Allosteric drug transport mechanism of multidrug transporter AcrB.

Gram-negative bacteria maintain an intrinsic resistance mechanism against entry of noxious compounds by utilizing highly efficient efflux pumps. The E. coli AcrAB-TolC drug efflux pump contains the inner membrane H+/drug antiporter AcrB comprising three functionally interdependent protomers, cycling consecutively through the loose (L), tight (T) and open (O) state during cooperative catalysis. Here, we present 13 X-ray structures of AcrB in intermediate states of the transport cycle. Structure-based mutational analysis combined with drug susceptibility assays indicate that drugs are guided through dedicated transport channels toward the drug binding pockets. A co-structure obtained in the combined presence of erythromycin, linezolid, oxacillin and fusidic acid shows binding of fusidic acid deeply inside the T protomer transmembrane domain. Thiol cross-link substrate protection assays indicate that this transmembrane domain-binding site can also accommodate oxacillin or novobiocin but not erythromycin or linezolid. AcrB-mediated drug transport is suggested to be allosterically modulated in presence of multiple drugs.

Early Reciprocal Effects in a Murine Model of Traumatic Brain Injury and Femoral Fracture.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a major cause of death and disability in early adulthood. Concomitant extracranial injury such as long bone fracture was reported to exacerbate TBI pathology. However, early reciprocal effects and mechanisms have been barely investigated. To address this issue, C57BL/6N mice were subjected to either the controlled cortical impact (CCI) model of TBI, fracture of the left femur (FF), combined injury (CCI+FF), or sham procedure. Behavioral alterations were monitored until 5 days post injury (dpi), followed by (immuno-)histology, gene and protein expression analyses using quantitative PCR, western blot, and ELISA. We found that CCI+FF mice exhibited increased neurological impairments, reduced recovery, and altered anxiety-related behavior compared to single injury groups. At 5 dpi, cerebral lesion size was not affected by combined injury but exaggerated hippocampal substance loss and increased perilesional astrogliosis were observed in CCI+FF mice compared to isolated CCI. Bone gene expression of the osteogenic markers Runx2, osteocalcin, alkaline phosphatase, and bone sialoprotein was induced by fracture injury but attenuated by concomitant TBI. Plasma concentrations of the biomarkers osteopontin and progranulin were elevated in CCI+FF mice compared to other experimental groups. Taken together, using a murine model of TBI and femoral fracture, we report early reciprocal impairments of brain tissue maintenance, behavioral recovery, and bone repair gene expression. Increased circulating levels of the biomarkers osteopontin and progranulin indicate ongoing tissue inflammation and repair. Our results may have implications for future therapeutic approaches to interfere with the pathological crosstalk between TBI and concomitant bone fracture.

Applying Structure-Based Drug Design Approaches to Allosteric Modulators of GPCRs.

Structural insights have been revealed from X-ray co-complexes of a range of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and their allosteric ligands. The understanding of how small molecules can modulate the function of this important class of receptors by binding to a diverse range of pockets on and inside the proteins has had a profound impact on the structure-based drug design (SBDD) of new classes of therapeutic agents. The types of allosteric pockets and the mode of modulation as well as the advantages and disadvantages of targeting allosteric pockets (as opposed to the natural orthosteric site) are considered in the context of these new structural findings.

Transport of lipophilic carboxylates is mediated by transmembrane helix 2 in multidrug transporter AcrB.

The deployment of multidrug efflux pumps is a powerful defence mechanism for Gram-negative bacterial cells when exposed to antimicrobial agents. The major multidrug efflux transport system in Escherichia coli, AcrAB-TolC, is a tripartite system using the proton-motive force as an energy source. The polyspecific substrate-binding module AcrB uses various pathways to sequester drugs from the periplasm and outer leaflet of the inner membrane. Here we report the asymmetric AcrB structure in complex with fusidic acid at a resolution of 2.5 Å and mutational analysis of the putative fusidic acid binding site at the transmembrane domain. A groove shaped by the interface between transmembrane helix 1 (TM1) and TM2 specifically binds fusidic acid and other lipophilic carboxylated drugs. We propose that these bound drugs are actively displaced by an upward movement of TM2 towards the AcrB periplasmic porter domain in response to protonation events in the transmembrane domain.

Intracellular allosteric antagonism of the CCR9 receptor.

