Mechanisms of Bacterial Polyprenyl Transferases and Multi-Target Drug Discovery for Tuberculosis
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MECHANISMS OF BACTERIAL POLYPRENYL TRANSFERASES AND MULTI-TARGET DRUG DISCOVERY FOR TUBERCULOSIS BY XINXIN FENG DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Eric Oldfield, Chair Professor Yi Lu Professor Robert B. Gennis Professor Satish K. Nair Abstract Bacterial polyprenyl transferases transfer polyprenyl groups onto molecular acceptors, such as proteins and small molecules, and they are very important functional entities that are involved in bacterial cell wall biosynthesis, biofilm formation, virulence formation and natural product formation. Structurally, bacterial polyprenyl transferases can be categorized into eight groups: αcyclase, α, αβ, αβγ, βγ, ε, ζ and TIM barrel fold proteins. Six bacterial polyprenyl transferases were investigated in the current research, including Streptomyces ghanaensis MoeO5 and Bacillus subtilis/Staphylococcus aureus PcrB (TIM barrel fold), Bacillus subtilis YisP (ε fold), Bradyrhizobium japonicum Kaurene synthase (αcyclase fold), Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv3378c and DPPS (ζ fold The function, mechanism of action, structure, inhibition and functional engineering of these six polyprenyl transferases were studied by X-ray crystallography, mutagenesis, activity assays, thermal dynamics measurements etc. Besides that, a multi-target drug discovery approach was also proposed as an attempt to combat drug resistance in anti- infective drug discovery campaigns, both based on structural homology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv3378c and DPPS (ζ fold), and the multi-target effect of SQ-109 and its analogs. MoeO5 catalyzes the first step biosynthesis of Moenomycin A, which is a phosphoglycolipid antibiotic. We determined the first crystal structure of MoeO5 and studied the binding mode of bound substrates. We also assayed its activity with different substrates and compared MoeO5 with its homolog PcrB, which led to a proposal of MoeO5 reaction mechanism. ii YisP is essential in biofilm formation in Bacillus subtilis and is predicted to produce C30 isoprenoids. We determined the structure of YisP, and proved that YisP acts as a phosphatase. Using DSC, we confirmed that farnesol shift and broaden the gel-to-liquid crystal transition of lipids. The X-ray structure of the bacterial diterpene cyclase ent-kaur-16-ene synthase from the soil bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum was determined in apo-, substrate and inhibitor-bound forms. The catalytic activity of the cyclase was studied by site-directed mutagenesis and inhibition of the enzyme was also investigated. Structures of tuberculosinol/iso-tuberculosinol synthase (Rv3378c) and cis- decaprenyl diphosphate synthase (DPPS) from M. tuberculosis were determined. They are targets for anti-infective therapies that block virulence factor formation and for cell wall biosynthesis, respectively. Given the similarity in local and global structure between these two proteins, the possibility exists that it may be possible to develop inhibitors that target not only virulence, but also cell wall biosynthesis. SQ-109, one new anti-tuberculosis ethylenediamine drug, was found to be active against other bacteria and yeasts. Based on the SAR study and biochemistry assay results with eleven SQ-109 analogs, we found that it might be an example of multi-target drug candidate that inhibits isoprenoid/quinone biosynthesis and/or respiration. iii To My Parents and My Husband iv Acknowledgments It is my pleasure to express my gratitude to people who have been helping me throughout my Ph.D. studies. First of all, I would like to thank my research advisor, Prof. Eric Oldfield for his constant support and guidance. He is a great mentor who teaches me how to become a good researcher. I am really grateful for the opportunity he gave me to work in the lab and the trust he has in me to pursue my own research ideas. It has been a really great experience interacting with Dr. Oldfield, both scientifically and personally. Additionally, I am grateful to the members of the Oldfield group. I would like to thank Dr. Yi-liang Liu, Dr. Wei Zhu, Dr. Ke wang, Dr. Rong Cao, Dr. Fu-Yang Lin, Dr. Weixue Wang, Dr. Kai Li and Dr. Yonghui Zhang for training me in the lab, answering all my questions, and assisting me with my experiments. I also thank Francisco and Jikun for maintaining our internal website and make data processing much easier. I thank Janish, Yang and Guodong for encouraging me along my way, and my undergrad student Shannon for working with me on various projects. Moreover, I am very grateful to my collaborators from University of Illinois and other campus: Prof. Rey-Ting Guo, Dr. Tzu-Ping Ko, Prof. Michael Cynamon, Prof. Douglas Mitchell, Prof. Robert Gennis and Prof. Dean Crick, for their help and input on X-ray crystallography, cell-based assays, respiration assays and molecular dynamics simulation. Furthermore, I am very thankful to my thesis committee members, Prof. Robert Gennis, Prof. Yi Lu, and Prof. Satish K. Nair for their suggestions during the committee meetings, as well as advice and support for my current and future career. v Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents, Jingquan Feng and Guijian Zheng for their support and unconditional love throughout these years. I would also thank all my dear friends for years of friendship, encouragement and support. And lastly, I sincerely thank my husband, Yugang Bai, for his support and company on my entire journey. vi Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction to Bacterial Polyprenyl Transferases and Drug Discovery for Tuberculosis............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Bacterial Polyprenyl Transferases ............................................................................... 1 1.2 Streptomyces ghanaensis MoeO5 and Bacillus subtilis/Staphylococcus aureus PcrB ............................................................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Bacillus subtilis YisP .................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Bradyrhizobium japonicum Kaurene synthase ............................................................ 4 1.5 Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv3378c and decaprenyl diphosphate synthase .......... 5 1.6 Drug Discovery for Tuberculosis ................................................................................. 6 1.7 Schemes, Charts, Tables and Figures .......................................................................... 8 1.8 References .................................................................................................................. 17 Chapter 2: Insights into the Mechanism of the Antibiotic-Synthesizing Enzyme MoeO5 from Crystal Structures of Different Complexes .......................... 22 2.1 Notes and Acknowledgements ................................................................................... 22 2.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 22 2.3 Results and Discussions ............................................................................................. 23 2.4 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 25 2.5 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................... 25 2.6 Schemes, Charts, Tables and Figures ........................................................................ 33 2.7 References .................................................................................................................. 51 Chapter 3: Insights into TIM‐barrel Prenyl Transferase Mechanisms: Crystal Structures of PcrB from Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus ...... 52 3.1 Notes and Acknowledgements ................................................................................... 52 3.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 52 3.3 Results and Discussions ............................................................................................. 53 3.4 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 57 3.5 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................... 58 3.6 Schemes, Charts, Tables and Figures ........................................................................ 61 3.7 References .................................................................................................................. 74 Chapter 4: Structure and Function of Bacillus subtilis YisP: Biofilm Production and Virulence in Bacteria ...................................................................................... 75 4.1 Notes and Acknowledgements ................................................................................... 75 4.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 75 4.3 Results and Discussions ............................................................................................. 77 4.4 Conclusions ...............................................................................................................