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Kang W, Xiao F, Zhu X, Ling X, Xie S, Li R, Yu P, Cao L, Lei C, Qiu Y, Liu T, Nie Z. Engineering Anti-CRISPR Proteins to Create CRISPR-Cas Protein Switches for Activatable Genome Editing and Viral Protease Detection. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024; 63:e202400599. [PMID: 38407550 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202400599] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2024] [Revised: 02/07/2024] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Proteins capable of switching between distinct active states in response to biochemical cues are ideal for sensing and controlling biological processes. Activatable CRISPR-Cas systems are significant in precise genetic manipulation and sensitive molecular diagnostics, yet directly controlling Cas protein function remains challenging. Herein, we explore anti-CRISPR (Acr) proteins as modules to create synthetic Cas protein switches (CasPSs) based on computational chemistry-directed rational protein interface engineering. Guided by molecular fingerprint analysis, electrostatic potential mapping, and binding free energy calculations, we rationally engineer the molecular interaction interface between Cas12a and its cognate Acr proteins (AcrVA4 and AcrVA5) to generate a series of orthogonal protease-responsive CasPSs. These CasPSs enable the conversion of specific proteolytic events into activation of Cas12a function with high switching ratios (up to 34.3-fold). These advancements enable specific proteolysis-inducible genome editing in mammalian cells and sensitive detection of viral protease activities during virus infection. This work provides a promising strategy for developing CRISPR-Cas tools for controllable gene manipulation and regulation and clinical diagnostics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenyuan Kang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomacromolecular Chemical Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Medicinal Resource Chemistry of Ministry of Education & Key Laboratory of Tropical Medicinal Plant Chemistry of Hainan Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, 571158, P. R. China
| | - Fei Xiao
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomacromolecular Chemical Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P. R. China
| | - Xi Zhu
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Virology, Institute of Pathogen Biology and Immunology, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P. R. China
| | - Xinyu Ling
- State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China
| | - Shiyi Xie
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomacromolecular Chemical Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P. R. China
| | - Ruimiao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomacromolecular Chemical Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P. R. China
| | - Peihang Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomacromolecular Chemical Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P. R. China
| | - Linxin Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomacromolecular Chemical Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P. R. China
| | - Chunyang Lei
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomacromolecular Chemical Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P. R. China
| | - Ye Qiu
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Virology, Institute of Pathogen Biology and Immunology, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P. R. China
| | - Tao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China
| | - Zhou Nie
- State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomacromolecular Chemical Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P. R. China
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Lear TB, Boudreau ÁN, Lockwood KC, Chu E, Camarco DP, Cao Q, Nguyen M, Evankovich JW, Finkel T, Liu Y, Chen BB. E3 ubiquitin ligase ZBTB25 suppresses beta coronavirus infection through ubiquitination of the main viral protease MPro. J Biol Chem 2023; 299:105388. [PMID: 37890782 PMCID: PMC10679490 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2023] [Revised: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The main protease of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, Mpro, is a key viral protein essential for viral infection and replication. Mpro has been the target of many pharmacological efforts; however, the host-specific regulation of Mpro protein remains unclear. Here, we report the ubiquitin-proteasome-dependent degradation of Mpro protein in human cells, facilitated by the human E3 ubiquitin ligase ZBTB25. We demonstrate that Mpro has a short half-life that is prolonged via proteasomal inhibition, with its Lys-100 residue serving as a potential ubiquitin acceptor. Using in vitro binding assays, we observed ZBTB25 and Mpro bind to each other in vitro, and using progressive deletional mapping, we further uncovered the required domains for this interaction. Finally, we used an orthologous beta-coronavirus infection model and observed that genetic ablation of ZBTB25 resulted in a more highly infective virus, an effect lost upon reconstitution of ZBTB25 to deleted cells. In conclusion, these data suggest a new mechanism of Mpro protein regulation as well as identify ZBTB25 as an anticoronaviral E3 ubiquitin ligase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Travis B Lear
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Vascular Medicine Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Áine N Boudreau
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Karina C Lockwood
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Elise Chu
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Daniel P Camarco
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Qing Cao
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Matthew Nguyen
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - John W Evankovich
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Acute Lung Injury Center of Excellence, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Toren Finkel
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Vascular Medicine Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Yuan Liu
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Acute Lung Injury Center of Excellence, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Bill B Chen
- Aging Institute, University of Pittsburgh/UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Vascular Medicine Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Acute Lung Injury Center of Excellence, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
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Bozóki B, Mótyán JA, Hoffka G, Waugh DS, Tőzsér J. Specificity Studies of the Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Non-Structural Protein 2 Protease Using Recombinant Fluorescent Substrates. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:E7686. [PMID: 33081394 PMCID: PMC7593941 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21207686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2020] [Revised: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The non-structural protein 2 (nsP2) of alphavirus Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is a cysteine protease that is responsible for processing of the viral non-structural polyprotein and is an important drug target owing to the clinical relevance of VEEV. In this study we designed two recombinant VEEV nsP2 constructs to study the effects of an N-terminal extension on the protease activity and to investigate the specificity of the elongated enzyme in vitro. The N-terminal extension was found to have no substantial effect on the protease activity. The amino acid preferences of the VEEV nsP2 protease were investigated on substrates representing wild-type and P5, P4, P2, P1, P1', and P2' variants of Semliki forest virus nsP1/nsP2 cleavage site, using a His6-MBP-mEYFP recombinant substrate-based protease assay which has been adapted for a 96-well plate-based format. The structural basis of enzyme specificity was also investigated in silico by analyzing a modeled structure of VEEV nsP2 complexed with oligopeptide substrate. To our knowledge, in vitro screening of P1' amino acid preferences of VEEV nsP2 protease remains undetermined to date, thus, our results may provide valuable information for studies and inhibitor design of different alphaviruses or other Group IV viruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beáta Bozóki
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary; (B.B.); (G.H.)
- Doctoral School of Molecular Cell and Immune Biology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
| | - János András Mótyán
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary; (B.B.); (G.H.)
| | - Gyula Hoffka
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary; (B.B.); (G.H.)
- Doctoral School of Molecular Cell and Immune Biology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
- MTA-DE Laboratory of Protein Dynamics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
| | - David S. Waugh
- Macromolecular Crystallography Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, Frederick, MD 21702, USA;
| | - József Tőzsér
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary; (B.B.); (G.H.)
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