Chemokines and their G-protein-coupled receptors play a diverse role in immune defence by controlling the migration, activation and survival of immune cells. They are also involved in viral entry, tumour growth and metastasis and hence are important drug targets in a wide range of diseases. Despite very significant efforts by the pharmaceutical industry to develop drugs, with over 50 small-molecule drugs directed at the family entering clinical development, only two compounds have reached the market: maraviroc (CCR5) for HIV infection and plerixafor (CXCR4) for stem-cell mobilization. The high failure rate may in part be due to limited understanding of the mechanism of action of chemokine antagonists and an inability to optimize compounds in the absence of structural information. CC chemokine receptor type 9 (CCR9) activation by CCL25 plays a key role in leukocyte recruitment to the gut and represents a therapeutic target in inflammatory bowel disease. The selective CCR9 antagonist vercirnon progressed to phase 3 clinical trials in Crohn's disease but efficacy was limited, with the need for very high doses to block receptor activation. Here we report the crystal structure of the CCR9 receptor in complex with vercirnon at 2.8 Å resolution. Remarkably, vercirnon binds to the intracellular side of the receptor, exerting allosteric antagonism and preventing G-protein coupling. This binding site explains the need for relatively lipophilic ligands and describes another example of an allosteric site on G-protein-coupled receptors that can be targeted for drug design, not only at CCR9, but potentially extending to other chemokine receptors.

Functional Stability of the Human Kappa Opioid Receptor Reconstituted in Nanodiscs Revealed by a Time-Resolved Scintillation Proximity Assay.

Long-term functional stability of isolated membrane proteins is crucial for many in vitro applications used to elucidate molecular mechanisms, and used for drug screening platforms in modern pharmaceutical industry. Compared to soluble proteins, the understanding at the molecular level of membrane proteins remains a challenge. This is partly due to the difficulty to isolate and simultaneously maintain their structural and functional stability, because of their hydrophobic nature. Here we show, how scintillation proximity assay can be used to analyze time-resolved high-affinity ligand binding to membrane proteins solubilized in various environments. The assay was used to establish conditions that preserved the biological function of isolated human kappa opioid receptor. In detergent solution the receptor lost high-affinity ligand binding to a radiolabelled ligand within minutes at room temperature. After reconstitution in Nanodiscs made of phospholipid bilayer the half-life of high-affinity ligand binding to the majority of receptors increased 70-fold compared to detergent solubilized receptors--a level of stability that is appropriate for further downstream applications. Time-resolved scintillation proximity assay has the potential to screen numerous conditions in parallel to obtain high levels of stable and active membrane proteins, which are intrinsically unstable in detergent solution, and with minimum material consumption.

Molecular basis of polyspecificity of the Small Multidrug Resistance Efflux Pump AbeS from Acinetobacter baumannii.

Secondary multidrug efflux transporters play a key role in the bacterial resistance phenotype. One of the major questions concerns the polyspecific recognition of substrates by these efflux pumps. To understand the molecular basis of this promiscuous recognition, we compared the substrate specificity of the well-studied Escherichia coli small multidrug resistance protein EmrE with that of the poorly studied Acinetobacter baumannii homologue AbeS. The latter drug/H(+) antiporter is a 109-amino-acid membrane protein with predicted four transmembrane helices. It effectively confers resistance toward ethidium, acriflavine and benzalkonium in an E. coli ΔemrEΔmdfA background. Purified AbeS and the substrate-specific hyperactive variant A16G bind tetraphenylphosphonium with nanomolar affinity and exhibit electrogenic transport of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium after reconstitution into liposomes. A16G hyperactivity was apparent toward acriflavine and ethidium, resulting in 7- to 10-fold higher normalized IC50 values, respectively, but not toward substrates 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium and benzalkonium. Substitution of Y3 and A42 with Ala or Ser, respectively, also displayed a substrate-dependent phenotype, as these variants were strongly affected in their properties to confer resistance against acriflavine and ethidium, but not against benzalkonium. The size and planarity of the conjugated aromatic moieties appear to be a critical and subtle criterion for substrate recognition by these transporters. Rather moderate changes in the property of side chains postulated to be part of the substrate binding site result in a large phenotypical difference. These observations provide indications for the molecular basis of specificity within the binding pocket of polyspecific transporters.

Drug resistance: a periplasmic ménage à trois.

The paradigm tripartite efflux transporter AcrA-AcrB-TolC confers multiple drug resistance to Escherichia coli. Tikhonova et al. (2011) now examine how the three components connect to unity and highlight the critical role of AcrA membrane proximal domain conformation for successful assembly.

