Structural basis for CCR6 modulation by allosteric antagonists.

The CC chemokine receptor 6 (CCR6) is a potential target for chronic inflammatory diseases. Previously, we reported an active CCR6 structure in complex with its cognate chemokine CCL20, revealing the molecular basis of CCR6 activation. Here, we present two inactive CCR6 structures in ternary complexes with different allosteric antagonists, CCR6/SQA1/OXM1 and CCR6/SQA1/OXM2.

Allosteric drug transport mechanism of multidrug transporter AcrB.

Gram-negative bacteria maintain an intrinsic resistance mechanism against entry of noxious compounds by utilizing highly efficient efflux pumps. The E. coli AcrAB-TolC drug efflux pump contains the inner membrane H/drug antiporter AcrB comprising three functionally interdependent protomers, cycling consecutively through the loose (L), tight (T) and open (O) state during cooperative catalysis.

Early Reciprocal Effects in a Murine Model of Traumatic Brain Injury and Femoral Fracture.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a major cause of death and disability in early adulthood. Concomitant extracranial injury such as long bone fracture was reported to exacerbate TBI pathology. However, early reciprocal effects and mechanisms have been barely investigated.

Applying Structure-Based Drug Design Approaches to Allosteric Modulators of GPCRs.

Structural insights have been revealed from X-ray co-complexes of a range of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and their allosteric ligands. The understanding of how small molecules can modulate the function of this important class of receptors by binding to a diverse range of pockets on and inside the proteins has had a profound impact on the structure-based drug design (SBDD) of new classes of therapeutic agents. The types of allosteric pockets and the mode of modulation as well as the advantages and disadvantages of targeting allosteric pockets (as opposed to the natural orthosteric site) are considered in the context of these new structural findings.

Transport of lipophilic carboxylates is mediated by transmembrane helix 2 in multidrug transporter AcrB.

The deployment of multidrug efflux pumps is a powerful defence mechanism for Gram-negative bacterial cells when exposed to antimicrobial agents. The major multidrug efflux transport system in Escherichia coli, AcrAB-TolC, is a tripartite system using the proton-motive force as an energy source. The polyspecific substrate-binding module AcrB uses various pathways to sequester drugs from the periplasm and outer leaflet of the inner membrane.

Intracellular allosteric antagonism of the CCR9 receptor.

Chemokines and their G-protein-coupled receptors play a diverse role in immune defence by controlling the migration, activation and survival of immune cells. They are also involved in viral entry, tumour growth and metastasis and hence are important drug targets in a wide range of diseases. Despite very significant efforts by the pharmaceutical industry to develop drugs, with over 50 small-molecule drugs directed at the family entering clinical development, only two compounds have reached the market: maraviroc (CCR5) for HIV infection and plerixafor (CXCR4) for stem-cell mobilization.

Functional Stability of the Human Kappa Opioid Receptor Reconstituted in Nanodiscs Revealed by a Time-Resolved Scintillation Proximity Assay.

Long-term functional stability of isolated membrane proteins is crucial for many in vitro applications used to elucidate molecular mechanisms, and used for drug screening platforms in modern pharmaceutical industry. Compared to soluble proteins, the understanding at the molecular level of membrane proteins remains a challenge. This is partly due to the difficulty to isolate and simultaneously maintain their structural and functional stability, because of their hydrophobic nature.

Molecular basis of polyspecificity of the Small Multidrug Resistance Efflux Pump AbeS from Acinetobacter baumannii.

Secondary multidrug efflux transporters play a key role in the bacterial resistance phenotype. One of the major questions concerns the polyspecific recognition of substrates by these efflux pumps. To understand the molecular basis of this promiscuous recognition, we compared the substrate specificity of the well-studied Escherichia coli small multidrug resistance protein EmrE with that of the poorly studied Acinetobacter baumannii homologue AbeS.

Drug resistance: a periplasmic ménage à trois.

The paradigm tripartite efflux transporter AcrA-AcrB-TolC confers multiple drug resistance to Escherichia coli. Tikhonova et al. (2011) now examine how the three components connect to unity and highlight the critical role of AcrA membrane proximal domain conformation for successful assembly.

