Characterizing the protonation states of the catalytic residues in apo and substrate-bound human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 protease

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) protease is an attractive target when developing inhibitors to treat HTLV-1 associated diseases. To study the catalytic mechanism and design novel HTLV-1 protease inhibitors, the protonation states of the two catalytic aspartic acid residues must be determined. Free energy simulations have been conducted to study the proton transfer reaction between the catalytic residues of HTLV-1 protease using a combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) molecular dynamics simulation. The free energy profiles for the reaction in the apo-enzyme and in an enzyme – substrate complex have been obtained. In the apo-enzyme, the two catalytic residues are chemically equivalent and are expected to be both unprotonated. Upon substrate binding, the catalytic residues of HTLV-1 protease evolve to a singly protonated state, in which the OD1 of Asp32 is protonated and forms a hydrogen bond with the OD1 of Asp32′, which is unprotonated. The HTLV-1 protease–substrate complex structure obtained from this simulation can serve as the Michaelis complex structure for further mechanistic studies of HTLV-1 protease while providing a receptor structure with the correct protonation states for the active site residues toward the design of novel HTLV-1 protease inhibitors through virtual screening.     

Long‐Range Electrostatics‐Induced Two‐Proton Transfer Captured by Neutron Crystallography in an Enzyme Catalytic Site

Neutron crystallography was used to directly locate two protons before and after a pH‐induced two‐proton transfer between catalytic aspartic acid residues and the hydroxy group of the bound clinical drug darunavir, located in the catalytic site of enzyme HIV‐1 protease. The two‐proton transfer is triggered by electrostatic effects arising from protonation state changes of surface residues far from the active site. The mechanism and pH effect are supported by quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations. The low‐pH proton configuration in the catalytic site is deemed critical for the catalytic action of this enzyme and may apply more generally to other aspartic proteases. Neutrons therefore represent a superb probe to obtain structural details for proton transfer reactions in biological systems at a truly atomic level.     

Ionization state of the catalytic dyad Asp25/25' in the HIV-1 protease: NMR studies of site-specifically 13C labelled HIV-1 protease prepared by total chemical synthesis

Total chemical synthesis was used to site-specifically (13)C-label active site Asp25 and Asp25' residues in HIV-1 protease and in several chemically synthesized analogues of the enzyme molecule. (13)C NMR measurements were consistent with a monoprotonated state for the catalytic dyad formed by the interacting Asp25, Asp25' side chain carboxyls.     

Solid-state NMR, crystallographic, and computational investigation of bisphosphonates and farnesyl diphosphate synthase-bisphosphonate complexes

Bisphosphonates are a class of molecules in widespread use in treating bone resorption diseases and are also of interest as immunomodulators and anti-infectives. They function by inhibiting the enzyme farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPPS), but the details of how these molecules bind are not fully understood. Here, we report the results of a solid-state (13)C, (15)N, and (31)P magic-angle sample spinning (MAS) NMR and quantum chemical investigation of several bisphosphonates, both as pure compounds and when bound to FPPS, to provide information about side-chain and phosphonate backbone protonation states when bound to the enzyme. We then used computational docking methods (with the charges assigned by NMR) to predict how several bisphosphonates bind to FPPS. Finally, we used X-ray crystallography to determine the structures of two potent bisphosphonate inhibitors, finding good agreement with the computational results, opening up the possibility of using the combination of NMR, quantum chemistry and molecular docking to facilitate the design of other, novel prenytransferase inhibitors.     

Structure-based redesign of GST A2-2 for enhanced catalytic efficiency with azathioprine

Glutathione transferase (GST) A2-2 is the most efficient human enzyme in the biotransformation of the prodrug azathioprine (Aza). The activation of Aza has therapeutic potential for possible use of GSTs in targeted enzyme-prodrug treatment of diseases. Based on the assumed catalytic mechanism and computational docking of Aza to the active site of the enzyme, active-site residues were selected for construction of focused mutant libraries, which were thereafter screened for Aza activity. Mutants with elevated Aza activity were identified, DNA sequenced, and the proteins purified. The two most active mutants showed up to 70-fold higher catalytic efficiency than the parental GST A2-2. The structure of the most active triple mutant (L107G/L108D/F222H) enzyme was determined by X-ray crystallography demonstrating significant changes in the topography of the active site facilitating productive binding of Aza as a substrate.     

