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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 283, Issue 8, 5069-5080, February 22, 2008
Mycobacterium tuberculosis CYP130CRYSTAL STRUCTURE, BIOPHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION, AND INTERACTIONS WITH ANTIFUNGAL AZOLE DRUGS*
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| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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It has been demonstrated that azole drugs such as econazole and clotrimazole, which inhibit the sterol 14
-demethylase CYP51 and were originally developed as fungal antibiotics (2), display inhibitory potential against the latent and multidrug-resistant forms of tuberculosis both in vitro and in tuberculosis-infected mice (3-7). Furthermore, econazole exhibits synergistic activities with rifampicin and isoniazid against the multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis strains (3). The 4.4-Mb M. tuberculosis genome encodes 20 different cyp genes (8), whose biological roles are not yet understood. To date, physiological roles have been proposed for CYP125 and CYP142 in cholesterol catabolism (9) and for CYP132 in fatty acid metabolism (10). A catalytic function, the demethylation of sterols, has been demonstrated for M. tuberculosis CYP51 (11) that, in the absence of a sterol biosynthetic pathway in M. tuberculosis, potentially links this enzyme to cholesterol-mediated M. tuberculosis entry into macrophages and its subsequent intracellular survival (12).
The cyp130 and cyp141 genes are missing from the virulent Mycobacterium bovis strain and from its avirulent counterpart M. bovis BCG, suggesting that they are not essential for M. tuberculosis growth, but may be relevant for M. tuberculosis virulence and infectivity toward the human host (13). The gene Rv1256c encoding M. tuberculosis CYP130 is possibly part of a functional operon along with the gene Rv1258c that encodes for a tetracycline/aminoglycoside resistance (TAP)2-like efflux pump. Both the Mycobacterium fortuitum TAP efflux pump and its M. tuberculosis Rv1258c homologue confer significant resistance to tetracycline and aminoglycosides, including streptomycin, a third major drug in antituberculosis treatment (14). Deletion of the Rv1258c gene from the M. bovis BCG chromosome increases the susceptibility of the organism to these two drugs, confirming involvement of the efflux pump in the intrinsic resistance of M. bovis and M. tuberculosis to tetracycline and streptomycin (15). Furthermore, a correlation has been established between expression of the Rv1258c gene and drug resistance in a clinical M. tuberculosis isolate resistant to the two major antitubercular drugs, rifampicin and isoniazid (16). However, no evidence yet exists of a functional link between CYP130 and Rv1258c.
The large number of distinct cytochrome P450 (P450) enzymes and the susceptibility of M. tuberculosis to azole agents that target such enzymes suggest important roles for them in M. tuberculosis physiology and, hence, their potential use as therapeutic targets. To date, only two M. tuberculosis P450 enzymes, CYP51 and CYP121, have been studied as individually expressed recombinant proteins. Both have been shown to tightly bind econazole, the agent of the azole class with the highest known antimycobacterial activity, as well as other azole and triazole drugs (17). The interactions of CYP51 and CYP121 with the azole inhibitors have been addressed by x-ray crystallography resulting in the determination of several crystal structures, including those of their complexes with the triazole antifungal agent fluconazole (18, 19). Although econazole is so far the most potent antimycobacterial azole agent interacting in vitro with CYP51 and CYP121 (17), and herein with CYP130, no crystal structure of econazole bound in any P450 active site has ever been reported.
