Differential response of orthologous L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferases (DapL) to enzyme inhibitory antibiotic lead compounds

The coordinated action of the enzymes in the L-lysine biosynthetic pathway and how to inhibit it for antibiotic targets

BACKGROUND

Antimicrobial resistance is a global health issue that requires immediate attention in terms of new antibiotics and new antibiotic targets. The l-lysine biosynthesis pathway (LBP) is a promising avenue for drug discovery as it is essential for bacterial growth and survival and is not required by human beings.

SCOPE OF REVIEW

The LBP involves a coordinated action of fourteen different enzymes distributed over four distinct sub-pathways. The enzymes involved in this pathway belong to different classes, such as aspartokinase, dehydrogenase, aminotransferase, epimerase, etc. This review provides a comprehensive account of the secondary and tertiary structure, conformational dynamics, active site architecture, mechanism of catalytic action, and inhibitors of all enzymes involved in LBP of different bacterial species.

MAJOR CONCLUSIONS

LBP offers a wide scope for novel antibiotic targets. The enzymology of a majority of the LBP enzymes is well understood, although these enzymes are less widely studied in the critical pathogens (according to the 2017 WHO report) that require immediate attention. In particular, the enzymes in the acetylase pathway, DapAT, DapDH, and Aspartokinase in critical pathogens have received little attention. High throughput screening for inhibitor design against the enzymes of lysine biosynthetic pathway is rather limited, both in number and in the extent of success.

GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE

This review can serve as a guide for the enzymology of LBP and help in identifying new drug targets and designing potential inhibitors.

Structure-Function Studies of the Antibiotic Target l,l-Diaminopimelate Aminotransferase from Verrucomicrobium spinosum Reveal an Unusual Oligomeric Structure

While humans lack the biosynthetic pathways for meso-diaminopimelate and l-lysine, they are essential for bacterial survival and are therefore attractive targets for antibiotics. It was recently discovered that members of the Chlamydia family utilize a rare aminotransferase route of the l-lysine biosynthetic pathway, thus offering a new enzymatic drug target. Here we characterize diaminopimelate aminotransferase from Verrucomicrobium spinosum (VsDapL), a nonpathogenic model bacterium for Chlamydia trachomatis. Complementation experiments verify that the V. spinosum dapL gene encodes a bona fide diaminopimelate aminotransferase, because the gene rescues an Escherichia coli strain that is auxotrophic for meso-diaminopimelate. Kinetic studies show that VsDapL follows a Michaelis-Menten mechanism, with a K_M^app of 4.0 mM toward its substrate l,l-diaminopimelate. The k_cat (0.46 s^-1) and the k_cat/K_M (115 s^-1 M^-1) are somewhat lower than values for other diaminopimelate aminotransferases. Moreover, whereas other studied DapL orthologs are dimeric, sedimentation velocity experiments demonstrate that VsDapL exists in a monomer-dimer self-association, with a K_D^2-1 of 7.4 μM. The 2.25 Å resolution crystal structure presents the canonical dimer of chalice-shaped monomers, and small-angle X-ray scattering experiments confirm the dimer in solution. Sequence and structural alignments reveal that active site residues important for activity are conserved in VsDapL, despite the lower activity compared to those of other DapL homologues. Although the dimer interface buries 18% of the total surface area, several loops that contribute to the interface and active site, notably the L1, L2, and L5 loops, are highly mobile, perhaps explaining the unstable dimer and lower catalytic activity. Our kinetic, biophysical, and structural characterization can be used to inform the development of antibiotics.

Comparative Molecular Dynamics Simulations Provide Insight Into Antibiotic Interactions: A Case Study Using the Enzyme L,L-Diaminopimelate Aminotransferase (DapL)

