AI-assisted structural consensus-proteome prediction of human monkeypox viruses isolated within a year after the 2022 multi-country outbreak.

IMPORTANCE: The 2022 outbreak of the monkeypox virus already involves, by April 2023, 110 countries with 86,956 confirmed cases and 119 deaths. Understanding an emerging disease on a molecular level is essential to study infection processes and eventually guide drug discovery at an early stage. To support this, we provide the so far most comprehensive structural proteome of the monkeypox virus, which includes 210 structural models, each computed with three state-of-the-art structure prediction methods. Instead of building on a single-genome sequence, we generated our models from a consensus of 3,713 high-quality genome sequences sampled from patients within 1 year of the outbreak. Therefore, we present an average structural proteome of the currently isolated viruses, including mutational analyses with a special focus on drug-binding sites. Continuing dynamic mutation monitoring within the structural proteome presented here is essential to timely predict possible physiological changes in the evolving virus.

Optimizing variant-specific therapeutic SARS-CoV-2 decoys using deep-learning-guided molecular dynamics simulations.

Treatment of COVID-19 with a soluble version of ACE2 that binds to SARS-CoV-2 virions before they enter host cells is a promising approach, however it needs to be optimized and adapted to emerging viral variants. The computational workflow presented here consists of molecular dynamics simulations for spike RBD-hACE2 binding affinity assessments of multiple spike RBD/hACE2 variants and a novel convolutional neural network architecture working on pairs of voxelized force-fields for efficient search-space reduction. We identified hACE2-Fc K31W and multi-mutation variants as high-affinity candidates, which we validated in vitro with virus neutralization assays. We evaluated binding affinities of these ACE2 variants with the RBDs of Omicron BA.3, Omicron BA.4/BA.5, and Omicron BA.2.75 in silico. In addition, candidates produced in Nicotiana benthamiana, an expression organism for potential large-scale production, showed a 4.6-fold reduction in half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) compared with the same variant produced in CHO cells and an almost six-fold IC50 reduction compared with wild-type hACE2-Fc.

Structural bioinformatics analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants reveals higher hACE2 receptor binding affinity for Omicron B.1.1.529 spike RBD compared to wild type reference.

To date, more than 263 million people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In many countries, the global spread occurred in multiple pandemic waves characterized by the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. Here we report a sequence and structural-bioinformatics analysis to estimate the effects of amino acid substitutions on the affinity of the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain (RBD) to the human receptor hACE2. This is done through qualitative electrostatics and hydrophobicity analysis as well as molecular dynamics simulations used to develop a high-precision empirical scoring function (ESF) closely related to the linear interaction energy method and calibrated on a large set of experimental binding energies. For the latest variant of concern (VOC), B.1.1.529 Omicron, our Halo difference point cloud studies reveal the largest impact on the RBD binding interface compared to all other VOC. Moreover, according to our ESF model, Omicron achieves a much higher ACE2 binding affinity than the wild type and, in particular, the highest among all VOCs except Alpha and thus requires special attention and monitoring.

Recent changes in the mutational dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease substantiate the danger of emerging resistance to antiviral drugs.

Introduction: The current coronavirus pandemic is being combated worldwide by nontherapeutic measures and massive vaccination programs. Nevertheless, therapeutic options such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) main-protease (Mpro) inhibitors are essential due to the ongoing evolution toward escape from natural or induced immunity. While antiviral strategies are vulnerable to the effects of viral mutation, the relatively conserved Mpro makes an attractive drug target: Nirmatrelvir, an antiviral targeting its active site, has been authorized for conditional or emergency use in several countries since December 2021, and a number of other inhibitors are under clinical evaluation. We analyzed recent SARS-CoV-2 genomic data, since early detection of potential resistances supports a timely counteraction in drug development and deployment, and discovered accelerated mutational dynamics of Mpro since early December 2021. Methods: We performed a comparative analysis of 10.5 million SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences available by June 2022 at GISAID to the NCBI reference genome sequence NC_045512.2. Amino-acid exchanges within high-quality regions in 69,878 unique Mpro sequences were identified and time- and in-depth sequence analyses including a structural representation of mutational dynamics were performed using in-house software. Results: The analysis showed a significant recent event of mutational dynamics in Mpro. We report a remarkable increase in mutational variability in an eight-residue long consecutive region (R188-G195) near the active site since December 2021. Discussion: The increased mutational variability in close proximity to an antiviral-drug binding site as described herein may suggest the onset of the development of antiviral resistance. This emerging diversity urgently needs to be further monitored and considered in ongoing drug development and lead optimization.