Structural analysis of the choline-binding protein ChoX in a semi-closed and ligand-free conformation.

The periplasmic ligand-binding protein ChoX is part of the ABC transport system ChoVWX that imports choline as a nutrient into the soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti. We have recently reported the crystal structures of ChoX in complex with its ligands choline and acetylcholine and the structure of a fully closed but substrate-free state of ChoX. This latter structure revealed an architecture of the ligand-binding site that is superimposable to the closed, ligand-bound form of ChoX.

Microseeding - a powerful tool for crystallizing proteins complexed with hydrolyzable substrates.

Hydrolysis is an often-encountered obstacle in the crystallization of proteins complexed with their substrates. As the duration of the crystallization process, from nucleation to the growth of the crystal to its final size, commonly requires several weeks, non-enzymatic hydrolysis of an "unstable" ligand occurs frequently. In cases where the crystallization conditions exhibit non neutral pH values this hydrolysis phenomenon may be even more pronounced.

Crystal structures of the choline/acetylcholine substrate-binding protein ChoX from Sinorhizobium meliloti in the liganded and unliganded-closed states.

The ATP-binding cassette transporter ChoVWX is one of several choline import systems operating in Sinorhizobium meliloti. Here fluorescence-based ligand binding assays were used to quantitate substrate binding by the periplasmic ligand-binding protein ChoX. These data confirmed that ChoX recognizes choline and acetylcholine with high and medium affinity, respectively.

Water-mediated protein-fluorophore interactions modulate the affinity of an ABC-ATPase/TNP-ADP complex.

TNP-modified nucleotides have been used extensively to study protein-nucleotide interactions. In the case of ABC-ATPases, application of these powerful tools has been greatly restricted due to the significantly higher affinity of the TNP-nucleotide for the corresponding ABC-ATPase in comparison to the non-modified nucleotides. To understand the molecular changes occurring upon binding of the TNP-nucleotide to an ABC-ATPase, we have determined the crystal structure of the TNP-ADP/HlyB-NBD complex at 1.

A structural analysis of asymmetry required for catalytic activity of an ABC-ATPase domain dimer.

The ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-transporter haemolysin (Hly)B, a central element of a Type I secretion machinery, acts in concert with two additional proteins in Escherichia coli to translocate the toxin HlyA directly from the cytoplasm to the exterior. The basic set of crystal structures necessary to describe the catalytic cycle of the isolated HlyB-NBD (nucleotide-binding domain) has now been completed. This allowed a detailed analysis with respect to hinge regions, functionally important key residues and potential energy storage devices that revealed many novel features.

The motor domains of ABC-transporters. What can structures tell us?

The transport of substrates across a cellular membrane is a vitally important biological function essential for cell survival. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters constitute one of the largest subfamilies of membrane proteins, accomplishing this task. Mutations in genes encoding for ABC transporters cause different diseases, for example, Adrenoleukodystrophy, Stargardt disease or Cystic Fibrosis.

X-ray structure of domain I of the proton-pumping membrane protein transhydrogenase from Escherichia coli.

The dimeric integral membrane protein nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase is required for cellular regeneration of NADPH in mitochondria and prokaryotes, for detoxification and biosynthesis purposes. Under physiological conditions, transhydrogenase couples the reversible reduction of NADP+ by NADH to an inward proton translocation across the membrane. Here, we present crystal structures of the NAD(H)-binding domain I of transhydrogenase from Escherichia coli, in the absence as well as in the presence of oxidized and reduced substrate.

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of the NAD(H)-binding domain of Escherichia coli transhydrogenase.

Transhydrogenase is a proton-pumping membrane protein that is required for the cellular regeneration of NADPH. The NAD(H)-binding domain (domain I) of transhydrogenase from Escherichia coli was crystallized using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion technique at room temperature. The crystals, which were grown from PEG 4000 and ammonium acetate in citrate buffer, belong to the triclinic space group P1, with unit-cell parameters a = 38.