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Full details of studies are disclosed on the total syntheses of binding pocket analogues of vancomycin bearing the peripheral l-vancosaminyl-1,2-d-glucosyl disaccharide that contain changes to a key single atom in the residue-4 amide (residue-4 carbonyl O → S, NH, H2) designed to directly address the underlying molecular basis of resistance to vancomycin. Also disclosed are studies piloting the late-stage transformations conducted on the synthetically more accessible C-terminus hydroxymethyl aglycon derivatives and full details of the peripheral chlorobiphenyl functionalization of all of the binding-pocket-modified vancomycin analogues designed for dual d-Ala-d-Ala/d-Ala-d-Lac binding. Their collective assessment indicates that combined binding pocket and chlorobiphenyl peripherally modified analogues exhibit a remarkable spectrum of antimicrobial activity (VSSA, MRSA, and VanA and VanB VRE) and impressive potencies against both vancomycin-sensitive and vancomycin-resistant bacteria (MICs = 0.06–0.005 and...

A strategy has been developed that culminated in a stereoselective total synthesis of the tetracyclic antimalarial Myrioneuron alkaloid myrioneurinol. The synthesis relies on three highly diastereoselective reactions, including an intramolecular chelation-controlled Michael spirocyclization of an N-Cbz-lactam titanium enolate to an α,β-unsaturated ester for construction of the A/D-ring system and the attendant C5 (quaternary), C6 relative stereochemistry; a malonate enolate conjugate addition to a nitrosoalkene in order to install the appropriate functionality and establish the configuration at C7; and an intramolecular aza-Sakurai reaction to form the B-ring and the accompanying C9 and C10 stereocenters.

Studies on the further development of the sequential glycosylations of the vancomycin aglycon catalyzed by the glycosyltransferases GtfE and GtfD and the observation of unusual, perhaps unexpected, aglycon substrate substituent effects on the rate and efficiency of the initial glycosylation reaction are reported.

Humanization of a potent neutralizing mouse anti-human IL-13 antibody (m836) using a method called human framework adaptation (HFA) is reported. HFA consists of two steps: human framework selection (HFS) and specificity-determining residue optimization (SDRO). The HFS step involved generation of a library of m836 antigen binding sites combined with diverse human germline framework regions (FRs), which were selected based on structural and sequence similarities between mouse variable domains and a repertoire of human antibody germline genes. SDRO consisted of diversifying specificity-determining residues and selecting variants with improved affinity using phage display. HFS of m836 resulted in a 5-fold loss of affinity, whereas SDRO increased the affinity up to 100-fold compared to the HFS antibody. Crystal structures of Fabs in complex with IL-13 were obtained for m836, the HFS variant chosen for SDRO, and one of the highest-affinity SDRO variants. Analysis of the structures revealed that major conformational changes in FR-H1 and FR-H3 occurred after FR replacement, but none of them had an evident direct impact on residues in contact with IL-13. Instead, subtle changes affected the V L /V H (variable-light domain/variable-heavy domain) interface and were likely responsible for the 5-fold decreased affinity. After SDRO, increased affinity resulted mainly from rearrangements in hydrogen-bonding pattern at the antibody/antigen interface. Comparison with m836 putative germline genes suggested interesting analogies between natural affinity maturation and the engineering process that led to the potent HFA anti-human IL-13 antibody.

