Isomorphic Fluorescent Nucleosides Facilitate Real-Time Monitoring of RNA Depurination by Ribosome Inactivating Proteins.

Ribosome-inactivating proteins, a family of highly cytotoxic proteins, interfere with protein synthesis by depurinating a specific adenosine residue within the conserved α-sarcin/ricin loop of eukaryotic ribosomal RNA. Besides being biological warfare agents, certain RIPs have been promoted as potential therapeutic tools. Monitoring their deglycosylation activity and their inhibition in real time have remained, however, elusive. Herein, we describe the enzymatic preparation and utility of consensus RIP hairpin substrates in which specific G residues, next to the depurination site, are surgically replaced with tz G and th G, fluorescent G analogs. By strategically modifying key positions with responsive fluorescent surrogate nucleotides, RIP-mediated depurination can be monitored in real time by steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy. Subtle differences observed in preferential depurination sites provide insight into the RNA folding as well as RIPs' substrate recognition features.

A New Variant of Emissive RNA Alphabets.

A new fluorescent ribonucleoside alphabet (mth N) consisting of pyrimidine and purine analogues, all derived from methylthieno[3,4-d]pyrimidine as the heterocyclic core, is described. Large bathochromic shifts and high microenvironmental susceptibility of their emission relative to previous alphabets derived from thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidine (th N) and isothiazole[4,3-d]pyrimidine (tz N) scaffolds are observed. Subjecting the purine analogues to adenosine deaminase, guanine deaminase and T7 RNA polymerase indicate that, while varying, all but one enzyme tolerate the corresponding mth N/mth NTP substrates. The robust emission quantum yields, high photophysical responsiveness and enzymatic accommodation suggest that the mth N alphabet is a biophysically viable tool and can be used to probe the tolerance of nucleoside/tide-processing enzymes to structural perturbations of their substrates.

Real-Time Monitoring of Human Guanine Deaminase Activity by an Emissive Guanine Analog.

Guanine deaminase (GDA) deaminates guanine to xanthine. Despite its significance, the study of human GDA remains limited compared to other metabolic deaminases. As a result, its substrate and inhibitor repertoire are limited, and effective real-time activity, inhibitory, and discovery assays are missing. Herein, we explore two emissive heterocyclic cores, based on thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidine (thN) and isothiazole[4,3-d]pyrimidine (tzN), as surrogate GDA substrates. We demonstrate that, unlike the thieno analog, thGN, the isothiazolo guanine surrogate, tzGN, does undergo effective enzymatic deamination by GDA and yields the spectroscopically distinct xanthine analog, tzXN. Further, we showcase the potential of this fluorescent nucleobase surrogate to provide a visible spectral window for a real-time study of GDA and its inhibition.

Cytidine deaminase can deaminate fused pyrimidine ribonucleosides.

The tolerance of cytidine deaminase (CDA) to expanded heterocycles is explored via three fluorescent cytidine analogues, where the pyrimidine core is fused to three distinct five-membered heterocycles at the 5/6 positions. The reaction between CDA and each analogue is followed by absorption and emission spectroscopy, revealing shorter reaction times for all analogues than the native substrate. Pseudo-first order and Michaelis-Menten kinetic analyses provide insight into the enzymatic deamination reactions and assist in drawing comparison to established structure activity relationships. Finally, inhibitor screening modalities are created for each analogue and validated with zebularine and tetrahydrouridine, two known CDA inhibitors.

Double-headed nucleotides as xeno nucleic acids: information storage and polymerase recognition.

Xeno nucleic acids (XNAs) are artificial genetic systems based on sugar-modified nucleotides. Herein, we investigate double-headed nucleotides as a new XNA. A new monomer, AT, is presented, and together with previous double-headed nucleotide monomers, new nucleic acid motifs consisting of up to five consecutive A·T base pairs have been obtained. Sections composed entirely of double-headed nucleotides are well-tolerated within a DNA duplex and can condense the genetic information. For instance, a 13-mer duplex is condensed to an 11-mer modified duplex containing four double-headed nucleotides while simultaneously improving duplex thermal stability with +14.0 °C. Also, the transfer of information from double-headed to natural nucleotides by DNA polymerases has been examined. The first double-headed nucleoside triphosphate was prepared but could not be recognized and incorporated by the tested DNA polymerases. On the other hand, it proved possible for Therminator DNA polymerase to transfer the information of a double-headed nucleotide in a template sequence to natural DNA under controlled conditions.