Structural basis for inhibition of the AAA-ATPase Drg1 by diazaborine.

The hexameric AAA-ATPase Drg1 is a key factor in eukaryotic ribosome biogenesis and initiates cytoplasmic maturation of the large ribosomal subunit by releasing the shuttling maturation factor Rlp24. Drg1 monomers contain two AAA-domains (D1 and D2) that act in a concerted manner. Rlp24 release is inhibited by the drug diazaborine which blocks ATP hydrolysis in D2. The mode of inhibition was unknown. Here we show the first cryo-EM structure of Drg1 revealing the inhibitory mechanism. Diazaborine forms a covalent bond to the 2'-OH of the nucleotide in D2, explaining its specificity for this site. As a consequence, the D2 domain is locked in a rigid, inactive state, stalling the whole Drg1 hexamer. Resistance mechanisms identified include abolished drug binding and altered positioning of the nucleotide. Our results suggest nucleotide-modifying compounds as potential novel inhibitors for AAA-ATPases.

Serine 477 plays a crucial role in the interaction of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with the human receptor ACE2.

Since the worldwide outbreak of the infectious disease COVID-19, several studies have been published to understand the structural mechanism of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. During the infection process, the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein plays a crucial role in the receptor recognition and cell membrane fusion process by interacting with the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor. However, new variants of these spike proteins emerge as the virus passes through the disease reservoir. This poses a major challenge for designing a potent antigen for an effective immune response against the spike protein. Through a normal mode analysis (NMA) we identified the highly flexible region in the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2, starting from residue 475 up to residue 485. Structurally, the position S477 shows the highest flexibility among them. At the same time, S477 is hitherto the most frequently exchanged amino acid residue in the RBDs of SARS-CoV-2 mutants. Therefore, using MD simulations, we have investigated the role of S477 and its two frequent mutations (S477G and S477N) at the RBD during the binding to hACE2. We found that the amino acid exchanges S477G and S477N strengthen the binding of the SARS-COV-2 spike with the hACE2 receptor.

Crystal structure of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae monoglyceride lipase Yju3p.

Monoglyceride lipases (MGLs) are a group of α/ß-hydrolases that catalyze the hydrolysis of monoglycerides (MGs) into free fatty acids and glycerol. This reaction serves different physiological functions, namely in the last step of phospholipid and triglyceride degradation, in mammalian endocannabinoid and arachidonic acid metabolism, and in detoxification processes in microbes. Previous crystal structures of MGLs from humans and bacteria revealed conformational plasticity in the cap region of this protein and gave insight into substrate binding. In this study, we present the structure of a MGL from Saccharomyces cerevisiae called Yju3p in its free form and in complex with a covalently bound substrate analog mimicking the tetrahedral intermediate of MG hydrolysis. These structures reveal a high conservation of the overall shape of the MGL cap region and also provide evidence for conformational changes in the cap of Yju3p. The complex structure reveals that, despite the high structural similarity, Yju3p seems to have an additional opening to the substrate binding pocket at a different position compared to human and bacterial MGL. Substrate specificities towards MGs with saturated and unsaturated alkyl chains of different lengths were tested and revealed highest activity towards MG containing a C18:1 fatty acid.

Identification of promiscuous ene-reductase activity by mining structural databases using active site constellations.

The exploitation of catalytic promiscuity and the application of de novo design have recently opened the access to novel, non-natural enzymatic activities. Here we describe a structural bioinformatic method for predicting catalytic activities of enzymes based on three-dimensional constellations of functional groups in active sites ('catalophores'). As a proof-of-concept we identify two enzymes with predicted promiscuous ene-reductase activity (reduction of activated C-C double bonds) and compare them with known ene-reductases, that is, members of the Old Yellow Enzyme family. Despite completely different amino acid sequences, overall structures and protein folds, high-resolution crystal structures reveal equivalent binding modes of typical Old Yellow Enzyme substrates and ligands. Biochemical and biocatalytic data show that the two enzymes indeed possess ene-reductase activity and reveal an inverted stereopreference compared with Old Yellow Enzymes for some substrates. This method could thus be a tool for the identification of viable starting points for the development and engineering of novel biocatalysts.

Fusion of binding domains to Thermobifida cellulosilytica cutinase to tune sorption characteristics and enhancing PET hydrolysis.