In this study, we report determination of the x-ray crystal structures for ligand-free and econazole-bound M. tuberculosis CYP130. We have also examined the binding of azole drugs by UV-visible spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Our data demonstrate that a conformational change in the protein is required for binding of econazole to CYP130 through a set of hydrophobic protein contacts and coordination to the heme iron. In addition to econazole, CYP130 binds a number of other antifungal agents with micromolar affinity, which makes it a plausible target for this class of therapeutic agents. Collectively, binding azoles to CYP130 is an endothermic entropy-driven complex process, which consists of two steps deducible from the titration calorimetry and exhibits spectrally detectable ligand-specific binding cooperativity that can be attributed to a potential for intramolecular or intermolecular protein-protein interactions inherent to CYP130.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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Molecular Cloning of Rv1256c Encoding CYP130—Genomic DNA from M. tuberculosis H37Rv was obtained through the TB Vaccine Testing and Research Materials Contract at Colorado State University. The region of the Rv1256c gene encoding the putative cytochrome P450 CYP130 was amplified by PCR using Pfu Turbo DNA polymerase (Stratagene) and upstream 5'-CTCTGCTCCATATGACATCAGTAATGTCTCACG-3' and downstream 5'-AAGCTTTCATCTAGAGGATGTCACTCGGAACG-3' primers. The letters in boldface in the upstream primer indicate an engineered NdeI restriction cloning site, including the initiation codon ATG. The underlined letters in the downstream primer indicate a HindIII restriction cloning site. Amplification conditions were 94 °C for 5 min, 5 cycles of 94 °C for 30 s, 55 °C for 30 s, and 72 °C for 3 min followed by 25 cycles of 94 °C for 30 s, 65 °C for 30 s, and 72 °C for 3 min. The PCR program was ended by a polymerization step at 72 °C for 25 min. To confirm the DNA sequence, the PCR fragment was first cloned into a pCR2.1 TOPO vector (Invitrogen) and then the NdeI-HindIII digested fragment was subcloned into a pCWori vector, which allows the expression of the recombinant protein with an N-terminal His6 tag (20).
Expression of Native and Se-methionine Containing CYP130—Recombinant CYP130, both native and as the Se-methionine containing derivative, was expressed under the control of the tac promoter of the pCWori vector using the Escherichia coli DH5
cells. For the native protein, cells were grown at 37 °C with vigorous agitation (250 rpm) in 2.8-liter flasks containing 1 liter of terrific broth medium supplemented with 200 µg/ml ampicillin until the A600 reached 0.5-0.8. At that time isopropyl 1-thio-β-D-galactopyranoside (0.5 mM),
-aminolevulinic acid (0.5 mM), FeCl3 (250 µM), and ampicillin (200 µg/ml) were added. The cells were incubated for an additional 36 h at 25 °C at reduced agitation (180 rpm). The cells were harvested by centrifugation at 5,000 x g for 20 min at 4 °C and were then kept frozen at -80 °C until used.
For the Se-methionine containing CYP130 derivative, the transformed cells were grown at 37 °C and 250 rpm in 2.8-liter flasks containing 1 liter of Luria-Bertani medium supplemented with 200 µg/ml ampicillin until the A600 reached 0.8-1.0. Cells were harvested by centrifugation at 2,000 x g for 15 min at 18 °C, washed with 100 ml of SelenoMet Medium base (AthenaES, Baltimore, MD), according to the protocol provided by the manufacturer, and re-centrifuged. Re-centrifuged cells were resuspended, transferred into 1 liter of fresh SelenoMet Medium base, and incubated at 25 °C and 250 rpm for 2 h before isopropyl 1-thio-β-D-galactopyranoside (0.5 mM),
-aminolevulinic acid (0.5 mM), ampicillin (200 µg/ml), and SelenoMet Nutrient Mix (AthenaES) containing a mixture of all the amino acids except methionine, and vitamins and selenomethionine were added according to the protocol provided by the manufacturer. The cells were incubated for 36 h at 25 °C and 180 rpm and harvested by centrifugation as described above.
CYP130 Purification—Both native and Se-methionine containing CYP130 were purified to homogeneity by fast protein liquid chromatography. Cells obtained from 6 liters of culture were thawed on ice and resuspended in 200 ml of buffer A (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 0.5 M NaCl, 0.1 mM EDTA, 20 mM imidazole, and 1mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride). The cell suspension was incubated on ice for 30 min after the addition of lysozyme (0.5 mg/ml) and DNase I (0.1 mg/ml). The cells were lysed by sonication using a Branson sonicator (three times with 4-min bursts at 50% power, with 2 min cooling on ice between each burst). Cell debris was removed by centrifugation at 100,000 x g, for 1 h at 4 °C. The soluble extract was loaded onto a 20-ml His/PrepFF 16/60 column (Amersham Biosciences) equilibrated with buffer A. The column was first washed with 100 ml of buffer A and then with 100 ml of buffer B (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 0.1 mM EDTA, and 20 mM imidazole). The protein was eluted with 200 ml of a linear gradient (20-200 mM) of imidazole in buffer B. All the fractions containing P450 were pooled, and the protein was further purified by flow-through chromatography on SP-Sepharose Fast-Flow (Amersham Biosciences) and subsequent binding to Q-Sepharose Fast-Flow (Amersham Biosciences). The protein was eluted with 200 ml of a linear gradient (0-250 mM) of NaCl in 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, and 0.1 mM EDTA. The fractions were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and those containing pure CYP130 were pooled and concentrated to at least 1 mM using an Amicon Ultra concentrating device (Millipore). The content of Se-methionine in the CYP130 Se-methionine derivative was assessed by trypsin digestion and analysis of the tryptic fragments by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry using a Q-STAR XL mass spectrometer (Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex).
