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Ferreira P, Neves RPP, Miranda FP, Cunha AV, Havenith RWA, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. DszA Catalyzes C-S Bond Cleavage through N 5-Hydroperoxyl Formation. J Chem Inf Model 2024. [PMID: 38684937 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Due to its detrimental impact on human health and the environment, regulations demand ultralow sulfur levels on fossil fuels, in particular in diesel. However, current desulfurization techniques are expensive and cannot efficiently remove heteroaromatic sulfur compounds, which are abundant in crude oil and concentrate in the diesel fraction after distillation. Biodesulfurization via the four enzymes of the metabolic 4S pathway of the bacterium Rhodococcus erythropolis (DszA-D) is a possible solution. However, the 4S pathway needs to operate at least 500 times faster for industrial applicability, a goal currently pursued through enzyme engineering. In this work, we unveil the catalytic mechanism of the flavin monooxygenase DszA. Surprisingly, we found that this enzyme follows a recently proposed atypical mechanism that passes through the formation of an N5OOH intermediate at the re side of the cofactor, aided by a well-defined, predominantly hydrophobic O2 pocket. Besides clarifying the unusual chemical mechanism of the complex DszA enzyme, with obvious implications for understanding the puzzling chemistry of flavin-mediated catalysis, the result is crucial for the rational engineering of DszA, contributing to making biodesulfurization attractive for the oil refining industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Ferreira
- LAQV,REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, Porto 4169-007, Portugal
| | - Rui P P Neves
- LAQV,REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, Porto 4169-007, Portugal
| | - Filipa P Miranda
- LAQV,REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, Porto 4169-007, Portugal
| | - Ana V Cunha
- Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp 2000, Belgium
| | - Remco W A Havenith
- Stratingh Institute for Chemistry and Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, Groningen 9747 AG, The Netherlands
- Ghent Quantum Chemistry Group, Department of Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 (S3), Ghent B-9000, Belgium
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV,REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, Porto 4169-007, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV,REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, Porto 4169-007, Portugal
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de Oliveira ALN, Lacerda MT, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Viper Venom Phospholipase A2 Database: The Structural and Functional Anatomy of a Primary Toxin in Envenomation. Toxins (Basel) 2024; 16:71. [PMID: 38393149 PMCID: PMC10893444 DOI: 10.3390/toxins16020071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Revised: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 01/13/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Viper venom phospholipase A2 enzymes (vvPLA2s) and phospholipase A2-like (PLA2-like) proteins are two of the principal toxins in viper venom that are responsible for the severe myotoxic and neurotoxic effects caused by snakebite envenoming, among other pathologies. As snakebite envenoming is the deadliest neglected tropical disease, a complete understanding of these proteins' properties and their mechanisms of action is urgently needed. Therefore, we created a database comprising information on the holo-form, cofactor-bound 3D structure of 217 vvPLA2 and PLA2-like proteins in their physiologic environment, as well as 79 membrane-bound viper species from 24 genera, which we have made available to the scientific community to accelerate the development of new anti-snakebite drugs. In addition, the analysis of the sequenced, 3D structure of the database proteins reveals essential aspects of the anatomy of the proteins, their toxicity mechanisms, and the conserved binding site areas that may anchor universal interspecific inhibitors. Moreover, it pinpoints hypotheses for the molecular origin of the myotoxicity of the PLA2-like proteins. Altogether, this study provides an understanding of the diversity of these toxins and how they are conserved, and it indicates how to develop broad, interspecies, efficient small-molecule inhibitors to target the toxin's many mechanisms of action.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- Requimte-Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-000 Porto, Portugal; (A.L.N.d.O.); (M.T.L.); (M.J.R.)
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Radman K, Jelić Matošević Z, Žilić D, Crnolatac I, Bregović N, Kveder M, Piantanida I, Fernandes PA, Ašler IL, Bertoša B. Structural and dynamical changes of the Streptococcus gordonii metalloregulatory ScaR protein induced by Mn 2+ ion binding. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 253:127572. [PMID: 37866578 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.127572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
Divalent metal ions are essential micronutrients for many intercellular reactions. Maintaining their homeostasis is necessary for the survival of bacteria. In Streptococcus gordonii, one of the primary colonizers of the tooth surface, the cellular concentration of manganese ions (Mn2+) is regulated by the manganese-sensing transcriptional factor ScaR which controls the expression of proteins involved in manganese homeostasis. To resolve the molecular mechanism through which the binding of Mn2+ ions increases the binding affinity of ScaR to DNA, a variety of computational (QM and MD) and experimental (ITC, DSC, EMSA, EPR, and CD) methods were applied. The computational results showed that Mn2+ binding induces a conformational change in ScaR that primarily affects the position of the DNA binding domains and, consequently, the DNA binding affinity of the protein. In addition, experimental results revealed a 1:4 binding stoichiometry between ScaR dimer and Mn2+ ions, while the computational results showed that the binding of Mn2+ ions in the primary binding sites is sufficient to induce the observed conformational change of ScaR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarina Radman
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - Zoe Jelić Matošević
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - Dijana Žilić
- Division of Physical Chemistry, Ruđer Bošković Institute, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - Ivo Crnolatac
- Division of Organic Chemistry & Biochemistry, Ruđer Bošković Institute, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - Nikola Bregović
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - Marina Kveder
- Division of Physical Chemistry, Ruđer Bošković Institute, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - Ivo Piantanida
- Division of Organic Chemistry & Biochemistry, Ruđer Bošković Institute, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Ivana Leščić Ašler
- Division of Physical Chemistry, Ruđer Bošković Institute, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
| | - Branimir Bertoša
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
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Coimbra JTS, Fernandes PA, Ramos MJ. Deciphering the Catalytic Mechanism of Virginiamycin B Lyase with Multiscale Methods and Molecular Dynamics Simulations. J Chem Inf Model 2023; 63:6354-6365. [PMID: 37791530 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/05/2023]
Abstract
Due to the emergence of antibiotic resistance, the need to explore novel antibiotics and/or novel strategies to counter antibiotic resistance is of utmost importance. In this work, we explored the molecular and mechanistic details of the degradation of a streptogramin B antibiotic by virginiamycin B (Vgb) lyase of Staphylococcus aureus using classical molecular dynamics simulations and multiscale quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics methods. Our results were in line with available experimental kinetic information. Although we were able to identify a stepwise mechanism, in the wild-type enzyme, the intermediate is short-lived, showing a small barrier to decay to the product state. The impact of point mutations on the reaction was also assessed, showing not only the importance of active site residues to the reaction catalyzed by Vgb lyase but also of near positive and negative residues surrounding the active site. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we also predicted the most likely protonation state of the 3-hydroxypicolinic moiety of the antibiotic and the impact of mutants on antibiotic binding. All this information will expand our understanding of linearization reactions of cyclic antibiotics, which are crucial for the development of novel strategies that aim to tackle antibiotic resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- João T S Coimbra
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
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De Sousa JPM, Oliveira NCSA, Fernandes PA. Rational Engineering of ( S)-Norcoclaurine Synthase for Efficient Benzylisoquinoline Alkaloids Biosynthesis. Molecules 2023; 28:molecules28114265. [PMID: 37298742 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28114265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2023] [Revised: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
(S)-Norcoclaurine is synthesized in vivo through a metabolic pathway that ends with (S)-norcoclaurine synthase (NCS). The former constitutes the scaffold for the biosynthesis of all benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs), including many drugs such as the opiates morphine and codeine and the semi-synthetic opioids oxycodone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone. Unfortunately, the only source of complex BIAs is the opium poppy, leaving the drug supply dependent on poppy crops. Therefore, the bioproduction of (S)-norcoclaurine in heterologous hosts, such as bacteria or yeast, is an intense area of research nowadays. The efficiency of (S)-norcoclaurine biosynthesis is strongly dependent on the catalytic efficiency of NCS. Therefore, we identified vital NCS rate-enhancing mutations through the rational transition-state macrodipole stabilization method at the Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics (QM/MM) level. The results are a step forward for obtaining NCS variants able to biosynthesize (S)-norcoclaurine on a large scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- João P M De Sousa
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Nuno C S A Oliveira
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
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Castro-Amorim J, Oliveira A, Mukherjee AK, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Unraveling the Reaction Mechanism of Russell's Viper Venom Factor X Activator: A Paradigm for the Reactivity of Zinc Metalloproteinases? J Chem Inf Model 2023. [PMID: 37092784 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.2c01156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/25/2023]
