Enantioselective Binding of Propranolol and Analogues Thereof to Cellobiohydrolase Cel7A.

At the catalytic site for the hydrolysis of cellulose the enzyme cellobiohydrolase Cel7A binds the enantiomers of the adrenergic beta-blocker propranolol with different selectivity. Methyl-to-hydroxymethyl group modifications of propranolol, which result in higher affinity and improved selectivity, were herein studied by 1 H,1 H and 1 H,13 C scalar spin-spin coupling constants as well as utilizing the nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) in conjunction with molecular dynamics simulations of the ligands per se, which showed the presence of all-antiperiplanar conformations, except for the one containing a vicinal oxygen-oxygen arrangement governed by the gauche effect. For the ligand-protein complexes investigated by NMR spectroscopy using, inter alia, transferred NOESY and saturation-transfer difference (STD) NMR experiments the S-isomers were shown to bind with a higher affinity and a conformation similar to that preferred in solution, in contrast to the R-isomer. The fact that the S-form of the propranolol enantiomer is pre-arranged for binding to the protein is also observed for a crystal structure of dihydroxy-(S)-propranolol and Cel7A presented herein. Whereas the binding of propranolol is entropy driven, the complexation with the dihydroxy analogue is anticipated to be favored also by an enthalpic term, such as for its enantiomer, that is, dihydroxy-(R)-propranolol, because hydrogen-bond donation replaces the corresponding bonding from hydroxyl groups in glucosyl residues of the natural substrate. In addition to a favorable entropy component, albeit lesser in magnitude, this represents an effect of enthalpy-to-entropy compensation in ligand-protein interactions.

Discovery of selective small-molecule activators of a bacterial glycoside hydrolase.

Fragment-based approaches are used routinely to discover enzyme inhibitors as cellular tools and potential therapeutic agents. There have been few reports, however, of the discovery of small-molecule enzyme activators. Herein, we describe the discovery and characterization of small-molecule activators of a glycoside hydrolase (a bacterial O-GlcNAc hydrolase). A ligand-observed NMR screen of a library of commercially available fragments identified an enzyme activator which yielded an approximate 90 % increase in kcat /KM  values (kcat =catalytic rate constant; KM =Michaelis constant). This compound binds to the enzyme in close proximity to the catalytic center. Evolution of the initial hits led to improved compounds that behave as nonessential activators effecting both KM  and Vmax  values (Vmax =maximum rate of reaction). The compounds appear to stabilize an active "closed" form of the enzyme. Such activators could offer an orthogonal alternative to enzyme inhibitors for perturbation of enzyme activity in vivo, and could also be used for glycoside hydrolase activation in many industrial processes.

SEAL by NMR: glyco-based selenium-labeled affinity ligands detected by NMR spectroscopy.

We report a method for the screening of interactions between proteins and selenium-labeled carbohydrate ligands. SEAL by NMR is demonstrated with selenoglycosides binding to lectins where the selenium nucleus serves as an NMR-active handle and reports on binding through (77)Se NMR spectroscopy. In terms of overall sensitivity, this nucleus is comparable to (13)C NMR, while the NMR spectral width is ten times larger, yielding little overlap in (77)Se NMR spectroscopy, even for similar compounds. The studied ligands are singly selenated bioisosteres of methyl glycosides for which straightforward preparation methods are at hand and libraries can readily be generated. The strength of the approach lies in its simplicity, sensitivity to binding events, the tolerance to additives and the possibility of having several ligands in the assay. This study extends the increasing potential of selenium in structure biology and medicinal chemistry. We anticipate that SEAL by NMR will be a beneficial tool for the development of selenium-based bioactive compounds, such as glycomimetic drug candidates.

MTSA--a Matlab program to fit thermal shift data.