the most potent isolate (IC50= 0.8 mm ; IC= inhibitory concentration) from the celogentin/moroidin family, whose members possess inhibitory activity against tubulin polymerization. Its highly unusual architecture, which is characterized by the direct linkages of Trp C6 to Leu Cb, and Trp C2 to His N1 (Figure 1), and its biological activity have prompted a number of synthesis studies. Although N-linkedHis residues are known to occur in other macrocyclic peptides, the Leu-Trp linkage is extremely rare and poses a difficult synthetic challenge. To access the key Leu-Trp motif, Moody and Bentley, and Campagne et al., applied asymmetric hydrogenation conditions to dehydroamino acid precursors. Enantioand/or diastereoselectivities ranged from 1:1 to 16:1 for these 10–14 step sequences. More recently, Castle and coworkers developed a novel Knoevenagel condensation/radical conjugate addition approach to the Leu-Trp linkage. They completed the first celogentin synthesis through an elegant NCS-mediated Trp-His C N coupling by utilizing the major diastereomer product, albeit in modest enantioand diastereoselectivity. Herein, we report a highly stereoselective and efficient synthesis of celogentin C using a novel palladiumcatalyzed C H functionalization strategy. The highly constrained structure of 1 is probably assembled in vivo from the much simpler linear peptide precursor through a series of enzymatic oxidative cross-links (Figure 1). Inspired by these simple yet powerful transformations found in nature, we envisioned developing a synthetic equivalent of these processes in a direct approach to celogentin. Our synthetic strategy relied on the direct regioand stereoselective activation of the b C H bond of a Leu moiety and on the subsequent coupling of the derived C Pd species with a suitable Trp partner. The recent report by Corey et al. of the carboxamide-directed b C H functionalization of amino acids served as the starting point for our venture. Corey demonstrated that the b C H bond of the Nphthaloyl amino acid 8-aminoquinoline amide can be efficiently activated and then arylated with simple aryl iodides under Pd(OAc)2 catalysis, a procedure built on the seminal discovery of Daugulis and co-workers for the functionalization of inactivated sp C H bonds. The quinoline moiety serves as a chelating auxiliary for palladium coordination, and promotes the formation of trans-palladacycle intermediate 4. This palladium(II) intermediate presumably undergoes crosscoupling with an aryl iodide partner to provide the final arylated product which has an erythro stereochemical preference. To our delight, we were able to achieve the high-yielding and highly stereoselective 6-indolylation of N-phthaloyl leucine (Scheme 1a). Upon simple heating of precursors 2 (2.0 equiv) and 3 (1.0 equiv), with Pd(OAc)2 (0.2 equiv), and AgOAc (1.5 equiv), at 110 8C in tBuOH, the desired diastereomer 5 was formed exclusively, and the slight excess of 2 could be largely recovered. About 3% of deiodinated side product 6 was also generated. Although the quinoline carboxamide serves as an effective auxiliary in arylation chemistry, its efficient removal under mild conditions would be required for this process to become a useful tool for natural product synthesis. However, the cleavage of the amide linkage was particularly problematic, owing to both steric hindrance and the lability of the Nphthaloyl group. This phthaloyl group, which provides both bis-protection of the a-amino group and steric bias, is critical Figure 1. Celogentin C and our synthetic strategy.

The mannopeptimycins are a class of glycopeptide natural products with unusual structures and potent antibiotic activity against a range of Gram-positive multidrug-resistant bacteria. Their cyclic hexapeptide core features a pair of unprecedented β-hydroxyenduracididines (L- and D-βhEnd), an O-glycosylated D-Tyr carrying an α-linked dimannose, and a β-methylated Phe residue. The D-βhEnd unit also carries an α-linked mannopyranose at the most hindered N of its cyclic guanidine ring. Herein, we report the first total synthesis of mannopeptimycin α and β with fully elaborated N- and O-linked sugars. Critically, a gold-catalyzed N-glycosylation of a D-βhEnd substrate with a mannosyl ortho-alkynylbenzoate donor enabled the synthesis of the most challenging N-Man-D-βhEnd unit with excellent efficiency and stereoselectivity. The L-βMePhe unit was prepared using a Pd-catalyzed C-H arylation method. The L-βhEnd, D-Tyr(di-Man), and L-βMePhe units were prepared in gram quantities. A convergent assembly of the cyclic peptide scaffold and a single global hydrogenolysis deprotection operation provided mannopeptimycin α and β.