The catalytic mechanism of an aspartic proteinase explored with neutron and X-ray diffraction

Hydrogen atoms play key roles in enzyme mechanism, but as this study shows, even high-quality X-ray data to a resolution of 1 A cannot directly visualize them. Neutron diffraction, however, can locate deuterium atoms even at resolutions around 2 A. Both neutron and X-ray diffraction data have been used to investigate the transition state of the aspartic proteinase endothiapepsin. The different techniques reveal a different part of the story, revealing the clearest picture yet of the catalytic mechanism by which the enzyme operates. Room temperature neutron and X-ray diffraction data were used in a newly developed joint refinement software package to visualize deuterium atoms within the active site of the enzyme when a gem-diol transition state analogue inhibitor is bound at the active site. These data were also used to estimate their individual occupancy, while analysis of the differences between the bond lengths of the catalytic aspartates was performed using atomic resolution X-ray data. The two methods are in agreement on the protonation state of the active site with a transition state analogue inhibitor bound confirming the catalytic mechanism at which the enzyme operates.     

Protonation, tautomerization, and rotameric structure of histidine: a comprehensive study by magic-angle-spinning solid-state NMR

Histidine structure and chemistry lie at the heart of many enzyme active sites, ion channels, and metalloproteins. While solid-state NMR spectroscopy has been used to study histidine chemical shifts, the full pH dependence of the complete panel of (15)N, (13)C, and (1)H chemical shifts and the sensitivity of these chemical shifts to tautomeric structure have not been reported. Here we use magic-angle-spinning solid-state NMR spectroscopy to determine the (15)N, (13)C, and (1)H chemical shifts of histidine from pH 4.5 to 11. Two-dimensional homonuclear and heteronuclear correlation spectra indicate that these chemical shifts depend sensitively on the protonation state and tautomeric structure. The chemical shifts of the rare π tautomer were observed for the first time, at the most basic pH used. Intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the imidazole nitrogens and the histidine backbone or water was detected, and N-H bond length measurements indicated the strength of the hydrogen bond. We also demonstrate the accurate measurement of the histidine side-chain torsion angles χ(1) and χ(2) through backbone-side chain (13)C-(15)N distances; the resulting torsion angles were within 4° of the crystal structure values. These results provide a comprehensive set of benchmark values for NMR parameters of histidine over a wide pH range and should facilitate the study of functionally important histidines in proteins.     

Chemical rescue of enzymes: proton transfer in mutants of human carbonic anhydrase II

In human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II), the mutation of position 64 from histidine to alanine (H64A) disrupts the rate limiting proton transfer (PT) event, resulting in a reduction of the catalytic activity of the enzyme as compared to the wild-type. Potential of mean force (PMF) calculations utilizing the multistate empirical valence bond (MS-EVB) methodology for H64A HCA II yields a PT free energy barrier significantly higher than that found in the wild-type enzyme. This high barrier, determined in the absence of exogenous buffer and assuming no additional ionizable residues in the PT pathway, indicates the likelihood of alternate enzyme pathways that utilize either ionizable enzyme residues (self-rescue) and/or exogenous buffers (chemical rescue). It has been shown experimentally that the catalytic activity of H64A HCA II can be chemically rescued to near wild-type levels by the addition of the exogenous buffer 4-methylimidazole (4MI). Crystallographic studies have identified two 4MI binding sites, yet site-specific mutations intended to disrupt 4MI binding have demonstrated these sites to be nonproductive. In the present work, MS-EVB simulations show that binding of 4MI near Thr199 in the H64A HCA II mutant, a binding site determined by NMR spectroscopy, results in a viable chemical rescue pathway. Additional viable rescue pathways are also identified where 4MI acts as a proton transport intermediary from the active site to ionizable residues on the rim of the active site, revealing a probable mode of action for the chemical rescue pathway.     

Accurate metal-site structures in proteins obtained by combining experimental data and quantum chemistry

The use of molecular mechanics calculations to supplement experimental data in standard X-ray crystallography and NMR refinements is discussed and it is shown that structures can be locally improved by the use of quantum chemical calculations. Such calculations can also be used to interpret the structures, e.g. to decide the protonation state of metal-bound ligands. They have shown that metal sites in crystal structures are frequently photoreduced or disordered, which makes the interpretation of the structures hard. Similar methods can be used for EXAFS refinements to obtain a full atomic structure, rather than a set of metal-ligand distances.     

