KPC1-mediated ubiquitination and proteasomal processing of NF-κB1 p105 to p50 restricts tumor growth.

NF-κB is a key transcriptional regulator involved in inflammation and cell proliferation, survival, and transformation. Several key steps in its activation are mediated by the ubiquitin (Ub) system. One uncharacterized step is limited proteasomal processing of the NF-κB1 precursor p105 to the p50 active subunit. Here, we identify KPC1 as the Ub ligase (E3) that binds to the ankyrin repeats domain of p105, ubiquitinates it, and mediates its processing both under basal conditions and following signaling. Overexpression of KPC1 inhibits tumor growth likely mediated via excessive generation of p50. Also, overabundance of p50 downregulates p65, suggesting that a p50-p50 homodimer may modulate transcription in place of the tumorigenic p50-p65. Transcript analysis reveals increased expression of genes associated with tumor-suppressive signals. Overall, KPC1 regulation of NF-κB1 processing appears to constitute an important balancing step among the stimulatory and inhibitory activities of the transcription factor in cell growth control.

Chemical Engineering of Artificial Transcription Factors by Orthogonal Palladium(II)-Mediated S-Arylation Reactions.

Site-selective functionalization strategies are in high demand to prepare well-defined homogeneous proteins for basic research and biomedical applications. In this regard, cysteine-based reactions have enabled a broad set of transformations to produce modified proteins for various applications. However, these approaches were mainly employed to modify a single reactive site with a specific transformation. Achieving site selectivity or multiple transformations, essential for preparing complex biomolecules, remains challenging. Herein we demonstrate the power of combining palladium(II)-mediated C-S bond formation and C-S bond cleavage reactions to selectively edit desired cysteine sites in complex and uniquely modified proteins. We developed an orthogonal palladium(II) strategy for rapid and effective diversification of multiple cysteine sites (3-6 residues) with various transformations. Importantly, we employed our approach to prepare 10 complex analogues, including modified, stapled, and multimeric proteins on a milligram scale. Furthermore, we also synthesized a focused library of stabilized artificial transcription factors that displayed enhanced stability and potent DNA binding activity. Our approach enables rapid and effective protein editing and opens new avenues to engineer new biomolecules for fundamental research and therapeutic applications.

Chemical Synthesis of Bioactive Proteins.

Nature has developed a plethora of protein machinery to operate and maintain nearly every task of cellular life. These processes are tightly regulated via post-expression modifications-transformations that modulate intracellular protein synthesis, folding, and activation. Methods to prepare homogeneously and precisely modified proteins are essential to probe their function and design new bioactive modalities. Synthetic chemistry has contributed remarkably to protein science by allowing the preparation of novel biomacromolecules that are often challenging or impractical to prepare via common biological means. The ability to chemically build and precisely modify proteins has enabled the production of new molecules with novel physicochemical properties and programmed activity for biomedical research, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications. This minireview summarizes recent developments in chemical protein synthesis to produce bioactive proteins, with emphasis on novel analogs with promising in vitro and in vivo activity.

Deciphering the Role of the Ser-Phosphorylation Pattern on the DNA-Binding Activity of Max Transcription Factor Using Chemical Protein Synthesis.

The chemical synthesis of site-specifically modified transcription factors (TFs) is a powerful method to investigate how post-translational modifications (PTMs) influence TF-DNA interactions and impact gene expression. Among these TFs, Max plays a pivotal role in controlling the expression of 15 % of the genome. The activity of Max is regulated by PTMs; Ser-phosphorylation at the N-terminus is considered one of the key regulatory mechanisms. In this study, we developed a practical synthetic strategy to prepare homogeneous full-length Max for the first time, to explore the impact of Max phosphorylation. We prepared a focused library of eight Max variants, with distinct modification patterns, including mono-phosphorylated, and doubly phosphorylated analogues at Ser2/Ser11 as well as fluorescently labeled variants through native chemical ligation. Through comprehensive DNA binding analyses, we discovered that the phosphorylation position plays a crucial role in the DNA-binding activity of Max. Furthermore, in vitro high-throughput analysis using DNA microarrays revealed that the N-terminus phosphorylation pattern does not interfere with the DNA sequence specificity of Max. Our work provides insights into the regulatory role of Max's phosphorylation on the DNA interactions and sequence specificity, shedding light on how PTMs influence TF function.