MMP-2 is a member of the matrix metalloproteinase family that has been implicated in tumor cell metastasis and angiogenesis. Here, we describe the solution structure of a catalytic domain of MMP-2 complexed with a hydroxamic acid inhibitor (SC-74020), determined by three-dimensional heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy. The catalytic domain, designated MMP-2C, has a short peptide linker replacing the internal fibronectin-domain insertion and is enzymatically active. Distance geometry-simulated annealing calculations yielded 14 converged structures with atomic root-mean-square deviations (r.m.s.d.) of 1.02 and 1.62 A from the mean coordinate positions for the backbone and for all heavy atoms, respectively, when 11 residues at the N-terminus are excluded. The structure has the same global fold as observed for other MMP catalytic domains and is similar to previously solved crystal structures of MMP-2. Differences observed between the solution and the crystal structures, near the bottom of the S1' specificity loop, appear to be induced by the large inhibitor present in the solution structure. The MMP-2C solution structure is compared with MMP-8 crystal structure bound to the same inhibitor to highlight the differences especially in the S1' specificity loop. The finding provides a structural explanation for the selectivity between MMP-2 and MMP-8 that is achieved by large inhibitors.

The sequence of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) has been circularly permuted by introducing new chain termini into interhelical loops and by constraining the N- and C-terminal helices, either by direct linkage of the termini (L0) or by substitution of the amino-terminal 10-residue segment with a seven-residue linker composed of glycines and serines (L1). All the circularly permuted G-CSFs (cpG-CSFs) were able to fold into biologically active structures that could recognize the G-CSF receptor. CD and NMR spectroscopy demonstrated that all of the cpG-CSFs adopted a fold similar to that of the native molecule, except for one [cpG-CSF(L1)[142/141]] which has the new termini at the end of loop 34 with the shorter L1 linker. All of the cpG-CSFs underwent cooperative unfolding by urea, and a systematically lower free energy change (DeltaGurea) was observed for molecules with the shorter L1 linker than for those molecules in which the original termini were directly linked (the L0 linker). The thermodynamic stability of the cpG-CSFs toward urea was found to correlate with their relative ability to stimulate proliferation of G-CSF responsive cells. Taken together, these results indicate that the G-CSF sequence is robust in its ability to undergo linear rearrangement and adopt a biologically active conformation. The choice of linker, with its effect on stability, seems to be important for realizing the full biological activity of the three-dimensional structure. The breakpoint and linker together are the ultimate determinants of the structural and biological profiles of these circularly permuted cytokines. In the following paper [McWherter, C. A., et al. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 4564-4571], McWherter and co-workers have used circularly permuted G-CSF sequences to engineer chimeric dual IL-3 and G-CSF receptor agonists in which the relative spatial orientation of the receptor agonist domains is varied. Interpreting the differences in activity for the chimeric molecules in terms of the connectivity between domains depends critically on the results reported here for the isolated cpG-CSF domains.

Interleukin-3 (IL-3) is a cytokine that stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells. The hyperactive hIL-3 variant SC-55494 was shown to have at least two major conformations by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy. Mutants of SC-55494 were constructed in which alanine was substituted for proline in order to test the hypothesis that proline cis-trans isomerization is the source of the observed conformational heterogeneity, as well as to evaluate the effect of prolyl peptide bond configuration on biological activity. NMR spectra of four single proline-to-alamine mutants (P30A, P31A, P33A, and P37A) retain doubled resonances, while spectra of the double mutant P30A/P31A and the quadruple mutant P30A/P31A/P33A/ P37A are substantially free of heterogeneity. These observations suggest that the two major conformations in SC-55494 correspond to cis and trans isomers of either or both of the R29-P30 and P30-P31 peptide bonds. All six mutants had somewhat lower cell proliferative activity than SC-55494, with relative activities ranging from 40 to 80%. The P37A mutant has a binding affinity to the low-affinity IL-3 receptor alpha-subunit statistically equivalent to SC-55494, while P30A, P31A, and P33A each had about two-fold decreases, and P30A/P31A and P30A/P31A/P33A/P37A had four-fold decreases. These findings suggest an important role for the cis configuration of either or both of the R29-P30 and P30-P31 peptide bonds in IL-3 for optimal interaction with the receptor alpha-subunit.

