Diketoacid HIV-1 integrase inhibitors: An ab initio study

SOLVENT EFFECTS ON THE KETO-ENOL TAUTOMERIC EQUILIBRIUM OF TETRONIC AND ETHYL ACETOACETATE CARBON ACIDS: A THEORETICAL STUDY

The solvent effects on the keto-enol tautomeric equilibriums of ethyl acetoacetate (EAA) and tetronic acid (TA) are theoretically investigated. The present study shows that the most stable keto tautomer of EAA corresponds to the trans diketo, E, Z form; while the most stable enol tautomer corresponds to the structure in which the enolization takes place at the carbonyl group. Our calculations also put in evidence that the keto tautomer of TA prefers the trans diketo, E, E form, while the most stable enol tautomer corresponds to the structure in which the enolization takes place at the carbonyl group. The calculated free energies indicate that, in polar solvents, the keto-enol equilibrium of EAA is shifted towards the keto tautomer, whereas the keto-enol equilibrium of TA is shifted toward the enol tautomer. The trends of the change of equilibrium constants with respect to the change of solvent polarity are well reproduced by both B3LYP and MP2 calculations. The present study shows that the enthalpic term is predominant in the determination of the calculated equilibrium constants and the entropic effect on the calculated Gibbs free energies is found to be very small and has little influence on the studied keto-enol tautomeric equilibriums.

Binding modes of diketo-acid inhibitors of HIV-1 integrase: a comparative molecular dynamics simulation study

HIV-1 integrase (IN) has become an attractive target since drug resistance against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) and protease (PR) has appeared. Diketo acid (DKA) inhibitors are potent and selective inhibitors of HIV-1 IN: however the action mechanism is not well understood. Here, to study the inhibition mechanism of DKAs we performed 10 ns comparative molecular dynamics simulations on HIV-1 IN bound with three most representative DKA inhibitors: Shionogi inhibitor, S-1360 and two Merck inhibitors L-731,988 and L-708,906. Our simulations show that the acidic part of S-1360 formed salt bridge and cation-π interactions with Lys159. In addition, the catalytic Glu152 in S-1360 was pushed away from the active site to form an ion-pair interaction with Arg199. The Merck inhibitors can maintain either one or both of these ion-pair interaction features. The difference in potencies of the DKA inhibitors is thus attributed to the different binding modes at the catalytic site. Such structural information at atomic level, not only demonstrates the action modes of DKA inhibitors but also provides a novel starting point for structural-based design of HIV-1 IN inhibitors.

Tautomerism and magnesium chelation of HIV-1 integrase inhibitors: a theoretical study

The tautomerism and corresponding transition states of four authentic HIV-1 integrase (IN) inhibitor prototype structures, alpha,gamma-diketo acid, alpha,gamma-diketotriazole, dihydroxypyrimidine carboxamide and 4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acid, were investigated at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level in vacuum and in aqueous solvent models. To study the possible chelating modes of these tautomers with two magnesium ions--a process important for inhibition--we modeled an assembly of three formic acids, four water molecules and two Mg(2+) ions as a template mimicking the binding site of IN. The DFT calculation results show that deprotonated enolized or phenolic hydroxy groups of specific tautomers in water lead to the most stable complexes, with the two magnesium ions separated by a distance of approximately 3.70 to 3.74 A, and with each magnesium ion at the center of an octahedron. The drug candidate GS-9137 (Gilead), based on the 4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acid scaffold, and its analogues form similar but different chelating modes. When one water molecule in the complex is replaced by a methanol molecule, which mimics the terminal 3'-OH of viral DNA, a good chelating complex is retained. This supports the hypothesis that, in the binding site of IN after 3'-processing, the terminal 3'-OH of viral DNA interacts with one Mg(2+) by chelation.

Scanning electrochemical microscopy imaging of DNA microarrays using methylene blue as a redox-active intercalator

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) has been employed in the imaging of DNA microarrays fabricated on gold substrates using methylene blue (MB) as a redox-active intercalator and ferrocyanide as the SECM mediator in solution. MB intercalated between base pairs of immobilized ds-DNA is electrochemically reduced via electron transfer from the underlying gold substrate, and the product is reoxidized in solution by SECM tip-generated ferricyanide. The resulting feedback current allows a heterogeneous electron-transfer rate constant for the MB-intercalated DNA to be deduced. Moreover, DNA microarray spots can be imaged at a detection level of 14 fmol/spot for ds-DNA consisting of 15 base pairs. Microarrays prepared using 20 microM DNA solutions are easily visualized, and the feasibility of detecting base pair mismatches is also demonstrated.

A quantum mechanic/molecular mechanic study of the wild-type and N155S mutant HIV-1 integrase complexed with diketo acid

Integrase (IN) is one of the three human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) enzymes essential for effective viral replication. Recently, mutation studies have been reported that have shown that a certain degree of viral resistance to diketo acids (DKAs) appears when some amino acid residues of the IN active site are mutated. Mutations represent a fascinating experimental challenge, and we invite theoretical simulations for the disclosure of still unexplored features of enzyme reactions. The aim of this work is to understand the molecular mechanisms of HIV-1 IN drug resistance, which will be useful for designing anti-HIV inhibitors with unique resistance profiles. In this study, we use molecular dynamics simulations, within the hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) approach, to determine the protein-ligand interaction energy for wild-type and N155S mutant HIV-1 IN, both complexed with a DKA. This hybrid methodology has the advantage of the inclusion of quantum effects such as ligand polarization upon binding, which can be very important when highly polarizable groups are embedded in anisotropic environments, for example in metal-containing active sites. Furthermore, an energy terms decomposition analysis was performed to determine contributions of individual residues to the enzyme-inhibitor interactions. The results reveal that there is a strong interaction between the Lys-159, Lys-156, and Asn-155 residues and Mg(2+) cation and the DKA inhibitor. Our calculations show that the binding energy is higher in wild-type than in the N155S mutant, in accordance with the experimental results. The role of the mutated residue has thus been checked as maintaining the structure of the ternary complex formed by the protein, the Mg(2+) cation, and the inhibitor. These results might be useful to design compounds with more interesting anti-HIV-1 IN activity on the basis of its three-dimensional structure.