Optical Absorption Spectroscopy—UV-visible absorption spectra of the purified CYP130 were recorded on a Cary UV-visible scanning spectrophotometer (Varian) using 1-cm path length quartz cuvette at 23 °C in 50 mM potassium phosphate (KPi) buffer, pH 7.4, containing 0.1 mM EDTA. The ferric-nitrosyl species was obtained in anaerobic conditions by flushing pure NO gas (Matheson Tri Gas, Newark, CA) over the ferric protein solution previously flushed with argon for 20 min. Formation of the ferrous carbon monoxide complex was achieved by bubbling CO gas (Airgas, San Francisco, CA) into the ferric enzyme solution for
30 s through a septum-sealed cuvette prior to the injection of 1 mM sodium dithionite using a gas tight syringe (Hamilton, Reno, NV). Difference spectra were generated by subtracting the spectrum of the ferrous deoxy form from that of its carbon monoxide complex. The concentration of P450 was determined from difference spectra using the extinction coefficient 91,000 M-1 cm-1 (21).
Equilibrium Binding Assay—Binding of the antifungal azole agents econazole, miconazole, clotrimazole, and ketoconazole to CYP130 was monitored by UV-visible spectroscopy at 23 °C in 50 mM KPi buffer, pH 7.4, containing 0.1 mM EDTA. Stock solutions of the inhibitors at concentrations of 1 and 10 mM were prepared in Me2SO. Difference spectra were recorded following the addition of a series of 0.25-1.0-µl aliquots of inhibitor to the sample cuvette containing 1 ml of 2.5 µM CYP130 for a maximal volume of 10 µl. The same amounts of Me2SO alone were added to the reference cuvette. Increasing concentrations of KCl were added as specified in Table 3. To determine the Kd values, titration data points were fitted to the rectangular hyperbola (Equation 1) for ketoconazole, quadratic hyperbola (Equation 2) for miconazole, and the Hill equation (Equation 3) for both econazole and clotrimazole using the Kaleidagraph software (Synergy).
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Crystallization and Data Collection—Purified CYP130 diluted to a concentration of 0.2 mM was subjected to automated screening of crystallization conditions using a nanoliter drop setter Mosquito (TTP LabTech). Both ligand-free and econazole-bound CYP130 crystallized from the different sets of crystallization conditions, which were further optimized to generate crystals of diffraction quality. Ligand-free crystals grew from 1.6 M ammonium sulfate, 0.1 M sodium citrate, pH 5.2, and 2% isopropyl alcohol and diffracted in the monoclinic space group C2 (Table 1) to a resolution of 1.46 Å. The asymmetric unit contained one protein molecule and 40% solvent. Econazole-bound crystals grew from 1.4 M ammonium sulfate, 0.1 M MES, pH 6.25, 40 mM NaF, and 2 mM econazole. Crystals belonged in the space group P3(2)21 and diffracted to a resolution of 3.0 Å (Table 1). Despite a large unit cell, there were only two molecules in the asymmetric unit, both related by noncrystallographic 2-fold symmetry. Thus, high solvent content (78%) and peculiarities of the molecule packing probably account for a low resolution of these crystals. Data were collected at 100-110 K at beamline 8.3.1, Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The images were integrated, and the intensities merged by using HKL2000 software suite (23). Anomalous data were collected at two wavelengths using a Se-methionine derivatized crystal (Table 1).