The three-dimensional structure and backbone dynamics of a truncated and multiply substituted recombinant human interleukin-3 (IL-3) variant (SC-65369) have been determined from multidimensional heteronuclear nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic data. Sequential application of distance geometry and restrained molecular dynamics calculations produced a family of 25 convergent structures which satisfy a total of 1812 experimental constraints (1659 proton-proton NOEs, 75 backbone dihedral angle constraints, and 39 pairs of hydrogen bond constraints) with an average root-mean-square deviation from the mean coordinate positions of 0.88(+/- 0.15) angstroms and 1.37(+/- 0.13) angstroms for the backbone and all heavy atoms, respectively, of all residues except 28 to 39. The structure is a left-handed four-helix bundle (comprised of helices A through D) with two long overhand loops (designated as loops AB and CD). Loop AB contains a short fifth helix (helix A') which is closely packed against helix D in an approximately parallel fashion and which has multiple contacts with loop CD. The overall molecular tumbling time (6.5 ns) determined from the 15N relaxation data was consistent with a monomeric protein under the conditions of the experiment (1 mM protein, pH 4.6, 30 degrees C). The 15N relaxation data indicate that the helical regions of SC-65369 are quite rigid, while portions of loop AB, loop CD, and the C terminus undergo significant internal motions. Among the structurally related four-helical bundle cytokines, the structure of SC-65369 is most similar to those of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and the single structural domain of interleukin-5 (IL-5), all of which share a common receptor subunit required for signal transduction and activation of their hematopoietic target cells. Indeed, the C(alpha) atoms in the four-helix core of these three proteins can be superimposed to 1.71 angstroms (SC-65369 and GM-CSF, 62 C(alpha) atoms) and 1.96 angstroms (SC-65369 and IL-5 single structural domain, 58 C(alpha) atoms), respectively. When the structures of the IL-3 variant, GM-CSF, and IL-5 were aligned, the conserved and conservatively substituted residues were found to be hydrophobic and buried, with the single exception of Glu-22 (IL-3 numbering), which is strictly conserved but nonetheless fully exposed to solvent. The most remarkable differences between the SC-65369 structure and that of GM-CSF occur in loop AB. This loop in GM-CSF crosses over the top of helix D and passes underneath loop CD on its way to helix B. In contrast, loop AB of SC-65369 passes in front of helix D, similar to the first crossover loop in human growth hormone and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. In addition, helix A', which is interdigitated into the helical bundle in a manner similar to the helices in the CD loop of interferon-beta and interferon-gamma, exists in a region where short stretches of beta-structure are found at analogous positions in GM-CSF and IL-5. These differences suggest that the structural elements within this region may be important for recognition by their cognate receptors.

Interleukin-3 (IL-3) is a cytokine which stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitors into multiple cell lineages. The 1H, 15N, and 13C NMR resonances of a recombinant human IL-3 variant (SC-65369) have been assigned using two- and three-dimensional NMR techniques on uniformly 13C/15N-enriched protein. Five helical segments (residues 16-26, 42-50, 55-65, 73-82, and 104-120) and three reverse turns (residues 51-54, 68-71, and 87-90) were identified from the pattern of sequential NOE connectivities, NH(i)-C alpha H(i) scalar coupling constants (3JNH alpha), amide hydrogen exchange data, and the deviation of 13C alpha, 13C beta, 13CO, and C alpha H chemical shifts from random-coil values. Long-range NOEs indicate that the global folding pattern of human IL-3 is a four-helical bundle with an up-up-down-down arrangement of helices that is similar to that of other members of the cytokine family, such as granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). A fifth short helix (helix A', residues 42-50) is located in the loop connecting the first and second helices. The absence of helix A' in the corresponding structures of GM-CSF and interleukin-5 suggests that it may be important for recognition of IL-3 by its receptor. The existence of at least two forms of the protein that differ in local conformation was implied from the observation of a limited set of doubled resonances in which each doublet partner had a similar pattern of short-, medium-, and long-range NOEs. The majority of the doubled resonances were close in sequence or space to a proline-rich sequence, which suggested that the different conformational forms of SC-65369 may be caused by slow cis-trans isomerization of proline peptide bonds.