The L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL) pathway, a recently discovered variant of the lysine biosynthetic pathway, is an attractive pipeline to identify targets for the development of novel antibiotic compounds. DapL is a homodimer that catalyzes the conversion of tetrahydrodipicolinate to L,L-diaminopimelate in a single transamination reaction. The penultimate and ultimate products of the lysine biosynthesis pathway, meso-diaminopimelate and lysine, are key components of the Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial peptidoglycan cell wall. Humans are not able to synthesize lysine, and DapL has been identified in 13% of bacteria whose genomes have been sequenced and annotated to date, thus it is an attractive target for the development of narrow spectrum antibiotics through the prevention of both lysine biosynthesis and peptidoglycan crosslinking. To address the common lack of structural information when conducting compound screening experiments and provide support for the use of modeled structures, our analyses utilized inferred structures from related homologous enzymes. Using a comprehensive and comparative molecular dynamics (MD) software package-DROIDS (Detecting Relative Outlier Impacts in Dynamic Simulations) 2.0, we investigated the binding dynamics of four previously identified antagonistic ligands of DapL from Verrucomicrobium spinosum, a non-pathogenic relative of Chlamydia trachomatis. Here, we present putative docking positions of the four ligands and provide confirmatory comparative molecular dynamics simulations supporting the conformations. The simulations performed in this study can be applied to evaluate putative targets to predict compound effectiveness prior to in vivo and in vitro experimentation. Moreover, this approach has the potential to streamline the process of antibiotic development.

Analysis of drug binding pockets and repurposing opportunities for twelve essential enzymes of ESKAPE pathogens

Background

The rapid increase in antibiotic resistance by various bacterial pathogens underlies the significance of developing new therapies and exploring different drug targets. A fraction of bacterial pathogens abbreviated as ESKAPE by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control have been considered a major threat due to the rise in nosocomial infections. Here, we compared putative drug binding pockets of twelve essential and mostly conserved metabolic enzymes in numerous bacterial pathogens including those of the ESKAPE group and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The comparative analysis will provide guidelines for the likelihood of transferability of the inhibitors from one species to another.

Methods

Nine bacterial species including six ESKAPE pathogens, Mycobacterium tuberculosis along with Mycobacterium smegmatis and Eschershia coli, two non-pathogenic bacteria, have been selected for drug binding pocket analysis of twelve essential enzymes. The amino acid sequences were obtained from Uniprot, aligned using ICM v3.8-4a and matched against the Pocketome encyclopedia. We used known co-crystal structures of selected target enzyme orthologs to evaluate the location of their active sites and binding pockets and to calculate a matrix of pairwise sequence identities across each target enzyme across the different species. This was used to generate sequence maps.

Results

High sequence identity of enzyme binding pockets, derived from experimentally determined co-crystallized structures, was observed among various species. Comparison at both full sequence level and for drug binding pockets of key metabolic enzymes showed that binding pockets are highly conserved (sequence similarity up to 100%) among various ESKAPE pathogens as well as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Enzymes orthologs having conserved binding sites may have potential to interact with inhibitors in similar way and might be helpful for design of similar class of inhibitors for a particular species. The derived pocket alignments and distance-based maps provide guidelines for drug discovery and repurposing. In addition they also provide recommendations for the relevant model bacteria that may be used for initial drug testing.

Discussion

Comparing ligand binding sites through sequence identity calculation could be an effective approach to identify conserved orthologs as drug binding pockets have shown higher level of conservation among various species. By using this approach we could avoid the problems associated with full sequence comparison. We identified essential metabolic enzymes among ESKAPE pathogens that share high sequence identity in their putative drug binding pockets (up to 100%), of which known inhibitors can potentially antagonize these identical pockets in the various species in a similar manner.

The crystal structure of dihydrodipicolinate reductase from the human-pathogenic bacterium Bartonella henselae strain Houston-1 at 2.3 Å resolution

In bacteria, the second committed step in the diaminopimelate/lysine anabolic pathways is catalyzed by the enzyme dihydrodipicolinate reductase (DapB). DapB catalyzes the reduction of dihydrodipicolinate to yield tetrahydrodipicolinate. Here, the cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and X-ray diffraction analysis of DapB from the human-pathogenic bacterium Bartonella henselae, the causative bacterium of cat-scratch disease, are reported. Protein crystals were grown in conditions consisting of 5%(w/v) PEG 4000, 200 mM sodium acetate, 100 mM sodium citrate tribasic pH 5.5 and were shown to diffract to ∼2.3 Å resolution. They belonged to space group P4322, with unit-cell parameters a = 109.38, b = 109.38, c = 176.95 Å. Rr.i.m. was 0.11, Rwork was 0.177 and Rfree was 0.208. The three-dimensional structural features of the enzymes show that DapB from B. henselae is a tetramer consisting of four identical polypeptides. In addition, the substrate NADP+ was found to be bound to one monomer, which resulted in a closed conformational change in the N-terminal domain.

