The N-myristoylome of Trypanosoma cruzi

Key Regulators of Parasite Biology Viewed Through a Post-Translational Modification Repertoire

Parasites are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in both humans and animals, imposing substantial socioeconomic burdens worldwide. Controlling parasitic diseases has become one of the key issues in achieving "One Health". Most parasites have sophisticated life cycles exhibiting progressive developmental stages, morphologies, and host-switching, which are controlled by various regulatory machineries including protein post-translational modifications (PTMs). PTMs have emerged as a key mechanism by which parasites modulate their virulence, developmental transitions, and environmental adaptations. PTMs are enzyme-mediated additions or removals of chemical groups that dynamically regulate the stability and functions of proteins and confer novel properties, playing vital roles in a variety of biological processes and cellular functions. In this review, we circumscribe how parasites utilize various PTMs to regulate their intricate lives, with a focus on the biological role of PTMs in parasite biology and pathogenesis.

Exploring N-myristoyltransferase as a promising drug target against parasitic neglected tropical diseases

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) constitute a group of approximately 20 infectious diseases that mainly affect the impoverished population without basic sanitation in tropical countries. These diseases are responsible for many deaths worldwide, costing billions of dollars in public health investment to treat and control these infections. Among them are the diseases caused by protozoa of the Trypanosomatid family, which constitute Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas disease), Trypanosoma brucei (sleeping sickness), and Leishmaniasis. In addition, there is a classification of other diseases, called the big three, AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, which are endemic in countries with tropical conditions. Despite the high mortality rates, there is still a gap in the treatment. The drugs have a high incidence of side effects and protozoan resistance, justifying the investment in developing new alternatives. In fact, the Target-Based Drug Design (TBDD) approach is responsible for identifying several promising compounds, and among the targets explored through this approach, N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) stands out. It is an enzyme related to the co-translational myristoylation of N-terminal glycine in various peptides. The myristoylation process is a co-translation that occurs after removing the initiator methionine. This process regulates the assembly of protein complexes and stability, which justifies its potential as a drug target. In order to propose NMT as a potential target for parasitic diseases, this review will address the entire structure and function of this enzyme and the primary studies demonstrating its promising potential against Leishmaniasis, T. cruzi, T. brucei, and malaria. We hope our information can help researchers worldwide search for potential drugs against these diseases that have been threatening the health of the world's population.

A Not-So-Ancient Grease History: Click Chemistry and Protein Lipid Modifications

Protein lipid modification involves the attachment of hydrophobic groups to proteins via ester, thioester, amide, or thioether linkages. In this review, the specific click chemical reactions that have been employed to study protein lipid modification and their use for specific labeling applications are first described. This is followed by an introduction to the different types of protein lipid modifications that occur in biology. Next, the roles of click chemistry in elucidating specific biological features including the identification of lipid-modified proteins, studies of their regulation, and their role in diseases are presented. A description of the use of protein-lipid modifying enzymes for specific labeling applications including protein immobilization, fluorescent labeling, nanostructure assembly, and the construction of protein-drug conjugates is presented next. Concluding remarks and future directions are presented in the final section.

Genome-Wide Proteomics and Phosphoproteomics Analysis of Trypanosoma cruzi During Differentiation

Trypanosoma cruzi is a pathogenic protozoan that still has an impact on public health, despite the decrease in the number of infection cases along the years. T. cruzi possesses an heteroxenic life cycle in which it differentiates in at least four forms. Among the differentiation processes, metacyclogenesis has been exploited in different views by researchers. An intriguing question that rises is how metacyclogenesis is triggered and controlled by cell signaling and which are the differentially expressed proteins and posttranslational modifications involved in this process. An important cell signaling pathway is the protein phosphorylation, and it is reinforced in T. cruzi in which the gene expression control occurs almost exclusively posttranscriptionally. Additionally, the number of protein kinases in T. cruzi is relatively high compared to other organisms. A way to approach these questions is evaluating the cells through phosphoproteomics and proteomics. In this chapter, we will describe the steps from the cell protein extraction, digestion and fractionation, phosphopeptide enrichment, to LC-MS/MS analysis as well as a brief overview on peptide identification. In addition, a published method for in vitro metacyclogenesis will be detailed.