The monoterpene indole alkaloids, which are usually comprised of a tryptamine moiety appended to a single C9- or C10-terpenoid unit, constitute one of the largest known classes of natural products.[1] In 2004, Kam and Choo isolated a new type of monoterpenoid indole alkaloid, angustilodine (1), which contains a unique rearranged skeleton, from the leaves of the Malayan plant Alstonia angustiloba (Figure 1).[2] The structure of angustilodine was determined by detailed spectroscopic analysis to include an indole appended to a cis-fused 2-azadecalin ring system bearing a 7-membered ring ether bridge. An interesting conformational feature of this molecule established by 2D NMR studies is the observation that the piperidine ring exists as a boat. More recently, Morita and coworkers discovered the N-demethyl congener alstilobanine E (2), along with alstilobanine A (3), which lacks the bridging oxepane ring found in 1 and 2, in the same plant.[3] Unlike alkaloids 1 and 2, it was proposed that alstilobanine A has the piperidine ring in a chair conformation as shown in Figure 1. Alstilobanines A and E were found to possess modest relaxant activity against phenylephrine-induced contractions of thoracic rat aortic rings with endothelium. In this communication we describe the first approach to these alkaloids, culminating in a convergent total synthesis of racemic alstilobanine A (3).

The main chain dynamics of a peptide corresponding to the smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase calmodulin-binding domain bound to calcium-saturated calmodulin have been studied by 15N relaxation techniques. Laboratory and rotating-frame spin lattice relaxation times and nuclear Overhauser effects have been determined for nine amide 15N sites in the peptide using two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. The global motion of the 1:1 complex is shown to be isotropic and is characterized by a correlation time of 10 ns rad-1. The generalized order parameters (S2) of the nine backbone amide N-H vectors of the peptide all fall closely about a value of 0.83. The corresponding effective correlation times all tend to zero, indicating that, on the subnanosecond time scale, backbone motion of the bound peptide is highly restricted and dominated by extremely fast motions.

Antibodies recognize antigens through six hypervariable loops, five of which have a limited set of conformations known as canonical structures. For κ light chains, the majority of CDR-L3 [the third hypervariable loop of the light chain variable domain (V L )] adopts the type 1 canonical structure (CS1), with a cis -proline at position 95. Here, we present the design and structural studies of the monoclonal antibody mAb15 and related mutants that contained a series of progressively germline mutations only in the heavy chain variable domain (V H ) that ultimately led to an increase of more than 11 °C in the melting temperature ( T m ) of the antigen-binding fragment (Fab). The all- trans CDR-L3 structure in the wild type is significantly different from any known CDR-L3 canonical structures. In the thermally stable mutants, the L94 L –S95 L peptide bond adopts an energetically unfavorable non-X-proline cis conformation, but the overall CDR-L3 loop converted to CS1. The stabilized V H appears to function as a specific molecular chaperone that facilitated the trans – cis isomerization of S95 L . Thus, it is plausible that proline is the evolutionary choice to maintain overall structure and stability for V L . These results provide new insights into the evolution of CS1 and suggest a potential molecular switch mechanism at position 95 that links CDR-L3 structural diversity and antibody stability and will have implications for antibody engineering.