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Isothermal Titration Calorimetry—Experiments were performed using a VP-ITC calorimeter equipped with the control and data acquisition and analysis software ORIGIN 7 (Micro-Cal Inc., Northampton, MA). Solutions of the protein and inhibitors were prepared in 50 mM KPi, pH 7.4, containing 0.1 mM EDTA and 0.5% Me2SO. Because of the low solubility of the azole inhibitors in aqueous solutions, the experiments were carried out in the reverse mode. The inhibitor solution (25 µM) was placed in the calorimetric cell and titrated with the CYP130 (400 µM) in the titration syringe. First injection (1 µl, omitted from the analysis) was followed by 30 injections of 4 µl with 4-min intervals. The titration syringe was continuously stirred at 305 rpm, and the temperature of the calorimetric cell was maintained at 25 °C. Injecting the protein into the buffer alone was also carried out as a reference titration, and the resulting heat of dilution was subtracted from the protein-inhibitor titration.
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| RESULTS |
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Spectroscopic Characterization of CYP130—UV-visible absorption spectroscopy was used for initial characterization of purified CYP130. CYP130 displayed the spectral properties typical for a ferric P450 with the heme iron in a low spin state, exhibiting a Soret
band at 418 nm and
and β bands at 567 and 535 nm, respectively (supplemental Fig. S1A). Bubbling of NO into the ferric CYP130 under anaerobic conditions resulted in the formation of a stable ferric nitrosyl adduct with a Soret band at 434 nm (supplemental Fig. S1A). Coordination of the imidazole of econazole to the CYP130 ferric heme iron caused a typical type II red shift of the Soret band to
424-425 nm, reflecting replacement of the heme distal water ligand by the N-
1 atom of the azole moiety (supplemental Fig. S1A). However, the econazole-induced red shift in CYP130 was temperature-dependent (supplemental Fig. S1B), progressively and reversibly shifting from 421.7 nm at 15 °C to 424.2 nm at 40 °C, suggesting an equilibrium between low spin heme iron complexes involving either direct iron-nitrogen ligation or indirect coordination mediated by the water molecule, as observed elsewhere for the CYP121-fluconazole interactions (19).
One-electron reduction of the iron by sodium dithionite followed by binding of CO shifted the Soret band to 447 nm, as expected for conversion of the ferric CYP130 to its ferrous-CO complex (supplemental Fig. S1A).
Binding of Antifungal Azole Inhibitors—Binding of the azole antifungal drugs econazole, miconazole, clotrimazole, and ketoconazole (Fig. 1) to CYP130 was monitored via the type II shift of the heme Soret band caused by coordination of the inhibitors to the heme iron atom. The Kd values for the inhibitors were obtained from the spectral titration curves (supplemental Fig. S2) and are summarized in Table 2. For comparison, the Kd values for CYP121 obtained elsewhere and for CYP51 determined herein are also listed. The sigmoid titration plots obtained for both econazole (Fig. 1A) and clotrimazole (Fig. 1B) were best fitted to the Hill equation (Equation 3) with coefficients of 1.37 and 1.93, respectively, indicating the presence of binding cooperativity. The titration curves for ketoconazole (Fig. 1C) and miconazole (Fig. 1D) were fitted with the rectangular (Equation 1) and the quadratic (Equation 2) hyperbolas, respectively. Collectively, the binding affinities of all the inhibitors are about an order of magnitude lower for CYP130 than for CYP121. Miconazole, clotrimazole, and ketoconazole also bind to CYP51 somewhat more tightly than to CYP130, whereas econazole has about the same binding affinities for both CYP130 and CYP51.
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0.55, indicating virtually a 1:1 enzyme/inhibitor ratio (Fig. 2). This result suggests that the binding cooperativity observed for econazole is unlikely because of simultaneous binding of two molecules in the active site, which agrees with the x-ray structure data. This conclusion is consistent with the fact that the structurally related miconazole, which binds CYP130 with the same stoichiometry, does not exhibit binding cooperativity. Protein-Protein Interactions and Binding Cooperativity—To examine a possible role for protein-protein interactions in the binding cooperativity of econazole and clotrimazole, a series of binding experiments was conducted in the presence of increasing concentrations of KCl (Table 3). The binding cooperativity of econazole was abolished by 50 mM KCl. In the case of clotrimazole, the influence of ionic strength could not be explored because of protein aggregation at even the lowest concentration of KCl, an effect similar to that observed for the CYP3A4-ketoconazole complex in the presence of apolar solvents and elevated ionic strength (35). These data support the inference that the binding cooperativity of econazole may arise from protein-protein interactions.
