BioAssay Research Database (BARD): chemical biology and probe-development enabled by structured metadata and result types.

BARD, the BioAssay Research Database (https://bard.nih.gov/) is a public database and suite of tools developed to provide access to bioassay data produced by the NIH Molecular Libraries Program (MLP). Data from 631 MLP projects were migrated to a new structured vocabulary designed to capture bioassay data in a formalized manner, with particular emphasis placed on the description of assay protocols. New data can be submitted to BARD with a user-friendly set of tools that assist in the creation of appropriately formatted datasets and assay definitions. Data published through the BARD application program interface (API) can be accessed by researchers using web-based query tools or a desktop client. Third-party developers wishing to create new tools can use the API to produce stand-alone tools or new plug-ins that can be integrated into BARD. The entire BARD suite of tools therefore supports three classes of researcher: those who wish to publish data, those who wish to mine data for testable hypotheses, and those in the developer community who wish to build tools that leverage this carefully curated chemical biology resource.

Target-oriented and diversity-oriented organic synthesis in drug discovery.

Modern drug discovery often involves screening small molecules for their ability to bind to a preselected protein target. Target-oriented syntheses of these small molecules, individually or as collections (focused libraries), can be planned effectively with retrosynthetic analysis. Drug discovery can also involve screening small molecules for their ability to modulate a biological pathway in cells or organisms, without regard for any particular protein target. This process is likely to benefit in the future from an evolving forward analysis of synthetic pathways, used in diversity-oriented synthesis, that leads to structurally complex and diverse small molecules. One goal of diversity-oriented syntheses is to synthesize efficiently a collection of small molecules capable of perturbing any disease-related biological pathway, leading eventually to the identification of therapeutic protein targets capable of being modulated by small molecules. Several synthetic planning principles for diversity-oriented synthesis and their role in the drug discovery process are presented in this review.

Chemistry and biology of the immunophilins and their immunosuppressive ligands.

Cyclosporin A, FK506, and rapamycin are inhibitors of specific signal transduction pathways that lead to T lymphocyte activation. These immunosuppressive agents bind with high affinity to cytoplasmic receptors termed immunophilins (immunosuppressant binding proteins). Studies in this area have focused on the structural basis for the molecular recognition of immunosuppressants by immunophilins and the biological consequences of their interactions. Defining the biological roles of this emerging family of receptors and their ligands may illuminate the process of protein trafficking in cells and the mechanisms of signal transmission through the cytoplasm.

[2 + 2] photocycloadditions in the synthesis of chiral molecules.

A strategy for the synthesis of chiral molecules that receives growing popularity among organic chemists employs the photochemically mediated [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction. These reactions can be performed on a multigram scale and often proceed with high yield and with stereocontrol. These features, in combination with the useful properties of the four-membered ring photoproducts in subsequent chemical transformations, make them attractive options in the early stage of a synthesis design. Various combinations of unsaturated functional groups can participate in this reaction process. Accordingly, these chemical reactions can be economical solutions to problems relating to the synthesis of a variety of target molecules.

Printing proteins as microarrays for high-throughput function determination.

Systematic efforts are currently under way to construct defined sets of cloned genes for high-throughput expression and purification of recombinant proteins. To facilitate subsequent studies of protein function, we have developed miniaturized assays that accommodate extremely low sample volumes and enable the rapid, simultaneous processing of thousands of proteins. A high-precision robot designed to manufacture complementary DNA microarrays was used to spot proteins onto chemically derivatized glass slides at extremely high spatial densities. The proteins attached covalently to the slide surface yet retained their ability to interact specifically with other proteins, or with small molecules, in solution. Three applications for protein microarrays were demonstrated: screening for protein-protein interactions, identifying the substrates of protein kinases, and identifying the protein targets of small molecules.

Structure-based design of a cyclophilin-calcineurin bridging ligand.

The affinity of a flexible ligand that adopts a specific conformation when bound to its receptor should be increased with the appropriate use of conformational restraints. By determining the structure of protein-ligand complexes, such restraints can in principle be designed into the bound ligand in a rational way. A tricyclic variant (TCsA) of the immunosuppressant cyclosporin A (CsA), which inhibits the proliferation of T lymphocytes by forming a cyclophilin-CsA-calcineurin complex, was designed with the known three-dimensional structure of a cyclophilin-CsA complex. The conformational restraints in TCsA appear to be responsible for its greater affinity for cyclophilin and calcineurin relative to CsA.

A mammalian histone deacetylase related to the yeast transcriptional regulator Rpd3p.

Trapoxin is a microbially derived cyclotetrapeptide that inhibits histone deacetylation in vivo and causes mammalian cells to arrest in the cell cycle. A trapoxin affinity matrix was used to isolate two nuclear proteins that copurified with histone deacetylase activity. Both proteins were identified by peptide microsequencing, and a complementary DNA encoding the histone deacetylase catalytic subunit (HD1) was cloned from a human Jurkat T cell library. As the predicted protein is very similar to the yeast transcriptional regulator Rpd3p, these results support a role for histone deacetylase as a key regulator of eukaryotic transcription.

