The mitochondrial rhomboid protease PARL regulates mitophagy by balancing intramembrane proteolysis of PINK1 and PGAM5. It has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease, but its investigation as a possible therapeutic target is challenging in this context because genetic deficiency of PARL may result in compensatory mechanisms. To address this problem, we undertook a hitherto unavailable chemical biology strategy. We developed potent PARL-targeting ketoamide inhibitors and investigated the effects of acute PARL suppression on the processing status of PINK1 intermediates and on Parkin activation. This approach revealed that PARL inhibition leads to a robust activation of the PINK1/Parkin pathway without major secondary effects on mitochondrial properties, which demonstrates that the pharmacological blockage of PARL to boost PINK1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy is a feasible approach to examine novel therapeutic strategies for Parkinson's disease. More generally, this study showcases the power of ketoamide inhibitors for cell biological studies of rhomboid proteases.
- MeSH
- endopeptidasy MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- metaloproteasy genetika metabolismus MeSH
- mitochondriální proteiny metabolismus MeSH
- mitofagie MeSH
- Parkinsonova nemoc * farmakoterapie MeSH
- proteasy * MeSH
- proteinkinasy metabolismus MeSH
- ubikvitinligasy metabolismus MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Rhomboid intramembrane proteases regulate pathophysiological processes, but their targeting in a disease context has never been achieved. We decoded the atypical substrate specificity of malaria rhomboid PfROM4, but found, unexpectedly, that it results from "steric exclusion": PfROM4 and canonical rhomboid proteases cannot cleave each other's substrates due to reciprocal juxtamembrane steric clashes. Instead, we engineered an optimal sequence that enhanced proteolysis >10-fold, and solved high-resolution structures to discover that boronates enhance inhibition >100-fold. A peptide boronate modeled on our "super-substrate" carrying one "steric-excluding" residue inhibited PfROM4 but not human rhomboid proteolysis. We further screened a library to discover an orthogonal alpha-ketoamide that potently inhibited PfROM4 but not human rhomboid proteolysis. Despite the membrane-immersed target and rapid invasion, ultrastructural analysis revealed that single-dosing blood-stage malaria cultures blocked host-cell invasion and cleared parasitemia. These observations establish a strategy for designing parasite-selective rhomboid inhibitors and expose a druggable dependence on rhomboid proteolysis in non-motile parasites.
- MeSH
- amidy chemická syntéza chemie farmakologie MeSH
- antimalarika chemická syntéza chemie farmakologie MeSH
- HEK293 buňky MeSH
- inhibitory proteas chemická syntéza chemie farmakologie MeSH
- kyseliny boronové chemická syntéza chemie farmakologie MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- malárie krev farmakoterapie metabolismus MeSH
- molekulární struktura MeSH
- parazitické testy citlivosti MeSH
- peptidy chemická syntéza chemie farmakologie MeSH
- Plasmodium falciparum účinky léků metabolismus MeSH
- proteasy krev metabolismus MeSH
- proteolýza účinky léků MeSH
- protozoální proteiny antagonisté a inhibitory krev metabolismus MeSH
- racionální návrh léčiv * MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. MeSH
Rhomboid-family intramembrane proteases regulate important biological processes and have been associated with malaria, cancer, and Parkinson's disease. However, due to the lack of potent, selective, and pharmacologically compliant inhibitors, the wide therapeutic potential of rhomboids is currently untapped. Here, we bridge this gap by discovering that peptidyl α-ketoamides substituted at the ketoamide nitrogen by hydrophobic groups are potent rhomboid inhibitors active in the nanomolar range, surpassing the currently used rhomboid inhibitors by up to three orders of magnitude. Such peptidyl ketoamides show selectivity for rhomboids, leaving most human serine hydrolases unaffected. Crystal structures show that these compounds bind the active site of rhomboid covalently and in a substrate-like manner, and kinetic analysis reveals their reversible, slow-binding, non-competitive mechanism. Since ketoamides are clinically used pharmacophores, our findings uncover a straightforward modular way for the design of specific inhibitors of rhomboid proteases, which can be widely applicable in cell biology and drug discovery.