Defeating the trypanosomatid trio: proteomics of the protozoan parasites causing neglected tropical diseases

Mass spectrometry-based proteomics enables accurate measurement of the modulations of proteins on a large scale upon perturbation and facilitates the understanding of the functional roles of proteins in biological systems. It is a particularly relevant methodology for studying Leishmania spp., Trypanosoma cruzi and Trypanosoma brucei, as the gene expression in these parasites is primarily regulated by posttranscriptional mechanisms. Large-scale proteomics studies have revealed a plethora of information regarding modulated proteins and their molecular interactions during various life processes of the protozoans, including stress adaptation, life cycle changes and interactions with the host. Important molecular processes within the parasite that regulate the activity and subcellular localisation of its proteins, including several co- and post-translational modifications, are also accurately captured by modern proteomics mass spectrometry techniques. Finally, in combination with synthetic chemistry, proteomic techniques facilitate unbiased profiling of targets and off-targets of pharmacologically active compounds in the parasites. This provides important data sets for their mechanism of action studies, thereby aiding drug development programmes.

Myristoylation, an Ancient Protein Modification Mirroring Eukaryogenesis and Evolution

N-myristoylation (MYR) is a crucial fatty acylation catalyzed by N-myristoyltransferases (NMTs) that is likely to have appeared over 2 billion years ago. Proteome-wide approaches have now delivered an exhaustive list of substrates undergoing MYR across approximately 2% of any proteome, with constituents, several unexpected, associated with different membrane compartments. A set of <10 proteins conserved in eukaryotes probably represents the original set of N-myristoylated targets, marking major changes occurring throughout eukaryogenesis. Recent findings have revealed unexpected mechanisms and reactivity, suggesting competition with other acylations that are likely to influence cellular homeostasis and the steady state of the modification landscape. Here, we review recent advances in NMT catalysis, substrate specificity, and MYR proteomics, and discuss concepts regarding MYR during evolution.

Relevance and proteomics challenge of functional posttranslational modifications in Kinetoplastid parasites

Protozoan parasitic infections are health, social and economic issues impacting both humans and animals, with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Protozoan parasites have complicated life cycles with both intracellular and extracellular forms. As a consequence, protozoan adapt to changing environments in part through a dynamic enzyme-catalyzed process leading to reversible posttranslational modifications (PTMs). The characterization by proteomics approaches reveals the critical role of the PTMs of the proteins involved in host-pathogen interaction. The complexity of PTMs characterization is increased by the high diversity, stoichiometry, dynamic and also co-existence of several PTMs in the same moieties which crosstalk between them. Here, we review how to understand the complexity and the essential role of PTMs crosstalk in order to provide a new hallmark for vaccines developments, immunotherapies and personalized medicine. In addition, the importance of these motifs in the biology and biological cycle of kinetoplastid parasites is highlighted with key examples showing the potential to act as targets against protozoan diseases.

Identification of Selective Inhibitors of Plasmodium N-Myristoyltransferase by High-Throughput Screening

New drugs that target Plasmodium species, the causative agents of malaria, are needed. The enzyme N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) is an essential protein, which catalyzes the myristoylation of protein substrates, often to mediate membrane targeting. We screened ∼1.8 million small molecules for activity against Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) NMT. Hits were triaged based on potency and physicochemical properties and further tested against P. vivax and Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) NMTs. We assessed the activity of hits against human NMT1 and NMT2 and discarded compounds with low selectivity indices. We identified 23 chemical classes specific for the inhibition of Plasmodium NMTs over human NMTs, including multiple novel scaffolds. Cocrystallization of P. vivax NMT with one compound revealed peptide binding pocket binding. Other compounds show a range of potential modes of action. Our data provide insight into the activity of a collection of selective inhibitors of Plasmodium NMT and serve as a starting point for subsequent medicinal chemistry efforts.

