Cysteine conformations revisited

Based on the B3LYP and MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ calculations, 51 cysteine conformers were found to be stable in the gas phase. The calculations were repeated for the most stable eight structures by using the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set. To estimate the influence of water on the cysteine conformation, the IEF-PCM/B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ calculations were carried out and showed 44 neutral and 12 zwitterion conformers to be stable in the water solution. The most stable cysteine structure in water appeared to be the zwitterionic conformer quite similar to the molecule observed in the crystal state.     

Fast Cysteine Bioconjugation Chemistry

Cysteine bioconjugation serves as a powerful tool in biological research and has been widely used for chemical modification of proteins, constructing antibody-drug conjugates, and enabling cell imaging studies. Cysteine conjugation reactions with fast kinetics and exquisite selectivity have been under heavy pursuit as they would allow clean protein modification with just stoichiometric amounts of reagents, which minimizes side reactions, simplifies purification and broadens functional group tolerance. In this concept, we summarize the recent advances in fast cysteine bioconjugation, and discuss the mechanism and chemical principles that underlie the high efficiencies of the newly developed cysteine reactive reagents.     

Electrochemically Driven Derivatisation-Detection of Cysteine

 The electrochemical oxidation of catechol to ortho quinone at a glassy carbon electrode in the presence of cysteine is shown to lead to the deposition of a quinone-cysteine adduct at the electrode surface. Square wave voltammetry is shown to enable voltammetric resolution of unreacted orthoquinone and the accumulated adduct species such that quantification of both species is possible over a range of pH 2 – pH 6. The reaction is shown to be selective towards cysteine with little interference from cystine, homocysteine or glutathione. The foundations of a detection protocol are reported with the sensitivity shown to be capable of attenuation through the facile manipulation of the number of electro-initiated derivatisation scans. The application of six consecutive derivatisation scans is shown to provide a linear range of 2–20 μM cysteine that is well within the region required for physiological monitoring. Received December 4, 2000. Revision March 30, 2001.     

荧光探针在半胱氨酸检测的应用

半胱氨酸(Cys)是三种生物硫醇之一,是20种天然氨基酸中唯一一种含还原性巯基的天然氨基酸,是组成细胞内多肽和蛋白质的基本氨基酸之一。其参与体内细胞的氧化还原调控,调节体内氧化还原平衡,维持机体正常代谢,在生理过程中发挥着至关重要的作用。然而体内的Cys浓度水平异常会引起一系列生理疾病,体内的Cys浓度作为几种疾病的生物标志物具有临床意义。因此有效地识别和检测半胱氨酸受到越来越多的研究者们的青睐。相较传统检测方法,荧光探针因其操作简单、灵敏度高、响应迅速和实时检测等优点,已被广泛用于检测生物硫醇。本文基于常见荧光团的结构性能特征,综述了近三年来检测Cys的荧光探针,重点概述了其传感机制,并对其生物应用进行了简要说明,展望了未来Cys探针的研究方向与应用前景。     

The Proteome‐Wide Potential for Reversible Covalency at Cysteine

Reversible covalency, achieved with, for instance, highly electron‐deficient olefins, offers a compelling strategy to design chemical probes and drugs that benefit from the sustained target engagement afforded by irreversible compounds, while avoiding permanent protein modification. Reversible covalency has mainly been evaluated for cysteine residues in individual kinases and the broader potential for this strategy to engage cysteines across the proteome remains unexplored. Herein, we describe a mass‐spectrometry‐based platform that integrates gel filtration with activity‐based protein profiling to assess cysteine residues across the human proteome for both irreversible and reversible interactions with small‐molecule electrophiles. Using this method, we identify numerous cysteine residues from diverse protein classes that are reversibly engaged by cyanoacrylamide fragment electrophiles, revealing the broad potential for reversible covalency as a strategy for chemical‐probe discovery.     

Immobilization of carboxylic proteinases on amino-Silochrome

Summary Highly purified porcine pepsin and aspergillopepsin A immobilized on amino-Silochrome have been obtained. The enzymatic properties of these insoluble derivatives have been studied.All-Union Scientific-Research Institute of the Genetics and Breeding of Industrial Microorganisms, Moscow. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 3, pp. 373–379, May–June, 1978.     

Dissecting Bonding Interactions in Cysteine Dimers

Neutral (n) and zwitterionic (z) forms of cysteine monomers are combined in this work to extensively explore the potential energy surfaces for the formation of cysteine dimers in aqueous environments represented by a continuum. A simulated annealing search followed by optimization and characterization of the candidate structures afforded a total of 746 structurally different dimers held together via 80 different types of intermolecular contacts in 2894 individual non-covalent interactions as concluded from Natural Bond Orbitals (NBO), Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) and Non-Covalent Interactions (NCI) analyses. This large pool of interaction possibilities includes the traditional primary hydrogen bonds and salt bridges which actually dictate the structures of the dimers, as well as the less common secondary hydrogen bonds, exotic X⋯Y (X = C, N, O, S) contacts, and H⋯H dihydrogen bonds. These interactions are not homogeneous but have rather complex distributions of strengths, interfragment distances and overall stabilities. Judging by their Gibbs bonding energies, most of the structures located here are suitable for experimental detection at room conditions.     

微波萃取高效液相色谱法测定口红中芳香胺类化合物

利用微波萃取高效液相色谱法测定了口红中芳香胺类化合物.先将口红涂于玻璃片上,然后用微波萃取和高效液相色谱法测定萃取液中的芳香胺类化合物.研究了3种市售口红并得到了芳香胺类化合物的定量测定结果.考察了微波萃取的条件,并将薄层色谱等萃取分离方法和微波萃取法进行了比较,证明微波萃取法在萃取膏状物和蜡状物中的组分时,具有比其它方法更加方便、快速等优点.     

