William R Montfort

Resorcylic acid lactones and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid lactones represent important pharmacophores with heat shock response and immune system modulatory activities. The biosynthesis of these fungal polyketides involves a pair of collaborating iterative polyketide synthases (iPKSs): a highly reducing iPKS with product that is further elaborated by a nonreducing iPKS (nrPKS) to yield a 1,3-benzenediol moiety bridged by a macrolactone. Biosynthesis of unreduced polyketides requires the sequestration and programmed cyclization of highly reactive poly-β-ketoacyl intermediates to channel these uncommitted, pluripotent substrates to defined subsets of the polyketide structural space. Catalyzed by product template (PT) domains of the fungal nrPKSs and discrete aromatase/cyclase enzymes in bacteria, regiospecific first-ring aldol cyclizations result in characteristically different polyketide folding modes. However, a few fungal polyketides, including the dihydroxyphenylacetic acid lactone dehydrocurvularin, derive from a folding event that is analogous to the bacterial folding mode. The structural basis of such a drastic difference in the way a PT domain acts has not been investigated until now. We report here that the fungal vs. bacterial folding mode difference is portable on creating hybrid enzymes, and we structurally characterize the resulting unnatural products. Using structure-guided active site engineering, we unravel structural contributions to regiospecific aldol condensations and show that reshaping the cyclization chamber of a PT domain by only three selected point mutations is sufficient to reprogram the dehydrocurvularin nrPKS to produce polyketides with a fungal fold. Such rational control of first-ring cyclizations will facilitate efforts to the engineered biosynthesis of novel chemical diversity from natural unreduced polyketides.

Soluble guanylyl/guanylate cyclase (sGC) is the primary receptor for nitric oxide (NO) and is central to the physiology of blood pressure regulation, wound healing, memory formation, and other key physiological activities. sGC is increasingly implicated in disease and is targeted by novel therapeutic compounds. The protein displays a rich evolutionary history and a fascinating signal transduction mechanism, with NO binding to an N-terminal heme-containing domain, which activates the C-terminal cyclase domains. Recent Advances: Crystal structures of individual sGC domains or their bacterial homologues coupled with small-angle x-ray scattering, electron microscopy, chemical cross-linking, and Förster resonance energy transfer measurements are yielding insight into the overall structure for sGC, which is elongated and likely quite dynamic. Transient kinetic measurements reveal a role for individual domains in lowering NO affinity for heme. New sGC stimulatory drugs are now in the clinic and appear to function through binding near or directly to the sGC heme domain, relieving inhibitory contacts with other domains. New sGC-activating drugs show promise for recovering oxidized sGC in diseases with high inflammation by replacing lost heme.

Chemically defended plant tissues present formidable barriers to herbivores. Although mechanisms to resist plant defenses have been identified in ancient herbivorous lineages, adaptations to overcome plant defenses during transitions to herbivory remain relatively unexplored. The fly genus Scaptomyza is nested within the genus Drosophila and includes species that feed on the living tissue of mustard plants (Brassicaceae), yet this lineage is derived from microbe-feeding ancestors. We found that mustard-feeding Scaptomyza species and microbe-feeding Drosophila melanogaster detoxify mustard oils, the primary chemical defenses in the Brassicaceae, using the widely conserved mercapturic acid pathway. This detoxification strategy differs from other specialist herbivores of mustard plants, which possess derived mechanisms to obviate mustard oil formation. To investigate whether mustard feeding is coupled with evolution in the mercapturic acid pathway, we profiled functional and molecular evolutionary changes in the enzyme glutathione S-transferase D1 (GSTD1), which catalyzes the first step of the mercapturic acid pathway and is induced by mustard defense products in Scaptomyza. GSTD1 acquired elevated activity against mustard oils in one mustard-feeding Scaptomyza species in which GstD1 was duplicated. Structural analysis and mutagenesis revealed that substitutions at conserved residues within and near the substrate-binding cleft account for most of this increase in activity against mustard oils. Functional evolution of GSTD1 was coupled with signatures of episodic positive selection in GstD1 after the evolution of herbivory. Overall, we found that preexisting functions of generalized detoxification systems, and their refinement by natural selection, could play a central role in the evolution of herbivory.

PMID: 24328155;Abstract:

Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) is a heterodimeric heme protein and the primary nitric oxide receptor. NO binding stimulates cyclase activity, leading to regulation of cardiovascular physiology and making sGC an attractive target for drug discovery. YC-1 and related compounds stimulate sGC both independently and synergistically with NO and CO binding; however, where the compounds bind and how they work remain unknown. Using linked equilibrium binding measurements, surface plasmon resonance, and domain truncations in Manduca sexta and bovine sGC, we demonstrate that YC-1 binds near or directly to the heme-containing domain of the β subunit. In the absence of CO, YC-1 binds with a K d of 9-21 μM, depending on the construct. In the presence of CO, these values decrease to 0.6-1.1 μM. Pfizer compound 25 bound ∼10-fold weaker than YC-1 in the absence of CO, whereas compound BAY 41-2272 bound particularly tightly in the presence of CO (Kd = 30-90 nM). Additionally, we found that CO binds much more weakly to heterodimeric sGC proteins (Kd = 50-100 μM) than to the isolated heme domain (K d = 0.2 μM for Manduca β H-NOX/PAS). YC-1 greatly enhanced binding of CO to heterodimeric sGC, as expected (Kd ∼ 1 μM). These data indicate the α subunit induces a heme pocket conformation with a lower affinity for CO and NO. YC-1 family compounds bind near the heme domain, overcoming the α subunit effect and inducing a heme pocket conformation with high affinity. We propose this high-affinity conformation is required for the full-length protein to achieve high catalytic activity. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

Soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) is the receptor for nitric oxide and a highly sought-after therapeutic target for the management of cardiovascular diseases. New compounds that stimulate sGC show clinical promise, but where these stimulator compounds bind and how they function remains unknown. Here, using a photolyzable diazirine derivative of a novel stimulator compound, IWP-051, and MS analysis, we localized drug binding to the β1 heme domain of sGC proteins from the hawkmothand from human. Covalent attachments to the stimulator were also identified in bacterial homologs of the sGC heme domain, referred to as H-NOX domains, including those fromsp. PCC 7120,,, and, indicating that the binding site is highly conserved. The identification of photoaffinity-labeled peptides was aided by a signature MS fragmentation pattern of general applicability for unequivocal identification of covalently attached compounds. Using NMR, we also examined stimulator binding to sGC fromand bacterial H-NOX homologs. These data indicated that stimulators bind to a conserved cleft between two subdomains in the sGC heme domain. L12W/T48W substitutions within the binding pocket resulted in a 9-fold decrease in drug response, suggesting that the bulkier tryptophan residues directly block stimulator binding. The localization of stimulator binding to the sGC heme domain reported here resolves the longstanding question of where stimulators bind and provides a path forward for drug discovery.