A cutinase from Thermomyces cellullosylitica (Thc_Cut1), hydrolyzing the synthetic polymer polyethylene terephthalate (PET), was fused with two different binding modules to improve sorption and thereby hydrolysis. The binding modules were from cellobiohydrolase I from Hypocrea jecorina (CBM) and from a polyhydroxyalkanoate depolymerase from Alcaligenes faecalis (PBM). Although both binding modules have a hydrophobic nature, it was possible to express the proteins in E. coli . Both fusion enzymes and the native one had comparable kcat values in the range of 311 to 342 s(-1) on pNP-butyrate, while the catalytic efficiencies kcat/Km decreased from 0.41 s(-1)/ µM (native enzyme) to 0.21 and 0.33 s(-1)/µM for Thc_Cut1+PBM and Thc_Cut1+CBM, respectively. The fusion enzymes were active both on the insoluble PET model substrate bis(benzoyloxyethyl) terephthalate (3PET) and on PET although the hydrolysis pattern was differed when compared to Thc_Cut1. Enhanced adsorption of the fusion enzymes was visible by chemiluminescence after incubation with a 6xHisTag specific horseradish peroxidase (HRP) labeled probe. Increased adsorption to PET by the fusion enzymes was confirmed with Quarz Crystal Microbalance (QCM-D) analysis and indeed resulted in enhanced hydrolysis activity (3.8× for Thc_Cut1+CBM) on PET, as quantified, based on released mono/oligomers.

The 2.5 Å structure of the enterococcus conjugation protein TraM resembles VirB8 type IV secretion proteins.

Conjugative plasmid transfer is the most important means of spreading antibiotic resistance and virulence genes among bacteria and therefore presents a serious threat to human health. The process requires direct cell-cell contact made possible by a multiprotein complex that spans cellular membranes and serves as a channel for macromolecular secretion. Thus far, well studied conjugative type IV secretion systems (T4SS) are of Gram-negative (G-) origin. Although many medically relevant pathogens (e.g., enterococci, staphylococci, and streptococci) are Gram-positive (G+), their conjugation systems have received little attention. This study provides structural information for the transfer protein TraM of the G+ broad host range Enterococcus conjugative plasmid pIP501. Immunolocalization demonstrated that the protein localizes to the cell wall. We then used opsonophagocytosis as a novel tool to verify that TraM was exposed on the cell surface. In these assays, antibodies generated to TraM recruited macrophages and enabled killing of pIP501 harboring Enteroccocus faecalis cells. The crystal structure of the C-terminal, surface-exposed domain of TraM was determined to 2.5 Å resolution. The structure, molecular dynamics, and cross-linking studies indicated that a TraM trimer acts as the biological unit. Despite the absence of sequence-based similarity, TraM unexpectedly displayed a fold similar to the T4SS VirB8 proteins from Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Brucella suis (G-) and to the transfer protein TcpC from Clostridium perfringens plasmid pCW3 (G+). Based on the alignments of secondary structure elements of VirB8-like proteins from mobile genetic elements and chromosomally encoded T4SS from G+ and G- bacteria, we propose a new classification scheme of VirB8-like proteins.

The structure of monoacylglycerol lipase from Bacillus sp. H257 reveals unexpected conservation of the cap architecture between bacterial and human enzymes.

Monoacylglycerol lipases (MGLs) catalyse the hydrolysis of monoacylglycerol into free fatty acid and glycerol. MGLs have been identified throughout all genera of life and have adopted different substrate specificities depending on their physiological role. In humans, MGL plays an integral part in lipid metabolism affecting energy homeostasis, signalling processes and cancer cell progression. In bacteria, MGLs degrade short-chain monoacylglycerols which are otherwise toxic to the organism. We report the crystal structures of MGL from the bacterium Bacillus sp. H257 (bMGL) in its free form at 1.2Å and in complex with phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride at 1.8Å resolution. In both structures, bMGL adopts an α/ß hydrolase fold with a cap in an open conformation. Access to the active site residues, which were unambiguously identified from the protein structure, is facilitated by two different channels. The larger channel constitutes the highly hydrophobic substrate binding pocket with enough room to accommodate monoacylglycerol. The other channel is rather small and resembles the proposed glycerol exit hole in human MGL. Molecular dynamics simulation of bMGL yielded open and closed states of the entrance channel and the glycerol exit hole. Despite differences in the number of residues, secondary structure elements, and low sequence identity in the cap region, this first structure of a bacterial MGL reveals striking structural conservation of the overall cap architecture in comparison with human MGL. Thus it provides insight into the structural conservation of the cap amongst MGLs throughout evolution and provides a framework for rationalising substrate specificities in each organism.

Molecular modeling of lipase binding to a substrate-water interface.

Interactions of lipases with hydrophobic substrate-water interfaces are of great interest to design improved lipase variants and engineer reaction conditions. This chapter describes the necessary steps to carry out molecular dynamics simulations of Candida antarctica lipase B at tributyrin-water interface using the GROMACS simulation software. Special attention is drawn to the preparation of the protein and the substrate-water interface and to the analysis of the obtained trajectory.