Myelopoietins (MPOs) are a family of engineered dual interleukin-3 (IL-3) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) receptor agonists that are superior in comparison to the single agonists in their ability to promote the growth and maturation of hematopoietic cells of the myeloid lineage. A series of MPO molecules were created which incorporated circularly permuted G-CSF (cpG-CSF) sequences with an IL-3 receptor (IL-3R) agonist moiety attached at locations that correspond to the loops that connect the helices of the G-CSF four-helix bundle structure. The cpG-CSF linkage sites (using the original sequence numbering) were residue 39, which is at the beginning of the first loop connecting helices 1 and 2; residue 97, which is in the turn connecting helices 2 and 3; and residues 126, 133, and 142, which are at the beginning, middle, and end, respectively, of the loop connecting helices 3 and 4. The N- and C-terminal helices of each cpG-CSF domain were constrained, either by direct linkage of the termini (L0) or by replacement of the amino-terminal 10-residue segment with a seven-residue linker composed of SGGSGGS (L1). All of the MPO molecules stimulated the proliferation of both IL-3-dependent (EC50 = 13-95 pM) and G-CSF-dependent (EC50 = 35-710 pM) cell lines. MPOs with the IL-3R agonist domain linked to cpG-CSFs in the first (residue 39) or second (residue 133) long overhand loops were found by CD spectroscopy to have helical contents similar to that expected for a protein comprised of two linked four-helix bundles. The MPOs retained the ability to bind to the IL-3R with affinities similar to that of the parental MPO. Using both a cell surface competitive binding assay and surface plasmon resonance detection of binding kinetics, the MPOs were found to bind to the G-CSF receptor with low nanomolar affinities, similar to that of G-CSF(S17). In a study of isolated cpG-CSF domains [Feng, Y., et al. (1999) Biochemistry 38, 4553-4563], domains with the L1 linker had lower G-CSF receptor-mediated proliferative activities and conformational stabilities than those which had the L0 linker. A similar trend was found for the MPOs in which the G-CSFR agonist activity is mostly a property of the cpG-CSF domain. Important exceptions were found in which the linkage to the IL-3R agonist domain either restored (e.g., attachment at residue 142) or further decreased (linkage at residue 39) the G-CSFR-mediated proliferative activity. MPO in which the IL-3R agonist domain is attached to the cpG-CSF(L1)[133/132] domain was shown to be more potent than the coaddition of the IL-3R agonist and G-CSF in stimulating the production of CFU-GM colonies in a human bone marrow-derived CD34+ colony-forming unit assay. Several MPOs also had decreased proinflammatory activity in a leukotriene C4 release assay using N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe-primed human monocytes. It was found that circular permutation of the G-CSF domain can alter the ratio of G-CSFR:IL-3R agonist activities, demonstrating that it is a useful tool in engineering chimeric proteins with therapeutic potential.

The structure and stability of apocytochrome b562 were explored using absorption and circular dichroism spectroscopic methods. The polypeptide chain retains a well-defined structure when the prosthetic heme group is removed from cytochrome b562. Circular dichroism measurements estimate 60% helicity for apocytochrome b562, compared with 80% helicity found in holocytochrome b562. At low pH, apocytochrome b562 displays a midpoint pH of 2.9, while ferricytochrome b562 displays a midpoint pH of 2.3. The unfolding of the apoprotein by urea and heat can be well approximated by the two-state transition model. The stability of apocytochrome b562 is significantly reduced from that of the holoprotein. The free energy of stabilization (delta G degrees) and the midpoint transition temperature (Tm) for apocytochrome b562 are found to be 3.2 +/- 0.5 kcal/mol and 52.3 +/- 0.9 degrees C, respectively, compared with 6.6 +/- 0.5 kcal/mol and 67.2 +/- 0.5 degrees C for ferricytochrome b562. The smaller heat capacity change upon unfolding of apocytochrome b562 than that of ferricytochrome b562, estimated from the thermodynamic parameters, indicates that apocytochrome b562 possesses a smaller hydrophobic core than holocytochrome b562. Size-exclusion chromatography studies indicate that the apoprotein is slightly more extended in molecular dimension than ferricytochrome b562. The data suggest that apocytochrome b562 resembles a "molten globule" or a "collapsed form" of the holoprotein, in which secondary structure formation is largely complete while the global folding is either only partially complete or dynamically expanded.

The important role played by chemical exchange in solving the proton assignment problem for oxidized and reduced horse cytochrome c is described. Some novel approaches for establishing oxidation-reduction exchange correlations in combinations of several two-dimensional spectra were used. Unambiguous chemical exchange correlations were established for 55 NH-C alpha H resonances and all the aromatic and side chain methyl resonances. Consistent although not fully unambiguous main chain proton correlations were observed for 47 of the remaining 49 residues. The many exchange correlations found serve to multiply cross-connect the two extensive, individually self-consistent networks of assignments found for the oxidized and reduced forms, and thus help to confirm both sets of assignments.