Abstract
Snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) are important drug targets against snakebite envenoming, the neglected tropical disease with the highest mortality worldwide. Here, we focus on Russell's viper (Daboia russelii), one of the "big four" snakes of the Indian subcontinent that, together, are responsible for ca. 50,000 fatalities annually. The "Russell's viper venom factor X activator" (RVV-X), a highly toxic metalloproteinase, activates the blood coagulation factor X (FX), leading to the prey's abnormal blood clotting and death. Given its tremendous public health impact, the WHO recognized an urgent need to develop efficient, heat-stable, and affordable-for-all small-molecule inhibitors, for which a deep understanding of the mechanisms of action of snake's principal toxins is fundamental. In this study, we determine the catalytic mechanism of RVV-X by using a density functional theory/molecular mechanics (DFT:MM) methodology to calculate its free energy profile. The results showed that the catalytic process takes place via two steps. The first step involves a nucleophilic attack by an in situ generated hydroxide ion on the substrate carbonyl, yielding an activation barrier of 17.7 kcal·mol-1, while the second step corresponds to protonation of the peptide nitrogen and peptide bond cleavage with an energy barrier of 23.1 kcal·mol-1. Our study shows a unique role played by Zn2+ in catalysis by lowering the pKa of the Zn2+-bound water molecule, enough to permit the swift formation of the hydroxide nucleophile through barrierless deprotonation by the formally much less basic Glu140. Without the Zn2+ cofactor, this step would be rate-limiting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana Castro-Amorim
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, Porto 4169-007, Portugal
| | - Ana Oliveira
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, Porto 4169-007, Portugal
| | - Ashis K Mukherjee
- Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, Vigyan Path Garchuk, Paschim Boragaon, Guwahati 781035, Assam, India
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, Porto 4169-007, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, Porto 4169-007, Portugal
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7
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Ong HC, Coimbra JTS, Ramos MJ, Xing B, Fernandes PA, García F. Beyond the TPP + "gold standard": a new generation mitochondrial delivery vector based on extended PN frameworks. Chem Sci 2023; 14:4126-4133. [PMID: 37063789 PMCID: PMC10094279 DOI: 10.1039/d2sc06508h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Mitochondrial targeting represents an attractive strategy for treating metabolic, degenerative and hyperproliferative diseases, since this organelle plays key roles in essential cellular functions. Triphenylphosphonium (TPP+) moieties - the current "gold standard" - have been widely used as mitochondrial targeting vectors for a wide range of molecular cargo. Recently, further optimisation of the TPP+ platform drew considerable interest as a way to enhance mitochondrial therapies. However, although the modification of this system appears promising, the core structure of the TPP+ moiety remains largely unchanged. Thus, this study explored the use of aminophosphonium (PN+) and phosphazenylphosphonium (PPN+) main group frameworks as novel mitochondrial delivery vectors. The PPN+ moiety was found to be a highly promising platform for this purpose, owing to its unique electronic properties and high lipophilicity. This has been demonstrated by the high mitochondrial accumulation of a PPN+-conjugated fluorophore relative to its TPP+-conjugated counterpart, and has been further supported by density functional theory and molecular dynamics calculations, highlighting the PPN+ moiety's unusual electronic properties. These results demonstrate the potential of novel phosphorus-nitrogen based frameworks as highly effective mitochondrial delivery vectors over traditional TPP+ vectors.
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Affiliation(s)
- How Chee Ong
- School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Nanyang Technological University 21 Nanyang Link 637371 Singapore
| | - João T S Coimbra
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre 687, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre 687, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Bengang Xing
- School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Nanyang Technological University 21 Nanyang Link 637371 Singapore
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre 687, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Felipe García
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Química, Universidad de Oviedo Avda Julian Claveria 8 33006 Asturias Spain
- School of Chemistry, Monash University Clayton Victoria 3800 Australia
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Castro-Amorim J, Novo de Oliveira A, Da Silva SL, Soares AM, Mukherjee AK, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Catalytically Active Snake Venom PLA 2 Enzymes: An Overview of Its Elusive Mechanisms of Reaction. J Med Chem 2023; 66:5364-5376. [PMID: 37018514 PMCID: PMC10150362 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c00097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/07/2023]
Abstract
Snake venom-secreted phospholipase A2 (svPLA2) enzymes, both catalytically active and inactive, are a central component in envenoming. These are responsible for disrupting the cell membrane's integrity, inducing a wide range of pharmacological effects, such as the necrosis of the bitten limb, cardiorespiratory arrest, edema, and anticoagulation. Although extensively characterized, the reaction mechanisms of enzymatic svPLA2 are still to be thoroughly understood. This review presents and analyses the most plausible reaction mechanisms for svPLA2, such as the "single-water mechanism" or the "assisted-water mechanism" initially proposed for the homologous human PLA2. All of the mechanistic possibilities are characterized by a highly conserved Asp/His/water triad and a Ca2+ cofactor. The extraordinary increase in activity induced by binding to a lipid-water interface, known as "interfacial activation," critical for the PLA2s activity, is also discussed. Finally, a potential catalytic mechanism for the postulated noncatalytic PLA2-like proteins is anticipated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana Castro-Amorim
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Ana Novo de Oliveira
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Saulo Luís Da Silva
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Andreimar M Soares
- Laboratory of Biotechnology of Proteins and Bioactive Compounds (LABIOPROT), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, National Institute of Epidemiology in the Western Amazon (INCT-EpiAmO), Porto Velho, Rondônia 76812-245, Brazil
- Sao Lucas Universitary Center (UniSL), Porto Velho, Rondônia 76805-846, Brazil
| | - Ashis K Mukherjee
- Microbial Biotechnology and Protein Research Laboratory, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, Tezpur 784028, Assam, India
- Division of Life Sciences, Institute of Advanced Studies in Science and Technology, Vigyan Path, Garchuk, Paschim Boragaon, Guwahati 781035, Assam, India
| | - Maria João Ramos
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
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Diniz-Sousa R, Silva CCA, Pereira SS, da Silva SL, Fernandes PA, Teixeira LMC, Zuliani JP, Soares AM. Therapeutic applications of snake venoms: An invaluable potential of new drug candidates. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 238:124357. [PMID: 37028634 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Revised: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/09/2023]
Abstract
Animal venoms and their chemical compounds have aroused both empirical and scientific attention for ages. However, there has been a significant increase in scientific investigations in recent decades, allowing the production of various formulations that are helping in the development of many important tools for biotechnological, diagnostic, or therapeutic use, both in human and animal health, as well as in plants. Venoms are composed of biomolecules and inorganic compounds that may have physiological and pharmacological activities that are not related to their principal actions (prey immobilization, digestion, and defense). Snake venom toxins, mainly enzymatic and non-enzymatic proteins, and peptides have been identified as potential prototypes for new drugs and/or models for the development of pharmacologically active structural domains for the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, pain, and infectious-parasitic diseases. This minireview aims to provide an overview of the biotechnological potential of animal venoms, with a focus on snakes, and to introduce the reader to the fascinating world of Applied Toxinology, where animal biodiversity can be used to develop therapeutic and diagnostic applications for humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafaela Diniz-Sousa
- Laboratório de Biotecnologia de Proteínas e Compostos Bioativos Aplicados à Saúde (LABIOPROT), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Unidade Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil; Centro Universitário São Lucas (UniSL), Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil
| | - Cleópatra C A Silva
- Laboratório de Biotecnologia de Proteínas e Compostos Bioativos Aplicados à Saúde (LABIOPROT), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Unidade Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Epidemiologia da Amazônia Ocidental (INCT-EpiAmO), Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil
| | - Soraya S Pereira
- Laboratório de Engenharia de Anticorpos, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Unidade Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil
| | - Saulo L da Silva
- LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal; Faculty of Chemical Sciences, University of Cuenca, Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal
| | - Luís M C Teixeira
- LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, Porto, Portugal
| | - Juliana P Zuliani
- Laboratório de Imunologia Celular Aplicada à Saúde, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Unidade Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil
| | - Andreimar M Soares
- Laboratório de Biotecnologia de Proteínas e Compostos Bioativos Aplicados à Saúde (LABIOPROT), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Unidade Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil; Centro Universitário São Lucas (UniSL), Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Epidemiologia da Amazônia Ocidental (INCT-EpiAmO), Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil; Faculdade Católica de Rondônia (FCR), Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil.