Quantitative phosphoproteome and proteome analyses emphasize the influence of phosphorylation events during the nutritional stress of Trypanosoma cruzi: the initial moments of in vitro metacyclogenesis

Phosphorylation is an important event in cell signaling that is modulated by kinases and phosphatases. In Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, approximately 2% of the protein-coding genes encode for protein kinases. This parasite has a heteroxenic life cycle with four different development stages. In the midgut of invertebrate vector, epimastigotes differentiate into metacyclic trypomastigotes in a process known as metacyclogenesis. This process can be reproduced in vitro by submitting parasites to nutritional stress (NS). Aiming to contribute to the elucidation of mechanisms that trigger metacyclogenesis, we applied super-SILAC (super-stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture) and LC-MS/MS to analyze different points during NS. This analysis resulted in the identification of 4205 protein groups and 3643 phosphopeptides with the location of 4846 phosphorylation sites. Several phosphosites were considered modulated along NS and are present in proteins associated with various functions, such as fatty acid synthesis and the regulation of protein expression, reinforcing the importance of phosphorylation and signaling events to the parasite. These modulated sites may be triggers of metacyclogenesis.

Structural and genomic decoding of human and plant myristoylomes reveals a definitive recognition pattern

An organism's entire protein modification repertoire has yet to be comprehensively mapped. N-myristoylation (MYR) is a crucial eukaryotic N-terminal protein modification. Here we mapped complete Homo sapiens and Arabidopsis thaliana myristoylomes. The crystal structures of human modifier NMT1 complexed with reactive and nonreactive target-mimicking peptide ligands revealed unexpected binding clefts and a modifier recognition pattern. This information allowed integrated mapping of myristoylomes using peptide macroarrays, dedicated prediction algorithms, and in vivo mass spectrometry. Global MYR profiling at the genomic scale identified over a thousand novel, heterogeneous targets in both organisms. Surprisingly, MYR involved a non-negligible set of overlapping targets with N-acetylation, and the sequence signature marks for a third proximal acylation-S-palmitoylation-were genomically imprinted, allowing recognition of sequences exhibiting both acylations. Together, the data extend the N-end rule concept for Gly-starting proteins to subcellular compartmentalization and reveal the main neighbors influencing protein modification profiles and consequent cell fate.

Chemical Proteomic Profiling of Protein Fatty-Acylation in Microbial Pathogens

Protein fatty-acylation describes the covalent modification of protein with fatty acids during or after translation. Chemical proteomic profiling methods have provided new opportunities to explore protein fatty-acylation in microbial pathogens. Recent studies suggest that protein fatty-acylation is essential to survival and pathogenesis of eukaryotic pathogens such as parasites and fungi. Moreover, fatty-acylation in host cells can be exploited or manipulated by pathogenic bacteria. Herein, we first review the prevalent classes of fatty-acylation in microbial pathogens and the chemical proteomic profiling methods for their global analysis. We then summarize recent fatty-acylation profiling studies performed in eukaryotic pathogens and during bacterial infections, highlighting how they contribute to functional characterization of fatty-acylation under these contexts.

Design and Synthesis of Brain Penetrant Trypanocidal N-Myristoyltransferase Inhibitors

N-Myristoyltransferase (NMT) represents a promising drug target within the parasitic protozoa Trypanosoma brucei (T. brucei), the causative agent for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) or sleeping sickness. We have previously validated T. brucei NMT as a promising druggable target for the treatment of HAT in both stages 1 and 2 of the disease. We report on the use of the previously reported DDD85646 (1) as a starting point for the design of a class of potent, brain penetrant inhibitors of T. brucei NMT.

New developments in probing and targeting protein acylation in malaria, leishmaniasis and African sleeping sickness

Infections by protozoan parasites, such as Plasmodium falciparum or Leishmania donovani, have a significant health, social and economic impact and threaten billions of people living in tropical and sub-tropical regions of developing countries worldwide. The increasing range of parasite strains resistant to frontline therapeutics makes the identification of novel drug targets and the development of corresponding inhibitors vital. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are important modulators of biology and inhibition of protein lipidation has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy for treatment of parasitic diseases. In this review we summarize the latest insights into protein lipidation in protozoan parasites. We discuss how recent chemical proteomic approaches have delivered the first global overviews of protein lipidation in these organisms, contributing to our understanding of the role of this PTM in critical metabolic and cellular functions. Additionally, we highlight the development of new small molecule inhibitors to target parasite acyl transferases.