCase has become the textbook example. This review will highlight kinetic, biophysical, and structural studies which have provided a molecular level understanding of how the allosteric nature of this enzyme regulates pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis.

A cooperative Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase without regulatory subunits

Here we report the isolation, kinetic characterization, and X-ray structure determination of a cooperative Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) without regulatory subunits. The native ATCase holoenzyme consists of six catalytic chains organized as two trimers bridged noncovalently by six regulatory chains organized as three dimers, c(6)r(6). Dissociation of the native holoenzyme produces catalytically active trimers, c(3), and nucleotide-binding regulatory dimers, r(2). By introducing specific disulfide bonds linking the catalytic chains from the upper trimer site specifically to their corresponding chains in the lower trimer prior to dissociation, a new catalytic unit, c(6), was isolated consisting of two catalytic trimers linked by disulfide bonds. Not only does the c(6) species display enhanced enzymatic activity compared to the wild-type enzyme, but the disulfide bonds also impart homotropic cooperativity, never observed in the wild-type c(3). The c(6) ATCase was crystallized in the presence of phosphate and its X-ray structure determined to 2.10 A resolution. The structure of c(6) ATCase liganded with phosphate exists in a nearly identical conformation as other R-state structures with similar values calculated for the vertical separation and planar angles. The disulfide bonds linking upper and lower catalytic trimers predispose the active site into a more active conformation by locking the 240s loop into the position characteristic of the high-affinity R state. Furthermore, the elimination of the structural constraints imposed by the regulatory subunits within the holoenzyme provides increased flexibility to the c(6) enzyme, enhancing its activity over the wild-type holoenzyme (c(6)r(6)) and c(3). The covalent linkage between upper and lower catalytic trimers restores homotropic cooperativity so that a binding event at one or so active sites stimulates binding at the other sites. Reduction of the disulfide bonds in the c(6) ATCase results in c(3) catalytic subunits that display kinetic parameters similar to those of wild-type c(3). This is the first report of an active c(6) catalytic unit that displays enhanced activity and homotropic cooperativity.

The pathway of product release from the R state of aspartate transcarbamoylase

The pathway of product release from the R state of aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase; EC 2.1.3.2, aspartate carbamoyltransferase) has been determined here by solving the crystal structure of Escherichia coli ATCase locked in the R quaternary structure by specific introduction of disulfide bonds. ATCase displays ordered substrate binding and product release, remaining in the R state until substrates are exhausted. The structure reported here represents ATCase in the R state bound to the final product molecule, phosphate. This structure has been difficult to obtain previously because the enzyme relaxes back to the T state after the substrates are exhausted. Hence, cocrystallizing the wild-type enzyme with phosphate results in a T-state structure. In this structure of the enzyme trapped in the R state with specific disulfide bonds, we observe two phosphate molecules per active site. The position of the first phosphate corresponds to the position of the phosphate of carbamoyl phosphate (CP) and the position of the phosphonate of N-phosphonacetyl-l-aspartate. However, the second, more weakly bound phosphate is bound in a positively charged pocket that is more accessible to the surface than the other phosphate. The second phosphate appears to be on the path that phosphate would have to take to exit the active site. Our results suggest that phosphate dissociation and CP binding can occur simultaneously and that the dissociation of phosphate may actually promote the binding of CP for more efficient catalysis.

Sequential formation of ion pairs during activation of a sodium channel voltage sensor

Electrical signaling in biology depends upon a unique electromechanical transduction process mediated by the S4 segments of voltage-gated ion channels. These transmembrane segments are driven outward by the force of the electric field on positively charged amino acid residues termed "gating charges," which are positioned at three-residue intervals in the S4 transmembrane segment, and this movement is coupled to opening of the pore. Here, we use the disulfide-locking method to demonstrate sequential ion pair formation between the fourth gating charge in the S4 segment (R4) and two acidic residues in the S2 segment during activation. R4 interacts first with E70 at the intracellular end of the S2 segment and then with D60 near the extracellular end. Analysis with the Rosetta Membrane method reveals the 3-D structures of the gating pore as these ion pairs are formed sequentially to catalyze the S4 transmembrane movement required for voltage-dependent activation. Our results directly demonstrate sequential ion pair formation that is an essential feature of the sliding helix model of voltage sensor function but is not compatible with the other widely discussed gating models.

A fluorescent probe-labeled Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase that monitors the allosteric conformational state

A new system has been developed capable of monitoring conformational changes of the 240s loop of aspartate transcarbamoylase, which are tightly correlated with the quaternary structural transition, with high sensitivity in solution. Pyrene, a fluorescent probe, was conjugated to residue 241 in the 240s loop of aspartate transcarbamoylase to monitor changes in conformation by fluorescence spectroscopy. Pyrene maleimide was conjugated to a cysteine residue on the 240s loop of a previously constructed double catalytic chain mutant version of the enzyme, C47A/A241C. The pyrene-labeled enzyme undergoes the normal T to R structural transition, as demonstrated by small-angle x-ray scattering. Like the wild-type enzyme, the pyrene-labeled enzyme exhibits cooperativity toward aspartate, and is activated by ATP and inhibited by CTP at subsaturating concentrations of aspartate. The binding of the bisubstrate analogue N-(phosphonoacetyl)-l-aspartate (PALA), or the aspartate analogue succinate, in the presence of saturating carbamoyl phosphate, to the pyrenelabeled enzyme caused a sigmoidal change in the fluorescence emission. Saturation with ATP and CTP (in the presence of either subsaturating amounts of PALA or succinate and carbamoyl phosphate) caused a hyperbolic increase and decrease, respectively, in the fluorescence emission. The half-saturation values from the fluorescence saturation curves and kinetic saturation curves were, within error, identical. Fluorescence and small-angle x-ray scattering stopped-flow experiments, using aspartate and carbamoyl phosphate, confirm that the change in excimer fluorescence and the quaternary structure change correlate. These results in conjunction with previous studies suggest that the allosteric transition involves both global and local conformational changes and that the heterotropic effect of the nucleotides may be exerted through local conformational changes in the active site by directly influencing the conformation of the 240s loop.