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10
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Pinto AV, Ferreira P, Fernandes PA, Magalhães AL, Ramos MJ. Development of Nanoscale Graphene Oxide Models for the Adsorption of Biological Molecules. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:557-566. [PMID: 36282235 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c06037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Graphene oxide (GO), a nanomaterial with promising applications that range from water purification to enzyme immobilization, is actively present in scientific research since its discovery. GO studies with computational methodologies such as molecular dynamics are frequently reported in the literature; however, the models used often rely on approximations, such as randomly placing functional groups and the use of generalized force fields. Therefore, it is important to develop new MD models that provide a more accurate description of GO structures and their interaction with an aqueous solvent and other adsorbate molecules. In this paper, we derived new force field non-bonded parameters from linear-scaling density functional theory calculations of nanoscale GO sheets with more than 10,000 atoms through an atoms-in-molecules (AIM) partitioning scheme. The resulting GAFF2-AIM force field, derived from the bonded terms of GAFF2 parameterization, reproduces the solvent structure reported in ab initio MD simulations better than the force field nowadays widely used in the literature. Additionally, we analyzed the effect of the ionic strength of the medium and of the C/O ratio on the distribution of charges surrounding the GO sheets. Finally, we simulated the adsorption of natural amino acid molecules to a GO sheet and estimated their free energy of binding, which compared very favorably to their respective experimental values, validating the force field presented in this work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre V Pinto
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro Ferreira
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007Porto, Portugal
| | - Alexandre L Magalhães
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007Porto, Portugal
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11
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Neves RP, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Engineering DszC Mutants from Transition State Macrodipole Considerations and Evolutionary Sequence Analysis. J Chem Inf Model 2023; 63:20-26. [PMID: 36534708 PMCID: PMC9832474 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.2c01337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
We describe an approach to identify enzyme mutants with increased turnover using the enzyme DszC as a case study. Our approach is based on recalculating the barriers of alanine mutants through single-point energy calculations at the hybrid QM/MM level in the wild-type reactant and transition state geometries. We analyze the difference in the electron density between the reactant and transition state to identify sites/residues where electrostatic interactions stabilize the transition state over the reactants. We also assess the insertion of a unit probe charge to identify positions in which the introduction of charged residues lowers the barrier.
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12
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Puls ML, Silva RL, Fernandes PA, Leite LAC, Fabbron GG, Cavalcante JN, Macedo MCMA. BLINATUMOMAB NA LEUCEMIA LINFOIDE AGUDA-B EM CONTEXTO DE PÓS-TRANSPLANTE DE CÉLULAS TRONCO HEMATOPOIÉTICAS: EXPERIÊNCIA DE DOIS SERVIÇOS DE REFERÊNCIA. Hematol Transfus Cell Ther 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.htct.2022.09.326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
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13
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Fernandes PA, Marques FM, Pfister V, Fortier S, Santucci R, Hamerschlak N, Perobelli LLM, Figueiredo V, Gonçalves MV, Arrais-Rodrigues C, Chiattone CS. CARACTERÍSTICAS CLÍNICAS E DESFECHOS DE PACIENTES COM LEUCEMIA LINFOCÍTICA CRÔNICA (LLC) COM DEL17P POR FISH (HIBRIDAÇÃO IN SITU POR FLUORESCÊNCIA) E/OU MUTAÇÃO DO TP53 AO DIAGNÓSTICO: ANÁLISE RETROSPECTIVA DO REGISTRO BRASILEIRO DE LLC. Hematol Transfus Cell Ther 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.htct.2022.09.234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
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14
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Puls ML, Fernandes PA, Leite LAC, Fabbron GG, Cavalcante JN, Macedo MCMA, Silva RL. PNEUMONIA POR CUPRIAVIDUS PAUCULUS EM PACIENTE IMUNOCOMPROMETIDO: DESCRIÇÃO DE CASO RARO. Hematol Transfus Cell Ther 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.htct.2022.09.131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
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15
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Neves RPP, Fernandes PA, Ramos MJ. Role of Enzyme and Active Site Conformational Dynamics in the Catalysis by α-Amylase Explored with QM/MM Molecular Dynamics. J Chem Inf Model 2022; 62:3638-3650. [PMID: 35880954 PMCID: PMC9778734 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.2c00691] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
We assessed enzyme:substrate conformational dynamics and the rate-limiting glycosylation step of a human pancreatic α-amylase:maltopentose complex. Microsecond molecular dynamics simulations suggested that the distance of the catalytic Asp197 nucleophile to the anomeric carbon of the buried glucoside is responsible for most of the enzyme active site fluctuations and that both Asp197 and Asp300 interact the most with the buried glucoside unit. The buried glucoside binds either in a 4C1 chair or 2SO skew conformations, both of which can change to TS-like conformations characteristic of retaining glucosidases. Starting from four distinct enzyme:substrate complexes, umbrella sampling quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations (converged within less than 1 kcal·mol-1 within a total simulation time of 1.6 ns) indicated that the reaction occurrs with a Gibbs barrier of 13.9 kcal·mol -1, in one asynchronous concerted step encompassing an acid-base reaction with Glu233 followed by a loose SN2-like nucleophilic substitution by the Asp197. The transition state is characterized by a 2H3 half-chair conformation of the buried glucoside that quickly changes to the E3 envelope conformation preceding the attack of the anomeric carbon by the Asp197 nucleophile. Thermodynamic analysis of the reaction supported that a water molecule tightly hydrogen bonded to the glycosidic oxygen of the substrate at the reactant state (∼1.6 Å) forms a short hydrogen bond with Glu233 at the transition state (∼1.7 Å) and lowers the Gibbs barrier in over 5 kcal·mol-1. The resulting Asp197-glycosyl was mostly found in the 4C1 conformation, although the more endergonic B3,O conformation was also observed. Altogether, the combination of short distances for the acid-base reaction with the Glu233 and for the nucleophilic attack by the Asp197 nucleophile and the availability of water within hydrogen bonding distance of the glycosidic oxygen provides a reliable criteria to identify reactive conformations of α-amylase complexes.
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16
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Viegas MF, Neves RPP, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. QM/MM Study of the Reaction Mechanism of Thermophilic Glucuronoyl Esterase for Biomass Treatment. Chemphyschem 2022; 23:e202200269. [PMID: 35925549 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202200269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass, composed of a lignin-carbohydrate-complex (LCC) matrix, is critical for producing bioethanol from glucose. However, current methods for LCC processing require costly and polluting processes. The fungal Thermothelomyces thermophila glucuronoyl esterase (TtGE) is a promising thermophilic enzyme that hydrolyses LCC ester bonds. This study describes the TtGE catalytic mechanism using QM/MM methods. Two nearly-degenerate rate-determining transition states were found, with barriers of 16 and 17 kcal ⋅ mol-1 , both with a zwitterionic nature that results from a proton interplay from His346 to either the Ser213-hydroxyl or the lignin leaving group and the rehybridisation of the ester moiety of the substrate to an alkoxide. An oxyanion hole, characteristic of esterases, was provided by the conserved Arg214 through its backbone and sidechain. Our work further suggests that a mutation of Glu267 to a non-negative residue will decrease the energetic barrier in ca. -5 kcal ⋅ mol-1 , improving the catalytic rate of TtGE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matilde F Viegas
- Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal
| | - Rui P P Neves
- Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J Ramos
- Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal
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17
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Coimbra JTS, Neves RPP, Cunha AV, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Different Enzyme Conformations Induce Different Mechanistic Traits in HIV‐1 Protease. Chemistry 2022; 28:e202201066. [DOI: 10.1002/chem.202201066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- João T. S. Coimbra
- LAQV/REQUIMTE Departamento de Química e Bioquímica Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Rui P. P. Neves
- LAQV/REQUIMTE Departamento de Química e Bioquímica Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Ana V. Cunha
- Scientific Computing Group Oak Ridge National Laboratory 1 Bethel Valley Rd 37831-6373 Oak Ridge TN USA
- Presnt address: Department of Chemistry University of Antwerp Groenenborgerlaan 171 2020 Antwerp Belgium
| | - Maria J. Ramos
- LAQV/REQUIMTE Departamento de Química e Bioquímica Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- LAQV/REQUIMTE Departamento de Química e Bioquímica Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
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18
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Coimbra JTS, Neves RPP, Cunha AV, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Cover Feature: Different Enzyme Conformations Induce Different Mechanistic Traits in HIV‐1 Protease (Chem. Eur. J. 42/2022). Chemistry 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/chem.202202001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- João T. S. Coimbra
- LAQV/REQUIMTE Departamento de Química e Bioquímica Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Rui P. P. Neves
- LAQV/REQUIMTE Departamento de Química e Bioquímica Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Ana V. Cunha