Structural analysis of the choline-binding protein ChoX in a semi-closed and ligand-free conformation.

The periplasmic ligand-binding protein ChoX is part of the ABC transport system ChoVWX that imports choline as a nutrient into the soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti. We have recently reported the crystal structures of ChoX in complex with its ligands choline and acetylcholine and the structure of a fully closed but substrate-free state of ChoX. This latter structure revealed an architecture of the ligand-binding site that is superimposable to the closed, ligand-bound form of ChoX. We report here the crystal structure of ChoX in an unusual, ligand-free conformation that represents a semi-closed form of ChoX. The analysis revealed a subdomain movement in the N-lobe of ChoX. Comparison with the two well-characterized substrate binding proteins, MBP and HisJ, suggests the presence of a similar subdomain in these proteins.

Crystal structures of the choline/acetylcholine substrate-binding protein ChoX from Sinorhizobium meliloti in the liganded and unliganded-closed states.

The ATP-binding cassette transporter ChoVWX is one of several choline import systems operating in Sinorhizobium meliloti. Here fluorescence-based ligand binding assays were used to quantitate substrate binding by the periplasmic ligand-binding protein ChoX. These data confirmed that ChoX recognizes choline and acetylcholine with high and medium affinity, respectively. We also report the crystal structures of ChoX in complex with either choline or acetylcholine. These structural investigations revealed an architecture of the ChoX binding pocket and mode of substrate binding similar to that reported previously for several compatible solute-binding proteins. Additionally the ChoX-acetylcholine complex permitted a detailed structural comparison with the carbamylcholine-binding site of the acetylcholine-binding protein from the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis. In addition to the two liganded structures of ChoX, we were also able to solve the crystal structure of ChoX in a closed, substrate-free conformation that revealed an architecture of the ligand-binding site that is superimposable to the closed, ligand-bound form of ChoX. This structure is only the second of its kind and raises the important question of how ATP-binding cassette transporters are capable of distinguishing liganded and unliganded-closed states of the binding protein.

Water-mediated protein-fluorophore interactions modulate the affinity of an ABC-ATPase/TNP-ADP complex.

TNP-modified nucleotides have been used extensively to study protein-nucleotide interactions. In the case of ABC-ATPases, application of these powerful tools has been greatly restricted due to the significantly higher affinity of the TNP-nucleotide for the corresponding ABC-ATPase in comparison to the non-modified nucleotides. To understand the molecular changes occurring upon binding of the TNP-nucleotide to an ABC-ATPase, we have determined the crystal structure of the TNP-ADP/HlyB-NBD complex at 1.6A resolution. Despite the higher affinity of TNP-ADP, no direct fluorophore-protein interactions were observed. Unexpectedly, only water-mediated interactions were detected between the TNP moiety and Tyr(477), that is engaged in pi-pi stacking with the adenine ring, as well as with two serine residues (Ser(504) and Ser(509)) of the Walker A motif. Interestingly, the side chains of these two serine residues adopt novel conformations that are not observed in the corresponding ADP structure. However, in the crystal structure of the S504A mutant, which binds TNP-ADP with similar affinity to the wild type enzyme, a novel TNP-water interaction compensates for the missing serine side chain. Since this water molecule is not present in the wild type enzyme, these results suggest that only water-mediated interactions provide a structural explanation for the increased affinity of TNP-nucleotides towards ABC-ATPases. However, our results also imply that in silico approaches such as docking or modeling cannot directly be applied to generate 'affinity-adopted' ADP- or ATP-analogs for ABC-ATPases.

Microseeding - a powerful tool for crystallizing proteins complexed with hydrolyzable substrates.

Hydrolysis is an often-encountered obstacle in the crystallization of proteins complexed with their substrates. As the duration of the crystallization process, from nucleation to the growth of the crystal to its final size, commonly requires several weeks, non-enzymatic hydrolysis of an "unstable" ligand occurs frequently. In cases where the crystallization conditions exhibit non neutral pH values this hydrolysis phenomenon may be even more pronounced. ChoX, the substrate binding protein of a choline ABC-importer, produced crystals with its substrate acetylcholine after one month. However, these crystals exhibited only choline, an acetylcholine hydrolysis product, in the binding site. To overcome this obstacle we devised a microseeding protocol leading to crystals of ChoX with bound acetylcholine within 24 hours. One drawback we encountered was the high twinning fraction of the crystals, possibly was due to the rapid crystal growth.

