Soluble guanylate cyclase stimulators for the treatment of hypertension: Discovery of MK-2947.

The NO-sGC-cGMP signaling pathway plays an important role in the cardiovascular system. Loss of nitric oxide tone or impaired signaling has been associated with cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension, pulmonary hypertension and heart failure. Direct activation of sGC enzyme independent of NO represents a novel approach for modulating NO signaling with tremendous therapeutic potential. Herein, we describe the design of a structurally novel class of heme-dependent sGC stimulators containing the 3,3-dimethylpyrrolidin-2-one moiety which resulted in the identification of the potent, selective stimulator 30 (MK-2947) for the treatment of hypertension.

Spontaneous subunit exchange and biochemical evidence for trans-autophosphorylation in a dimer of Escherichia coli histidine kinase (EnvZ).

The EnvZ/OmpR histidyl-aspartyl phosphorelay (HAP) system in Escherichia coli regulates the expression of ompF and ompC, the major outer membrane porin genes, in response to environmental osmolarity changes. Here, we report that dimers of EnvZc, the cytoplasmic domain of EnvZ, undergo spontaneous subunit exchange in solution. By introducing a cysteine substitution (S260C) in the dimerization domain of EnvZc, we were able to crosslink the two subunits in a dimer and trap the heterodimer formed between two different mutant EnvZc. By using a complementing system with two autophosphorylation-defective EnvZc mutants, one containing the H243V mutation at the autophosphorylation site and the other containing the G405A mutation in the ATP-binding domain, we demonstrated that an EnvZc(G405A) subunit can be phosphorylated by an EnvZc(H243V) subunit only when a heterodimer is formed. The rate of subunit exchange is concentration-dependent, with higher rates at higher concentrations of protein. The disulfide-crosslinked EnvZc(G405A) homodimer could not be phosphorylated by EnvZc(H243V), since the heterodimer formation between the two mutant proteins was blocked, indicating that autophosphorylation cannot occur by dimer-dimer interaction. By using MBP-deltaL-EnvZc(S260C) fusion protein (deltaL: the linker region, spanning residues 180-222, was deleted), it was found that in the disulfide-crosslinked MBP-deltaL-EnvZc(S260C)/deltaL-EnvZc(S260C/G405A) heterodimer, only the deltaL-EnvZc(S260C/G405A) subunit was phosphorylated but not the MBP-deltaL-EnvZc(S260C) subunit. Together, the present results provide biochemical evidence that EnvZ autophosphorylation occurs in trans and only within an EnvZ dimer.

Probing catalytically essential domain orientation in histidine kinase EnvZ by targeted disulfide crosslinking.

EnvZ, a dimeric transmembrane histidine kinase, belongs to the family of His-Asp phosphorelay signal transduction systems. The cytoplasmic kinase domain of EnvZ can be dissected into two independently functioning domains, A and B, whose NMR solution structures have been individually determined. Here, we examined the topological arrangement of these two domains in the EnvZ dimer, a structure that is key to understanding the mechanism underlying the autophosphorylation activity of the kinase. A series of cysteine substitution mutants were constructed to test the feasibility of chemical crosslinking between the two domains. These crosslinking data demonstrate that helix I of domain A of one subunit in the EnvZc dimer is in close proximity to domain B of the other subunit in the same dimer, while helix II of domain A of one subunit interacts with domain B of the same subunit in the EnvZc dimer. This is the first demonstration of the topological arrangement between the central dimerization domain containing the active center His residues (domain A) and the ATP-binding catalysis assisting domain (domain B) in a class I histidine kinase.

Interaction of EnvZ, a sensory histidine kinase, with phosphorylated OmpR, the cognate response regulator.

EnvZ is a sensory histidine kinase in Escherichia coli to regulate the phosphorylation of OmpR, its cognate response regulator, required for the expression of genes for outer membrane porin proteins. Here, we re-examined the recent paper Mattison and Kenney, in which the authors reported that phosphorylated OmpR (OmpR-P) is unable to bind to EnvZ, thus casting doubts on the role of the EnvZ phosphatase activity in vivo. Using an identical method, the Kd value for the interaction of the fluorescein-labelled OmpR (Fl-OmpR) with EnvZc was determined to be 1.96 +/- 0.28 micro M. We demonstrated that OmpR-P as well as OmpR inhibited the interaction of Fl-OmpR with EnvZc. Their 50% inhibitory concentrations were 1.09 +/- 0.25 micro M and 0.89 +/- 0.14 micro M, respectively, under the conditions used. The interaction between His-10-OmpR and EnvZc was also inhibited almost equally with OmpR-P and OmpR. Fluorescein labelling of OmpR was highly heterogeneous as detected by mass spectrometry, even though it slightly affected the OmpR phosphorylation (kinase) and the dephosphorylation of OmpR-P (phosphatase), indicating that EnvZc is able to interact with Fl-OmpR or Fl-OmpR-P as well as with OmpR or OmpR-P as a substrate. We demonstrated that OmpR-P is able to interact with EnvZc with a similar affinity to OmpR and serves as an effective substrate for the EnvZ phosphatase. These findings support the hypothesis that osmotic signals regulate the level of the cellular concentration of OmpR-P by modulating the ratio of kinase to phosphatase activity of the bifunctional enzymatic activities of EnvZ.

EnvZ-OmpR interaction and osmoregulation in Escherichia coli.

EnvZ, a histidine kinase/phosphatase in Escherichia coli, responds to the osmolarity changes in the medium by regulating the phosphorylation state of the transcription factor OmpR, which controls the expression levels of outer membrane porin proteins OmpF and OmpC. Although both ompR and envZ genes are located on the ompB locus under the control of the ompB promoter and transcribed as a single polycistronic mRNA, the expression of envZ is known to be significantly less than ompR. However, to date no accurate estimation for the amounts of EnvZ and OmpR in the cell has been carried out. Here we examined the levels of EnvZ and OmpR in the wild-type strain MC4100 by quantitative Western blot analysis using anti-OmpR and anti-EnvZc (cytoplasmic domain of EnvZ) antisera. It was observed that during exponential growth in L-broth medium there were approximately 3500 and 100 molecules per cell of OmpR and EnvZ, respectively. The levels of OmpR and EnvZ in MC4100 cells grown in a high osmolarity medium (nutrient broth with 20% sucrose) were about the same as those grown in L-broth, whereas they were 1.7-fold higher than those in a low osmolarity medium (nutrient broth). With His10-OmpR, we also determined that the K(d) value for the EnvZc-OmpR complex formation is 1.20 +/- 0.17 microm. On the basis of these results, the molecular mechanism of osmoregulation of ompF and ompC is discussed.

Identification and characterization of a functionally distinct form of human estrogen receptor beta.

Estrogen receptors are important for the development and maintenance of many different tissues in the body including the breast, uterus, brain and bone. There are two known genes encoding estrogen receptors, Estrogen Receptor alpha (ER alpha) and Estrogen Receptor beta (ER beta). These receptors are transcription factors with distinct functional domains involved in DNA binding, ligand binding and transcriptional regulation. A novel isoform of human ER beta (ER beta 548) which includes an extended amino terminal domain has been identified. Isoform specific antibodies confirm the presence of this receptor in human tissue. Transactivation analysis with different estrogenic ligands indicates that ER beta 548 is functionally distinct from previously reported forms of ER beta.