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Dimerization of CYP130 in the Crystal—We were unable to crystallize the CYP130-econazole complex under conditions that favor crystallization of the open ligand-free form. Instead, a longer incubation under a different set of conditions was required to generate econazole-bound crystals that have a different morphology, unit cell dimensions, and diffract in a different space group (Table 1). The high solvent content in these crystals (78%), indicating loose packing, partially explains the low resolution of the diffraction data. Analysis of the econazole-bound structure and the crystal symmetry revealed that the crystal lattice is largely stabilized by the following: (i) formation of a CYP130 dimer having 2-fold rotation symmetry along the noncrystallographic axis, which generates a dimerization interface utilizing about 2000 Å2 (12.5%) of the surface of each monomer, and (ii) a 2-fold crystallographic symmetry generating a dimer of dimers with 1280 Å2 of total interface (supplemental Fig. S3). The noncrystallographic dimerization interface involves the most conformationally mobile P450 regions as follows: the BC-loop, the F and G helices, and the N-terminal portion of the I helix (Fig. 5). The interface is stabilized by partial overlap (about four helical turns) between the I helix N termini and complete overlap between the G helices packed in anti-parallel orientations (Fig. 5A). Together with the F helices, they constitute two layers of anti-parallel
-helices crossing each other at an angle of
60°. A similar dimerization pattern, although with a smaller (600 Å2, 3.5% of the monomer surface) dimerization interface, is observed in ligand-free CYP154C1 (45) (Fig. 5B). It is worth mentioning that the BC and FG regions are also involved in the dimerization of a bacterial P450 from T. thermophilus (Protein Data Bank code 1WIY).
Dimerization of CYP130 in Solution—The CYP130 dimer in the crystal is stabilized via a number of hydrophobic and H-bonding interactions, whereas electrostatic interactions are involved in stabilizing the crystallographic tetrameric interface. The stability of the dimer, if formed, is not sufficiently high to detect it by equilibrium techniques such as gel filtration chromatography or native gel electrophoresis at protein concentrations up to 100 µM. However, CYP130 oligomerization in solution was detectable by chemical cross-linking using glutaraldehyde (46). A substantial fraction of CYP130 was found in dimeric/tetrameric forms at 20 µM concentration, whereas only marginal oligomerization was detected for two other soluble bacterial P450 enzymes, M. tuberculosis CYP51 and PikC from Streptomyces venezuelae, examined as controls (Fig. 6, A and B). No significant effect of inhibitors at up to a 500 µM concentration was observed, with the exception of a slightly reduced content of the higher molecular weight aggregates for clotrimazole and ketoconazole (not shown).
When cross-linking was carried out with increasing KCl concentrations ranging up to 300 mM, the dimer product persisted unabated, but the formation of tetramers and higher oligomers was suppressed at the higher salt concentrations (Fig. 6C). This is consistent with the observation that dimer formation involves specific hydrophobic and H-bonding interactions, whereas higher oligomers are formed by relatively nonspecific ionic ones. A small fraction of the dimer may be formed by such nonspecific interactions, but the majority of the dimer does not involve ionic contacts and persists in the presence of higher salt concentrations. Collectively, the crystallographic and chemical cross-linking data suggest that the oligomerization of CYP130 seen in the crystal can also occur in solution even in the absence of a ligand, with the closed form being susceptible to dimerization. If, as expected, CYP130 exists in an equilibrium between the open and closed forms that is shifted toward the closed form by econazole binding, the accumulation of the cross-linked products in the absence of azole ligand is readily explained by irreversible removal of the closed form from the equilibrium mixture by the cross-linking reaction.
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A hydrogen-bonding network of water molecules that also stabilizes the distal water axial ligand is well defined in the crystal structure. This network leads from the distal water ligand along the N-terminal portion of the I helix to the surface of the molecule (Fig. 3A and Fig. 4B). A chain of seven well structured water molecules is interrupted only once between the third and fourth molecules, where the position of the missing water is taken by the hydroxyl group of I helix residue Thr-239, located one helical turn away from Gly-243 toward the N terminus.