- Scientific Computing Group Oak Ridge National Laboratory 1 Bethel Valley Rd 37831-6373 Oak Ridge TN USA
- Presnt address: Department of Chemistry University of Antwerp Groenenborgerlaan 171 2020 Antwerp Belgium
| | - Maria J. Ramos
- LAQV/REQUIMTE Departamento de Química e Bioquímica Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- LAQV/REQUIMTE Departamento de Química e Bioquímica Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
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Abstract
The fascination and fear of snakes dates back to time immemorial, with the first scientific treatise on snakebite envenoming, the Brooklyn Medical Papyrus, dating from ancient Egypt. Owing to their lethality, snakes have often been associated with images of perfidy, treachery and death. However, snakes did not always have such negative connotations. The curative capacity of venom has been known since antiquity, also making the snake a symbol of pharmacy and medicine. Today, there is renewed interest in pursuing snake-venom-based therapies. This Review focuses on the chemistry of snake venom and the potential for venom to be exploited for medicinal purposes in the development of drugs. The mixture of toxins that constitute snake venom is examined, focusing on the molecular structure, chemical reactivity and target recognition of the most bioactive toxins, from which bioactive drugs might be developed. The design and working mechanisms of snake-venom-derived drugs are illustrated, and the strategies by which toxins are transformed into therapeutics are analysed. Finally, the challenges in realizing the immense curative potential of snake venom are discussed, and chemical strategies by which a plethora of new drugs could be derived from snake venom are proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana L Oliveira
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.,LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Matilde F Viegas
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.,LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Saulo L da Silva
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.,LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Andreimar M Soares
- Biotechnology Laboratory for Proteins and Bioactive Compounds from the Western Amazon, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, National Institute of Epidemiology in the Western Amazon (INCT-EpiAmO), Porto Velho, Brazil.,Sao Lucas Universitary Center (UniSL), Porto Velho, Brazil
| | - Maria J Ramos
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.,LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.,LAQV/Requimte, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
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20
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Fernandes PA, Passos Ó, Ramos MJ. Necessity is the Mother of Invention: A Remote Molecular Bioinformatics Practical Course in the COVID-19 Era. J Chem Educ 2022; 99:2147-2153. [PMID: 35529516 PMCID: PMC9063112 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c01195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Revised: 03/12/2022] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges to human beings, related to not only health and way of life but also teaching because of the interruption of the standard training at universities imposed by lockdowns. Concerning the latter, the academic community had to reinvent itself, in many ways, to carry on with prepandemic education. This article focuses on the use of modern technology and software to create a virtual, highly interactive classroom where a remote but still hands-on course on molecular bioinformatics can be taught, motivating the university students and helping them learn the course contents without significant compromises imposed by successive lockdowns. We implemented such a virtual hands-on molecular bioinformatics course in the second semester of the 2020/2021 academic year. Furthermore, we compared the learning outcomes with those for the earlier editions of the same course in the pre-COVID-19 era, in which the more traditional teaching method was used where all teaching was delivered with physically present lecturers. The virtual classroom proposed here allowed the students to develop skills close to, although slightly below, those obtained with physically present learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro A. Fernandes
- LAQV/Departamento de Química
e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Óscar Passos
- LAQV/Departamento de Química
e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J. Ramos
- LAQV/Departamento de Química
e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
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21
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Neves RPP, Cunha AV, Fernandes PA, Ramos MJ. Towards the Accurate Thermodynamic Characterization of Enzyme Reaction Mechanisms. Chemphyschem 2022; 23:e202200159. [PMID: 35499146 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202200159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2022] [Revised: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
We employed QM/MM molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to characterize the rate-limiting step of the glycosylation reaction of pancreatic α-amylase with combined DFT/molecular dynamics methods (PBE/def2-SVP:AMBER). Upon careful choice of four starting active site conformations based on thorough reactivity criteria, Gibbs energy profiles were calculated with umbrella sampling simulations within a statistical convergence of 1-2 kcal⋅mol -1 . Nevertheless, Gibbs activation barriers and reaction energies still varied from 11.0 to 16.8 kcal⋅mol -1 and -6.3 to +3.8 kcal⋅mol -1 depending on the starting conformations, showing that despite significant state-of-the-art QM/MM MD sampling (0.5 ns/profile) the result still depends on the starting structure. The results supported the one step dissociative mechanism of Asp197 glycosylation preceded by an acid-base reaction by the Glu233, which are qualitatively similar to those from multi-PES QM/MM studies, and thus support the use of the latter to determine enzyme reaction mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui P P Neves
- Universidade do Porto, Quimica e Bioquimica, PORTUGAL
| | - Ana V Cunha
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Campus Etterbeek: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Chemistry, BELGIUM
| | | | - Maria Joao Ramos
- Faculty of Sciences, Dept. of Chemistry, Rua Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007, Porto, PORTUGAL
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22
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Monteiro Titon SC, Assis VR, Junior BT, Kinker GS, Queiroz Hazarbassanov NGTD, Lima AS, Oliveira Massoco CD, Fernandes PA, Gomes FR, Markus RP. Optimizing Studies of Phagocytic Activity by Flowsight Cytometry in Amphibians. South American Journal of Herpetology 2022. [DOI: 10.2994/sajh-d-20-00006.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Stefanny Christie Monteiro Titon
- Laboratório de Comportamento e Fisiologia Evolutiva, Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Vania Regina Assis
- Laboratório de Comportamento e Fisiologia Evolutiva, Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Braz Titon Junior
- Laboratório de Comportamento e Fisiologia Evolutiva, Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Gabriela Sarti Kinker
- Laboratório de Neuroimunoendocrinologia, Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | | | - Alan Siqueira Lima
- Laboratório de Comportamento e Fisiologia Evolutiva, Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Cristina de Oliveira Massoco
- Laboratório de Farmacologia e Toxicologia Aplicada, Departamento de Patologia, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- Laboratório de Neuroimunoendocrinologia, Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Fernando Ribeiro Gomes
- Laboratório de Comportamento e Fisiologia Evolutiva, Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Regina P. Markus
- Laboratório de Cronofarmacologia, Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
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23
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Cebrián-Prats A, Pinto A, González-Lafont À, Fernandes PA, Lluch JM. The role of acetylated cyclooxygenase-2 in the biosynthesis of resolvin precursors derived from eicosapentaenoic acid. Org Biomol Chem 2022; 20:1260-1274. [PMID: 35067692 DOI: 10.1039/d1ob01932e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators (SPMs) are natural bioactive agents actively involved in inflammation resolution. SPMs act when uncontrolled inflammatory processes are developed, for instance, in patients of COVID-19 or other diseases. The so-called resolution pharmacology aims at developing new treatments based on the use of SPMs as agonists, which promote inflammation resolution without unwanted side effects. It has been shown that the biosynthesis of SPMs called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)-derived E-series resolvins is initiated by aspirin-acetylated COX-2 from EPA, leading to 18-hydroperoxy-eicosapentaenoic acid (18-HpEPE). However, there are many open questions concerning the intriguing role of aspirin in the molecular mechanism of resolvin formation. Our MD simulations, combined with QM/MM calculations, show that the potential energy barriers for the H16-abstraction from EPA, required for forming 18-HpEPE, are higher than for the H13-abstraction, thus explaining why 18-HpEPE is a marginal product of COX-2 catalysis. By contrast, in the aspirin-acetylated COX-2/EPA complex, the H16proS-abstraction energy barriers are somewhat lower than the H13proS energy barriers and much smaller than the H16-transfer barriers in the wild type COX-2/EPA system. Those results agree with the experimental observation that aspirin favours the synthesis of several SPMs known as aspirin-triggered resolvins. In the following step of the catalytic mechanism, the calculated O2 addition to C18 is preferred versus the addition to C14 which also agrees with 18R-HEPE and 18S-HEPE being the main products from EPA in aspirin-acetylated COX-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Cebrián-Prats
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Alexandre Pinto
- LAQV-Requimte, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre S/N, Porto, Portugal.
| | - Àngels González-Lafont
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. .,Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina (IBB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV-Requimte, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre S/N, Porto, Portugal.