Thermal shift analysis is becoming widely used as a method to identify initial hit ligands for inhibitor discovery or to identify ligands that may aid crystallization. The data analysis software provided by the equipment manufacturers or in the public domain is cumbersome to use. We have assessed a number of different approaches to generate a value for the melting temperature (T(m)) and implemented these methods in the program MTSA within the commercial software Matlab to provide an easy-to-use and rapid way to process experimental thermal shift data. The program outputs the T(m), the quality of the fit, and the deviation from a standard value, the thermal shift ΔT(m). Our analysis of these results includes a discussion of some issues with previous publications in this area. We conclude that the most suitable value for T(m) should be taken from the midpoint determined for a curve fitted to the experimental data with a five-parameter equation. In addition, we found that different ranking of ligand binding can be obtained using the different techniques when screening for binding of weak ligands such as fragments. Therefore, the technique should be used with caution for such screening.

Small molecules containing hetero-bicyclic ring systems compete with UDP-Glc for binding to WaaG glycosyltransferase.

The α-1,3-glucosyltransferase WaaG is involved in the synthesis of the core region of lipopolysaccharides in E. coli. A fragment-based screening for inhibitors of the WaaG glycosyltrasferase donor site has been performed using NMR spectroscopy. Docking simulations were performed for three of the compounds of the fragment library that had shown binding activity towards WaaG and yielded 3D models for the respective complexes. The three ligands share a hetero-bicyclic ring system as a common structural motif and they compete with UDP-Glc for binding. Interestingly, one of the compounds promoted binding of uridine to WaaG, as seen from STD NMR titrations, suggesting a different binding mode for this ligand. We propose these compounds as scaffolds for the design of selective high-affinity inhibitors of WaaG. Binding of natural substrates, enzymatic activity and donor substrate selectivity were also investigated by NMR spectroscopy. Molecular dynamics simulations of WaaG were carried out with and without bound UDP and revealed structural changes compared to the crystal structure and also variations in flexibility for some amino acid residues between the two WaaG systems studied.

Combining weak affinity chromatography, NMR spectroscopy and molecular simulations in carbohydrate-lysozyme interaction studies.

By examining the interactions between the protein hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) and commercially available and chemically synthesized carbohydrate ligands using a combination of weak affinity chromatography (WAC), NMR spectroscopy and molecular simulations, we report on new affinity data as well as a detailed binding model for the HEWL protein. The equilibrium dissociation constants of the ligands were obtained by WAC but also by NMR spectroscopy, which agreed well. The structures of two HEWL-disaccharide complexes in solution were deduced by NMR spectroscopy using (1)H saturation transfer difference (STD) effects and transferred (1)H,(1)H-NOESY experiments, relaxation-matrix calculations, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. In solution the two disaccharides ß-d-Galp-(1→4)-ß-D-GlcpNAc-OMe and ß-D-GlcpNAc-(1→4)-ß-D-GlcpNAc-OMe bind to the B and C sites of HEWL in a syn-conformation at the glycosidic linkage between the two sugar residues. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding and CH/π-interactions form the basis of the protein-ligand complexes in a way characteristic of carbohydrate-protein interactions. Molecular dynamics simulations with explicit water molecules of both the apo-form of the protein and a ligand-protein complex showed structural change compared to a crystal structure of the protein. The flexibility of HEWL as indicated by a residue-based root-mean-square deviation analysis indicated similarities overall, with some residue specific differences, inter alia, for Arg61 that is situated prior to a flexible loop. The Arg61 flexibility was notably larger in the ligand-complexed form of HEWL. N,N'-Diacetylchitobiose has previously been observed to bind to HEWL at the B and C sites in water solution based on (1)H NMR chemical shift changes in the protein whereas the disaccharide binds at either the B and C sites or the C and D sites in different crystal complexes. The present study thus highlights that protein-ligand complexes may vary notably between the solution and solid states, underscoring the importance of targeting the pertinent binding site(s) for inhibition of protein activity and the advantages of combining different techniques in a screening process.

Transient hydrogen bonding in uniformly ¹³C,¹5N-labeled carbohydrates in water.