Definitive evidence for monoanionic binding of 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl to 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl 1,2-dioxygenase from UV resonance Raman spectroscopy, UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy, and crystallography

Ultraviolet resonance Raman spectroscopy (UVRRS), electronic absorption spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography were used to probe the nature of the binding of 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl (DHB) to the extradiol ring-cleavage enzyme, 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl 1,2-dioxygenase (DHBD; EC 1.13.11.39). The lowest lying transitions in the electronic absorption spectrum of DHBD-bound DHB occurred at 299 nm, compared to 305 nm for the monoanionic DHB species in buffer. In contrast, the corresponding transitions in neutral and dianionic DHB occurred at 283 and 348 nm, respectively, indicating that DHBD-bound DHB is monoanionic. These binding-induced spectral changes, and the use of custom-designed optical fiber probes, facilitated UVRR experiments. The strongest feature of the UVRR spectrum of DHB was a Y8a-like mode around 1600 cm(-1), whose position depended strongly on the protonation state of the DHB. In the spectrum of the DHBD-bound species, this feature occurred at 1603 cm(-1), as observed in the spectrum of monoanionic DHB. Raman band shifts were observed in deuterated solvent, ruling out dianionic binding of the substrate. Thus, the electronic absorption and UVRRS data demonstrate that DHBD binds its catecholic substrate as a monoanion, definitively establishing this feature of the proposed mechanism of extradiol dioxygenases. This conclusion is supported by a crystal structure of the DHBD:DHB complex at 2.0 A resolution, which suggests that the substrate's 2-hydroxyl substituent, and not the 3-hydroxyl group, deprotonates upon binding. The structural data also show that the aromatic rings of the enzyme-bound DHB are essentially orthogonal to each other. Thus, the 6 nm blue shift of the transition for bound DHB relative to the monoanion in solution could indicate a conformational change upon binding. Catalytic roles of active site residues are proposed based on the structural data and previously proposed mechanistic schemes.     

Hepatitis C virus NS3 protease requires its NS4A cofactor peptide for optimal binding of a boronic acid inhibitor as shown by NMR

NMR spectroscopy was used to characterize the hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3 protease in a complex with the 24 residue peptide cofactor from NS4A and a boronic acid inhibitor, Ac-Asp-Glu-Val-Val-Pro-boroAlg-OH. Secondary-structure information, NOE constraints between protease and cofactor, and hydrogen-deuterium exchange rates revealed that the cofactor was an integral strand in the N-terminal beta-sheet of the complex as observed in X-ray crystal structures. Based upon chemical-shift perturbations, inhibitor-protein NOEs, and the protonation state of the catalytic histidine, the boronic acid inhibitor was bound in the substrate binding site as a transition state mimic. In the absence of cofactor, the inhibitor had a lower affinity for the protease. Although the inhibitor binds in the same location, differences were observed at the catalytic site of the protease.     

Factor Xa: Simulation studies with an eye to inhibitor design

Factor Xa is a serine protease which activates thrombin and plays a key regulatory role in the blood-coagulation cascade. Factor Xa is at the crossroads of the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways of coagulation and, hence, has become an important target for the design of anti-thrombotics (inhibitors). It is not known to be involved in other processes than hemostasis and its binding site is different to that of other serine proteases, thus facilitating selective inhibition. The design of high-affinity selective inhibitors of factor Xa requires knowledge of the structural and dynamical characteristics of its active site. The three-dimensional structure of factor Xa was resolved by X-ray crystallography and refined at 2.2 Å resolution by Padmanabhan and collaborators. In this article we present results from molecular dynamics simulations of the catalytic domain of factor Xa in aqueous solution. The simulations were performed to characterise the mobility and flexibility of the residues delimiting the unoccupied binding site of the enzyme, and to determine hydrogen bonding propensities (with protein and with solvent atoms) of those residues in the active site that could interact with a substrate or a potential inhibitor. The simulation data is aimed at facilitating the design of high-affinity selective inhibitors of factor Xa.     