Structure of the FKBP12-rapamycin complex interacting with the binding domain of human FRAP.

Rapamycin, a potent immunosuppressive agent, binds two proteins: the FK506-binding protein (FKBP12) and the FKBP-rapamycin-associated protein (FRAP). A crystal structure of the ternary complex of human FKBP12, rapamycin, and the FKBP12-rapamycin-binding (FRB) domain of human FRAP at a resolution of 2.7 angstroms revealed the two proteins bound together as a result of the ability of rapamycin to occupy two different hydrophobic binding pockets simultaneously. The structure shows extensive interactions between rapamycin and both proteins, but fewer interactions between the proteins. The structure of the FRB domain of FRAP clarifies both rapamycin-independent and -dependent effects observed for mutants of FRAP and its homologs in the family of proteins related to the ataxia-telangiectasia mutant gene product, and it illustrates how a small cell-permeable molecule can mediate protein dimerization.

Association of a 59-kilodalton immunophilin with the glucocorticoid receptor complex.

Immunophilins, a family of proteins that exhibit rotamase (peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase) activity in vitro, are expressed in many organisms and most tissues. Although some immunophilins can mediate the immunosuppressive actions of FK506, rapamycin, and cyclosporin A, the physiological role of the unligated proteins is not known. A 59-kilodalton member of the FK506- and rapamycin-binding class was found to associate in the absence of these drugs with two heat shock proteins (hsp90 and hsp70) and the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Together, these proteins make up the inactive GR, thus biochemically linking two families of proteins proposed to be involved in protein folding and assembly as well as two potent immunosuppressive modalities.

Controlling signal transduction with synthetic ligands.

Dimerization and oligomerization are general biological control mechanisms contributing to the activation of cell membrane receptors, transcription factors, vesicle fusion proteins, and other classes of intra- and extracellular proteins. Cell permeable, synthetic ligands were devised that can be used to control the intracellular oligomerization of specific proteins. To demonstrate their utility, these ligands were used to induce intracellular oligomerization of cell surface receptors that lacked their transmembrane and extracellular regions but contained intracellular signaling domains. Addition of these ligands to cells in culture resulted in signal transmission and specific target gene activation. Monomeric forms of the ligands blocked the pathway. This method of ligand-regulated activation and termination of signaling pathways has the potential to be applied wherever precise control of a signal transduction pathway is desired.

Two binding orientations for peptides to the Src SH3 domain: development of a general model for SH3-ligand interactions.

Solution structures of two Src homology 3 (SH3) domain-ligand complexes have been determined by nuclear magnetic resonance. Each complex consists of the SH3 domain and a nine-residue proline-rich peptide selected from a large library of ligands prepared by combinatorial synthesis. The bound ligands adopt a left-handed polyproline type II (PPII) helix, although the amino to carboxyl directionalities of their helices are opposite. The peptide orientation is determined by a salt bridge formed by the terminal arginine residues of the ligands and the conserved aspartate-99 of the SH3 domain. Residues at positions 3, 4, 6, and 7 of both peptides also intercalate into the ligand-binding site; however, the respective proline and nonproline residues show exchanged binding positions in the two complexes. These structural results led to a model for the interactions of SH3 domains with proline-rich peptides that can be used to predict critical residues in complexes of unknown structure. The model was used to identify correctly both the binding orientation and the contact and noncontact residues of a peptide derived from the nucleotide exchange factor Sos in association with the amino-terminal SH3 domain of the adaptor protein Grb2.

Solution structure of FKBP, a rotamase enzyme and receptor for FK506 and rapamycin.

Immunophilins, when complexed to immunosuppressive ligands, appear to inhibit signal transduction pathways that result in exocytosis and transcription. The solution structure of one of these, the human FK506 and rapamycin binding protein (FKBP), has been determined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). FKBP has a previously unobserved antiparallel beta-sheet folding topology that results in a novel loop crossing and produces a large cavity lined by a conserved array of aromatic residues; this cavity serves as the rotamase active site and drug-binding pocket. There are other significant structural features (such as a protruding positively charged loop and an apparently flexible loop) that may be involved in the biological activity of FKBP.

Inhibition of FKBP rotamase activity by immunosuppressant FK506: twisted amide surrogate.

The immunosuppressive agents cyclosporin A and FK506 inhibit the transcription of early T cell activation genes. The binding proteins for cyclosporin A and FK506, cyclophilin and FKBP, respectively, are peptidyl-prolyl-cis-trans isomerases, or rotamases. One proposed mechanism for rotamase catalysis by cyclophilin involves a tetrahedral adduct of an amide carbonyl and an enzyme-bound nucleophile. The potent FKBP rotamase inhibitor FK506 has a highly electrophilic carbonyl that is adjacent to an acyl-pipicolinyl (homoprolyl) amide bond. Such a functional group would be expected to form a stabilized, enzyme-bound tetrahedral adduct. Spectroscopic and chemical evidence reveals that the drug interacts noncovalently with its receptor, suggesting that the alpha-keto amid of FK506 serves as a surrogate for the twisted amide of a bound peptide substrate.

