1
|
El Khabchi M, Mcharfi M, Benzakour M, Fitri A, Benjelloun AT, Song JW, Lee KB, Lee HJ. Computational Investigation of Conformational Properties of Short Azapeptides: Insights from DFT Study and NBO Analysis. Molecules 2023; 28:5454. [PMID: 37513326 PMCID: PMC10386235 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28145454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Azapeptides have gained much attention due to their ability to enhance the stability and bioavailability of peptide drugs. Their structural preferences, essential to understanding their function and potential application in the peptide drug design, remain largely unknown. In this work, we systematically investigated the conformational preferences of three azaamino acid residues in tripeptide models, Ac-azaXaa-Pro-NHMe [Xaa = Asn (4), Asp (5), Ala (6)], using the popular DFT functionals, B3LYP and B3LYP-D3. A solvation model density (SMD) was used to mimic the solvation effect on the conformational behaviors of azapeptides in water. During the calculation, we considered the impact of the amide bond in the azapeptide models on the conformational preferences of models 4-6. We analyzed the effect of the HB between the side-chain main chain and main-chain main-chain on the conformational behaviors of azapeptides 4-6. We found that the predicted lowest energy conformation for the three models differs depending on the calculation methods. In the gas phase, B3LYP functional indicates that the conformers tttANP-1 and tttADP-1 of azapeptides 4 and 5 correspond to the type I of β-turn, the lowest energy conformation with all-trans amide bonds. Considering the dispersion correction, B3LYP-D3 functional predicts the conformers tctANP-2 and tctADP-3 of azapeptide 4 and 5, which contain the cis amide bond preceding the Pro residue, as the lowest energy conformation in the gas phase. The results imply that azaAsx and Pro residues may involve cis-trans isomerization in the gas phase. In water, the predicted lowest energy conformer of azapeptides 4 and 5 differs from the gas phase results and depends on the calculational method. For azapeptide 6, regardless of calculation methods and phases, tttAAP-1 (β-I turn) is predicted as the lowest energy conformer. The results imply that the effect of the side chain that can form HBs on the conformational preferences of azapeptides 4 and 5 may not be negligible. We compared the theoretical results of azaXaa-Pro models with those of Pro-azaXaa models, showing that incorporating azaamino acid residue in peptides at different positions can significantly impact the folding patterns and stability of azapeptides.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mouna El Khabchi
- LIMAS, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah University, Fez 30000, Morocco
| | - Mohammed Mcharfi
- LIMAS, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah University, Fez 30000, Morocco
| | - Mohammed Benzakour
- LIMAS, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah University, Fez 30000, Morocco
| | - Asmae Fitri
- LIMAS, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah University, Fez 30000, Morocco
| | - Adil Touimi Benjelloun
- LIMAS, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah University, Fez 30000, Morocco
| | - Jong-Won Song
- Department of Chemistry Education, Daegu University, Daegudae-ro 201, Gyeongsan-si 38453, Republic of Korea
| | - Kang-Bong Lee
- Climate and Environmental Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science & Technology, Hwarang-ro 14-gil 5, Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea
| | - Ho-Jin Lee
- Department of Natural Sciences, Southwest Tennessee Community College, Memphis, TN 38134, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Why the Ala-His-His Peptide Is an Appropriate Scaffold to Remove and Redox Silence Copper Ions from the Alzheimer’s-Related Aβ Peptide. Biomolecules 2022; 12:biom12101327. [PMID: 36291536 PMCID: PMC9599918 DOI: 10.3390/biom12101327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Revised: 09/09/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The progressive, neurodegenerative Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most widespread dementia. Due to the ageing of the population and the current lack of molecules able to prevent or stop the disease, AD will be even more impactful for society in the future. AD is a multifactorial disease, and, among other factors, metal ions have been regarded as potential therapeutic targets. This is the case for the redox-competent Cu ions involved in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) when bound to the Alzheimer-related Aβ peptide, a process that contributes to the overall oxidative stress and inflammation observed in AD. Here, we made use of peptide ligands to stop the Cu(Aβ)-induced ROS production and we showed why the AHH sequence is fully appropriate, while the two parents, AH and AAH, are not. The AHH peptide keeps its beneficial ability against Cu(Aβ)-induced ROS, even in the presence of ZnII-competing ions and other biologically relevant ions. The detailed kinetic mechanism by which AHH could exert its action against Cu(Aβ)-induced ROS is also proposed.