Posttranslational Chemical Mutagenesis Methods to Insert Posttranslational Modifications into Recombinant Proteins.

Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) dramatically expand the functional diversity of the proteome. The precise addition and removal of PTMs appears to modulate protein structure and function and control key regulatory processes in living systems. Deciphering how particular PTMs affect protein activity is a current frontier in biology and medicine. The large number of PTMs which can appear in several distinct positions, states, and combinations makes preparing such complex analogs using conventional biological and chemical tools challenging. Strategies to access homogeneous and precisely modified proteins with desired PTMs at selected sites and in feasible quantities are critical to interpreting their molecular code. Here, we summarize recent advances in posttranslational chemical mutagenesis and late-stage functionalization chemistry to transfer novel PTM mimicry into recombinant proteins with emphasis on novel transformations.

Engineering Bioactive Dimeric Transcription Factor Analogs via Palladium Rebound Reagents.

Transcription factors (TF), such as Myc, are proteins implicated in disease pathogenesis, with dysregulation of Myc expression in 50% of all human cancers. Still, targeting Myc remains a challenge due to the lack of small molecule binding pockets in the tertiary structure. Here, we report synthetic covalently linked TF mimetics that inhibit oncogenic Myc-driven transcription by antagonistic binding of the target DNA-binding site. We combined automated flow peptide chemistry with palladium(II) oxidative addition complexes (OACs) to engineer covalent protein dimers derived from the DNA-binding domains of Myc, Max, and Omomyc TF analogs. Palladium-mediated cross-coupling of synthesized protein monomers resulted in milligram quantities of seven different covalent homo- and heterodimers. The covalent helical dimers were found to bind DNA and exhibited improved thermal stability. Cell-based studies revealed the Max-Max covalent dimer is cell-penetrating and interfered with Myc-dependent gene transcription resulting in reduced cancer cell proliferation (EC50 of 6 µM in HeLa). RNA sequencing and gene analysis of extracted RNA from treated cancer cells confirmed that the covalent Max-Max homodimer interferes with Myc-dependent transcription. Flow chemistry, combined with palladium(II) OACs, has enabled a practical strategy to generate new bioactive compounds to inhibit tumor cell proliferation.

Oligonucleotide Bioconjugation with Bifunctional Palladium Reagents.

Organometallic reagents enable practical strategies for bioconjugation. Innovations in the design of water-soluble ligands and the enhancement of reaction rates have allowed for chemoselective cross-coupling reactions of peptides and proteins to be carried out in water. There are currently no organometallic-based methods for oligonucleotide bioconjugation to other biomolecules. Here we report bifunctional palladium(II)-oxidative addition complexes (OACs) as reagents for high-yielding oligonucleotide bioconjugation reactions. These bifunctional OACs react chemoselectively with amine-modified oligonucleotides to generate the first isolable, bench stable oligonucleotide-palladium(II) OACs. These complexes undergo site-selective C-S arylation with a broad range of native thiol-containing biomolecules at low micromolar concentrations in under one hour. This approach provided oligonucleotide-peptide, oligonucleotide-protein, oligonucleotide-small molecule, and oligonucleotide-oligonucleotide conjugates in >80 % yield and afforded conjugation of multiple copies of oligonucleotides onto a monoclonal antibody.

Gold(I)-Mediated Decaging or Cleavage of Propargylated Peptide Bond in Aqueous Conditions for Protein Synthesis and Manipulation.

