Exploiting nucleotide thiophosphates to probe mechanistic aspects of Escherichia coli DNA gyrase.

The interaction of DNA gyrase with ATP has been probed using a range of thiophosphate ATP analogs. ATP gammaS is not detectably hydrolyzed by gyrase but can support limited, probably catalytic, DNA supercoiling. ATP gammaS is a good inhibitor of both ATP hydrolysis and ATP-supported supercoiling. In contrast, both ATP alphaS(Rp) and ATP betaS(Rp) have been shown to be good substrates for the ATPase reaction of gyrase and to support catalytic DNA supercoiling. The corresponding Sp diastereoisomers do not support significant levels of supercoiling and are not readily hydrolyzed, but are shown to be reasonable inhibitors of gyrase. For ATP alphaS(Rp), the supercoiling and ATPase activities appear to be tightly coupled with the thionucleotide being apparently a better substrate than ATP in terms of both DNA supercoiling and nucleotide hydrolysis. In the case of ATP betaS(Rp), DNA supercoiling and nucleotide hydrolysis appear to be uncoupled in that ATP betaS(Rp) is almost as good a substrate as ATP for the ATPase reaction of both intact gyrase and the 43 kDa GyrB fragment, whereas it only supports slow DNA supercoiling; the mechanistic consequences of these observations are discussed in terms of a new model for energy coupling in gyrase. DNA gyrase has been shown to be capable of catalyzing DNA supercoiling in the presence of Mg2+, Ca2+, and Mn2+ but not Zn2+, Co2+, Ni2+, or Cd2+. The pronounced diastereoselectivity seen in both the DNA supercoiling and ATPase activity with ATP alphaS and ATP betaS together with evidence from the X-ray structure of the 43 kDa GyrB-ADPNP-Mg complex is consistent with metal ion coordination at both of these sites, and probably to the gamma-phosphoryl center during turnover. Thus, the absolute configuration of the catalytically active Mg2+-ATP complex is likely to involve coordination to the pro-S oxygens at both P alpha and P beta, leading to the alpha,beta,gamma-tridentate Mg-ATP complex with the lambda-exo configuration.

An approach to sequence-specific antibody proteases. The use of haptens mimicking both a transition state and a distorted ground state.

We describe here a novel strategy for the isolation of antibodies with sequence-specific protease activity: the synthesis of dipeptide haptens in which the targeted peptide bond has been replaced by a ring-strained or torsionally strained hydroxyethylene transition-state analog. Thus, the analogs mimic both a peptide bond in a distorted, reactive conformation and the transition state for peptide bond hydrolysis. In order to obtain sequence-specific antibody proteases, these analogs have been flanked with additional amino acid residues in preparation for immunization. In particular, we have synthesized peptides containing analogs such as 2-cis-amino-3-cis-hydroxycyclobutane carboxylic acid and endo-(3-amino-2-hydroxy)bicyclo[2.2.1]-heptane-7-anti-carboxylic acid. We have also prepared a series of peptide derivatives containing analogs, such as 2-[3-amino-2-oxo-1-azetidinyl]-3-methylbutanoic acid, in which the targeted peptide bond has been incorporated into a beta-lactam ring. Since the "peptide bond" has been left intact, these species mimic only a distorted ground state. At present, antibodies are being elicited against a number of the above peptide derivatives.

Energy coupling in DNA gyrase: a thermodynamic limit to the extent of DNA supercoiling.

ATP alpha S (Rp) has been shown to support the supercoiling of plasmid pBR322 catalyzed by Escherichia coli DNA gyrase at comparable rates to the natural substrate ATP and is able to promote the introduction of one more superhelical turn than ATP. The difference in free energy change between consecutive rounds of supercoiling in gyrase-mediated reactions is calculated to be 2.6 kJ mol-1. The difference in free energy of hydrolysis of ATP and ATP alpha S (Rp) has been determined from the difference in the equilibrium constants for the phosphorylation of arginine established by arginine kinase. This equilibrium constant has been found to be displaced by a factor of about 1.5, corresponding to a greater free energy of hydrolysis of ATP alpha S (Rp) compared to ATP of approximately 1 kJ mol-1. This difference in free energy can be tentatively ascribed to a relative destabilization of the MgATP alpha S (Rp) complex with respect to MgATP. Assuming that the stoichiometry of the coupled reactions requires two ATPs hydrolyzed per round of supercoiling, ATP alpha S (Rp) should be capable of providing an additional ca. 2 kJ mol-1 of free energy for DNA supercoiling, which is in good agreement with estimates for the additional free energy required to achieve a further round of supercoiling. These results provide direct evidence to support the proposal that the extent of DNA supercoiling by DNA gyrase is limited by the free energy of hydrolysis of the nucleotide.