Electrochemical Imaging of Localized Sandwich DNA Hybridization Using Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy

Imaging of localized hybridization of nucleic acids immobilized on gold-DNA chip was performed by means of the feedback mode of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). Thiol-tethered oligodeoxynucleotide (HS-ODN) probes, spotted on a gold surface, were hybridized with unmodified target sequence via sandwich hybridization with a biotinylated signaling probe. Spots where sequence-specific hybridization had occurred were developed by adding a streptavidin-alkaline phosphatase conjugate and biocatalyzed precipitation of an insoluble and insulating product. As a consequence, the surface conductivity of the spotted region of the chip where hybridization had taken place changed. These changes in conductivity were sensitively detected by the SECM tip. The proposed method allows imaging of a DNA array in a straightforward way. Analysis of real samples was also performed coupling this method with polymerase chain reaction. The imaging of 60 nM PCR amplicon (255 bp) was demonstrated.

Electrochemical detection of single-nucleotide mismatches using an electrode microarray

Gold electrode arrays with electrode diameters of 10 mum were used for the detection of eight single-nucleotide mismatches in unlabeled and prehybridized DNA by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Because of the differences in the electrical properties of films of duplex DNA (normal duplex DNA in B-form) in the presence and absence of Zn(2+) at pH > or = 8.6, Randles equivalent circuits were employed to evaluate the EIS results. The difference in the charge-transfer resistance (DeltaR(CT)) between B-DNA (absence of Zn2+ at pH > or = 8.6) and M-DNA (presence of Zn2+ at pH > or = 8.6) allows unequivocal detection of all eight single-nucleotide mismatches within a 20-mer DNA sequence. After dehybridization/rehybridization with target DNA, DeltaR(CT) allows the discrimination of single-nucleotide mismatches with concentrations of the target strand as low as 10 fM. Although the presence of protein impurities (bovine serum albumin, 10 microg/mL) interferes with the detection of the target strand (1 pM detection limit), the presence of nontarget DNA (calf thymus DNA, 10(-8) M) does not interfere, and the detection limit for recognition of the target strand remains at 10 fM.

Chip-based microelectrodes for detection of single-nucleotide mismatch

Microelectrode arrays having eight 10-microm-diameter gold microelectrodes arranged on a gold-covered Si chip were designed and characterized. The chips prove useful for the detection of single-nucleotide mismatches in unlabeled and prehybridized DNA by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

An LFER study of the protolytic equilibria of 4-aryl-2,4-dioxobutanoic acids in aqueous solutions

The protolytic equilibria of 13 4-aryl-2,4-dioxobutanoic acids (ADKs) were spectrophotometrically studied in aqueous solutions in the pH range 1-9 at 25?1 ?C and an ionic strength of 0.1 mol l-1 (NaCl), with the exception of the 4-OH-derivative which was also potentiometrically studied in the pH range 7-10 at 25?1 ?C and an ionic strength of 0.1 mol l-1 (NaCl). In solution, the compounds simultaneously exist in one diketo and two enolic forms; therefore, the determined acidity constants (pKa1 1.87-2.29, pKa2 6.63-8.13 and pKa3(4-OH-) 9.52) represent system macro constants. The 1H-NMR spectrum of the parent compound (4-phenyl- -2,4-dioxobutanoic acid) (25 ?C, pD 5.0) proved the existence of all tautomeric forms. Using the extended Hammett relation, the determined pKa values were correlated with literature ? values. The predicted pKa values were in fair accordance with the experimentally observed ones. Molecular, monoanionic and dianionic forms of the parent compound were optimized by the semi-empirical molecular orbital PM6 method using the implicit water solvation model (COSMO). The obtained geometries were used to explain the quality of the LFER models.

Topographic, electrochemical, and optical images captured using standing approach mode scanning electrochemical/optical microscopy

We developed a high-resolution scanning electrochemical microscope (SECM) for the characterization of various biological materials. Electrode probes were fabricated by Ti/Pt sputtering followed by parylene C-vapor deposition polymerization on the pulled optical fiber or glass capillary. The effective electrode radius estimated from the cyclic voltammogram of ferrocyanide was found to be 35 nm. The optical aperture size was less than 170 nm, which was confirmed from the cross section of the near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) image of the quantum dot (QD) particles with diameters in the range of 10-15 nm. The feedback mechanism controlling the probe-sample distance was improved by vertically moving the probe by 0.1-3 microm to reduce the damage to the samples. This feedback mode, defined as "standing approach (STA) mode" (Yamada, H.; Fukumoto, H.; Yokoyama, T.; Koike, T. Anal. Chem. 2005, 77, 1785-1790), has allowed the simultaneous electrochemical and topographic imaging of the axons and cell body of a single PC12 cell under physiological conditions for the first time. STA-mode feedback imaging functions better than tip-sample regulation by the conventionally available AFM. For example, polystyrene beads (diameter approximately 6 microm) was imaged using the STA-mode SECM, whereas imaging was not possible using a conventional AFM instrument.