Lingling Feng

Binding Interaction Analysis of the Active Site and Its Inhibitors for Neuraminidase (N1 Subtype) of Human Influenza Virus by the Integration of Molecular Docking, FMO Calculation and 3D-QSAR CoMFA Modeling

Recently, the worldwide spread of A/H5N1 avian influenza with high virulence has highlighted the potential threat of human influenza pandemic. Tamiflu and Relenza are currently the only two anti-influenza drugs targeting the neuraminidase (NA) enzyme of human influenza virus. Reports of the emergence of drug resistance further make the development of new potent anti-influenza inhibitors a priority. The X-ray crystallographic study of A/H5N1 avian influenza NA subtypes (Russell, R. J. Nature 2006, 443, 45-49) has demonstrated that there exist two genetically distinct groups, group-1 (N1, N4, N5 and N8) and group-2 (N2, N3, N6, N7 and N9), whose conformations are substantially different. The detailed comparison of their active sites has established, heretofore, the most accurate and solid molecular basis of structure and mechanism for the development of new anti-influenza drugs. In the present study, a three-dimensional structure of N1 subtype of human influenza type A virus (N1hA) has been generated by homology modeling using the X-ray crystallographic structure of N1 subtype of avian influenza virus (N1aA) as the template. Binding interaction analysis between the active site and its inhibitors has been performed by combining ab initio fragment molecular orbital (FMO) calculations and three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship with comparative molecular field analysis (3D-QSAR CoMFA) modeling. Integrated with docking-based 3D-QSAR CoMFA modeling, molecular surface property (electrostatic and steric) mapping and FMO pair interaction analysis, a set of new receptor-ligand binding models and bioaffinity predictive models for rational design and virtual screening of more potent inhibitors of N1hA are established. In addition, the flexibility of the loop-150 of N1hA and N1aA has been examined by a series of molecular dynamics simulations.

Structure-Based Rational Screening of Novel Hit Compounds with Structural Diversity for Cytochrome P450 Sterol 14α-Demethylase from Penicillium digitatum

Cytochrome P450 sterol 14alpha-demethylases (CYP51s) are essential enzymes in sterol biosynthesis and well-known as the target of antifungal drugs. All fungal CYP51s are integral membrane proteins, making structural and biophysical characterization more challenging. The X-ray crystallographic structure of CYP51 isolated from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT-CYP51) is the unique reported one hitherto. In the present study, a homology modeling three-dimensional structure of CYP51 from Penicillium digitatum (PD-CYP51) was generated by CPHmodels, in which the accuracy of sequence alignment could be improved by taking into account further structural conservation information, using MT-CYP51 as the template. Interaction mechanism between the active site of PD-CYP51 and its inhibitors were further investigated by molecular dynamics simulating and molecular docking. With the effective docking process and interaction analysis information, structure-based virtual screening was performed to pick out the thirty new potential inhibiting compounds with structural diversity by using a new virtual screening strategy including Flex-Pharm/PMF/GOLD//FlexX/PMF/GOLD molecular docking procedures, and finally, seven new hit compounds out of SPECs database with potent inhibitory ability were validated by bioaffinity assays at enzyme level and on P. digitatum in vitro. The positive results indicated that all modeling strategies and screening processes presented in the current study most like to be an encouraging way in search of novel lead compounds with structural diversity for the specifically individual fungal CYP51s of both plants and human pathogens in the future.

Structural and biochemical characterization of fructose‐1,6/sedoheptulose‐1,7–bisphosphatase from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis strain 6803

Cyanobacterial fructose–1,6/sedoheptulose‐1,7–bisphosphatase (cy–FBP/SBPase) plays a vital role in gluconeogenesis and in the photosynthetic carbon reduction pathway, and is thus a potential enzymatic target for inhibition of harmful cyanobacterial blooms. Here, we describe the crystal structure of cy–FBP/SBPase in complex with AMP and fructose‐1,6–bisphosphate (FBP). The allosteric inhibitor AMP and the substrate FBP exhibit an unusual binding mode when in complex with cy–FBP/SBPase. Binding mode analysis suggested that AMP bound to the allosteric sites near the interface across the up/down subunit pairs C1C4 and C2C3 in the center of the tetramer, while FBP binds opposite to the interface between the horizontal subunit pairs C1C2 or C3C4. We identified a series of residues important for FBP and AMP binding, and suggest formation of a disulfide linkage between Cys75 and Cys99. Further analysis indicates that cy–FBP/SBPase may be regulated through ligand binding and alteration of the structure of the enzyme complex. The interactions between ligands and cy–FBP/SBPase are different from those of ligand‐bound structures of other FBPase family members, and thus provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms of structure and catalysis of cy–FBP/SBPase. Our studies provide insight into the evolution of this enzyme family, and may help in the design of inhibitors aimed at preventing toxic cyanobacterial blooms.

