The PAF complex regulation of Prmt5 facilitates the progression and maintenance of MLL fusion leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a disease associated with epigenetic dysregulation. 11q23 translocations involving the H3K4 methyltransferase MLL1 (KMT2A) generate oncogenic fusion proteins with deregulated transcriptional potential. The polymerase-associated factor complex (PAFc) is an epigenetic co-activator complex that makes direct contact with MLL fusion proteins and is involved in AML, however, its functions are not well understood. Here, we explored the transcriptional targets regulated by the PAFc that facilitate leukemia by performing RNA-sequencing after conditional loss of the PAFc subunit Cdc73. We found Cdc73 promotes expression of an early hematopoietic progenitor gene program that prevents differentiation. Among the target genes, we confirmed the protein arginine methyltransferase Prmt5 is a direct target that is positively regulated by a transcriptional unit that includes the PAFc, MLL1, HOXA9 and STAT5 in leukemic cells. We observed reduced PRMT5-mediated H4R3me2s following excision of Cdc73 placing this histone modification downstream of the PAFc and revealing a novel mechanism between the PAFc and Prmt5. Knockdown or pharmacologic inhibition of Prmt5 causes a G1 arrest and reduced proliferation resulting in extended leukemic disease latency in vivo. Overall, we demonstrate the PAFc regulates Prmt5 to facilitate leukemic progression and is a potential therapeutic target for AMLs.

A phosphonamidate containing aromatic N-terminal amino group as inhibitor of leucine aminopeptidase-design, synthesis and stability.

Fully deprotected phosphonamidate dipeptides, predicted as effective inhibitors of cytosolic leucine aminopeptidase, showed unexpected instability in water solution at pH below 12. Their hydrolysis rate was strictly correlated with basicity of the N-terminal amino group. To improve this feature a phosphonamidate analogue containing less basic, aromatic 2-aminophenylphosphonate residue in P1 position of the inhibitor was designed. The target compound was synthesised starting from diethyl 2-nitrophosphonate in several step procedure. The decrease in basicity of the terminal amino moiety of the modified analogue in fact resulted in satisfactory improvement of hydrolytic stability of the P-N bond. The developed phosphonamidate was proved to be fully resistant to hydrolysis above pH 7. Surprisingly, tested in enzymatic assays towards leucine aminopeptidase (optimum pH 8.5), it did not exhibit inhibition activity up to milimolar concentration. The explanation could be that diminishing the basic character of the terminal amino group may result in a change of its affinity towards the zinc ions.

Leucine aminopeptidase as a target for inhibitor design.

In this review we focus on the most effective and the most promising inhibitors of leucine aminopeptidase. Their binding modes to the enzyme, the attempt to explain the origin of the inhibitory activity, as well as the structure-activity relationship for some of these compounds are discussed. Besides, the structural and electronic requirements of the enzyme active site and the binding pockets, together with the specificity towards the ligands, based on the structural and kinetic data, are presented.

Computer-aided design and activity prediction of leucine aminopeptidase inhibitors.

The Ligand Design (LUDI) approach has been used in order to design leucine aminopeptidase inhibitors, predict their activity and analyze their interactions with the enzyme. The investigation was based on the crystal structure of bovine lens leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) complexed with its inhibitor--the phosphonic acid analogue of leucine (LeuP). More than 50 potential leucine aminopeptidase inhibitors have been obtained, including the most potent aminophosphonic LAP inhibitors with experimentally known activity, which have been the subject of more detailed studies. A reasonable agreement between theoretical and experimental activities has been obtained for most of the studied inhibitors. Our results confirm that LUDI is a powerful tool for the design of enzyme inhibitors as well as in the prediction of their activity. In addition, for inhibitor-active site interactions dominated by the electrostatic effects it is possible to improve binding energy estimates by using a more accurate description of inhibitor charge distribution.

Structure of Bacillus subtilis YXKO--a member of the UPF0031 family and a putative kinase.

We determined the 1.6-A resolution crystal structure of a conserved hypothetical 29.9-kDa protein from the SIGY-CYDD intergenic region encoded by a Bacillus subtilis open reading frame in the YXKO locus. YXKO homologues are broadly distributed and are by and large described as proteins with unknown function. The YXKO protein has an alpha/beta fold and shows high structural homology to the members of a ribokinase-like superfamily. However, YXKO is the only member of this superfamily known to form tetramers. Putative binding sites for adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a substrate, and Mg(2+)-binding sites were revealed in the structure of the protein, based on high structural similarity to ATP-dependent members of the superfamily. Two adjacent monomers contribute residues to the active site. The crystal structure provides valuable information about the YXKO protein's tertiary and quaternary structure, the biochemical function of YXKO and its homologues, and the evolution of its ribokinase-like superfamily.