| | - José M Lluch
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. .,Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina (IBB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
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24
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Proença C, Rufino AT, Ferreira de Oliveira JMP, Freitas M, Fernandes PA, Silva AMS, Fernandes E. Inhibitory activity of flavonoids against human sucrase-isomaltase (α-glucosidase) activity in a Caco-2/TC7 cellular model. Food Funct 2022; 13:1108-1118. [PMID: 35015798 DOI: 10.1039/d1fo02995a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is the most common form of diabetes, and the number of people with this metabolic disease is steadily increasing worldwide. Among the available antidiabetic agents, α-glucosidase inhibitors are the most effective at reducing postprandial hyperglycaemia (PPHG), one of the main characteristics of T2D. However, most of the studies that have been performed have used the more readily available rat intestinal preparations or yeast α-glucosidase as the enzyme source, which despite being useful and cost effective, have a questionable physiological value. The present study evaluates the inhibitory activity of a selected group of flavonoids against human sucrase-isomaltase (SI), the α-glucosidase found in Caco-2/TC7 cells. A microassay using the physiological substrates sucrose and maltose, and a synthetic substrate, p-nitrophenyl-α-D-glucopyranoside (pNPG) was performed. The most active flavonoid was compound 4 (melanoxetin), presenting an IC50 value similar using the two natural substrates. In contrast, the tested flavonoids were not effective at inhibiting SI, when pNPG was used as a substrate. Hydroxylation of flavonoids at C-3 of the C ring, at C-3' and C-4' of the B ring, and at C-7 and C-8 of the A ring were the features that improved the inhibitory activity of flavonoids against human SI. These phenolic compounds deserve further exploration as alternatives to the currently available α-glucosidase inhibitors. The present study also demonstrates that the non-clinical in vitro studies conducted for the evaluation of α-glucosidase activity should use the human source rather than surrogate sources of α-glucosidase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carina Proença
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Ana T Rufino
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
| | - José Miguel P Ferreira de Oliveira
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Marisa Freitas
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Artur M S Silva
- QOPNA and LAQV, REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Eduarda Fernandes
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
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Silva CFM, Pinto DCGA, Fernandes PA, Silva AMS. Evolution of Acridines and Xanthenes as a Core Structure for the Development of Antileishmanial Agents. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2022; 15:ph15020148. [PMID: 35215261 PMCID: PMC8879592 DOI: 10.3390/ph15020148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2021] [Revised: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Nowadays, leishmaniasis constitutes a public health issue in more than 88 countries, affecting mainly people from the tropics, subtropics, and the Mediterranean area. Every year, the prevalence of this infectious disease increases, with the appearance of 1.5–2 million new cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis and 500,000 cases of visceral leishmaniasis, endangering approximately 350 million people worldwide. Therefore, the absence of a vaccine or effective treatment makes the discovery and development of new antileishmanial therapies one of the focuses for the scientific community that, in association with WHO, hopes to eradicate this disease shortly. This paper is intended to highlight the relevance of nitrogen- and oxygen-containing tricyclic heterocycles, particularly acridine and xanthene derivatives, for the development of treatments against leishmaniasis. Thus, in this review, a thorough compilation of the most promising antileishmanial acridine and xanthene derivatives is performed from both natural and synthetic origins. Additionally, some structure–activity relationship studies are also depicted and discussed to provide insight into the optimal structural features responsible for these compounds’ antileishmanial activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos F. M. Silva
- LAQV-REQUIMTE & Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; (C.F.M.S.); (A.M.S.S.)
| | - Diana C. G. A. Pinto
- LAQV-REQUIMTE & Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; (C.F.M.S.); (A.M.S.S.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal;
| | - Artur M. S. Silva
- LAQV-REQUIMTE & Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; (C.F.M.S.); (A.M.S.S.)
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Sousa JPM, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Modern strategies for the diversification of the supply of natural compounds - the case of alkaloid painkillers. Chembiochem 2021; 23:e202100623. [PMID: 34971022 DOI: 10.1002/cbic.202100623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Revised: 12/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Plant-derived natural compounds are used for treating diseases since the beginning of humankind. The supply of many plant-derived natural compounds for medicinal purposes, such as thebaine, morphine, and codeine, is, nowadays, majorly dependent on opium poppy crop harvesting. This dependency puts an extra risk factor in ensuring the supply chain because crops are highly susceptible to environmental factors. Emerging technologies, such as biocatalysis, might help to solve this problem, by diversifying the sources of supply of these compounds. Here we review the first committed step in the production of alkaloid painkillers, the production of S-norcoclaurine, and the enzymes involved. The improvement of these enzymes can be carried out by experimental directed evolution and rational design strategies, supported by computational methods, to create variants that produce the S-norcoclaurine precursor for alkaloid painkillers in heterologous organisms, meeting the pharmaceutical industry standards and needs without depending on opium poppy crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- João Pedro Marques Sousa
- REQUIMTE LAQV Porto, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007, Porto, PORTUGAL
| | - Maria J Ramos
- FCUP: Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciencias, Chemistry and Biochemistry, PORTUGAL
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- Universidade do Porto, Department of Chemistry Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Group, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007, Porto, PORTUGAL
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Ong HC, Coimbra JTS, Kwek G, Ramos MJ, Xing B, Fernandes PA, García F. Alkyl vs. aryl modifications: a comparative study on modular modifications of triphenylphosphonium mitochondrial vectors. RSC Chem Biol 2021; 2:1643-1650. [PMID: 34977579 PMCID: PMC8637833 DOI: 10.1039/d1cb00099c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Triphenylphosphonium (TPP+) moieties are commonly conjugated to drug molecules to confer mitochondrial selectivity due to their positive charge and high lipophilicity. Although optimisation of lipophilicity can be achieved by modifying the length of the alkyl linkers between the TPP+ moiety and the drug molecule, it is not always possible. While methylation of the TPP+ moiety is a viable alternative to increase lipophilicity and mitochondrial accumulation, there are no studies comparing these two separate modular approaches. Thus, we have systematically designed, synthesised and tested a range of TPP+ molecules with varying alkyl chain lengths and degree of aryl methylation to compare the two modular methodologies for modulating lipophilicity. The ability of aryl/alkyl modified TPP+ to deliver cargo to the mitochondria was also evaluated by confocal imaging with a TPP+-conjugated fluorescein-based fluorophore. Furthermore, we have employed molecular dynamics simulations to understand the translocation of these molecules through biological membrane model systems. These results provide further insights into the thermodynamics of this process and the effect of alkyl and aryl modular modifications. Alkyl chain extension and aryl methylation can be employed to enhance mitochondrial uptake in triphenylphosphonium vectors. Here we compare these complementary strategies and their mitochondrial-targeting effects using a modular synthetic approach.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- How Chee Ong
- School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Nanyang Technological University 21 Nanyang Link 637371 Singapore
| | - João T S Coimbra
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre s/n 4169-007 Portugal
| | - Germain Kwek
- School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Nanyang Technological University 21 Nanyang Link 637371 Singapore
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre s/n 4169-007 Portugal
| | - Bengang Xing
- School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Nanyang Technological University 21 Nanyang Link 637371 Singapore
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre s/n 4169-007 Portugal
| | - Felipe García
- School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Nanyang Technological University 21 Nanyang Link 637371 Singapore
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Markus RP, Sousa KS, da Silveira Cruz-Machado S, Fernandes PA, Ferreira ZS. Possible Role of Pineal and Extra-Pineal Melatonin in Surveillance, Immunity, and First-Line Defense. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:12143. [PMID: 34830026 PMCID: PMC8620487 DOI: 10.3390/ijms222212143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Revised: 10/23/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Melatonin is a highly conserved molecule found in prokaryotes and eukaryotes that acts as the darkness hormone, translating environmental lighting to the whole body, and as a moderator of innate and acquired defense, migration, and cell proliferation processes. This review evaluates the importance of pineal activity in monitoring PAMPs and DAMPs and in mounting an inflammatory response or innate immune response. Activation of the immune-pineal axis, which coordinates the pro-and anti-inflammatory phases of an innate immune response, is described. PAMPs and DAMPs promote the immediate suppression of melatonin production by the pineal gland, which allows leukocyte migration. Monocyte-derived macrophages, important phagocytes of microbes, and cellular debris produce melatonin locally and thereby initiate the anti-inflammatory phase of the acute inflammatory response. The role of locally produced melatonin in organs that directly contact the external environment, such as the skin and the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts, is also discussed. In this context, as resident macrophages are self-renewing cells, we explore evidence indicating that, besides avoiding overreaction of the immune system, extra-pineal melatonin has a fundamental role in the homeostasis of organs and tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Regina P. Markus
- Laboratory Chronopharmacology, Department Physiology, Institute Bioscience, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil; (K.S.S.); (P.A.F.); (Z.S.F.)
| | - Kassiano S. Sousa
- Laboratory Chronopharmacology, Department Physiology, Institute Bioscience, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil; (K.S.S.); (P.A.F.); (Z.S.F.)
| | - Sanseray da Silveira Cruz-Machado
- Laboratory of Molecular, Endocrine and Reproductive Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Escola Paulista de Medicina, UNIFESP, São Paulo 04044-020, Brazil;
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- Laboratory Chronopharmacology, Department Physiology, Institute Bioscience, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil; (K.S.S.); (P.A.F.); (Z.S.F.)
| | - Zulma S. Ferreira
- Laboratory Chronopharmacology, Department Physiology, Institute Bioscience, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil; (K.S.S.); (P.A.F.); (Z.S.F.)