Understanding the electronic energy transfer pathways in the trimeric and hexameric aggregation state of cyanobacteria phycocyanin within the framework of forster theory

In the present study, the electronic energy transfer pathways in trimeric and hexameric aggregation state of cyanobacteria C‐phycocyanin (C‐PC) were investigated in term of the Förster theory. The corresponding excited states and transition dipole moments of phycocyanobilins (PCBs) located into C‐PC were examined by model chemistry in gas phase at time‐dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), configuration interaction‐singles (CIS), and Zerners intermediate neglect of differential overlap (ZINDO) levels, respectively. Then, the long‐range pigment‐protein interactions were approximately taken into account by using polarizable continuum model (PCM) at TDDFT level to estimate the influence of protein environment on the preceding calculated physical quantities. The influence of the short‐range interaction caused by aspartate residue nearby PCBs was examined as well. Only when the protonation of PCBs and its long‐ and short‐range interactions were properly taken into account, the calculated energy transfer rates (1/K) in the framework of Förster model at TDDFT/B3LYP/6‐31+G* level were in good agreement with the experimental results of C‐PC monomer and trimer. Furthermore, the present calculated results suggested that the energy transfer pathway in C‐PC monomer is predominant from β‐155 to β‐84 (1/K = 13.4 ps), however, from α‐84 of one monomer to β‐84 (1/K = 0.3–0.4 ps) in a neighbor monomer in C‐PC trimer. In C‐PC hexamer, an additional energy flow was predicted to be from β‐155 (or α‐84) in top trimer to adjacent β‐155 (or α‐84) (1/K = 0.5–2.7 ps) in bottom trimer.

Synthesis and antifungal activity of 5-iodo-1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazole derivatives as pyruvate dehydrogenase complex E1 inhibitors.

To identify new antifungal lead compound based on inhibitors of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex E1, a series of 5-iodo-1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazole derivatives 3 were prepared and evaluated for their Escherichia coli PDHc-E1 inhibitory activity and antifungal activity. The in vitro bioassay for the PDHc-E1 inhibition indicated all the compounds exhibited significant inhibition against E. coli PDHc-E1 (IC50<21μM), special compound 3g showed the most potent inhibitory activity (IC50=4.21±0.11μM) and was demonstrated to act as a competitive inhibitor of PDHc-E1. Meanwhile, inhibitor 3g exhibited very good enzyme-selective inhibition of PDHc-E1 between pig heart and E. coli. The assay of antifungal activity showed compounds 3e, 3g, and 3n exhibited fair to good activity against Rhizoctonia solani and Botrytis cinerea even at 12.5μg/mL. Especially compound 3n (EC50=5.4μg/mL; EC90=21.1μg/mL) exhibited almost 5.50 times inhibitory potency against B. cinerea than that of pyrimethanil (EC50=29.6μg/mL; EC90=113.4μg/mL). Therefore, in this study, compound 3n was found to be a novel lead compound for further optimization to find more potent antifungal compounds as microbial PDHc-E1 inhibitors.

Structure-Based Design and Synthesis of Novel Dual-Target Inhibitors against Cyanobacterial Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphate Aldolase and Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphatase

Cyanobacteria class II fructose-1,6-bisphoshate aldolase (Cy-FBA-II) and cyanobacteria fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (Cy-FBPase) are two neighboring key regulatory enzymes in the Calvin cycle of the cyanobacteria photosynthesis system. Each of them might be taken as a potential target for designing novel inhibitors to chemically control harmful algal blooms (HABs). In the present paper, a series of novel inhibitors were rationally designed, synthesized, and optimized based upon the structural and interactional information of both Cy-FBA-II and Cy-FBPase, and their inhibitory activities were examined in vitro and in vivo. The experimental results showed that compounds L19e-L19g exhibited moderate inhibitory activities (IC50 = 28.1-103.2 μM) against both Cy-FBA-II and Cy-FBPase; compounds L19a-L19d, L19h, L20a-L20d exhibited high Cy-FBA-II inhibitory activities (IC50 = 2.3-16.9 μM) and moderate Cy-FBPase inhibitory activities (IC50 = 31.5-141.2 μM); however, compounds L20e-L20h could potently inhibit both Cy-FBA-II and Cy-FBPase with IC50 values less than 30 μM, which demonstrated more or less dual-target inhibitors feature. Moreover, most of them exhibited potent algicide activity (EC50 = 0.8-22.3 ppm) against cyanobacteria Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

Rational design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 1,3,4-oxadiazole pyrimidine derivatives as novel pyruvate dehydrogenase complex E1 inhibitors