Purification of carboxylic proteinases on aminosilochrome

Summary 1. The possibility has been shown of the preparative production of a number of carboxylic proteinases by the ion-exchange chromatography of commercial preparations of these enzymes on a column of Aminosilochrome C-80 or C-120. Preparations of calf pepsin and chymosin and of bovine and porcine pepsins with a high degree of purity have been obtained in practically quantitative yield.2. An accelerated preparative method for purifying commercial preparations of porcine pepsin on Aminosilochrome C-120 by the sorption-desorption of the enzyme under static conditions has been proposed.All-Union Scientific-Research Institute of the Genetics and Breeding of Industrial Microorganisms, Moscow. Translated from Khimiya Prirodykh Soedinenii, No. 3, pp. 398–403, May–June, 1977.     

Cysteine dioxygenase: structure and mechanism

Cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) catalyzes the oxidation of cysteine to cysteine sulfinic acid, which is the first major step in cysteine catabolism in mammalian tissues. Crystal structures of mouse, rat, human and bacterial CDO have recently become available and provide significant mechanistic insights. Unlike most non-heme Fe(II) dioxygenases, coordination of the Fe in CDO deviates from the 2-His-1-carboxylate facial triad archetype and instead adopts a His3 facial triad. This change is expected to have an influence on oxygen activation by the catalytic site. The structures also reveal the presence of a cysteinyltyrosine (Tyr157-Cys93) post-translational modification near the active site. Kinetic studies of mutant CDOs reveal that the cysteine residue is less critical than the tyrosine for enzyme activity. Inconsistencies about the details of the active site and the nature of substrate binding exist and are discussed. Herein we review the structural biology along with relevant kinetics studies that have been conducted on CDO for insights into the reaction mechanism of this novel non-heme iron dioxygenase.     

Covalent Warheads Targeting Cysteine Residue: The Promising Approach in Drug Development

Cysteine is one of the least abundant amino acids in proteins of many organisms, which plays a crucial role in catalysis, signal transduction, and redox regulation of gene expression. The thiol group of cysteine possesses the ability to perform nucleophilic and redox-active functions that are not feasible for other natural amino acids. Cysteine is the most common covalent amino acid residue and has been shown to react with a variety of warheads, especially Michael receptors. These unique properties have led to widespread interest in this nucleophile, leading to the development of a variety of cysteine-targeting warheads with different chemical compositions. Herein, we summarized the various covalent warheads targeting cysteine residue and their application in drug development.     

Peptide Cyclization Mediated by Metal-Free S-Arylation: S-Protected Cysteine Sulfoxide as an Umpolung of the Cysteine Nucleophile

Covalent linking of side chains provides a method to produce cyclic or stapled peptides that are important in developing peptide-based drugs. A variety of crosslinking formats contribute to fixing the active conformer and prolonging its biological activity under physiological conditions. One format uses the cysteine thiol to participate in crosslinking through nucleophilic thiolate anions or thiyl radicals to form thioether and disulfide bonds. Removal of the S-protection from an S-protected Cys derivative generates the thiol, which functions as a nucleophile. S-Oxidation of a protected Cys allows the formation of a sulfoxide that operates as an umpolung electrophile. Herein, the applicability of S-p-methoxybenzyl Cys sulfoxide (Cys(MBzl)(O)) to the formation of a thioether linkage between tryptophan and Cys has been investigated. The reaction of peptides containing Cys(MBzl)(O) and Trp with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TFMSA) or methanesulfonic acid (MSA) in TFA in the presence of guanidine hydrochloride (Gn ⋅ HCl) proceeded to give cyclic or stapled peptides possessing the Cys-Trp thioether linkage. In this reaction, strong acids such as TFMSA or MSA are necessary to activate the sulfoxide. Additionally, Gn ⋅ HCl plays a critical role in producing an electrophilic Cys derivative that combines with the indole by aromatic electrophilic substitution. The findings led us to conclude that the less-electrophilic Cys(MBzl)(O) serves as an acid-activated umpolung of a Cys nucleophile and is useful for S-arylation-mediated peptide cyclization.     

Structure and Mechanism Leading to Formation of the Cysteine Sulfinate Product Complex of a Biomimetic Cysteine Dioxygenase Model

Cysteine dioxygenase is a unique nonheme iron enzyme that is involved in the metabolism of cysteine in the body. It contains an iron active site with an unusual 3‐His ligation to the protein, which contrasts with the structural features of common nonheme iron dioxygenases. Recently, some of us reported a truly biomimetic model for this enzyme, namely a trispyrazolylborato iron(II) cysteinato complex, which not only has a structure very similar to the enzyme–substrate complex but also represents a functional model: Treatment of the model with dioxygen leads to cysteine dioxygenation, as shown by isolating the cysteine part of the product in the course of the work‐up. However, little is known on the conversion mechanism and, so far, not even the structure of the actual product complex had been characterised, which is also unknown in case of the enzyme. In a multidisciplinary approach including density functional theory calculations and X‐ray absorption spectroscopy, we have now determined the structure of the actual sulfinato complex for the first time. The Cys‐SO₂^? functional group was found to be bound in an η²‐O,O‐coordination mode, which, based on the excellent resemblance between model and enzyme, also provides the first support for a corresponding binding mode within the enzymatic product complex. Indeed, this is again confirmed by theory, which had predicted a η²‐O,O‐binding mode for synthetic as well as the natural enzyme.