Inhibition of proteasome activities and subunit-specific amino-terminal threonine modification by lactacystin.

Lactacystin is a Streptomyces metabolite that inhibits cell cycle progression and induces neurite outgrowth in a murine neuroblastoma cell line. Tritium-labeled lactacystin was used to identify the 20S proteasome as its specific cellular target. Three distinct peptidase activities of this enzyme complex (trypsin-like, chymotrypsin-like, and peptidylglutamyl-peptide hydrolyzing activities) were inhibited by lactacystin, the first two irreversibly and all at different rates. None of five other proteases were inhibited, and the ability of lactacystin analogs to inhibit cell cycle progression and induce neurite outgrowth correlated with their ability to inhibit the proteasome. Lactacystin appears to modify covalently the highly conserved amino-terminal threonine of the mammalian proteasome subunit X (also called MB1), a close homolog of the LMP7 proteasome subunit encoded by the major histocompatibility complex. This threonine residue may therefore have a catalytic role, and subunit X/MB1 may be a core component of an amino-terminal-threonine protease activity of the proteasome.

Transmembrane channels based on tartaric acid-gramicidin A hybrids.

The gramicidin A transmembrane channel is believed to consist of two head-to-head beta helices. Computer-generated models were used to formulate the structure of new single-chain channel molecules based on the gramicidin motif. The chemical synthesis of two tartaric acid-gramicidin A hybrids and single-channel analyses of their conducting properties are reported. These studies illustrate the rational design and synthesis of long-lived channels with tunable conductance properties and provide support for current molecular models of the natural (dimeric) gramicidin channel.

Solution structure of the SH3 domain of Src and identification of its ligand-binding site.

The Src homology 3 (SH3) region is a protein domain of 55 to 75 amino acids found in many cytoplasmic proteins, including those that participate in signal transduction pathways. The solution structure of the SH3 domain of the tyrosine kinase Src was determined by multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance methods. The molecule is composed of two short three-stranded anti-parallel beta sheets packed together at approximately right angles. Studies of the SH3 domain bound to proline-rich peptide ligands revealed a hydrophobic binding site on the surface of the protein that is lined with the side chains of conserved aromatic amino acids.

Small molecule inhibitor of mitotic spindle bipolarity identified in a phenotype-based screen.

Small molecules that perturb specific protein functions are valuable tools for dissecting complex processes in mammalian cells. A combination of two phenotype-based screens, one based on a specific posttranslational modification, the other visualizing microtubules and chromatin, was used to identify compounds that affect mitosis. One compound, here named monastrol, arrested mammalian cells in mitosis with monopolar spindles. In vitro, monastrol specifically inhibited the motility of the mitotic kinesin Eg5, a motor protein required for spindle bipolarity. All previously known small molecules that specifically affect the mitotic machinery target tubulin. Monastrol will therefore be a particularly useful tool for studying mitotic mechanisms.

Atomic structure of FKBP-FK506, an immunophilin-immunosuppressant complex.

The structure of the human FK506 binding protein (FKBP), complexed with the immunosuppressant FK506, has been determined to 1.7 angstroms resolution by x-ray crystallography. The conformation of the protein changes little upon complexation, but the conformation of FK506 is markedly different in the bound and unbound forms. The drug's association with the protein involves five hydrogen bonds, a hydrophobic binding pocket lined with conserved aromatic residues, and an unusual carbonyl binding pocket. The nature of this complex has implications for the mechanism of rotamase catalysis and for the biological actions of FK506 and rapamycin.

Probing immunosuppressant action with a nonnatural immunophilin ligand.

The immunosuppressants FK506 and rapamycin bind to the same immunophilin, FK506 binding protein (FKBP), and inhibit distinct signal transduction pathways in T lymphocytes. A nonnatural immunophilin ligand, 506BD, which contains only the common structural elements of FK506 and rapamycin, was synthesized and found to be a high-affinity ligand of FKBP and a potent inhibitor of FKBP rotamase activity. Whereas 506BD does not interfere with T cell activation, it does block the immunosuppressive effects of both FK506 and rapamycin. Thus, the common immunophilin binding element of these immunosuppressants, which is responsible for rotamase inhibition, is fused to different effector elements, resulting in the inhibition of different signaling pathways. Inhibition of rotamase activity is an insufficient requirement for mediating these effects.

Prevention of HIV-1 infection and preservation of CD4 function by the binding of CPFs to gp120.

Infection by human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) is initiated when its envelope protein, gp120, binds to its receptor, the cell surface glycoprotein CD4. Small molecules, termed N-carbomethoxycarbonyl-prolyl-phenylalanyl benzyl esters (CPFs), blocked this binding. CPFs interacted with gp120 and did not interfere with the binding of CD4 to class II major histocompatibility complex molecules. One CPF isomer, CPF(DD), preserved CD4-dependent T cell function while inhibiting HIV-1 infection of H9 tumor cells and human T cells. Although the production of viral proteins in infected T cells is unaltered by CPF(DD), this compound prevents the spread of infection in an in vitro model system.