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Moorthy NSHN, Brás NF, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Structure based virtual screening of natural product molecules as glycosidase inhibitors. In Silico Pharmacol 2021; 9:56. [PMID: 34722112 DOI: 10.1007/s40203-021-00115-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2020] [Accepted: 10/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective of the present investigation comprised of the application of in silico methods to discover novel natural product (NP) based potential inhibitors for carbohydrate mediated diseases. Structure based drug design studies (molecular docking and structure based pharmacophore analysis) were carried out on a series of natural product compounds to identify significant bioactive molecules to inhibit α-mannosidase (I and II) and β-galactosidase enzymes. Furthermore, protein ligand interaction fingerprint analysis, molecular dynamics simulations and molecular access system (MACCS) fingerprint analysis were performed to understand the binding behaviors of the studied molecules. The results derived from these analyses showed that the identified compounds exhibit significant binding interactions with the active site residues. The compounds, NP-51, NP-81 and NP-165 have shown significant docking score against the studied enzymes (α-mannosidases-I, α-mannosidases-II and β-galactosidases). The fingerprint studies showed that the presence of rings (aromatic or aliphatic) with sulfur atoms, nitrogen atoms, methyl groups, etc. have favorable effects on the α-mannosidase II inhibitory activity. However, the presence of halogen atoms substituted in the molecules have reduced inhibitory ability against α-mannosidase II. The compound, NP-165 has significant activity against both enzymes (α-mannosidases and β-galactosidases). These studies accomplished that the compounds identified through in silico methodologies can be used to develop semisynthetic derivatives of the glycosidase inhibitors and can be screened for the treatment of different carbohydrate mediated diseases. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40203-021-00115-9.
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Affiliation(s)
- N S Hari Narayana Moorthy
- Department of Pharmacy, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, MP 484887 India.,UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 6874169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Natércia F Brás
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 6874169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J Ramos
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 6874169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 6874169-007 Porto, Portugal
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Garces CER, Vieira AS, Almeida CHS, Nasser LM, Leite LAC, Fernandes PA, Silva RL, Macedo MCA. DESAFIO DIAGNÓSTICO - LINFOMA NÃO HODGKIN INTRAVASCULAR DE SISTEMA NERVOSO CENTRAL: RELATO DE CASO. Hematol Transfus Cell Ther 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.htct.2021.10.119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
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Jerves C, Neves RPP, Ramos MJ, da Silva S, Fernandes PA. Reaction Mechanism of the PET Degrading Enzyme PETase Studied with DFT/MM Molecular Dynamics Simulations. ACS Catal 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.1c03700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Carola Jerves
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
- Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Cuenca, Av. 12 de Abril y Av. Loja, Cuenca 010202, Ecuador
| | - Rui P. P. Neves
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J. Ramos
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Saulo da Silva
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
- Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Cuenca, Av. 12 de Abril y Av. Loja, Cuenca 010202, Ecuador
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre V. Pinto
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro Ferreira
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Rui P. P. Neves
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J. Ramos
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Alexandre L. Magalhães
- LAQV/Requimte, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
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Abstract
To protect their intracellular proteins, extremophile microorganisms synthesize molecules called compatible solutes. These molecules are the result of the attachment of a small negatively charged molecule to a sugar molecule. It has been found that these molecules, not only protect the microorganism against osmotic stress, as initially thought, but also against other extreme conditions. The observation that these molecules can confer protection against extreme conditions to isolated enzymes from different organisms made them an exciting prospect for potential biotechnological applications. One of the most widespread compatible solute in hyperthermophile organisms is the molecule 2-O-α-D-mannosyl-D-glycerate (MG). In addition to confer protection to proteins against extreme conditions, MG was found to prevent Alzheimer's β-amyloid aggregation and reduce α-synuclein fibril formation in Parkinson's disease. In this work we studied, using computational methods, the catalytic mechanism of the synthesis of MG by the enzyme mannosylglycerate synthase (MGS) from the thermophilic bacteria Rhodothermus marinus . MGS is a promiscuous enzyme, accepting a variety of sugar donors and acceptors. This feature can be used to synthesize other molecules with potential biotechnological applications beyond MG. The unravelling of the catalytic mechanism with atomistic resolution and the associated free energies and electrostatic profiles of the stationary states obtained in the present work will help future investigations to full explore the potential of MGS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Ferreira
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal
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Soler J, Paiva P, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA, Brut M. Unraveling the cGAS catalytic mechanism upon DNA activation through molecular dynamics simulations. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:9524-9531. [PMID: 33885101 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp00378j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Cyclic GMP-AMP Synthase (cGAS) is activated upon DNA binding and catalyzes the synthesis of 2',3'-cGAMP from GTP and ATP. This cyclic dinucleotide is a messenger that triggers the autoimmune system of eukaryotic cells. In this study, we propose a Molecular Dynamics (MD) investigation of cGAS activation. We notably provide insights into the motion of the activation loop, both from a mechanical point of view and considering its role in the catalysis of cGAMP production. We finally shed light on the reaction resulting in cGAMP synthesis. Two possible catalytic routes (referred to as GTP-ATP and ATP-GTP) are proposed based on the active site occupancy, paving the way toward further exploration of the reaction mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordi Soler
- Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis, and Department of Chemistry, University of Girona, Girona, Spain
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Abstract
Fatty acids are crucial molecules for most living beings, very well spread and conserved across species. These molecules play a role in energy storage, cell membrane architecture, and cell signaling, the latter through their derivative metabolites. De novo synthesis of fatty acids is a complex chemical process that can be achieved either by a metabolic pathway built by a sequence of individual enzymes, such as in most bacteria, or by a single, large multi-enzyme, which incorporates all the chemical capabilities of the metabolic pathway, such as in animals and fungi, and in some bacteria. Here we focus on the multi-enzymes, specifically in the animal fatty acid synthase (FAS). We start by providing a historical overview of this vast field of research. We follow by describing the extraordinary architecture of animal FAS, a homodimeric multi-enzyme with seven different active sites per dimer, including a carrier protein that carries the intermediates from one active site to the next. We then delve into this multi-enzyme's detailed chemistry and critically discuss the current knowledge on the chemical mechanism of each of the steps necessary to synthesize a single fatty acid molecule with atomic detail. In line with this, we discuss the potential and achieved FAS applications in biotechnology, as biosynthetic machines, and compare them with their homologous polyketide synthases, which are also finding wide applications in the same field. Finally, we discuss some open questions on the architecture of FAS, such as their peculiar substrate-shuttling arm, and describe possible reasons for the emergence of large megasynthases during evolution, questions that have fascinated biochemists from long ago but are still far from answered and understood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Paiva
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Fabiola E Medina
- Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Autopista Concepción-Talcahuano, 7100 Talcahuano, Chile
| | - Matilde Viegas
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro Ferreira
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Rui P P Neves
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - João P M Sousa
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
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Sousa CF, Coimbra JTS, Ferreira M, Pereira-Leite C, Reis S, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA, Gameiro P. Passive Diffusion of Ciprofloxacin and its Metalloantibiotic: A Computational and Experimental study. J Mol Biol 2021; 433:166911. [PMID: 33676927 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2021.166911] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2021] [Revised: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 02/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Fluoroquinolones (FQ) are antibiotics widely used in clinical practise, but the development of bacterial resistance to these drugs is currently a critical public health problem. In this context, ternary copper complexes of FQ (CuFQPhen) have been studied as a potential alternative. In this study, we compared the passive diffusion across the lipid bilayer of one of the most used FQ, ciprofloxacin (Cpx), and its ternary copper complex, CuCpxPhen, that has shown previous promising results regarding antibacterial activity and membrane partition. A combination of spectroscopic studies and molecular dynamics simulations were used and two different model membranes tested: one composed of anionic phospholipids, and the other composed of zwitterionic phospholipids. The obtained results showed a significantly higher membrane permeabilization activity, larger partition, and a more favourable free energy landscape for the permeation of CuCpxPhen across the membrane, when compared to Cpx. Furthermore, the computational results indicated a more favourable translocation of CuCpxPhen across the anionic membrane, when compared to the zwitterionic one, suggesting a higher specificity towards the former. These findings are important to decipher the influx mechanism of CuFQPhen in bacterial cells, which is crucial for the ultimate use of CuFQPhen complexes as an alternative to FQ to tackle multidrug-resistant bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla F Sousa
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
| | - João T S Coimbra
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Mariana Ferreira
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Catarina Pereira-Leite
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Salette Reis
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Paula Gameiro
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