We report NMR studies of transient hydrogen bonding in a polysaccharide (PS) dissolved in water without cosolvent at ambient temperature. The PS portion of the Escherichia coli O142 lipopolysaccharide is comprised of repeating pentasaccharide units of GalNAc (N-acetyl galactosamine), GlcNAc (N-acetyl glucosamine), and rhamnose in a 3:1:1 ratio, respectively. A 105-ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulation on one pentasaccharide repeat unit predicts transient inter-residue hydrogen bonds from the GalNAc NH groups in the PS. To investigate these predictions experimentally, the PS was uniformly ¹³C,¹5N enriched and the NH, carbonyl, C2, C4, and methyl resonances of the GalNAc and GlcNAc residues assigned using through-bond triple-resonance NMR experiments. Temperature dependence of amide NH chemical shifts and one-bond NH J couplings support that NH groups on two of the GalNAc residues are donors in transient hydrogen bonds. The remaining GalNAc and GlcNAc NHs do not appear to be donors from either temperature-dependent chemical shifts or one-bond NH J couplings. These results substantiate the presence of weak or partial hydrogen bonds in carbohydrates, and that MD simulations of repeating units in PSs provide insight into overall PS structure and dynamics.

Complete (1)H and (13)C NMR chemical shift assignments of mono-, di-, and trisaccharides as basis for NMR chemical shift predictions of polysaccharides using the computer program casper.

The computer program casper uses (1)H and (13)C NMR chemical shift data of mono- to trisaccharides for the prediction of chemical shifts of oligo- and polysaccharides. In order to improve the quality of these predictions the (1)H and (13)C, as well as (31)P when applicable, NMR chemical shifts of 30 mono-, di-, and trisaccharides were assigned. The reducing sugars gave two distinct sets of NMR resonances due to the α- and ß-anomeric forms. In total 35 (1)H and (13)C NMR chemical shift data sets were obtained from the oligosaccharides. One- and two-dimensional NMR experiments were used for the chemical shift assignments and special techniques were employed in some cases such as 2D (1)H,(13)C-HSQC Hadamard Transform methodology which was acquired approximately 45 times faster than a regular t(1) incremented (1)H,(13)C-HSQC experiment and a 1D (1)H,(1)H-CSSF-TOCSY experiment which was able to distinguish spin-systems in which the target protons were only 3.3Hz apart. The (1)H NMR chemical shifts were subsequently refined using total line-shape analysis with the PERCH NMR software. The acquired NMR data were then utilized in the casper program (http://www.casper.organ.su.se/casper/) for NMR chemical shift predictions of the O-antigen polysaccharides from Klebsiella O5, Shigella flexneri serotype X, and Salmonella arizonae O62. The data were compared to experimental data of the polysaccharides from the two former strains and the lipopolysaccharide of the latter strain showing excellent agreement between predicted and experimental (1)H and (13)C NMR chemical shifts.

NMR-based exploration of the acceptor binding site of human blood group B galactosyltransferase with molecular fragments.

A substantial body of work has been devoted to the design and synthesis of glycosyltransferase inhibitors. A major obstacle has always been the demanding chemistry. Therefore, only few potent and selective inhibitors are known to date. Glycosyltransferases possess two distinct binding sites, one for the donor substrate, and one for the acceptor substrate. In many cases binding to the donor site is well defined but data for acceptor binding is sparse. In particular, acceptor binding sites are often shallow, and in many cases the dimensions of the binding pocket are not well defined. One approach to glycosyltransferase inhibitors is to chemically link donor site and acceptor site ligands to generate high affinity binders. Here, we describe a novel approach to identify acceptor site ligands from a fragment library. We have chosen human blood group B galactosyltransferase (GTB) as a biologically important model target. The approach utilizes a combination of STD NMR, spin-lock filtered NMR experiments and surface plasmon resonance measurements. Following this route we have identified molecular fragments from a fragment library that bind to the acceptor site of GTB with affinities of the order of a natural acceptor substrate. Unlike natural substrates these fragments allow for straightforward chemical modifications and, therefore will serve as scaffolds for potent GTB inhibitors. In general, the approach described is applicable to any glycosyltransferase and may assist in the development of novel glycosyltransferase inhibitors.

