Molecular modeling study on the tubulin-binding modes of epothilone derivatives: Insight into the structural basis for epothilones activity.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were employed to study the tubulin-binding modes of 20 epothilone derivatives spanning a wide range of antitumor activity. Trajectory analysis revealed that active ligands shared a common region of association and similar binding poses compared to the high-resolution crystal structure of the tubulin complex with epothilone A, the stathmin-like protein RB3, and tubulin tyrosine ligase (PDB code 4I50). Conformational analysis of epothilones in aqueous solution and tubulin-bound states indicated that the bound conformations of active species can be found to a significant extent within the ensemble of conformers available in aqueous solution. On the other hand, inactive derivatives were unable to adopt bound-like conformations in aqueous solution, thus requiring an extensive conformational pre-organization to accomplish an effective interaction with the tubulin receptor. Additionally, MD results revealed that epothilone binding-induced structuring of the M-loop and local flexibility changes in protein regions involved in interdimeric contacts that are relevant for microtubule stabilization. These results provide novel, valuable structural information to increase understanding about the underlying molecular aspects of epothilones activity and support further work on the search for new active tubulin-binding agents.

Structural basis for drug resistance conferred by ß-tubulin mutations: a molecular modeling study on native and mutated tubulin complexes with epothilone B.

Using molecular modeling, we have investigated the structure and dynamic properties of epothilone B-tubulin complexes with wild-type and mutated tubulin, aimed at identifying the molecular factors involved in the emergence of drug resistance induced by four protein mutations at Phe270Val, Thr274Ile, Arg282Gln, and Gln292Glu. Our results revealed that tubulin mutations render significant changes in the protein conformation in regions involved either in the binding of the ligand or in interdimer contacts that are relevant to the assembly of stable microtubules. In addition, point mutations induce drastic changes in the binding pose of the ligand and in the interaction networks responsible for the epothilone-tubulin association. Large ligand displacements inside the binding pocket and an overall decrease in the strength of drug-receptor polar contacts suggest a looser binding of the ligand in tubulin mutants. These results explain the loss of activity for epothilone B against cancer cells that contain tubulin mutants and provide valuable information to enhance the understanding of the atomic source of epothilones' activity, which can be helpful to conduct further research on the rational design of more potent therapeutic tubulin-binding agents.

Quantum-chemical study on the bioactive conformation of epothilones.

Herein, I report a DFT study on the bioactive conformation of epothilone A based on the analysis of 92 stable conformations of free and bound epothilone to a reduced model of tubulin receptor. The equilibrium structures and relative energies were studied using B3LYP and X3LYP functionals and the 6-31G(d) standard basis set, which was considered appropriate for the size of the systems under study. Calculated relative energies of free and bound epothilones led me to propose a new model for the bioactive conformation of epothilone A, which accounts for several structure-activity data.

Heterologous production of epothilones B and D in Streptomyces venezuelae.

Epothilones, produced from the myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum, are potential anticancer agents that stabilize microtubules in a similar manner to paclitaxel. The entire epothilone biosynthetic gene cluster was heterologously expressed in an engineered strain of Streptomyces venezuelae bearing a deletion of pikromycin polyketide synthase gene cluster. The resulting strains produced approximately 0.1 microg/l of epothilone B as a sole product after 4 days cultivation. Deletion of an epoF encoding the cytochrome P450 epoxidase gave rise to a mutant that selectively produces 0.4 microg/l of epothilone D. To increase the production level of epothilones B and D, an additional copy of the positive regulatory gene pikD was introduced into the chromosome of both S. venezuleae mutant strains. The resulting strains showed enhanced production of corresponding compounds (approximately 2-fold). However, deletion of putative transport genes, orf3 and orf14 in the epothilone D producing S. venezuelae mutant strain, led to an approximately 3-fold reduction in epothilone D production. These results introduce S. venezuelae as an alternative heterologous host for the production of these valuable anticancer agents and demonstrate the possibility of engineering this strain as a generic heterologous host for the production of polyketides and hybrid polyketide-nonribosomal peptides.