Identification of Adenosine Deaminase Inhibitors by Metal-binding Pharmacophore Screening.

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is a human mononuclear Zn2+ metalloenzyme that converts adenosine to inosine. ADA is a validated drug target for cancer, but there has been little recent work on the development of new therapeutics against this enzyme. The lack of new advancements can be partially attributed to an absence of suitable assays for high-throughput screening (HTS) against ADA. To facilitate more rapid drug discovery efforts for this target, an in vitro assay was developed that utilizes the enzymatic conversion of a visibly emitting adenosine analogue to the corresponding fluorescent inosine analogue by ADA, which can be monitored via fluorescence intensity changes. Utilizing this assay, a library of ∼350 small molecules containing metal-binding pharmacophores (MBPs) was screened in an HTS format to identify new inhibitor scaffolds against ADA. This approach yielded a new metal-binding scaffold with a Ki value of 26±1 µM.

Ascertaining the activity and inhibition of adenosine deaminase via fluorescence-based assays.

A fluorescence-based assay for adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity and inhibition, which may also be formatted as an inhibitor discovery assay, is described. It relies on differences in fluorescence between an isothiazolo-based adenosine analogs (tzA) and its deaminated product, the corresponding inosine derivative (tzI), which facilitates a real-time monitoring of enzymatic activity. Inhibitors are added to the enzyme-substrate reaction mixture at various concentrations and the fluorescence signal is recorded over 10min. The percent inhibition is calculated from the signal change at 10min relative to the uninhibited reaction. The percent inhibition is plotted against inhibitor concentration and fitted to a Hill curve. IC50 values are then calculated.

Enzymatic Syntheses and Applications of Fluorescent Cyclic Dinucleotides.

Bacterial cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs) play important roles in regulating biofilm formation, motility and virulence. In eukaryotic cells, theses bacterial CDNs are recognized as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and trigger an innate immune response. We report the photophysical analyses of a novel group of enzymatically synthesized emissive CDN analogues comprised of two families of isomorphic ribonucleotides. The highly favorable photophysical features of the CDN analogues, when compared to their non-emissive natural counterparts, are used to monitor in real time the dinucleotide cyclase-mediated synthesis and phosphodiesterase (PDE)-mediated hydrolysis of homodimeric and mixed CDNs, providing effective means to probe the activities of two classes of bacterial enzymes and insight into their biomolecular recognition and catalytic features.

Fluorescing Isofunctional Ribonucleosides: Assessing Adenosine Deaminase Activity and Inhibition.

The enzymatic conversion of isothiazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidine-based adenosine (tz A) and 2-aminoadenosine (tz 2-AA) analogues to the corresponding isothiazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidine-based inosine (tz I) and guanosine (tz G) derivatives is evaluated and compared to the conversion of native adenosine to inosine. Henri-Michaelis-Menten analyses provides the foundation for a high-throughput screening assay, and the efficacy of the assay is showcased by fluorescence-based analysis of tz A conversion to tz I in the presence of known and newly synthesized inhibitors.

Phase segregation in bio-inspired multi-component vesicles encompassing double tail phospholipid species.

Our aim is to investigate the phase segregation and the structure of multi-component bio-inspired phospholipid vesicles via dissipative particle dynamics. The chemical distinction in the phospholipid species arises due to different head and tail group moieties, and molecular stiffness of the hydrocarbon tails. The individual amphiphilic phospholipid molecular species are represented by a hydrophilic head group and two hydrophobic tails. The distinct chemical nature of the moieties is modeled effectively via soft repulsive interaction parameters, and the molecular rigidity is tuned via suitable three-body potential constants. We demonstrate the formation of a stable hybrid vesicle through the self-assembly of the amphiphilic phospholipid molecules in the presence of a hydrophilic solvent. We investigate and characterize the phase segregation and the structure of the binary vesicles for different phospholipid mixtures. Our results demonstrate macroscopic phase separation for phospholipid mixtures composed of species with different hydrocarbon tail groups. We also investigate the relationship between the phase segregation and thermodynamic variables such as interfacial line tension and surface tension, and obtain correspondence between existing theory and experiments, and our simulation results. We report variations in the molecular chain stiffness to have negligible contributions to the phase segregation in the mixed bilayer, and to demonstrate shape transformations of the hybrid vesicle. Our results can be used to design novel bio-inspired hybrid vehicles for potential applications in biomedicine, sensing, imaging and sustainability.