A structural analysis of asymmetry required for catalytic activity of an ABC-ATPase domain dimer.

The ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-transporter haemolysin (Hly)B, a central element of a Type I secretion machinery, acts in concert with two additional proteins in Escherichia coli to translocate the toxin HlyA directly from the cytoplasm to the exterior. The basic set of crystal structures necessary to describe the catalytic cycle of the isolated HlyB-NBD (nucleotide-binding domain) has now been completed. This allowed a detailed analysis with respect to hinge regions, functionally important key residues and potential energy storage devices that revealed many novel features. These include a structural asymmetry within the ATP dimer that was significantly enhanced in the presence of Mg2+, indicating a possible functional asymmetry in the form of one open and one closed phosphate exit tunnel. Guided by the structural analysis, we identified two amino acids, closing one tunnel by an apparent salt bridge. Mutation of these residues abolished ATP-dependent cooperativity of the NBDs. The implications of these new findings for the coupling of ATP binding and hydrolysis to functional activity are discussed.

The motor domains of ABC-transporters. What can structures tell us?

The transport of substrates across a cellular membrane is a vitally important biological function essential for cell survival. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters constitute one of the largest subfamilies of membrane proteins, accomplishing this task. Mutations in genes encoding for ABC transporters cause different diseases, for example, Adrenoleukodystrophy, Stargardt disease or Cystic Fibrosis. Furthermore, some ABC transporters are responsible for multidrug resistance, presenting a major obstacle in modern cancer chemotherapy. In order to translocate the enormous variety of substrates, ranging from ions, nutrients, small peptides to large toxins, different ABC-transporters utilize the energy gained from ATP binding and hydrolysis. The ATP binding cassette, also called the motor domain of ABC transporters, is highly conserved among all ABC transporters. The ability to purify this domain rather easily presents a perfect possibility to investigate the mechanism of ATP hydrolysis, thus providing us with a detailed picture of this process. Recently, many crystal structures of the ATP-binding domain and the full-length structures of two ABC transporters have been solved. Combining these structural data, we have now the opportunity to analyze the hydrolysis event on a molecular level. This review provides an overview of the structural investigations of the ATP-binding domains, highlighting molecular changes upon ATP binding and hydrolysis.

X-ray structure of domain I of the proton-pumping membrane protein transhydrogenase from Escherichia coli.

The dimeric integral membrane protein nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase is required for cellular regeneration of NADPH in mitochondria and prokaryotes, for detoxification and biosynthesis purposes. Under physiological conditions, transhydrogenase couples the reversible reduction of NADP+ by NADH to an inward proton translocation across the membrane. Here, we present crystal structures of the NAD(H)-binding domain I of transhydrogenase from Escherichia coli, in the absence as well as in the presence of oxidized and reduced substrate. The structures were determined at 1.9-2.0 A resolution. Overall, the structures are highly similar to the crystal structure of a previously published NAD(H)-binding domain, from Rhodospirillum rubrum transhydrogenase. However, this particular domain is unique, since it is covalently connected to the integral-membrane part of transhydrogenase. Comparative studies between the structures of the two species reveal extensively differing surface properties and point to the possible importance of a rigid peptide (PAPP) in the connecting linker for conformational coupling. Further, the kinetic analysis of a deletion mutant, from which the protruding beta-hairpin was removed, indicates that this structural element is important for catalytic activity, but not for domain I:domain III interaction or dimer formation. Taken together, these results have important implications for the enzyme mechanism of the large group of transhydrogenases, including mammalian enzymes, which contain a connecting linker between domains I and II.

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of the NAD(H)-binding domain of Escherichia coli transhydrogenase.

Transhydrogenase is a proton-pumping membrane protein that is required for the cellular regeneration of NADPH. The NAD(H)-binding domain (domain I) of transhydrogenase from Escherichia coli was crystallized using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion technique at room temperature. The crystals, which were grown from PEG 4000 and ammonium acetate in citrate buffer, belong to the triclinic space group P1, with unit-cell parameters a = 38.8, b = 66.8, c = 76.4 A, alpha = 67.5, beta = 80.8, gamma = 81.5 degrees. X-ray diffraction data were collected to 1.9 A resolution using synchrotron radiation. The crystals contain one dimer of transhydrogenase domain I per asymmetric unit.