Protonation of a histidine copper ligand in fern plastocyanin

Plastocyanin is a small blue copper protein that shuttles electrons as part of the photosynthetic redox chain. Its redox behavior is changed at low pH as a result of protonation of the solvent-exposed copper-coordinating histidine. Protonation and subsequent redox inactivation could have a role in the down regulation of photosynthesis. As opposed to plastocyanin from other sources, in fern plastocyanin His90 protonation at low pH has been reported not to occur. Two possible reasons for that have been proposed: pi-pi stacking between Phe12 and His90 and lack of a hydrogen bond with the backbone oxygen of Gly36. We have produced this fern plastocyanin recombinantly and examined the properties of wild-type protein and mutants Phe12Leu, Gly36Pro, and the double mutant with NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, and cyclic voltammetry. The results demonstrate that, contrary to earlier reports, protonation of His90 in the wild-type protein does occur in solution with a pKa of 4.4 (+/-0.1). Neither the single mutants nor the double mutant exhibit a change in protonation behavior, indicating that the suggested interactions have no influence. The crystal structure at low pH of the Gly36Pro variant does not show His90 protonation, similar to what was found for the wild-type protein. The structure suggests that movement of the imidazole ring is hindered by crystal contacts. This study illustrates a significant difference between results obtained in solution by NMR and by crystallography.     

Protonation states of the catalytic dyad of β-secretase (BACE1) in the presence of chemically diverse inhibitors: a molecular docking study

In this molecular docking study, the protonation states of the catalytic Asp dyad of the beta-secretase (BACE1) enzyme in the presence of eight chemically diverse inhibitors have been predicted. BACE1 catalyzes the rate-determining step in the generation of Alzheimer amyloid beta peptides and is widely considered as a promising therapeutic target. All the inhibitors were redocked into their corresponding X-ray structures using a combination of eight different protonation states of the Asp dyad for each inhibitor. Five inhibitors were primarily found to favor two different monoprotonated states, and the remaining three favor a dideprotonated state. In addition, five of them exhibited secondary preference for a diprotonated state. These results show that the knowledge of a single protonation state of the Asp dyad is not sufficient to search for the novel inhibitors of BACE1 and the most plausible state for each inhibitor must be determined prior to conducting in-silico screening.     

51V NMR chemical shifts calculated from QM/MM models of vanadium chloroperoxidase

(51)V NMR chemical shifts calculated from QM/MM-optimized (QM=quantum mechanical; MM=molecular mechanical) models of vanadium-dependent chloroperoxidase (VCPO) are presented. An extensive number of protonation states for the vanadium cofactor (active site of the protein) and a number of probable positional isomers for each of the protonation states are considered. The size of the QM region is increased incrementally to observe the convergence behavior of the (51)V NMR chemical shifts. A total of 40 models are assessed by comparison to experimental solid-state (51)V NMR results recently reported in the literature. Isotropic chemical shifts are found to be a poor indicator of the protonation state; however, anisotropic chemical shifts and the nuclear quadrupole tensors appear to be sensitive to changes in the proton environment of the vanadium nuclei. This detailed investigation of the (51)V NMR chemical shifts computed from QM/MM models provides further evidence that the ground state is either a triply protonated (one axial water and one equatorial hydroxyl group) or a doubly protonated vanadate moiety in VCPO. Particular attention is given to the electrostatic and geometric effects of the protein environment. This is the first study to compute anisotropic NMR chemical shifts from QM/MM models of an active metalloprotein for direct comparison with solid-state MAS NMR data. This theoretical approach enhances the potential use of experimental solid-state NMR spectroscopy for the structural determination of metalloproteins.     

NMR Crystallography Enhanced by Quantum Chemical Calculations and Liquid State NMR Spectroscopy for the Investigation of Se-NHC Adducts**

N-heterocyclic carbene ligands (NHC) are widely utilized in catalysis and material science. They are characterized by their steric and electronic properties. Steric properties are usually quantified on the basis of their static structure, which can be determined by X-ray diffraction. The electronic properties are estimated in the liquid state; for example, via the ⁷⁷Se liquid state NMR of Se-NHC adducts. We demonstrate that ⁷⁷Se NMR crystallography can contribute to the characterization of the structural and electronic properties of NHC in solid and liquid states. Selected Se-NHC adducts are investigated via ⁷⁷Se solid state NMR and X-ray crystallography, supported by quantum chemical calculations. This investigation reveals a correlation between the molecular structure of adducts and NMR parameters, including not only isotropic chemical shifts but also the other chemical shift tensor components. Afterwards, the liquid state ⁷⁷Se NMR data is presented and interpreted in terms of the quantum chemistry modelling. The discrepancy between the structural and electronic properties, and in particular the π-accepting abilities of adducts in the solid and liquid states is discussed. Finally, the ¹³C isotropic chemical shift from the liquid state NMR and the ¹³C tensor components are also discussed, and compared with their ⁷⁷Se counterparts. ⁷⁷Se NMR crystallography can deliver valuable information about NHC ligands, and together with liquid state ⁷⁷Se NMR can provide an in-depth outlook on the properties of NHC ligands.     