- MeSH
- gramnegativní bakterie enzymologie MeSH
- grampozitivní bakterie enzymologie MeSH
- inhibitory serinových proteinas chemická syntéza chemie farmakologie MeSH
- molekulární konformace MeSH
- molekulární modely MeSH
- proteasy metabolismus MeSH
- racionální návrh léčiv * MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH
Rhomboid proteases are increasingly being explored as potential drug targets, but their potent and specific inhibitors are not available, and strategies for inhibitor development are hampered by the lack of widely usable and easily modifiable in vitro activity assays. Here we address this bottleneck and report on the development of new fluorogenic transmembrane peptide substrates, which are cleaved by several unrelated rhomboid proteases, can be used both in detergent micelles and in liposomes, and contain red-shifted fluorophores that are suitable for high-throughput screening of compound libraries. We show that nearly the entire transmembrane domain of the substrate is important for efficient cleavage, implying that it extensively interacts with the enzyme. Importantly, we demonstrate that in the detergent micelle system, commonly used for the enzymatic analyses of intramembrane proteolysis, the cleavage rate strongly depends on detergent concentration, because the reaction proceeds only in the micelles. Furthermore, we show that the catalytic efficiency and selectivity toward a rhomboid substrate can be dramatically improved by targeted modification of the sequence of its P5 to P1 region. The fluorogenic substrates that we describe and their sequence variants should find wide use in the detection of activity and development of inhibitors of rhomboid proteases.
The antimicrobial 40-amino-acid-peptide lucifensin was synthesized by native chemical ligation (NCL) using N-acylbenzimidazolinone (Nbz) as a linker group. NCL is a method in which a peptide bond between two discreet peptide chains is created. This method has been applied to the synthesis of long peptides and proteins when solid-phase synthesis is imcompatible. Two models of ligation were developed: [15+25] Ala-Cys and [19+21] His-Cys. The [19+21] His-Cys method gives lower yield because of the lower stability of 18-peptide-His-Nbz-CONH2 peptide, as suggested by density functional theory calculation. Acetamidomethyl-deprotection and subsequent oxidation of the ligated linear lucifensin gave a mixture of lucifensin isomers, which differed in the location of their disulfide bridges only. The dominant isomer showed unnatural pairing of cysteines [C1-6], [C3-5], and [C2-4], which limits its ability to form α-helical structure. The activity of isomeric lucifensin toward Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Micrococcus luteus was lower than that of the natural lucifensin. The desired product native lucifensin was prepared from this isomer using a one-pot reduction with dithiotreitol and subsequent air oxidation in slightly alkaline medium.
- MeSH
- antiinfekční látky * chemická syntéza chemie farmakologie MeSH
- defensiny * chemická syntéza chemie farmakologie MeSH
- grampozitivní bakterie růst a vývoj MeSH
- kationické antimikrobiální peptidy * chemická syntéza chemie farmakologie MeSH
- sekundární struktura proteinů MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
The mechanisms of intramembrane proteases are incompletely understood due to the lack of structural data on substrate complexes. To gain insight into substrate binding by rhomboid proteases, we have synthesised a series of novel peptidyl-chloromethylketone (CMK) inhibitors and analysed their interactions with Escherichia coli rhomboid GlpG enzymologically and structurally. We show that peptidyl-CMKs derived from the natural rhomboid substrate TatA from bacterium Providencia stuartii bind GlpG in a substrate-like manner, and their co-crystal structures with GlpG reveal the S1 to S4 subsites of the protease. The S1 subsite is prominent and merges into the 'water retention site', suggesting intimate interplay between substrate binding, specificity and catalysis. Unexpectedly, the S4 subsite is plastically formed by residues of the L1 loop, an important but hitherto enigmatic feature of the rhomboid fold. We propose that the homologous region of members of the wider rhomboid-like protein superfamily may have similar substrate or client-protein binding function. Finally, using molecular dynamics, we generate a model of the Michaelis complex of the substrate bound in the active site of GlpG.
- MeSH
- chloromethylketony aminokyselin chemická syntéza farmakologie MeSH
- DNA vazebné proteiny antagonisté a inhibitory chemie genetika metabolismus MeSH
- endopeptidasy chemie genetika metabolismus MeSH
- Escherichia coli chemie enzymologie genetika MeSH
- katalytická doména MeSH
- krystalografie rentgenová MeSH
- membránové proteiny antagonisté a inhibitory chemie genetika metabolismus MeSH
- molekulární modely * MeSH
- mutace MeSH
- proteiny z Escherichia coli antagonisté a inhibitory chemie genetika metabolismus MeSH
- Providencia chemie MeSH
- rekombinantní proteiny MeSH
- simulace molekulární dynamiky * MeSH
- substrátová specifita MeSH
- vazba proteinů MeSH
- vazebná místa MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