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Titon SCM, Titon Junior B, Assis VR, Vasconcelos-Teixeira R, Garcia Neto PG, Lima AS, Ferreira LDF, Fernandes PA, Gomes FR, Markus RP. Hormonal daily variation co-varies with immunity in captive male bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus). Gen Comp Endocrinol 2021; 303:113702. [PMID: 33359060 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2020.113702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2020] [Revised: 08/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Almost all physiological processes within the organism, including immune parameters and hormones, follow a circadian rhythm. These daily fluctuations are often observed in free-living organisms; however, little is known regarding hormonal and immune daily variations in anurans, particularly under laboratory conditions. This study aimed to investigate the hormonal and immune daily variation in captive-bred Bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) under constant conditions (21 °C and 12:12 LD cycle). Our results showed a daily variation for plasma corticosterone (CORT), testosterone (T), and melatonin (MEL), as well as for blood leukocyte profile, phagocytic activity, and plasma bacterial killing ability (BKA). Hormonal profile and immune activity were higher at the dark when compared with the light phase; however, monocytes and lymphocytes followed the opposite pattern. Moreover, CORT was positively correlated with phagocytosis percentage of blood cells, BKA, and monocytes, while MEL and T showed a positive correlation with PP. Our results demonstrate the daily covariation of different immune variables and immunomodulatory hormones. These 24 h-day variations and covariation certainly have broad implications and need to be considered for better understanding anuran physiology both in the context of laboratory and field studies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Braz Titon Junior
- Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Vania Regina Assis
- Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | | | - Alan Siqueira Lima
- Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Letícia de França Ferreira
- Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Fernando Ribeiro Gomes
- Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Regina P Markus
- Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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38
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Brás NF, Ferreira P, Calixto AR, Jaspars M, Houssen W, Naismith JH, Fernandes PA, Ramos MJ. Corrigendum: The Catalytic Mechanism of the Marine-Derived Macrocyclase PatGmac. Chemistry 2021; 27:3569. [PMID: 33586823 DOI: 10.1002/chem.202100062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Coimbra JTS, Feghali R, Ribeiro RP, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. The importance of intramolecular hydrogen bonds on the translocation of the small drug piracetam through a lipid bilayer. RSC Adv 2020; 11:899-908. [PMID: 35423709 PMCID: PMC8693363 DOI: 10.1039/d0ra09995c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 12/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The number of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors is a fundamental molecular descriptor to predict the oral bioavailability of small drug candidates. In fact, the most widely used oral bioavailability rules (such as the Lipinsky's rule-of-five and the Veber rules) make use of this molecular descriptor. It is generally assumed that hydrogen bond donors and acceptors impact on passive diffusion across cell membranes, a fundamental event during drug absorption and distribution. Although the relationship between the number of these motifs and the probability of having good oral bioavailability has been studied and described for more than 20 years, little attention has been given to their spatial distribution in the molecule. In this paper, we used molecular dynamics to describe the effect of intramolecular hydrogen bonding on the passive diffusion of a small drug (piracetam) through a lipid membrane. The results indicated that the formation of an intramolecular hydrogen bond decreases the barrier for translocation by ca. 4 kcal mol-1 and increases the permeability of the tested molecule, partially compensating the desolvation penalty arising from the penetration of the drug into the biological membrane core. This effect was apparent in simulations where the formation of this interaction was prevented with the help of modified potentials, and in simulations with a similar compound to piracetam that was not able to form this intramolecular hydrogen bond due to a larger distance between the hydrogen bond donor and acceptor groups. These results were also supported by coarse-grained methods, which are becoming an important resource for sampling a larger chemical space of molecules, with reduced computational effort. Furthermore, entropy and enthalpy derived profiles were also obtained as the compounds translocated across the membrane, suggesting that, even though the process of formation of internal hydrogen bonds is entropically unfavorable, the enthalpic gain is such that the formation of these interactions is beneficial for the passive diffusion across cell membranes.
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Affiliation(s)
- João T S Coimbra
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Ralph Feghali
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Rui P Ribeiro
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n 4169-007 Porto Portugal
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40
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Paiva P, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Assessing the validity of DLPNO-CCSD(T) in the calculation of activation and reaction energies of ubiquitous enzymatic reactions. J Comput Chem 2020; 41:2459-2468. [PMID: 32882060 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.26401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 07/27/2020] [Accepted: 07/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
The domain-based local pair natural orbital coupled-cluster with single, double, and perturbative triples excitation (DLPNO-CCSD(T)) method was employed to portray the activation and reaction energies of four ubiquitous enzymatic reactions, and its performance was confronted to CCSD(T)/complete basis set (CBS) to assess its accuracy and robustness in this specific field. The DLPNO-CCSD(T) results were also confronted to those of a set of density functionals (DFs) to understand the benefit of implementing this technique in enzymatic quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations as a second QM component, which is often treated with DF theory (DFT). On average, the DLPNO-CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ results were 0.51 kcal·mol-1 apart from the canonic CCSD(T)/CBS, without noticeable biases toward any of the reactions under study. All DFs fell short to the DLPNO-CCSD(T), both in terms of accuracy and robustness, which suggests that this method is advantageous to characterize enzymatic reactions and that its use in QM/MM calculations, either alone or in conjugation with DFT, in a two-region QM layer (DLPNO-CCSD(T):DFT), should enhance the quality and faithfulness of the results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Paiva
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J Ramos
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
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41
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Goossens K, Neves RP, Fernandes PA, De Winter H. A Computational and Modeling Study of the Reaction Mechanism of Staphylococcus aureus Monoglycosyltransferase Reveals New Insights on the GT51 Family of Enzymes. J Chem Inf Model 2020; 60:5513-5528. [PMID: 32786224 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.0c00377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Bacterial glycosyltransferases of the GT51 family are key enzymes in bacterial cell wall synthesis. Inhibiting cell wall synthesis is a very effective approach for development of antibiotics, as this can lead to either bacteriostatic or bactericidal effects. Even though the existence of this family has been known for over 50 years, only one potent inhibitor exists, which is an analog of the lipid IV product and derived from a natural product. Drug development focused on bacterial transglycosylase has been hampered due to little being know about its structure and reaction mechanism. In this study, Staphylococcus aureus monoglycosyltransferase was investigated at an atomistic level using computational methods. Classical molecular dynamics simulations were used to reveal information about the large-scale dynamics of the enzyme-substrate complex and the importance of magnesium in structure and function of the protein, while mixed mode quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations unveiled a novel hypothesis for the reaction mechanism. From these results, we present a new model for the binding mode of lipid II and the reaction mechanism of the GT51 glycosyltransferases. A metal-bound hydroxide catalyzed reaction mechanism yields an estimated free energy barrier of 16.1 ± 1.0 kcal/mol, which is in line with experimental values. The importance of divalent cations is also further discussed. These findings could significantly aid targeted drug design, particularly the efficient development of transition state analogues as potential inhibitors for the GT51 glycosyltransferases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth Goossens
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Rui Pp Neves
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Hans De Winter
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
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Silva CFM, Pinto DCGA, Fernandes PA, Silva AMS. Evolution of chromone-like compounds as potential antileishmanial agents, through the 21 st century. Expert Opin Drug Discov 2020; 15:1425-1439. [PMID: 32783762 DOI: 10.1080/17460441.2020.1801630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Leishmaniasis is one of the most neglected diseases of modern times that mainly affects people from developing countries, with approximately 350 million people considered at risk of developing leishmaniasis. Therefore, the development of novel antileishmanial treatments is becoming the focus of numerous research groups, with the support of the World Health Organization, which hopes to eradicate this disease in the near future. AREAS COVERED This review focuses on the interest of chromones for the development of future treatments against leishmaniasis. In addition to plant-based chromone derivatives, structure-activity relationship studies that aim to identify the optimal structural features of the chromones' antileishmanial activity are also described and discussed. EXPERT OPINION The numerous examples of chromones depicted in this paper, allied with the SAR studies presented herein, suggest that the chromone scaffold is a privileged core for the design and development of novel antileishmanial agents. However, some concerns have been raised concerning the considerable variability observed in the results throughout the scientific bibliography. These inconsistencies may explain the absence of pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic studies as well as clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Pedro A Fernandes
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento De Química E Bioquímica, Faculdade De Ciências, Universidade Do Porto , Porto, Portugal
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Sousa JPM, Neves RPP, Sousa SF, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Reaction Mechanism and Determinants for Efficient Catalysis by DszB, a Key Enzyme for Crude Oil Bio-desulfurization. ACS Catal 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.0c03122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- João P. M. Sousa
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Rui P. P. Neves
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Sérgio F. Sousa
- UCIBIO@REQUIMTE, BioSIM, Departamento de Biomedicina, Faculdade de Medicina Universidade do Porto, Alameda Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J. Ramos
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- LAQV@REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
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Sousa SF, Calixto AR, Ferreira P, Ramos MJ, Lim C, Fernandes PA. Activation Free Energy, Substrate Binding Free Energy, and Enzyme Efficiency Fall in a Very Narrow Range of Values for Most Enzymes. ACS Catal 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.0c01947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sérgio F. Sousa
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Ana R. Calixto
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro Ferreira
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J. Ramos
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Carmay Lim