Collapse
|
3
|
Bellotti D, Remelli M. Lights and Shadows on the Therapeutic Use of Antimicrobial Peptides. Molecules 2022; 27:molecules27144584. [PMID: 35889455 PMCID: PMC9317528 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27144584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2022] [Revised: 07/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/15/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The emergence of antimicrobial-resistant infections is still a major concern for public health worldwide. The number of pathogenic microorganisms capable of resisting common therapeutic treatments are constantly increasing, highlighting the need of innovative and more effective drugs. This phenomenon is strictly connected to the rapid metabolism of microorganisms: due to the huge number of mutations that can occur in a relatively short time, a colony can “adapt” to the pharmacological treatment with the evolution of new resistant species. However, the shortage of available antimicrobial drugs in clinical use is also caused by the high costs involved in developing and marketing new drugs without an adequate guarantee of an economic return; therefore, the pharmaceutical companies have reduced their investments in this area. The use of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represents a promising strategy for the design of new therapeutic agents. AMPs act as immune defense mediators of the host organism and show a poor ability to induce antimicrobial resistance, coupled with other advantages such as a broad spectrum of activity, not excessive synthetic costs and low toxicity of both the peptide itself and its own metabolites. It is also important to underline that many antimicrobial peptides, due to their inclination to attack cell membranes, have additional biological activities, such as, for example, as anti-cancer drugs. Unfortunately, they usually undergo rapid degradation by proteolytic enzymes and are characterized by poor bioavailability, preventing their extensive clinical use and landing on the pharmaceutical market. This review is focused on the strength and weak points of antimicrobial peptides as therapeutic agents. We give an overview on the AMPs already employed in clinical practice, which are examples of successful strategies aimed at overcoming the main drawbacks of peptide-based drugs. The review deepens the most promising strategies to design modified antimicrobial peptides with higher proteolytic stability with the purpose of giving a comprehensive summary of the commonly employed approaches to evaluate and optimize the peptide potentialities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Denise Bellotti
- Department of Environmental and Prevention Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy;
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Wrocław, 50-383 Wrocław, Poland
| | - Maurizio Remelli
- Department of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
- Correspondence:
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Abate C, Cassone G, Cordaro M, Giuffrè O, Mollica-Nardo V, Ponterio RC, Saija F, Sponer J, Trusso S, Foti C. Understanding the behaviour of carnosine in aqueous solution: an experimental and quantum-based computational investigation on acid–base properties and complexation mechanisms with Ca 2+ and Mg 2+. NEW J CHEM 2021. [DOI: 10.1039/d1nj04094d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Thermodynamic parameters together with unprecedented quantum-based molecular dynamics simulations contribute to the macroscopic and microscopic understanding of the mechanisms of action of carnosine in aqueous solution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Abate
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche e Ambientali, Università di Messina, Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Cassone
- Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes, National Research Council of Italy (IPCF-CNR), Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 37, 98158 Messina, Italy
| | - Massimiliano Cordaro
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche e Ambientali, Università di Messina, Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
| | - Ottavia Giuffrè
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche e Ambientali, Università di Messina, Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
| | - Viviana Mollica-Nardo
- Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes, National Research Council of Italy (IPCF-CNR), Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 37, 98158 Messina, Italy
| | - Rosina Celeste Ponterio
- Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes, National Research Council of Italy (IPCF-CNR), Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 37, 98158 Messina, Italy
| | - Franz Saija
- Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes, National Research Council of Italy (IPCF-CNR), Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 37, 98158 Messina, Italy
| | - Jiri Sponer
- Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IBP-CAS), Kràlovopolskà 135, 61265 Brno, Czechia
| | - Sebastiano Trusso
- Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes, National Research Council of Italy (IPCF-CNR), Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 37, 98158 Messina, Italy
| | - Claudia Foti
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche e Ambientali, Università di Messina, Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
| |
Collapse
|