Chemists have been interested in the N-alkylation of a peptide bond because such a modification alters the conformation of the amide bond, interferes with hydrogen bond formation, and changes other properties of the peptide (e.g., solubility). This modification also opens the door for attaching functional groups for various applications. Nonetheless, the irreversibility of some of these modifications and the harsh conditions required for their removal currently limits the wide utility of this approach. Herein, we report applying a propargyl group for peptide bond modification at diverse junctions, which can be removed under mild and aqueous conditions via treatment with gold(I). Considering the straightforward conditions for both the installation and removal of this group, the propargyl group provides access to the benefits of backbone N-alkylation, while preserving the ability for on-demand depropargylation and full recovery of the native amide bond. This reversible modification was found to improve solid-phase peptide synthesis as demonstrated in the chemical synthesis of NEDD8 protein, without the use of special dipeptide analogues. Also, the reported approach was found to be useful in decaging a broad range of propargyl-based protecting groups used in chemical protein synthesis. Remarkably, reversing the order of the two residues in the propargylation site resulted in rapid amide bond cleavage, which extends the applicability of this approach beyond a removable backbone modification to a cleavable linker. The easy attach/detach of this functionality was also examined in loading and releasing of biotinylated peptides from streptavidin beads.

Palladium mediated deallylation in fully aqueous conditions for native chemical ligation at aspartic and glutamic acid sites.

An efficient native chemical ligation approach at Asp and Glu sites is reported applying a hydrazide precursor, as a peptide thioester, and allyl protection at the side chain of Asp and Glu. The allyl protection was efficiently removed, after the ligation step, using the water-soluble palladium complex [Pd(allyl)Cl]2 and glutathione within a few minutes under fully aqueous conditions.

Total chemical synthesis of methylated analogues of histone 3 revealed KDM4D as a potential regulator of H3K79me3.

Histone H3 methylation plays an important role in regulating gene expression. In histones in general, this mark is dynamically regulated via various demethylases, which found to control cell fate decisions as well as linked to several diseases, including neurological and cancer. Despite major progress in studying methylation mark at various positions in H3 histone proteins, less is known about the regulation of methylated H3 at Lys79. Methylation at this site is known to have direct cross-talk with monoubiquitination of histone H2B at positions Lys120 and 34, as well as with acetylated H3 at Lys9. Herein we applied convergent total chemical protein synthesis to prepare trimethylated H3 at Lys79 to perform initial studies related to the regulation of this mark. Our study enabled us to identify KDM4D lysine demethylase as a potential regulator for trimethylated H3 at Lys79.

Palladium in the Chemical Synthesis and Modification of Proteins.

The field of site-specific modification of proteins has drawn significant attention in recent years owing to its importance in various research areas such as the development of novel therapeutics and understanding the biochemical and cellular behaviors of proteins. The presence of a large number of reactive functional groups in the protein of interest and in the cellular environment renders modification at a specific site a highly challenging task. With the development of sophisticated chemical methodologies it is now possible to target a specific site of a protein with a desired modification, however, many challenges remain to be solved. In this context, transition metals in particular palladium-mediated C-C bond-forming and C-O bond-cleavage reactions gained great interest owing to the unique catalytic properties of palladium. Palladium chemistry is being explored for protein modifications in vitro, on the cell surface, and within the cell. Very recently, palladium complexes have been applied for the rapid deprotection of several widely utilized cysteine protecting groups as well as in the removal of solubilizing tags to facilitate chemical protein synthesis. This Minireview highlights these advances and how the accumulated knowledge of palladium chemistry for small molecules is being impressively transferred to synthesis and modification of chemical proteins.

Palladium Mediated Rapid Deprotection of N-Terminal Cysteine under Native Chemical Ligation Conditions for the Efficient Preparation of Synthetically Challenging Proteins.