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
- Department of Chemistry, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
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45
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Proença C, Oliveira A, Freitas M, Ribeiro D, Sousa JLC, Ramos MJ, Silva AMS, Fernandes PA, Fernandes E. Structural Specificity of Flavonoids in the Inhibition of Human Fructose 1,6-Bisphosphatase. J Nat Prod 2020; 83:1541-1552. [PMID: 32364726 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.0c00014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Liver fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) is a recognized regulatory enzyme of the gluconeogenesis pathway, which has emerged as a valid target to control gluconeogenesis-mediated overproduction of glucose. As such, the management of diabetes with FBPase inhibitors represents a potential alternative for the currently used antidiabetic agents. In this study, the FBPase inhibition of a panel of 55 structurally related flavonoids was tested, through a microanalysis screening system. Then, a subset of seven active inhibitors and their close chemical relatives were further evaluated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using a linear interaction energy (LIE) approach. The results obtained showed that D14 (herbacetin) was the most potent inhibitor, suggesting that the presence of -OH groups at the C-3, C-4', C-5, C-7, and C-8 positions, as well as the double bond between C-2 and C-3 and the 4-oxo function at the pyrone ring, are favorable for the intended effect. Furthermore, D14 (herbacetin) is stabilized by a strong interaction with the Glu30 side chain and the Thr24 backbone of FBPase. This is the first investigation studying the in vitro inhibitory effect of a panel of flavonoids against human liver FBPase, thus representing a potentially important step for the search and design of novel inhibitors of this enzyme.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carina Proença
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
| | - Ana Oliveira
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Marisa Freitas
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
| | - Daniela Ribeiro
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
| | - Joana L C Sousa
- LAQV-REQUIMTE & QOPNA, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Maria J Ramos
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Artur M S Silva
- LAQV-REQUIMTE & QOPNA, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Eduarda Fernandes
- LAQV, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
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46
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Prejano M, Medina FE, Ramos MJ, Russo N, Fernandes PA, Marino T. Correction to “How the Destabilization of a Reaction Intermediate Affects Enzymatic Efficiency: The Case of Human Transketolase”. ACS Catal 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.0c01697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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47
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Ferreira Almeida C, Oliveira A, João Ramos M, Fernandes PA, Teixeira N, Amaral C. Estrogen receptor-positive (ER +) breast cancer treatment: Are multi-target compounds the next promising approach? Biochem Pharmacol 2020; 177:113989. [PMID: 32330493 DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2020.113989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2020] [Accepted: 04/10/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Endocrine therapy is currently the main therapeutic approach for estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, the most frequent subtype of breast cancer in women worldwide. For this subtype of tumors, the current clinical treatment includes aromatase inhibitors (AIs) and anti-estrogenic compounds, such as Tamoxifen and Fulvestrant, being AIs the first-line treatment option for post-menopausal women. Moreover, the recent guidelines also suggest the use of these compounds by pre-menopausal women after suppressing ovaries function. However, besides its therapeutic efficacy, the prolonged use of this type of therapies may lead to the development of several adverse effects, as well as, endocrine resistance, limiting the effectiveness of such treatments. In order to surpass this issues and clinical concerns, during the last years, several studies have been suggesting alternative therapeutic approaches, considering the function of aromatase, ERα and ERβ. Here, we review the structural and functional features of these three targets and their importance in ER+ breast cancer treatment, as well as, the current treatment strategies used in clinic, emphasizing the importance of the development of multi-target compounds able to simultaneously modulate these key targets, as a novel and promising therapeutic strategy for this type of cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Ferreira Almeida
- UCIBIO.REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Biochemistry, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, n° 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
| | - Ana Oliveira
- UCIBIO.REQUIMTE, Computational Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria João Ramos
- UCIBIO.REQUIMTE, Computational Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- UCIBIO.REQUIMTE, Computational Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Natércia Teixeira
- UCIBIO.REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Biochemistry, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, n° 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
| | - Cristina Amaral
- UCIBIO.REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Biochemistry, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, n° 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
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Carvalho-Sousa CE, Pereira EP, Kinker GS, Veras M, Ferreira ZS, Barbosa-Nunes FP, Martins JO, Saldiva PHN, Reiter RJ, Fernandes PA, da Silveira Cruz-Machado S, Markus RP. Immune-pineal axis protects rat lungs exposed to polluted air. J Pineal Res 2020; 68:e12636. [PMID: 32043640 DOI: 10.1111/jpi.12636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2019] [Revised: 02/03/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Environmental pollution in the form of particulate matter <2.5 μm (PM2.5 ) is a major risk factor for diseases such as lung cancer, chronic respiratory infections, and major cardiovascular diseases. Our goal was to show that PM2.5 eliciting a proinflammatory response activates the immune-pineal axis, reducing the pineal synthesis and increasing the extrapineal synthesis of melatonin. Herein, we report that the exposure of rats to polluted air for 6 hours reduced nocturnal plasma melatonin levels and increased lung melatonin levels. Melatonin synthesis in the lung reduced lipid peroxidation and increased PM2.5 engulfment and cell viability by activating high-affinity melatonin receptors. Diesel exhaust particles (DEPs) promoted the synthesis of melatonin in a cultured cell line (RAW 264.7 cells) and rat alveolar macrophages via the expression of the gene encoding for AANAT through a mechanism dependent on activation of the NFκB pathway. Expression of the genes encoding AANAT, MT1, and MT2 was negatively correlated with cellular necroptosis, as disclosed by analysis of Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) microarray data from the human alveolar macrophages of nonsmoking subjects. The enrichment score for antioxidant genes obtained from lung gene expression data (GTEx) was significantly correlated with the levels of AANAT and MT1 but not the MT2 melatonin receptor. Collectively, these data provide a systemic and mechanistic rationale for coordination of the pineal and extrapineal synthesis of melatonin by a standard damage-associated stimulus, which activates the immune-pineal axis and provides a new framework for understanding the effects of air pollution on lung diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Eliana P Pereira
- Laboratory of Chronopharmacology, Institute of Bioscience - University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Gabriela S Kinker
- Laboratory of Chronopharmacology, Institute of Bioscience - University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Mariana Veras
- Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Zulma S Ferreira
- Laboratory of Chronopharmacology, Institute of Bioscience - University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Joilson O Martins
- Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Russel J Reiter
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Texas Health Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
| | - Pedro A Fernandes
- Laboratory of Chronopharmacology, Institute of Bioscience - University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Regina P Markus
- Laboratory of Chronopharmacology, Institute of Bioscience - University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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49
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Prejanò M, Medina FE, Ramos MJ, Russo N, Fernandes PA, Marino T. How the Destabilization of a Reaction Intermediate Affects Enzymatic Efficiency: The Case of Human Transketolase. ACS Catal 2020; 10:2872-2881. [PMID: 33828899 PMCID: PMC8016368 DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.9b04690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Revised: 02/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
![]()
Atomic
resolution X-ray crystallography has shown that an intermediate
(the X5P-ThDP adduct) of the catalytic cycle of transketolase (TK)
displays a significant, putatively highly energetic, out-of-plane
distortion in a sp2 carbon
adjacent to a lytic bond, suggested to lower the barrier of the subsequent
step, and thus was postulated to embody a clear-cut demonstration
of the intermediate destabilization effect. The lytic
bond of the subsequent rate-limiting step was very elongated in the
X-ray structure (1.61 Å), which was proposed to be a consequence
of the out-of-plane distortion. Here we use high-level QM and QM/MM
calculations to study the intermediate destabilization effect. We show that the intrinsic energy penalty for the observed
distortion is small (0.2 kcal·mol–1) and that
the establishment of a favorable hydrogen bond within X5P-ThDP, instead
of enzyme steric strain, was found to be the main cause for the distortion.
As the net energetic effect of the distortion is small, the establishment
of the internal hydrogen bond (−0.6 kcal·mol–1) offsets the associated penalty. This makes the distorted structure
more stable than the nondistorted one. Even though the energy contributions
determined here are close to the accuracy of the computational methods
in estimating penalties for geometric distortions, our data show that
the intermediate destabilization effect provides
a small contribution to the observed reaction rate and does not represent
a catalytic effect that justifies the many orders of magnitude which
enzymes accelerate reaction rates. The results help to understand
the intrinsic enzymatic machinery behind enzyme’s amazing proficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Prejanò
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie Chimiche, Università della Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy
| | - Fabiola E. Medina
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J. Ramos
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Nino Russo
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie Chimiche, Università della Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Tiziana Marino
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie Chimiche, Università della Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy
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Medina FE, Ramos MJ, Fernandes PA. Complexities of the Reaction Mechanisms of CC Double Bond Reduction in Mammalian Fatty Acid Synthase Studied with Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics Calculations. ACS Catal 2019. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.9b03531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fabiola E. Medina
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Maria J. Ramos
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro A. Fernandes
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quı́mica e Bioquı́mica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
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