Tautomerism and Rotamerism in 2-(2-Phenylhydrazino)pyridine

The title compound is shown by X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy to exist both in the solid state and in solution as such. Deuterium-induced shifts confirm the phenylamino structure for 2-phenylaminopyridine.     

Comparisons of NMR spectral quality and success in crystallization demonstrate that NMR and X-ray crystallography are complementary methods for small protein structure determination

X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy provide the only sources of experimental data from which protein structures can be analyzed at high or even atomic resolution. The degree to which these methods complement each other as sources of structural knowledge is a matter of debate; it is often proposed that small proteins yielding high quality, readily analyzed NMR spectra are a subset of those that readily yield strongly diffracting crystals. We have examined the correlation between NMR spectral quality and success in structure determination by X-ray crystallography for 159 prokaryotic and eukaryotic proteins, prescreened to avoid proteins providing polydisperse and/or aggregated samples. This study demonstrates that, across this protein sample set, the quality of a protein's [15N-1H]-heteronuclear correlation (HSQC) spectrum recorded under conditions generally suitable for 3D structure determination by NMR, a key predictor of the ability to determine a structure by NMR, is not correlated with successful crystallization and structure determination by X-ray crystallography. These results, together with similar results of an independent study presented in the accompanying paper (Yee, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., accompanying paper), demonstrate that X-ray crystallography and NMR often provide complementary sources of structural data and that both methods are required in order to optimize success for as many targets as possible in large-scale structural proteomics efforts.     

A QM/MM study on the catalytic mechanism of pyruvate decarboxylase

Pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) is a typical thiamin diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzyme with widespread applications in industry. Though studies regarding the reaction mechanism of PDC have been reported, they are mainly focused on the formation of ThDP ylide and some elementary steps in the catalytic cycle, studies about the whole catalytic cycle of PDC are still not completed. In these previous studies, a major controversy is whether the key active residues (Glu473, Glu50′, Asp27′, His113′, His114′) are protonated or ionized during the reaction. To explore the catalytic mechanism and the role of key residues in the active site, three whole-enzyme models were considered, and the combined QM/MM calculations on the nonoxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetaldehyde catalyzed by PDC were performed. According to our computational results, the fundamental reaction pathways, the complete energy profiles of the whole catalytic cycle, and the specific role of key residues in the common steps were obtained. It is also found that the same residue with different protonation states will lead to different reaction pathways and energy profiles. The mechanism derived from the model in which the residues (Glu473, Glu50′, Asp27′, His113′, His114′) are in their protonated states is most consistent with experimental observations. Therefore, extreme care must be taken when assigning the protonation states in the mechanism study. Because the experimental determination of protonation state is currently difficult, the combined QM/MM method provides an indirect means for determining the active-site protonation state.     

Enhanced degradation of chemical warfare agents through molecular engineering of the phosphotriesterase active site

The bacterial phosphotriesterase has been utilized as a template for the evolution of improved enzymes for the catalytic decomposition of organophosphate nerve agents. A combinatorial library of active site mutants was constructed by randomizing residues His-254, His-257, and Leu-303. The collection of mutant proteins was screened for the ability to hydrolyze a chromogenic analogue of the most toxic stereoisomer of the chemical warfare agent, soman. The mutant H254G/H257W/L303T catalyzed the hydrolysis of the target substrate nearly 3 orders of magnitude faster than the wild-type enzyme. The X-ray crystal structure was solved in the presence and absence of diisopropyl methyl phosphonate. The mutant enzyme was ligated to an additional divalent cation at the active site that was displaced upon the binding of the substrate analogue inhibitor. These studies demonstrate that substantial changes in substrate specificity can be achieved by relatively minor changes to the primary amino acid sequence.