The development of mitochondrial membrane affinity chromatography columns for the study of mitochondrial transmembrane proteins

Screening of CPT1A-Targeting Lipid Metabolism Modulators Using Mitochondrial Membrane Chromatography

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A), which resides on the mitochondrial outer membrane, serves as the rate-limiting enzyme of fatty acid β-oxidation. Identifying the compounds targeting CPT1A warrants a promising candidate for modulating lipid metabolism. In this study, we developed a CPT1A-overexpressed mitochondrial membrane chromatography (MMC) to screen the compounds with affinity for CPT1A. Cells overexpressing CPT1A were cultured, and subsequently, their mitochondrial membrane was isolated and immobilized on amino-silica gel cross-linked by glutaraldehyde. After packing the mitochondrial membrane column, retention components of MMC were performed with LC/MS, whose analytic peaks provided structural information on compounds that might interact with mitochondrial membrane proteins. With the newly developed MMC-LC/MS approach, several Chinese traditional medicine extracts, such as Scutellariae Radix and Polygoni Cuspidati Rhizoma et Radix (PCRR), were analyzed. Five noteworthy compounds, baicalin, baicalein, wogonoside, wogonin, and resveratrol, were identified as enhancers of CPT1A enzyme activity, with resveratrol being a new agonist for CPT1A. The study suggests that MMC serves as a reliable screening system for efficiently identifying modulators targeting CPT1A from complex extracts.

Solid-Supported Proteins in the Liquid Chromatography Domain to Probe Ligand-Target Interactions

Ligand-target interactions play a central role in drug discovery processes because these interactions are crucial in biological systems. Small molecules-proteins interactions can regulate and modulate protein function and activity through conformational changes. Therefore, bioanalytical tools to screen new ligands have focused mainly on probing ligand-target interactions. These interactions have been evaluated by using solid-supported proteins, which provide advantages like increased protein stability and easier protein extraction from the reaction medium, which enables protein reuse. In some specific approaches, precisely in the ligand fishing assay, the bioanalytical method allows the ligands to be directly isolated from complex mixtures, including combinatorial libraries and natural products extracts without prior purification or fractionation steps. Most of these screening assays are based on liquid chromatography separation, and the binding events can be monitored through on-line or off-line methods. In the on-line approaches, solid supports containing the immobilized biological target are used as chromatographic columns most of the time. Several terms have been used to refer to such approaches, such as weak affinity chromatography, high-performance affinity chromatography, on-flow activity assays, and high-performance liquid affinity chromatography. On the other hand, in the off-line approaches, the binding event occurs outside the liquid chromatography system and may encompass affinity and activity-based assays in which the biological target is immobilized on magnetic particles or monolithic silica, among others. After the incubation step, the supernatant or the eluate from the binding assay is analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to various detectors. Regardless of the selected bioanalytical approach, the use of solid supported proteins has significantly contributed to the development of automated and reliable screening methods that enable ligands to be isolated and characterized in complex matrixes without purification, thereby reducing costs and avoiding time-laborious steps. This review provides a critical overview of recently developed assays.

Development and characterization of mitochondrial membrane affinity chromatography columns derived from skeletal muscle and platelets for the study of mitochondrial transmembrane proteins

Mitochondrial membrane fragments from human platelets and monkey skeletal muscles were successfully immobilized onto immobilized artificial membrane chromatographic support for the first time, resulting in mitochondrial membrane affinity chromatography (MMAC) columns. These columns were validated by characterization of translocator protein (TSPO), where multiple concentrations of dipyridamole were run and the binding affinities (K_d) determined. Further, the relative ranking data of TSPO ligands was consistent with previously reported rankings for both, the platelet (MMAC-Platelet) and the skeletal muscle (MMAC-Muscle) column (dipyridamole>PK11195>protoporphyrin IX>rotenone). The functional immobilization of the F-ATPase/ATP synthase was demonstrated on MMAC-Muscle column. Online hydrolysis of ATP to ADP and synthesis of ATP from ADP were both demonstrated on the MMAC-Muscle column. Hydrolysis of ATP to ADP was inhibited by oligomycin A with an IC₅₀ of 40.2±13.5nM (∼60% reduction in ATP hydrolysis, p<0.001), similar to previously reported values. Additionally, the Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) for ADP was found to be 1525±461μM based on the on column dose-dependent increase in ATP production.