Timothy Robert Hawkes

A mechanism of drug action revealed by structural studies of enoyl reductase.

Enoyl reductase (ENR), an enzyme involved in fatty acid biosynthesis, is the target for antibacterial diazaborines and the front-line antituberculosis drug isoniazid. Analysis of the structures of complexes of Escherichia coli ENR with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and either thienodiazaborine or benzodiazaborine revealed the formation of a covalent bond between the 2′ hydroxyl of the nicotinamide ribose and a boron atom in the drugs to generate a tight, noncovalently bound bisubstrate analog. This analysis has implications for the structure-based design of inhibitors of ENR, and similarities to other oxidoreductases suggest that mimicking this molecular linkage may have generic applications in other areas of medicinal chemistry.

Herbicidal 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase inhibitors--a review of the triketone chemistry story from a Syngenta perspective.

A review, outlining the origins and subsequent development of the triketone class of herbicidal 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) inhibitors.

Mechanisms of resistance to paraquat in plants.

The aim of this brief review is to draw information from studies of the mechanism of evolved resistance in weeds, together with information from laboratory studies of paraquat tolerance in model plants. Plants having mutations that limit paraquat uptake into cytoplasm, that confer various stress tolerances or that have transgenes that co-express two or more of the chloroplast Halliwell-Asada cycle enzymes can all exhibit enhanced tolerance to paraquat. However, none of these mechanisms correspond to the high-level resistances that have evolved naturally in weeds. Most, but not all, of the evidence from studies of paraquat-resistant biotypes of weeds can reasonably be reconciled with the proposal of a single major gene mechanism that sequesters paraquat away from chloroplasts and into the vacuole. However, the molecular details of this putative mechanism remain ill-defined.

Crystallization and analysis of the subunit assembly and quaternary structure of imidazoleglycerol phosphate dehydratase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Imidazoleglycerol phosphate dehydratase (IGPD) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been crystallized in the presence of a range of divalent cations using the hanging-drop method of vapour diffusion with ammonium sulfate or polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000 as the precipitants. X-ray precession photographs have established that the crystals formed with ammonium sulfate (form A) belong to the space group F432, with cell parameter a = 177.5 A and a single subunit in the asymmetric unit. A preliminary data set collected to 6 A resolution on a two-detector San Diego Multiwire area detector has established that the crystals formed with PEG 4000 (form B) belong to either of the special pair of space groups I23 or I2(1)3, with cell parameter a = 131.0 A. A self-rotation function has been calculated using these data and indicates that the cell axes show pseudo fourfold symmetry consistent with a dimer in the asymmetric unit in this crystal form. Light-scattering studies indicate that in the presence of Mn(2+) and a number of other divalent cations IGPD undergoes assembly to a particle of molecular weight approximately 500 kDa. Given the subunit molecular weight of 23 kDa together with the symmetry of the crystals it would indicate that the most likely quaternary structure for this enzyme is based on a 24-mer in 432 symmetry.

Mirror-Image Packing Provides a Molecular Basis for the Nanomolar Equipotency of Enantiomers of an Experimental Herbicide.

Abstract Programs of drug discovery generally exploit one enantiomer of a chiral compound for lead development following the principle that enantiomer recognition is central to biological specificity. However, chiral promiscuity has been identified for a number of enzyme families, which have shown that mirror‐image packing can enable opposite enantiomers to be accommodated in an enzymes active site. Reported here is a series of crystallographic studies of complexes between an enzyme and a potent experimental herbicide whose chiral center forms an essential part of the inhibitor pharmacophore. Initial studies with a racemate at 1.85 Å resolution failed to identify the chirality of the bound inhibitor, however, by extending the resolution to 1.1 Å and by analyzing high‐resolution complexes with the enantiopure compounds, we determined that both enantiomers make equivalent pseudosymmetric interactions in the active site, thus mimicking an achiral reaction intermediate.

Synthesis and evaluation of hydroxyazolopyrimidines as herbicides; the generation of amitrole in planta

BACKGROUND Exploiting novel herbicidal modes of action is an important method to overcome the challenges faced by increasing resistance and regulatory pressure on existing commercial herbicides. Recent reports of inhibitors of enzymes in the non-mevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis led to the design of a novel class of azolopyrimidines which were assessed for their herbicidal activity. Studies were also undertaken to determine the mode of action responsible for the observed herbicidal activity. RESULTS In total, 30 novel azolopyrimidines were synthesised and their structures were unambiguously determined by 1 H NMR, mass spectroscopy and X-ray crystallographic analysis. The herbicidal activity of this new chemical class was assessed against six common weed species, with compounds from this series displaying bleaching symptomology in post-emergence tests. A structure-activity relationship for the novel compounds was determined, which showed that only those belonging to the hydroxytriazolopyrimidine subclass displayed significant herbicidal activity. Observed similarities between the bleaching symptomology displayed by these herbicides and amitrole suggested that hydroxytriazolopyrimidines could be acting as elaborate propesticides of amitrole, and this was subsequently demonstrated in plant metabolism studies using Amaranthus retroflexus. It was shown that selected hydroxytriazolopyrimidines that displayed promising herbicidal activity generated amitrole, with peak concentrations of amitrole generally being observed 1 day after application. Additionally, the herbicidal activity of selected compounds was profiled against tobacco plants engineered to overexpress 4-diphosphocytidyl-2C-methyl-d-erythritol synthase (IspD) or lycopene β-cyclase, and the results suggested that, where significant herbicidal activity was observed, inhibition of IspD was not responsible for the activity. Tobacco plants overexpressing lycopene β-cyclase showed tolerance to amitrole and the two most herbicidally active triazolopyrimidines. CONCLUSIONS Inhibition of IspD leading to herbicidal activity has been ruled out as the mode of action for the hydroxytriazolopyrimidine class of herbicides. Additionally, tobacco plants overexpressing lycopene β-cyclase showed tolerance to amitrole, which indicates that this is the main herbicidal mode of action for amitrole. Results from the metabolic fate study of selected hydroxytriazolopyrimidines suggested that the herbicidal activity displayed by these compounds is due to amitrole production, which was confirmed when tobacco plants overexpressing lycopene β-cyclase also showed tolerance towards two triazolopyrimidines from this study.

Purification, crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana imidazoleglycerol-phosphate dehydratase.

Imidazoleglycerol-phosphate dehydratase catalyses the sixth step of the histidine-biosynthesis pathway in plants and microorganisms and has been identified as a possible target for the development of novel herbicides. Arabidopsis thaliana IGPD has been cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified and subsequently crystallized in the presence of manganese. Under these conditions, the inactive trimeric form of the metal-free enzyme is assembled into a fully active species consisting of a 24-mer exhibiting 432 symmetry. X-ray diffraction data have been collected to 3.0 A resolution from a single crystal at 293 K. The crystal belongs to space group R3, with approximate unit-cell parameters a = b = 157.9, c = 480.0 A, alpha = beta = 90, gamma = 120 degrees and with either 16 or 24 subunits in the asymmetric unit. A full structure determination is under way in order to provide insights into the mode of subunit assembly and to initiate a programme of rational herbicide design.