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Abstract: New strategies are urgently required to develop antibiotics. The siderophore uptake system has attracted considerable attention but rational design of siderophore antibiotic conjugates requires knowledge of recognition by the cognate outer membrane transporter. Acinetobacter baumannii is a serious pathogen, which utilizes (pre)acinetobactin to scavenge iron from the host. We report the structure of the (pre)acinetobactin transporter BauA bound to the siderophore, identifying the structural determinants of recognition. Detailed biophysical analysis confirms that BauA recognises preacinetobactin. We show that acinetobactin is not recognised by the protein thus preacinetobactin is essential for iron uptake. The structure shows and NMR confirms that under physiological conditions a molecule of acinetobactin will bind to two free coordination sites on the iron preacinetobactin complex. The ability to recognise a heterotrimeric iron preacinetobactin acinetobactin complex may rationalize contradictory reports in the literature. These results open new avenues for the design of novel antibiotic conjugates (trojan horse) antibiotics.

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Abstract: The peptide bond, the defining feature of proteins, governs peptide chemistry by abolishing nucleophilicity of the nitrogen. This and the planarity of the peptide bond arise from the delocalization of the lone pair of electrons on the nitrogen atom into the adjacent carbonyl. While chemical methylation of an amide bond uses a strong base to generate the imidate, OphA, the precursor protein of the fungal peptide macrocycle omphalotin A, self-hypermethylates amides at pH 7 using S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) as cofactor. The structure of OphA reveals a complex catenane-like arrangement in which the peptide substrate is clamped with its amide nitrogen aligned for nucleophilic attack on the methyl group of SAM. Biochemical data and computational modeling suggest a base-catalyzed reaction with the protein stabilizing the reaction intermediate. Backbone N-methylation of peptides enhances their protease resistance and membrane permeability, a property that holds promise for applications to medicinal chemistry.

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Abstract: Allosteric modulation of catalysis is a common regulatory strategy of flux-controlling biosynthetic enzymes. The enzyme ATP phosphoribosyltransferase (ATPPRT) catalyses the first reaction in histidine biosynthesis, the magnesium-dependent condensation of ATP and 5-phospho--D-ribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) to generate N1-(5-phospho--D-ribosyl)-ATP (PRATP) and pyrophosphate (PPi). ATPPRT is allosterically inhibited by the final product of the pathway, histidine. Hetero-octameric ATPPRT consists of four catalytic subunits (HisGS) and four regulatory subunits (HisZ) engaged in intricate catalytic regulation. HisZ enhances HisGS catalysis in the absence of histidine while mediating allosteric inhibition in its presence. Here we report HisGS structures for the apoenzyme and complexes with substrates (PRPP, PRPP-ATP, PRPP-ADP), product (PRATP), and inhibitor (AMP), along with ATPPRT holoenzyme structures in complexes with substrates (PRPP, PRPP-ATP, PRPP-ADP) and product (PRATP). These ten crystal structures provide an atomic view of the catalytic cycle and allosteric activation of Psychrobacter arcticus ATPPRT. In both ternary complexes with PRPP-ATP, the adenine ring is found in an anticatalytic orientation, rotated 180° from the catalytic rotamer. Arg32 interacts with phosphate groups of ATP and PRPP, bringing the substrates in proximity for catalysis. The negative charge repulsion is further attenuated by a magnesium ion sandwiched between the - and -phosphate groups of both substrates. HisZ binding to form the hetero-octamer brings HisGS subunits closer together in a tighter dimer in the Michaelis complex, which poises Arg56 from the adjacent HisGS molecule for cross-subunit stabilisation of the PPi leaving group at the transition state. The more electrostatically pre-organised active site of the holoenzyme likely minimises the reorganisation energy required to accommodate the transition state. This provides a structural basis for allosteric activation in which chemistry is accelerated by facilitating leaving group departure.

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Abstract: Peptide macrocycles are promising therapeutic molecules because they are protease resistant, structurally rigid, membrane permeable, and capable of modulating protein–protein interactions. Here, we report the characterization of the dual function macrocyclase-peptidase enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of the highly toxic amanitin toxin family of macrocycles. The enzyme first removes 10 residues from the N-terminus of a 35-residue substrate. Conformational trapping of the 25 amino-acid peptide forces the enzyme to release this intermediate rather than proceed to macrocyclization. The enzyme rebinds the 25 amino-acid peptide in a different conformation and catalyzes macrocyclization of the N-terminal eight residues. Structures of the enzyme bound to both substrates and biophysical analysis characterize the different binding modes rationalizing the mechanism. Using these insights simpler substrates with only five C-terminal residues were designed, allowing the enzyme to be more effectively exploited in biotechnology.

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Abstract: The uridyl peptide antibiotics (UPAs), of which pacidamycin is a member, have a clinically unexploited mode of action and an unusual assembly. Perhaps the most striking feature of these molecules is the biosynthetically unique 3′-deoxyuridine that they share. This moiety is generated by an unusual, small and monomeric dehydratase, Pac13, which catalyses the dehydration of uridine-5'-aldehyde. Here we report the structural characterisation of Pac13 with a series of ligands, and gain insight into the enzyme's mechanism demonstrating that H42 is critical to the enzyme's activity and that the reaction is likely to proceed via an E1cB mechanism. The resemblance of the 3′-deoxy pacidamycin moiety with the synthetic anti-retrovirals, presents a potential opportunity for the utilisation of Pac13 in the biocatalytic generation of antiviral compounds.