Systematic benchmarking of large molecular dynamics simulations employing GROMACS on massive multiprocessing facilities.

The influence of the total number of cores, the number of cores dedicated to Particle mesh Ewald (PME) calculation and the choice of single vs. double precision on the performance of molecular dynamic (MD) simulations in the size of 70,000 to 1.7 million of atoms was analyzed on three different high-performance computing facilities employing GROMACS 4 by running about 6000 benchmark simulations. Small and medium sized systems scaled linear up to 64 and 128 cores, respectively. Systems with half a million to 1.2 million atoms scaled linear up to 256 cores. The best performance was achieved by dedicating 25% of the total number of cores to PME calculation. Double precision calculations lowered the performance by 30-50%. A database for collecting information about MD simulations and the achieved performance was created and is freely available online and allows the fast estimation of the performance that can be expected in similar environments.

Orchestration of concurrent oxidation and reduction cycles for stereoinversion and deracemisation of sec-alcohols.

Black and white are opposites as are oxidation and reduction. Performing an oxidation, for example, of a sec-alcohol and a reduction of the corresponding ketone in the same vessel without separation of the reagents seems to be an impossible task. Here we show that oxidative cofactor recycling of NADP (+) and reductive regeneration of NADH can be performed simultaneously in the same compartment without significant interference. Regeneration cycles can be run in opposing directions beside each other enabling one-pot transformation of racemic alcohols to one enantiomer via concurrent enantioselective oxidation and asymmetric reduction employing defined alcohol dehydrogenases with opposite stereo- and cofactor-preference. Thus, by careful selection of appropriate enzymes, NADH recycling can be performed in the presence of NADP (+) recycling to achieve overall, for example, deracemisation of sec-alcohols or stereoinversion representing a possible concept for a "green" equivalent to the chemical-intensive Mitsunobu inversion.

Emulation of racemase activity by employing a pair of stereocomplementary biocatalysts.

Racemization is the key step to turn a kinetic resolution process into dynamic resolution. A general strategy for racemization under mild reaction conditions by employing stereoselective biocatalysts is presented, in which racemization is achieved by employing a pair of stereocomplementary biocatalysts that reversibly interconvert an sp3 to a sp2 center. The formal interconversion of the enantiomers proceeds via a prochiral sp2 intermediate the formation of which is catalyzed either by two stereocomplementary enzymes or by a single enzyme with low stereoselectivity. By choosing appropriate reaction conditions, the amount of the prochiral intermediate is kept to a minimum. This general strategy, which is applicable to redox enzymes (e.g., by acting on R2CHOH and R2CHNHR groups) and lyase-catalyzed addition-elimination reactions, was proven for the racemization of secondary alcohols by employing alcohol dehydrogenases. Thus, enantiopure chiral alcohols were used as model substrates and were racemized either with highly stereoselective biocatalysts or by using (rarely found) non-selective enzymes.

An algorithm for the deconvolution of mass spectroscopic patterns in isotope labeling studies. Evaluation for the hydrogen-deuterium exchange reaction in ketones.

An easy to use computerized algorithm for the determination of the amount of each labeled species differing in the number of incorporated isotope labels based on mass spectroscopic data is described and evaluated. Employing this algorithm, the microwave-assisted synthesis of various alpha-labeled deuterium ketones via hydrogen-deuterium exchange with deuterium oxide was optimized with respect to time, temperature, and degree of labeling. For thermally stable ketones the exchange of alpha-protons was achieved at 180 degrees C within 40-200 min. Compared to reflux conditions, the microwave-assisted protocol led to a reduction of the required reaction time from 75-94 h to 40-200 min. The alpha-labeled deuterium ketones were reduced by biocatalytic hydrogen transfer to the corresponding enantiopure chiral alcohols and the deconvolution algorithm validated by regression analysis of a mixture of labeled and unlabeled ketones/alcohols.

Biocatalytic deuterium- and hydrogen-transfer using over-expressed ADH-'A': enhanced stereoselectivity and 2H-labeled chiral alcohols.

Employing the over-expressed highly organic solvent tolerant alcohol dehydrogenase ADH-'A' from Rhodococcus ruber DSM 44541, versatile building blocks, which were not accessible by the wild type catalyst, were obtained in > 99% e.e.; furthermore, employing d8-2-propanol as deuterium source, stereoselective biocatalytic deuterium transfer was made feasible to furnish enantiopure deuterium labeled sec-alcohols on a preparative scale employing a single enzyme.