Econazole-binding Site—Despite the relatively low resolution (3.0 Å) of the econazole-bound crystal structure, the electron density for econazole is unambiguously defined in each of the two monomers in the asymmetric unit (Fig. 7A). Econazole binds to CYP130 through a set of predominantly hydrophobic interactions in addition to the coordination bond (length
2.75 Å) formed between the heme iron and the lone pair of nitrogen electrons of the azole moiety. Econazole introduces a kink into the I helix that displaces Gly-243 by 2.3 Å from the hydrogen bonding position and releases the axial water stabilized by this H-bond (Fig. 7B). The econazole binding mode deviates from the expected geometry (47), including the length of the coordination bond (ideal
2.1 Å) and the
80° angle (ideal 90°) between the azole plane and the porphyrin macrocycle. These deviations are likely because of the steric constraints imposed by the I helix, but are less pronounced than those observed elsewhere for the CYP121-fluconazole complex (19). Given a weakened coordination bond and a larger volume of the active site cavity (accessible volume 600 Å3, shown by mesh surface in Fig. 7C) than is required to accommodate econazole (330 Å3) (Fig. 7C), alternative coordination mode(s) may arise to account for the temperature-dependent shift of the low spin Soret band of the CYP130-econazole complex observed by spectroscopic analysis in solution (supplemental Fig. S1B). However, in contrast to the CYP121-fluconazole complex, no structured water molecules are observed in the vicinity (or in the active site in general) at this resolution to allow us to unambiguously conclude that the formation of a low spin heme iron complex involving indirect iron-nitrogen coordination through a water molecule (19) can occur in econazole-bound CYP130.
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A stretch of the hydrophobic BC-loop residues (80-91) (highlighted in pink in Fig. 3B) is relocated by up to 18 Å when econazole binds. One of the two consecutive proline residues, Pro-87, residing in this region binds in the groove formed between the mono- and double-chlorinated econazole phenyl moieties (Fig. 7, A and C). This interaction appears to be critical for positioning of this portion of the BC-loop, which is directly involved in formation of the CYP130/econazole dimerization interface. The additional chlorine atom in miconazole is expected to protrude toward Pro-87, altering the local configuration of the BC-loop and, hence, the dimerization interface. Should such alterations occur, they may account for the lack of binding cooperativity observed with miconazole (Fig. 1C) and failure of the CYP130-miconazole complex to crystallize from >400 different crystallization conditions, including those which reproducibly generate ligand-free or econazole-bound crystals.
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S values. Two sequential binding steps were deduced from the ITC data for both econazole and miconazole with one set of association constants close to those obtained from the optical titrations.
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| DISCUSSION |
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The binding of azole inhibitors to CYP130 is an endothermic entropy-driven two-step process apparently complicated by protein-protein interactions manifested in the ligand-specific binding cooperativity observed for econazole and clotrimazole (Fig. 1). Although virtually full Soret binding response for miconazole (the inhibitor lacking positive binding cooperativity) is achieved during the first binding step, econazole requires the second step to be completed before full spectral shift of the Soret band occurs (Table 4). We attribute the second binding step to the conformational changes associated with CYP130 dimerization. An apparent ability of CYP130 to dimerize in solution is supported by covalent cross-linking of the protein in the presence or absence of azole ligands (Fig. 6). The crystal structure indicates that dimerization is likely to involve the closed form of the protein favored by econazole binding (Fig. 5A). However, in the absence of a ligand, the equilibrium distribution of accessible protein conformers can be shifted toward the closed form as the cross-linked dimer is formed and is thus removed from the equilibrium.
It is impossible at this stage to predict whether protein-protein interactions play any physiological role in modulating the functional activities of CYP130 or other known bacterial P450 enzymes, e.g. via alteration of dimer affinity for an electron donor partner or other mechanisms. Both the native substrate(s) and an electron donor for CYP130, as for the majority of bacterial P450 enzymes, remain unknown. A similarity of dimerization patterns for two unrelated bacterial P450 proteins, CYP130 and CYP154C1 (Fig. 5), suggests that the association between two monomers may not be random. In this regard, P450-P450 interactions have been reported to modulate the catalytic activities of drug-metabolizing mammalian microsomal P450 enzymes, although the occurrence and physiological significance of such interactions in intact cellular membranes remains to be confirmed. Nevertheless, a precedent for an inherent dimerization propensity among P450 enzymes is relevant to our understanding of P450-drug and drug-drug interactions.