Glycan flexibility: insights into nanosecond dynamics from a microsecond molecular dynamics simulation explaining an unusual nuclear Overhauser effect.

An atomistic all-atom molecular dynamics simulation of the trisaccharide beta-D-ManpNAc-(1-->4)[alpha-D-Glcp-(1-->3)]-alpha-L-Rhap-OMe with explicit solvent molecules has been carried out. The trisaccharide represents a model for the branching region of the O-chain polysaccharide of a strain from Aeromonas salmonicida. The extensive MD simulations having a 1-micros duration revealed a conformational dynamics process on the nanosecond time scale, that is, a 'time window' not extensively investigated for carbohydrates to date. The results obtained from the MD simulation underscore the predictive power of molecular simulations in studies of biomolecular systems and also explain an unusual nuclear Overhauser effect originating from conformational exchange.

Ethyl 4,6-O-benzyl-idene-2-de-oxy-N-phthalimido-1-thio-ß-d-glucopyran-oside.

In the title compound, C(23)H(23)NO(6)S, the plane of the N-phthalimido group makes a dihedral angle of 67.4 (1)° with the least square plane of the sugar ring defined by the C2, C3, C5 and O5 atoms using standard glucose nomenclature. The thio-ethyl group has the exo-anomeric conformation. In the crystal, inter-molecular hydrogen bonds involving the hy-droxy groups and the carbonyl O atoms of adjacent N-phthalimido groups form chains parallel to the b axis. The chains are further stabilized by C-H⋯π inter-actions.

Ethyl 3,6-di-O-benzyl-2-de-oxy-N-phthalimido-1-thio-ß-d-glucopyran-oside.

In the title compound, C(30)H(31)NO(6)S, the plane of the N-phthalimido group is nearly orthogonal to the least-squares plane of the sugar ring (defined by atoms C2, C3, C5 and O5 using standard glucose nomenclature), making a dihedral angle of 72.8 (1)°. The thio-ethyl group has the exo-anomeric conformation. The hy-droxy group forms an inter-molecular hydrogen bond to the O atom in the sugar ring, generating [100] chains. There are four close π-π contacts with centroid-centroid distances less than 4.0 Å, all with dihedral angles between the inter-acting π systems of only ≃ 8°, supporting energetically favourable stacking inter-actions.

Synthesis of and molecular dynamics simulations on a tetrasaccharide corresponding to the repeating unit of the capsular polysaccharide from Salmonella enteritidis.

Syntheses of two oligosaccharides as methyl glycosides related to the repeating unit of S. enteritidis capsular polysaccharide (CPS) are presented. The trisaccharide corresponds to the backbone of the CPS whereas the tetrasaccharide is a model for the repeating unit which has a branched structure. Molecular dynamics simulations investigating their flexibility and dynamics revealed that the oligosaccharides populate several conformational states and indicate that conformational averaging should be used in describing the accessible conformational space.

Interaction of a Salmonella enteritidis O-antigen octasaccharide with the phage P22 tailspike protein by NMR spectroscopy and docking studies.

The tailspike protein P22 recognizes an octasaccharide derived from the O-antigen polysaccharide of Salmonella enteritidis in a shallow groove and molecular docking successfully identifies this binding region on the protein surface. Analysis by 2D (1)H,(1)H-T-ROESY and transferred NOESY NMR experiments indicate that the bound octasaccharide ligand has a conformation similar to that observed in solution. The results from a saturation transfer difference NMR experiment show that a large number of protons in the octasaccharide are in close contact with the protein as a result of binding. A comparison of the crystal structure of the complex and a molecular dynamics simulation of the octasaccharide with explicit water molecules suggest that only minor conformational changes are needed upon binding to the tailspike protein.