Synthesis of Lipid-Carbohydrate-Peptidyl-RNA Conjugates to Explore the Limits Imposed by the Substrate Specificity of Cell Wall Enzymes on the Acquisition of Drug Resistance

Synthesis of Peptidyl-tRNA Mimics for Structural Biology Applications

Protein biosynthesis is a central process in all living cells that is catalyzed by a complex molecular machine─the ribosome. This process is termed translation because the language of nucleotides in mRNAs is translated into the language of amino acids in proteins. Transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules charged with amino acids serve as adaptors and recognize codons of mRNA in the decoding center while simultaneously the individual amino acids are assembled into a peptide chain in the peptidyl transferase center (PTC). As the nascent peptide emerges from the ribosome, it is threaded through a long tunnel referred to as a nascent peptide exit tunnel (NPET). The PTC and NPET are the sites targeted by many antibiotics and are thus of tremendous importance from a biomedical perspective and for drug development in the pharmaceutical industry.Researchers have achieved much progress in characterizing ribosomal translation at the molecular level; an impressive number of high-resolution structures of different functional and inhibited states of the ribosome are now available. These structures have significantly contributed to our understanding of how the ribosome interacts with its key substrates, namely, mRNA, tRNAs, and translation factors. In contrast, much less is known about the mechanisms of how small molecules, especially antibiotics, affect ribosomal protein synthesis. This mainly concerns the structural basis of small molecule-NPET interference with cotranslational protein folding and the regulation of protein synthesis. Growing biochemical evidence suggests that NPET plays an active role in the regulation of protein synthesis.Much-needed progress in this field is hampered by the fact that during the preparation of ribosome complexes for structural studies (i.e., X-ray crystallography, cryoelectron microscopy, and NMR spectroscopy) the aminoacyl- or peptidyl-tRNAs are unstable and become hydrolyzed. A solution to this problem is the application of hydrolysis-resistant mimics of aminoacyl- or peptidyl-tRNAs.In this Account, we present an overview of synthetic methods for the generation of peptidyl-tRNA analogs. Modular approaches have been developed that combine (i) RNA and peptide solid-phase synthesis on 3'-aminoacylamino-adenosine resins, (ii) native chemical ligations and Staudinger ligations, (iii) tailoring of tRNAs by the selective cleavage of natural native tRNAs with DNAzymes followed by reassembly with enzymatic ligation to synthetic peptidyl-RNA fragments, and (iv) enzymatic tailing and cysteine charging of the tRNA to obtain modified CCA termini of a tRNA that are chemically ligated to the peptide moiety of interest. With this arsenal of tools, in principle, any desired sequence of a stably linked peptidyl-tRNA mimic is accessible. To underline the significance of the synthetic conjugates, we briefly point to the most critical applications that have shed new light on the molecular mechanisms underlying the context-specific activity of ribosome-targeting antibiotics, ribosome-dependent incorporation of multiple consecutive proline residues, the incorporation of d-amino acids, and tRNA mischarging.Furthermore, we discuss new types of stably charged tRNA analogs, relying on triazole- and squarate (instead of amide)-linked conjugates. Those have pushed forward our mechanistic understanding of nonribosomal peptide synthesis, where aminoacyl-tRNA-dependent enzymes are critically involved in various cellular processes in primary and secondary metabolism and in bacterial cell wall synthesis.

Amino-acyl tXNA as inhibitors or amino acid donors in peptide synthesis

Xenobiotic nucleic acids (XNAs) offer tremendous potential for synthetic biology, biotechnology, and molecular medicine but their ability to mimic nucleic acids still needs to be explored. Here, to study the ability of XNA oligonucleotides to mimic tRNA, we synthesized three L-Ala-tXNAs analogs. These molecules were used in a non-ribosomal peptide synthesis involving a bacterial Fem transferase. We compared the ability of this enzyme to use amino-acyl tXNAs containing 1',5'-anhydrohexitol (HNA), 2'-fluoro ribose (2'F-RNA) and 2'-fluoro arabinose. L-Ala-tXNA containing HNA or 2'F-RNA were substrates of the Fem enzyme. The synthesis of peptidyl-XNA and the resolution of their structures in complex with the enzyme show the impact of the XNA on protein binding. For the first time we describe functional tXNA in an in vitro assay. These results invite to test tXNA also as substitute for tRNA in translation.

Partition of tRNAGly isoacceptors between protein and cell-wall peptidoglycan synthesis in Staphylococcus aureus

The sequence of tRNAs is submitted to evolutionary constraints imposed by their multiple interactions with aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, translation elongation factor Tu in complex with GTP (EF-Tu•GTP), and the ribosome, each being essential for accurate and effective decoding of messenger RNAs. In Staphylococcus aureus, an additional constraint is imposed by the participation of tRNA^Gly isoacceptors in the addition of a pentaglycine side chain to cell-wall peptidoglycan precursors by transferases FmhB, FemA and FemB. Three tRNA^Gly isoacceptors poorly interacting with EF-Tu•GTP and the ribosome were previously identified. Here, we show that these ‘non-proteogenic’ tRNAs are preferentially recognized by FmhB based on kinetic analyses and on synthesis of stable aminoacyl-tRNA analogues acting as inhibitors. Synthesis of chimeric tRNAs and of helices mimicking the tRNA acceptor arms revealed that this discrimination involves identity determinants exclusively present in the D and T stems and loops of non-proteogenic tRNAs, which belong to an evolutionary lineage only present in the staphylococci. EF-Tu•GTP competitively inhibited FmhB by sequestration of ‘proteogenic’ aminoacyl-tRNAs in vitro. Together, these results indicate that competition for the Gly-tRNA^Gly pool is restricted by both limited recognition of non-proteogenic tRNAs by EF-Tu•GTP and limited recognition of proteogenic tRNAs by FmhB.

Small-Molecule Acetylation by GCN5-Related N-Acetyltransferases in Bacteria

Acetylation is a conserved modification used to regulate a variety of cellular pathways, such as gene expression, protein synthesis, detoxification, and virulence. Acetyltransferase enzymes transfer an acetyl moiety, usually from acetyl coenzyme A (AcCoA), onto a target substrate, thereby modulating activity or stability. Members of the GCN5- N -acetyltransferase (GNAT) protein superfamily are found in all domains of life and are characterized by a core structural domain architecture. These enzymes can modify primary amines of small molecules or of lysyl residues of proteins. From the initial discovery of antibiotic acetylation, GNATs have been shown to modify a myriad of small-molecule substrates, including tRNAs, polyamines, cell wall components, and other toxins. This review focuses on the literature on small-molecule substrates of GNATs in bacteria, including structural examples, to understand ligand binding and catalysis. Understanding the plethora and versatility of substrates helps frame the role of acetylation within the larger context of bacterial cellular physiology.