Synthesis and Structural/Functional Characterization of Selective M14 Metallocarboxypeptidase Inhibitors Based on Phosphinic Pseudopeptide Scaffold: Implications on the Design of Specific Optical Probes.

Metallocarboxypeptidases (MCPs) of the M14 family are Zn2+-dependent exoproteases present in almost every tissue or fluid in mammals. These enzymes perform a large variety of physiological functions and are involved in several pathologies, such as pancreatic diseases, inflammation, fibrinolysis, and cancer. Here, we describe the synthesis and functional/structural characterization of a series of reversible tight-binding phosphinic pseudopeptide inhibitors that show high specificity and potency toward these proteases. Characterization of their inhibitory potential against a large variety of MCPs, combined with high-resolution crystal structures of three selected candidates in complex with human carboxypeptidase A (CPA)1, allowed to decipher the structural determinants governing selectivity for type-A of the M14A MCP family. Further, the phosphinic pseudopeptide framework was exploited to generate an optical probe selectively targeting human CPAs. The phosphinic pseudopeptides presented here constitute the first example of chemical probes useful to selectively report on type-A MCPs activity in complex media.

Discovery of Mechanism-Based Inactivators for Human Pancreatic Carboxypeptidase A from a Focused Synthetic Library.

Metallocarboxypeptidases (MCPs) are involved in many biological processes such as fibrinolysis or inflammation, development, Alzheimer's disease, and various types of cancer. We describe the synthesis and kinetic characterization of a focused library of 22 thiirane- and oxirane-based potential mechanism-based inhibitors, which led to discovery of an inhibitor for the human pro-carboxypeptidase A1. Our structural analyses show that the thiirane-based small-molecule inhibitor penetrates the barrier of the pro-domain to bind within the active site. This binding leads to a chemical reaction that covalently modifies the catalytic Glu270. These results highlight the importance of combined structural, biophysical, and biochemical evaluation of inhibitors in design strategies for the development of spectroscopically nonsilent probes as effective beacons for in vitro, in cellulo, and/or in vivo localization in clinical and industrial applications.

Plasticity in the Oxidative Folding Pathway of the High Affinity Nerita Versicolor Carboxypeptidase Inhibitor (NvCI).

Nerita Versicolor carboxypeptidase inhibitor (NvCI) is the strongest inhibitor reported so far for the M14A subfamily of carboxypeptidases. It comprises 53 residues and a protein fold composed of a two-stranded antiparallel ß sheet connected by three loops and stabilized by three disulfide bridges. Here we report the oxidative folding and reductive unfolding pathways of NvCI. Much debate has gone on whether protein conformational folding guides disulfide bond formation or instead they are disulfide bonds that favour the arrangement of local or global structural elements. We show here that for NvCI both possibilities apply. Under physiological conditions, this protein folds trough a funnelled pathway involving a network of kinetically connected native-like intermediates, all sharing the disulfide bond connecting the two ß-strands. In contrast, under denaturing conditions, the folding of NvCI is under thermodynamic control and follows a "trial and error" mechanism, in which an initial quasi-stochastic population of intermediates rearrange their disulfide bonds to attain the stable native topology. Despite their striking mechanistic differences, the efficiency of both folding routes is similar. The present study illustrates thus a surprising plasticity in the folding of this extremely stable small disulfide-rich inhibitor and provides the basis for its redesign for biomedical applications.

Intensity fading MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and functional proteomics assignments to identify protease inhibitors in marine invertebrates.

Proteases and their inhibitors have become molecules of increasing fundamental and applicative value. Here we report an integrated strategy to identify and analyze such inhibitors from Caribbean marine invertebrates extracts by a fast and sensitive functional proteomics-like approach. The strategy works in three steps: i) multiplexed enzymatic inhibition kinetic assays, ii) Intensity Fading MALDI-TOF MS to establish a link between inhibitory molecules and the related MALDI signal(s) detected in the extract(s), and iii) ISD-CID-T3 MS fragmentation on the parent MALDI signals selected in the previous step, enabling the partial or total top-down sequencing of the molecules. The present study has allowed validation of the whole approach, identification of a substantial number of novel protein protease inhibitors, as well as full or partial sequencing of reference molecular species and of many unknown ones, respectively. Such inhibitors correspond to six protease subfamilies (metallocarboxypeptidases-A and -B, pepsin, papain, trypsin and subtilisin), are small (1-10KDa) disulfide-rich proteins, and have been found at diverse frequencies among the invertebrates (13 to 41%). The overall procedure could be tailored to other enzyme-inhibitor and protein interacting systems, analyzing samples at medium-throughput level and leading to the functional and structural characterization of proteinaceous ligands from complex biological extracts. SIGNIFICANCE: Invertebrate animals, and marine ones among, display a remarkable diversity of species and contained biomolecules. Many of their proteins-peptides have high biological, biotechnological and biomedical potential interest but, because of the lack of sequenced genomes behind, their structural and functional characterization constitutes a great challenge. Here, looking at the small, disulfide-rich, proteinaceous inhibitors of proteases found in them, it is shown that such problem can be significatively facilitated by integrative multiplexed enzymatic assays, affinity-based Intensity-Fading (IF-) MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS), and on-line MS fragmentation, in a fast and easy approach.

Association between foldability and aggregation propensity in small disulfide-rich proteins.

AIMS: Disulfide-rich domains (DRDs) are small proteins whose native structure is stabilized by the presence of covalent disulfide bonds. These domains are versatile and can perform a wide range of functions. Many of these domains readily unfold on disulfide bond reduction, suggesting that in the absence of covalent bonding they might display significant disorder. RESULTS: Here, we analyzed the degree of disorder in 97 domains representative of the different DRDs families and demonstrate that, in terms of sequence, many of them can be classified as intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) or contain predicted disordered regions. The analysis of the aggregation propensity of these domains indicates that, similar to IDPs, their sequences are more soluble and have less aggregating regions than those of other globular domains, suggesting that they might have evolved to avoid aggregation after protein synthesis and before they can attain its compact and covalently linked native structure. INNOVATION AND CONCLUSION: DRDs, which resemble IDPs in the reduced state and become globular when their disulfide bonds are formed, illustrate the link between protein folding and aggregation propensities and how these two properties cannot be easily dissociated, determining the main traits of the folding routes followed by these small proteins to attain their native oxidized states.

Crystal structure of novel metallocarboxypeptidase inhibitor from marine mollusk Nerita versicolor in complex with human carboxypeptidase A4.

NvCI is a novel exogenous proteinaceous inhibitor of metallocarboxypeptidases from the marine snail Nerita versicolor. The complex between human carboxypeptidase A4 and NvCI has been crystallized and determined at 1.7 Å resolution. The NvCI structure defines a distinctive protein fold basically composed of a two-stranded antiparallel ß-sheet connected by three loops and the inhibitory C-terminal tail and stabilized by three disulfide bridges. NvCI is a tight-binding inhibitor that interacts with the active site of the enzyme in a substrate-like manner. NvCI displays an extended and novel interface with human carboxypeptidase A4, responsible for inhibitory constants in the picomolar range for some members of the M14A subfamily of carboxypeptidases. This makes NvCI the strongest inhibitor reported so far for this family. The structural homology displayed by the C-terminal tails of different carboxypeptidase inhibitors represents a relevant example of convergent evolution.