Facilitating the process of chemical protein synthesis is an important goal in order to enable the efficient preparation of large and novel protein analogues. Native chemical ligation, which is widely used in the synthesis and semisynthesis of proteins, has been going through several developments to expedite the synthetic process and to obtain the target protein in high yield. A key aspect of this approach is the utilization of protecting groups for the N-terminal Cys in the middle fragments, which bear simultaneously the two reactive groups, i.e., N-terminal Cys and C-terminal thioester. Despite important progress in this area, as has been demonstrated in the use of thiazolidine protecting group in the synthesis of over 100 proteins, finding optimal protecting group(s) remains a challenge. For example, the thiazolidine removal step is very slow (>8 h), and in some cases the applied conditions lead to undesired side reactions. Here we show that water-soluble palladium(II) complexes are excellent reagents for the effective unmasking of thiazolidine, enabling its complete removal within 15 min under native chemical ligation conditions. Moreover, palladium is also able to rapidly remove propargyloxycarbonyl-protecting group from the N-terminal Cys in a similar efficiency. The utility of the new removal conditions for both protecting groups is exemplified in the rapid and efficient synthesis of Lys34-ubiquitinated H2B and for the first time neddlyated peptides derived from cullin1. The current approach expands the use of palladium in protein chemistry and should significantly facilitate the chemical and semisynthesis of synthetically challenging proteins from multiple fragments.

Palladium-Assisted Cleavage of Peptides and Proteins Containing a Backbone with Thiazolidine Linkage.

The design and synthesis of biomolecules that are responsive to external stimuli is of great interest in various research areas, such as in the preparation of smart biomaterial and chemical biology. Polypeptide backbone disassembly as a response to a particular stimulus is of interest, as it leads to a complete loss of the protein tertiary structure and, as a result, to a loss of function. In this study, a strategy based on palladium-assisted efficient cleavage of backbone thiazolidine linkage in peptides and proteins was developed. Using a fluorescence-based assay, encompassing ubiquitinated peptide with a quenching florescence pair, it was possible to optimize the cleavage step after rapid screening of various conditions, such as the type of metal complexes and reaction additives. The optimized conditions prompted fast cleavage of the thiazolidine linkage. The straightforward introduction of a backbone thiazolidine linkage in peptide and proteins coupled with the chemical methods used offers new opportunities in controlling macromolecule function and might, with the aid of cellular protein delivery methods, be applied in cellular settings.

Chemical and semisynthesis of modified histones.

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of histones play critical roles in the epigenetic regulation of eukaryotic genome by directly altering the biophysical properties of chromatin or by recruiting effector proteins. The large number of PTMs and the inherent complexity in their population and signaling processes make it highly challenging to understand epigenetics-related processes. To address these challenges, accesses to homogeneously modified histones are obligatory. Over the last decade, synthetic protein chemists have been devising novel synthetic tools and applying state-of-the-art chemoselective ligation strategies to prepare precious materials useful in answering fundamental questions in this area. In this short review, we cover some of the recent breakthroughs in these directions in particular the synthesis and semi-synthesis of modified histones and their use to unravel the mysteries of epigenetics. Copyright © 2016 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Efficient Palladium-Assisted One-Pot Deprotection of (Acetamidomethyl)Cysteine Following Native Chemical Ligation and/or Desulfurization To Expedite Chemical Protein Synthesis.

The acetamidomethyl (Acm) moiety is a widely used cysteine protecting group for the chemical synthesis and semisynthesis of peptide and proteins. However, its removal is not straightforward and requires harsh reaction conditions and additional purification steps before and after the removal step, which extends the synthetic process and reduces the overall yield. To overcome these shortcomings, a method for rapid and efficient Acm removal using Pd(II) complexes in aqueous medium is reported. We show, for the first time, the assembly of three peptide fragments in a one-pot fashion by native chemical ligation where the Acm moiety was used to protect the N-terminal Cys of the middle fragment. Importantly, an efficient synthesis of the ubiquitin-like protein UBL-5, which contains two native Cys residues, was accomplished through the one-pot operation of three key steps, namely ligation, desulfurization, and Acm deprotection, highlighting the great utility of the new approach in protein synthesis.

Chemical Synthesis of Phosphorylated Histone H2A at Tyr57 Reveals Insight into the Inhibition Mode of the SAGA Deubiquitinating Module.