Central IGF-I Receptors in the Brain are Instrumental to Neuroprotection by Systemically Injected IGF-I in a Rat Model for Ischemic Stroke

AIM

Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) is a neuroprotective agent in animal models of ischemic stroke. The purpose of this study was to determine whether systemically injected IGF-I exerts its neuroprotective action by binding to IGF-I receptors in the brain after crossing the blood-brain barrier, or via peripheral effects.

METHODS

To differentiate the central effects of IGF-I from systemic effects, ischemic stroke was induced in conscious male Wistar Kyoto rats by the injection of endothelin-1 adjacent to the middle cerebral artery in the right hemisphere, while either the IGF-I receptor antagonist JB-1 or vehicle was introduced into the right lateral ventricle.

RESULTS

Intravenous injection of recombinant human (rh)IGF-I resulted in 50% reduction in infarct size, which was counteracted by the central administration of JB-1. Furthermore, rhIGF-I was detected in both the ischemic and nonischemic hemisphere.

CONCLUSIONS

Systemically injected rhIGF-I passes the blood-brain barrier and protects neurons via IGF-I receptors in the brain in rats with an ischemic stroke.

Mechanisms on boron-induced alleviation of aluminum-toxicity in Citrus grandis seedlings at a transcriptional level revealed by cDNA-AFLP analysis

The physiological and biochemical mechanisms on boron (B)-induced alleviation of aluminum (B)-toxicity in plants have been examined in some details, but our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes is very limited. In this study, we first used the cDNA-AFLP to investigate the gene expression patterns in Citrus grandis roots responsive to B and Al interactions, and isolated 100 differentially expressed genes. Results showed that genes related to detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and aldehydes (i.e., glutathione S-transferase zeta class-like isoform X1, thioredoxin M-type 4, and 2-alkenal reductase (NADP+-dependent)-like), metabolism (i.e., carboxylesterases and lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase-like 4-like, nicotianamine aminotransferase A-like isoform X3, thiosulfate sulfurtransferase 18-like isoform X1, and FNR, root isozyme 2), cell transport (i.e., non-specific lipid-transfer protein-like protein At2g13820-like and major facilitator superfamily protein), Ca signal and hormone (i.e., calcium-binding protein CML19-like and IAA-amino acid hydrolase ILR1-like 4-like), gene regulation (i.e., Gag-pol polyprotein) and cell wall modification (i.e., glycosyl hydrolase family 10 protein) might play a role in B-induced alleviation of Al-toxicity. Our results are useful not only for our understanding of molecular processes associated with B-induced alleviation of Al-toxicity, but also for obtaining key molecular genes to enhance Al-tolerance of plants in the future.

L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL): a putative target for the development of narrow-spectrum antibacterial compounds

Despite the urgent need for sustained development of novel antibacterial compounds to combat the drastic rise in antibiotic resistant and emerging bacterial infections, only a few clinically relevant antibacterial drugs have been recently developed. One of the bottlenecks impeding the development of novel antibacterial compounds is the identification of new enzymatic targets. The nutritionally essential amino acid anabolic pathways, for example lysine biosynthesis, provide an opportunity to explore the development of antibacterial compounds, since human genomes do not possess the genes necessary to synthesize these amino acids de novo. The diaminopimelate (DAP)/lysine (lys) anabolic pathways are attractive targets for antibacterial development since the penultimate lys precursor meso-DAP (m-DAP) is a cross-linking amino acid in the peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall of most Gram-negative bacteria and lys plays a similar role in the PG of most Gram-positive bacteria, in addition to its role as one of the 20 proteogenic amino acids. The L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL) pathway was recently identified as a novel variant of the DAP/lys anabolic pathways. The DapL pathway has been identified in the pathogenic bacteria belonging to the genus; Chlamydia, Leptospira, and Treponema. The dapL gene has been identified in the genomes of 381 or approximately 13% of the 2771 bacteria that have been sequenced, annotated and reposited in the NCBI database, as of May 23, 2014. The narrow distribution of the DapL pathway in the bacterial domain provides an opportunity for the development and or discovery of narrow spectrum antibacterial compounds.