The binding of econazole was addressed in more detail by crystallographic studies. The position of econazole in the active site of CYP130 exhibits notable deviations from the ideal geometry that result from steric constraints imposed by the I helix analogous to those observed for the CYP121-fluconazole complex (19). In addition, the volume of the active site cavity is larger than is required to accommodate econazole and provides room for possible alternative ligation mode(s) to the heme iron, such as that in which a water molecule is placed between the iron and the azole nitrogen. The less than perfect protein/inhibitor fit presumably contributes to the attenuated binding affinity of the complex. For instance, the affinity of the CYP121-fluconazole complex (10 µM) with the strongest observed per-turbations of the triazole-heme iron coordination geometry (19) is 50- and 5-fold reduced compared with that of the CYP121-econazole (17) and CYP130-econazole complexes, respectively. Therefore, a better fit between the compound and the spatial and chemical features of the P450 active site would yield stronger inhibitors. In this regard, a portion of the active site cavity surrounded by the charged and/or hydrophilic residues Asp-85, Asp-246, and Asn-177 (Fig. 7C), contrasts with the almost exclusively hydrophobic environment of the rest of the CYP130 active site. This pocket could serve as a landmark for substrate (or inhibitor) recognition, similar to that observed in the macrolide monooxygenase PikC, where a salt bridge formed between the positively charged tertiary amino group of the macrolide substrate, and a negatively charged carboxylic amino acid residue is essential to achieve catalytically competent binding (50).
The high resolution (1.46 Å) of the ligand-free structure has allowed us to define a hydrogen-bonded network that includes seven water molecules and the hydroxyl group of I helix residue Thr-239. These water molecules are evenly distributed and spaced by H-bond distances along the N-terminal portion of the I helix leading from the distal water ligand to the molecular surface (Fig. 3A and Fig. 4B). The involvement of the I helix in this hydrogen-bonded network stabilizes the distal water ligand and suggests that the movement of the I helix N terminus that transiently exposes the active site for substrate access may, at the same time, facilitate displacement of the distal water, providing yet another level of regulation of CYP130 catalysis. Therefore, the N-terminal portion of the I helix may mediate coupling of (i) the binding of substrate possibly assisted by protein dimerization, and (ii) the release of the axial water ligand. This coupling may be part of a regulatory mechanism aimed at preventing unproductive oxygen binding under limited access to nutrients such as oxygen (e.g. in granulomas, avascular environments where dormant infectious tubercle bacilli adapt for long term asymptomatic survival). The reluctance of CYP130 to release the water axial ligand and thus to be reduced and bind molecular oxygen in response to a small range of potential substrates examined in this study is consistent with this assumption.
In summary, we report expression, purification, biophysical characterization, and crystallization of CYP130 in its ligand-free and econazole-bound forms. The crystal structure of the econazole-bound CYP130 is the first of a P450-econazole complex. Econazole binding in the active site involves conformational selection mediated by direct coordination to the heme iron and largely hydrophobic contacts with the active site amino acid residues. The interactions between CYP130, econazole, and other potent azole antifungal drugs were characterized in some detail by UV-visible spectroscopy, ITC, and chemical cross-linking. Overall, binding of azole inhibitors is a complex entropy-driven two-step process that appears to be assisted for econazole and clotrimazole by protein-protein interactions resulting from a propensity of the closed form of CYP130 to dimerize both in solution and in the crystal, providing evidence in support of a possible role for P450-P450 interactions in biology.
| FOOTNOTES |
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* This work was supported by National Institutes of Health RO1 Grants GM25515, AI74824 (to P. O. M.), and GM078553 (to L. M. P.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. ![]()
The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Figs. S1-S3. ![]()
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, 600 16th St., N572D, San Francisco, CA 94158. Tel.: 415-476-2903; E-mail: ortiz{at}cgl.ucsf.edu.
2 The abbreviations used are: TAP, tetracycline/aminoglycoside resistance protein; P450, cytochrome P450; ITC, isothermal titration calorimetry; MES, 4-morpholineethanesulfonic acid; Se-methionine, selenomethionine. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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N. R. Melo, G. P. Moran, A. G. S. Warrilow, E. Dudley, S. N. Smith, D. J. Sullivan, D. C. Lamb, D. E. Kelly, D. C. Coleman, and S. L. Kelly CYP56 (Dit2p) in Candida albicans: Characterization and Investigation of Its Role in Growth and Antifungal Drug Susceptibility Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., October 1, 2008; 52(10): 3718 - 3724. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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