Monoubiquitination of histone H2B plays a central role in transcription activation and is required for downstream histone-methylation events. Deubiquitination of H2B by the Spt-Ada-Gcn5 acetyltransferase (SAGA) coactivator complex is regulated by a recently discovered histone mark, phosphorylated H2AY57 (H2AY57p), which inhibits deubiquitination of H2B by the SAGA complex as well as restricting demethylation of H3 and increasing its acetylation. Evidence for the effect of H2AY57p, however, was indirect and was investigated in vivo by monitoring the effects of chemical inhibition of Tyr kinase CK2 or by mutating the phosphorylation site. We applied the total chemical synthesis of proteins to prepare H2AY57p efficiently and study the molecular details of this regulation. This analogue, together with semisynthetically prepared ubiquitinated H2B, enabled us to provide direct evidence for the cross-talk between those two marks and the inhibition of SAGA activity by H2AY57p.

Convergent versus sequential protein synthesis: the case of ubiquitinated and glycosylated H2B.

The chemical synthesis of a protein from four fragments or more applying native chemical ligation could be achieved stepwise, in one-pot, convergently, or on a solid support. With the increasing demands of applying protein synthesis to highly complex targets, examining these approaches becomes essential to achieve highly efficient synthesis. Different chemical synthetic strategies are compared for the preparation of the H2B protein having different post-translational modifications. The analogues include H2B that is ubiquitinated at Lys34, Lys120, glycosylated at Ser112, and doubly modified with ubiquitin and N-acetylglucosamine. This study demonstrates that the applied convergent strategy for the synthesis of most of these complex targets was better than the one-pot approach in terms of yield and purity. Some guidelines are offered for future synthetic endeavors of similar challenging proteins.

Site-Specific Acetylation of the Transcription Factor Protein Max Modulates Its DNA Binding Activity.

Chemical protein synthesis provides a powerful means to prepare novel modified proteins with precision down to the atomic level, enabling an unprecedented opportunity to understand fundamental biological processes. Of particular interest is the process of gene expression, orchestrated through the interactions between transcription factors (TFs) and DNA. Here, we combined chemical protein synthesis and high-throughput screening technology to decipher the role of post-translational modifications (PTMs), e.g., Lys-acetylation on the DNA binding activity of Max TF. We synthesized a focused library of singly, doubly, and triply modified Max variants including site-specifically acetylated and fluorescently tagged analogs. The resulting synthetic analogs were employed to decipher the molecular role of Lys-acetylation on the DNA binding activity and sequence specificity of Max. We provide evidence that the acetylation sites at Lys-31 and Lys-57 significantly inhibit the DNA binding activity of Max. Furthermore, by utilizing high-throughput binding measurements, we assessed the binding activities of the modified Max variants across diverse DNA sequences. Our results indicate that acetylation marks can alter the binding specificities of Max toward certain sequences flanking its consensus binding sites. Our work provides insight into the hidden molecular code of PTM-TFs and DNA interactions, paving the way to interpret gene expression regulation programs.

Modifying the vicinity of the isopeptide bond to reveal differential behavior of ubiquitin chains with interacting proteins: organic chemistry applied to synthetic proteins.

In every direction: Chemical protein synthesis allows the construction of 14 di-ubiquitin analogues modified in the vicinity of the isopeptide bond to examine their behavior with deubiquitinases and ubiquitin binding domains. The results set the ground for the generation of unique probes for studying the interactions of these chains with various ubiquitin-interacting proteins.

Enabling Peptide Ligation at Aromatic Junction Mimics via Native Chemical Ligation and Palladium-Mediated S-Arylation.

Synthetic strategies to assemble peptide fragments are in high demand to access homogeneous proteins for various applications. Here, we combined native chemical ligation (NCL) and Pd-mediated Cys arylation to enable practical peptide ligation at aromatic junctions. The utility of one-pot NCL and S-arylation at the Phe and Tyr junctions was demonstrated and employed for the rapid chemical synthesis of the DNA-binding domains of the transcription factors Myc and Max. Organometallic palladium reagents coupled with NCL enabled a practical strategy to assemble peptides at aromatic junctions.