On the basis of previous study on 2-methylpyrimidine-4-ylamine derivatives I, further synthetic optimization was done to find potent PDHc-E1 inhibitors with antibacterial activity. Three series of novel pyrimidine derivatives 6, 11 and 14 were designed and synthesized as potential Escherichia coli PDHc-E1 inhibitors by introducing 1,3,4-oxadiazole-thioether, 2,4-disubstituted-1,3-thiazole or 1,2,4-triazol-4-amine-thioether moiety into lead structure I, respectively. Most of 6, 11 and 14 exhibited good inhibitory activity against E. coli PHDc-E1 (IC50 0.97-19.21 μM) and obvious inhibitory activity against cyanobacteria (EC50 0.83-9.86 μM). Their inhibitory activities were much higher than that of lead structure I. 11 showed more potent inhibitory activity against both E. coli PDHc-E1 (IC50<6.62 μM) and cyanobacteria (EC50<1.63 μM) than that of 6, 14 or lead compound I. The most effective compound 11d with good enzyme-selectivity exhibited most powerful inhibitory potency against E. coli PDHc-E1 (IC50=0.97 μM) and cyanobacteria (EC50=0.83 μM). The possible interactions of the important residues of PDHc-E1 with title compounds were studied by molecular docking, site-directed mutagenesis, and enzymatic assays. The results indicated that 11d had more potent inhibitory activity than that of 14d or I due to its 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety with more binding position and stronger interaction with Lsy392 and His106 at active site of E. coli PDHc-E1.

Understanding the Spectroscopic Properties of the Photosynthetic Reaction Center of Rhodobacter sphaeroides by a Combined Theoretical Study of Absorption and Circular Dichroism Spectra

In the present study, we calculate eight low-lying (1.3-1.7 eV energy region) electronic excited states in well accordance with the absorption and CD spectroscopic properties of PSRC from Rb. shpaeroides by using time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). Our present calculations demonstrate that, only when the interactions among the prosthetic groups have been taken into account, a set of satisfactory assignments for both absorption and CD spectra of PSRC from Rb. sphaeroides can be achieved simultaneously.

Study on the interaction between cyanobacteria FBP/SBPase and metal ions

Fructose-1,6-/sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphatase (FBP/SBPase) is a potential important target enzyme for finding inhibitors to solve harmful algal bloom. In this paper, the interactions between FBP/SBPase and metal ions were studied by enzyme activity analysis, fluorescence and molecular modeling method. The enzyme activity analysis showed that FBP/SBPase can be activated by Mg2+ or Mn2+ but cannot be activated by Ca2+ or Zn2+. Spectroscopic analysis of emission quenching showed that quenching mechanism of FBP/SBPase with Mg2+ or Mn2+ was static quenching mechanism while that of Ca2+ or Zn2+ was dynamic quenching process. Hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interaction might be the predominant intermolecular forces in stabilizing FBP/SBPase-Mg2+ while hydrophobic forces were the predominant intermolecular forces in stabilizing FBP/SBPase-Mn2+. Microenvironment and conformation of FBP/SBPase were changed in binding reaction. The effect of metal ions and important amino acid residues on FBP/SBPase-metal ion complex was also discussed by molecular modeling study.

Design, synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking of amide and sulfamide derivatives as Escherichia coli pyruvate dehydrogenase complex E1 inhibitors

In this study, a series of novel amide derivatives and sulfamide derivatives as potential E. coli PDHc E1 inhibitors were designed and synthesized by optimizing the linker between triazole and benzene ring moieties based on the structure of lead compound I as thiamin diphosphate (ThDP) analogs. Their inhibitory activity against E. coli PDHc E1 were examined in vitro and their inhibitory activity against microbial diseases were further evaluated. Most of these compounds exhibit good inhibitory activity against E. coli PHDc E1 (IC50 1.99 to 25.66 μM) and obvious antibacterial activity. 5a, 5c and 9i showed 90–100% antibacterial activity against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae (Aaa) and cyanobacteria. Sulfamide derivatives 9 showed more potent inhibitory activity against E. coli PDHc E1 (IC50 < 14 μM) than that of amide derivatives 5 or lead compound I. Especially 9d (IC50 = 2.95 μM) and 9k (IC50 = 1.99 μM) exhibited not only the most powerful inhibitory potency against E. coli PDHc E1, but also 9k showed 99% antibacterial activity against Aaa at 500 μg mL−1 and almost the best inhibition of 97% against cyanobacteria at 20 μg mL−1. Furthermore, the binding mode of 5d and 9d to E. coli PDHc E1 was analyzed by a molecular docking method. The possible interactions of 9d with the important residues of E. coli PDHc E1 were further verified via site-directed mutagenesis enzymatic assays, and fluorescence spectral analysis. Both theoretical and experimental results revealed that 9d could display a more powerful interaction than that of 5d or I by forming a hydrogen bond between a sulfamide linkage and residues Lsy392, Tyr599 and His106 at active site of E. coli PDHc E1. 9k, 9d and 9i with both potent enzyme inhibition and significant antibacterial activity, could be used as novel lead compounds for further optimization. These results proved that a series of compounds with potential antibacterial activity could be obtained by the biorational design of E. coli PDHc E1 inhibitors.