X-ray crystallographic structure-based design of selective thienopyrazole inhibitors for interleukin-2-inducible tyrosine kinase.

Beginning with a screening hit, unique thienopyrazole-indole inhibitors of Itk (interleukin-2-inducible tyrosine kinase) were designed, synthesized, and crystallized in the target kinase. Although initial compounds were highly active in Itk, they were not selective. Increasing the steric bulk around a tertiary alcohol at the 5-indole position dramatically improved selectivity toward Lyk and Syk, but not Txk. Substitutions at the 3- and 4-indole positions gave less active compounds that remained poorly selective. A difluoromethyl substitution at the 5-position of the thienopyrazole led to a highly potent and selective compound. Phenyl at this position reduced activity and selectivity while pushing the side-chains of Lys-391 and Asp-500 away from the binding pocket. Novel and selective thienopyrazole inhibitors of Itk were designed as a result of combining structure-based design and medicinal chemistry.

Insights into COPII coat nucleation from the structure of Sec23.Sar1 complexed with the active fragment of Sec31.

The COPII vesicular coat forms on the endoplasmic reticulum from Sar1-GTP, Sec23/24 and Sec13/31 protein subunits. Here, we define the interaction between Sec23/24.Sar1 and Sec13/31, involving a 40 residue Sec31 fragment. In the crystal structure of the ternary complex, Sec31 binds as an extended polypeptide across a composite surface of the Sec23 and Sar1-GTP molecules, explaining the stepwise character of Sec23/24.Sar1 and Sec13/31 recruitment to the membrane. The Sec31 fragment stimulates GAP activity of Sec23/24, and a convergence of Sec31 and Sec23 residues at the Sar1 GTPase active site explains how GTP hydrolysis is triggered leading to COPII coat disassembly. The Sec31 active fragment is accommodated in a binding groove supported in part by Sec23 residue Phe380. Substitution of the corresponding residue F382L in human Sec23A causes cranio-lenticulo-sutural dysplasia, and we suggest that this mutation disrupts the nucleation of COPII coat proteins at endoplasmic reticulum exit sites.

Structure and organization of coat proteins in the COPII cage.

COPII-coated vesicles export newly synthesized proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum. The COPII coat consists of the Sec23/24-Sar1 complex that selects cargo and the Sec13/31 assembly unit that can polymerize into an octahedral cage and deform the membrane into a bud. Crystallographic analysis of the assembly unit reveals a 28 nm long rod comprising a central alpha-solenoid dimer capped by two beta-propeller domains at each end. We construct a molecular model of the COPII cage by fitting Sec13/31 crystal structures into a recently determined electron microscopy density map. The vertex geometry involves four copies of the Sec31 beta-propeller that converge through their axial ends; there is no interdigitation of assembly units of the kind seen in clathrin cages. We also propose that the assembly unit has a central hinge-an arrangement of interlocked alpha-solenoids-about which it can bend to adapt to cages of variable curvature.

Structure of the Sec23/24-Sar1 pre-budding complex of the COPII vesicle coat.

COPII-coated vesicles form on the endoplasmic reticulum by the stepwise recruitment of three cytosolic components: Sar1-GTP to initiate coat formation, Sec23/24 heterodimer to select SNARE and cargo molecules, and Sec13/31 to induce coat polymerization and membrane deformation. Crystallographic analysis of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sec23/24-Sar1 complex reveals a bow-tie-shaped structure, 15 nm long, with a membrane-proximal surface that is concave and positively charged to conform to the size and acidic-phospholipid composition of the COPII vesicle. Sec23 and Sar1 form a continuous surface stabilized by a non-hydrolysable GTP analogue, and Sar1 has rearranged from the GDP conformation to expose amino-terminal residues that will probably embed in the bilayer. The GTPase-activating protein (GAP) activity of Sec23 involves an arginine side chain inserted into the Sar1 active site. These observations establish the structural basis for GTP-dependent recruitment of a vesicular coat complex, and for uncoating through coat-controlled GTP hydrolysis.