Targeting a Cryptic Pocket in a Protein-Protein Contact by Disulfide-Induced Rupture of a Homodimeric Interface.

Interference with protein-protein interfaces represents an attractive as well as challenging option for therapeutic intervention and drug design. The enzyme tRNA-guanine transglycosylase, a target to fight Shigellosis, is only functional as a homodimer. Although we previously produced monomeric variants by site-directed mutagenesis, we only crystallized the functional dimer, simply because upon crystallization the local protein concentration increases and favors formation of the dimer interface, which represents an optimal and highly stable packing of the protein in the solid state. Unfortunately, this prevents access to structural information about the interface geometry in its monomeric state and complicates the development of modulators that can interfere with and prevent dimer formation. Here, we report on a cysteine-containing protein variant in which, under oxidizing conditions, a disulfide linkage is formed. This reinforces a novel packing geometry of the enzyme. In this captured quasi-monomeric state, the monomer units arrange in a completely different way and, thus, expose a loop-helix motif, originally embedded into the old interface, now to the surface. The motif adopts a geometry incompatible with the original dimer formation. Via the soaking of fragments into the crystals, we identified several hits accommodating a cryptic binding site next to the loop-helix motif and modulated its structural features. Our study demonstrates the druggability of the interface by breaking up the homodimeric protein using an introduced disulfide cross-link. By rational concepts, we increased the potency of these fragments to a level where we confirmed their binding by NMR to a nondisulfide-linked TGT variant. The idea of intermediately introducing a disulfide linkage may serve as a general concept of how to transform a homodimer interface into a quasi-monomeric state and give access to essential structural and design information.

What Glues a Homodimer Together: Systematic Analysis of the Stabilizing Effect of an Aromatic Hot Spot in the Protein-Protein Interface of the tRNA-Modifying Enzyme Tgt.

Shigella bacteria constitute the causative agent of bacillary dysentery, an acute inflammatory disease causing the death of more than one million humans per year. A null mutation in the tgt gene encoding the tRNA-modifying enzyme tRNA-guanine transglycosylase (Tgt) was found to drastically decrease the pathogenicity of Shigella bacteria, suggesting the use of Tgt as putative target for selective antibiotics. The enzyme is only functionally active as a homodimer; thus, interference with the formation of its protein-protein interface is an attractive opportunity for therapeutic intervention. To better understand the driving forces responsible for the assembly, stability, and formation of the homodimer, we studied the properties of the residues that establish the dimer interface in detail. We performed site-directed mutagenesis and controlled shifts in the monomer/dimer equilibrium ratio in solution in a concentration-dependent manner by native mass spectrometry and used crystal structure analysis to elucidate the geometrical modulations resulting from mutational variations. The wild-type enzyme exhibits nearly exclusive dimer geometry. A patch of four aromatic amino acids, embedded into a ring of hydrophobic residues and further stabilized by a network of H-bonds, is essential for the stability of the dimer's contact. Accordingly, any perturbance in the constitution of this aromatic patch by nonaromatic residues reduces dimer stability significantly, with some of these exchanges resulting in a nearly exclusively monomeric state. Apart from the aromatic hot spot, the interface comprises an extended loop-helix motif that exhibits remarkable flexibility. In the destabilized mutated variants, the loop-helix motif adopts deviating conformations in the interface region, and a number of water molecules, penetrating into the interface, are observed.

Hot-spot analysis to dissect the functional protein-protein interface of a tRNA-modifying enzyme.

Interference with protein-protein interactions of interfaces larger than 1500 Ų by small drug-like molecules is notoriously difficult, particularly if targeting homodimers. The tRNA modifying enzyme Tgt is only functionally active as a homodimer. Thus, blocking Tgt dimerization is a promising strategy for drug therapy as this protein is key to the development of Shigellosis. Our goal was to identify hot-spot residues which, upon mutation, result in a predominantly monomeric state of Tgt. The detailed understanding of the spatial location and stability contribution of the individual interaction hot-spot residues and the plasticity of motifs involved in the interface formation is a crucial prerequisite for the rational identification of drug-like inhibitors addressing the respective dimerization interface. Using computational analyses, we identified hot-spot residues that contribute particularly to dimer stability: a cluster of hydrophobic and aromatic residues as well as several salt bridges. This in silico prediction led to the identification of a promising double mutant, which was validated experimentally. Native nano-ESI mass spectrometry showed that the dimerization of the suggested mutant is largely prevented resulting in a predominantly monomeric state. Crystal structure analysis and enzyme kinetics of the mutant variant further support the evidence for enhanced monomerization and provide first insights into the structural consequences of the dimer destabilization.