Fragment Binding to the Nsp3 Macrodomain of SARS-CoV-2 Identified Through Crystallographic Screening and Computational Docking

A Benchmark Study of Protein-Fragment Complex Structure Calculations with NMR2

Protein-fragment complex structures are particularly sought after in medicinal chemistry to rationally design lead molecules. These structures are usually derived using X-ray crystallography, but the failure rate is non-neglectable. NMR is a possible alternative for the calculation of weakly interacting complexes. Nevertheless, the time-consuming protein signal assignment step remains a barrier to its routine application. NMR Molecular Replacement (NMR2) is a versatile and rapid method that enables the elucidation of a protein-ligand complex structure. It has been successfully applied to peptides, drug-like molecules, and more recently to fragments. Due to the small size of the fragments, ca < 300 Da, solving the structures of the protein-fragment complexes is particularly challenging. Here, we present the expected performances of NMR2 when applied to protein-fragment complexes. The NMR2 approach has been benchmarked with the SERAPhic fragment library to identify the technical challenges in protein-fragment NMR structure calculation. A straightforward strategy is proposed to increase the method's success rate further. The presented work confirms that NMR2 is an alternative method to X-ray crystallography for solving protein-fragment complex structures.

SAMPL7 protein-ligand challenge: A community-wide evaluation of computational methods against fragment screening and pose-prediction

A novel crystallographic fragment screening data set was generated and used in the SAMPL7 challenge for protein-ligands. The SAMPL challenges prospectively assess the predictive power of methods involved in computer-aided drug design. Application of various methods to fragment molecules are now widely used in the search for new drugs. However, there is little in the way of systematic validation specifically for fragment-based approaches. We have performed a large crystallographic high-throughput fragment screen against the therapeutically relevant second bromodomain of the Pleckstrin-homology domain interacting protein (PHIP2) that revealed 52 different fragments bound across 4 distinct sites, 47 of which were bound to the pharmacologically relevant acetylated lysine (Kac) binding site. These data were used to assess computational screening, binding pose prediction and follow-up enumeration. All submissions performed randomly for screening. Pose prediction success rates (defined as less than 2 Å root mean squared deviation against heavy atom crystal positions) ranged between 0 and 25% and only a very few follow-up compounds were deemed viable candidates from a medicinal-chemistry perspective based on a common molecular descriptors analysis. The tight deadlines imposed during the challenge led to a small number of submissions suggesting that the accuracy of rapidly responsive workflows remains limited. In addition, the application of these methods to reproduce crystallographic fragment data still appears to be very challenging. The results show that there is room for improvement in the development of computational tools particularly when applied to fragment-based drug design.

Discovery of compounds that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mac1-ADP-ribose binding by high-throughput screening

The emergence of several zoonotic viruses in the last twenty years, especially the pandemic outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, has exposed a dearth of antiviral drug therapies for viruses with pandemic potential. Developing a diverse drug portfolio will be critical for our ability to rapidly respond to novel coronaviruses (CoVs) and other viruses with pandemic potential. Here we focus on the SARS-CoV-2 conserved macrodomain (Mac1), a small domain of non-structural protein 3 (nsp3). Mac1 is an ADP-ribosylhydrolase that cleaves mono-ADP-ribose (MAR) from target proteins, protects the virus from the anti-viral effects of host ADP-ribosyltransferases, and is critical for the replication and pathogenesis of CoVs. In this study, a luminescent-based high-throughput assay was used to screen ∼38,000 small molecules for those that could inhibit Mac1-ADP-ribose binding. We identified 5 compounds amongst 3 chemotypes that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mac1-ADP-ribose binding in multiple assays with IC ₅₀ values less than 100 µ M, inhibit ADP-ribosylhydrolase activity, and have evidence of direct Mac1 binding. These chemotypes are strong candidates for further derivatization into highly effective Mac1 inhibitors.

Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV2 nsp3 Macrodomain

A series of amino acid based 7H -pyrrolo[2,3- d ]pyrimidines were designed and synthesized to discern the structure activity relationships against the SARS-CoV-2 nsp3 macrodomain (Mac1), an ADP-ribosylhydrolase that is critical for coronavirus replication and pathogenesis. Structure activity studies identified compound 15c as a low-micromolar inhibitor of Mac1 in two ADP-ribose binding assays. This compound also demonstrated inhibition in an enzymatic assay of Mac1 and displayed a thermal shift comparable to ADPr in the melting temperature of Mac1 supporting binding to the target protein. A structural model reproducibly predicted a binding mode where the pyrrolo pyrimidine forms a hydrogen bonding network with Asp ²² and the amide backbone NH of Ile ²³ in the adenosine binding pocket and the carboxylate forms hydrogen bonds to the amide backbone of Phe ¹⁵⁷ and Asp ¹⁵⁶ , part of the oxyanion subsite of Mac1. Compound 15c also demonstrated notable selectivity for coronavirus macrodomains when tested against a panel of ADP-ribose binding proteins. Together, this study identified several low MW, low μM Mac1 inhibitors to use as small molecule chemical probes for this potential anti-viral target and offers starting points for further optimization.

Structural Insights into Plasticity and Discovery of Remdesivir Metabolite GS-441524 Binding in SARS-CoV-2 Macrodomain

The nsP3 macrodomain is a conserved protein interaction module that plays essential regulatory roles in the host immune response by recognizing and removing posttranslational ADP-ribosylation sites during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thus targeting this protein domain may offer a therapeutic strategy to combat current and future virus pandemics. To assist inhibitor development efforts, we report here a comprehensive set of macrodomain crystal structures complexed with diverse naturally occurring nucleotides, small molecules, and nucleotide analogues including GS-441524 and its phosphorylated analogue, active metabolites of remdesivir. The presented data strengthen our understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 macrodomain structural plasticity and provide chemical starting points for future inhibitor development.

An MHV macrodomain mutant predicted to lack ADP-ribose binding activity is severely attenuated, indicating multiple roles for the macrodomain in coronavirus replication

All coronaviruses (CoVs) contain a macrodomain, also termed Mac1, in non-structural protein 3 (nsp3) which binds and hydrolyzes ADP-ribose covalently attached to proteins. Despite several reports demonstrating that Mac1 is a prominent virulence factor, there is still a limited understanding of its cellular roles during infection. Currently, most of the information regarding the role of CoV Mac1 during infection is based on a single point mutant of a highly conserved asparagine-to-alanine mutation, which is known to largely eliminate Mac1 ADP-ribosylhydrolase activity. To determine if Mac1 ADP-ribose binding separately contributes to CoV replication, we compared the replication of a murine hepatitis virus (MHV) Mac1 mutant predicted to dramatically reduce ADP-ribose binding, D1329A, to the previously mentioned asparagine mutant, N1347A. D1329A and N1347A both replicated poorly in bone-marrow derived macrophages (BMDMs), were inhibited by PARP enzymes, and were highly attenuated in vivo . However, D1329A was significantly more attenuated than N1347A in all cell lines tested that were susceptible to MHV infection. In addition, D1329A retained some ability to block IFN-β transcript accumulation compared to N1347A, indicating that these two mutants impacted distinct Mac1 functions. Mac1 mutants predicted to eliminate both binding and hydrolysis activities were unrecoverable, suggesting that the combined activities of Mac1 may be essential for MHV replication. We conclude that Mac1 has multiple roles in promoting the replication of MHV, and that these results provide further evidence that Mac1 could be a prominent target for anti-CoV therapeutics.

IMPORTANCE

In the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, there has been a surge to better understand how CoVs replicate, and to identify potential therapeutic targets that could mitigate disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 and other prominent CoVs. The highly conserved macrodomain, also termed Mac1, is a small domain within non-structural protein 3. It has received significant attention as a potential drug target as previous studies demonstrated that it is essential for CoV pathogenesis in multiple animal models of infection. However, the various roles and functions of Mac1 during infection remain largely unknown. Here, utilizing recombinant Mac1 mutant viruses, we have determined that different biochemical functions of Mac1 have distinct roles in the replication of MHV, a model CoV. These results indicate that Mac1 is more important for CoV replication than previously appreciated, and could help guide the development of inhibitory compounds that target unique regions of this protein domain.