Browsing by Author "Wu, Qinglin"

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Open Access
Drug design from the cryptic inhibitor envelope.
(Nat Commun, 2016-02-25) Lee, Chul-Jin; Liang, Xiaofei; Wu, Qinglin; Najeeb, Javaria; Zhao, Jinshi; Gopalaswamy, Ramesh; Titecat, Marie; Sebbane, Florent; Lemaitre, Nadine; Toone, Eric J; Zhou, Pei
Conformational dynamics plays an important role in enzyme catalysis, allosteric regulation of protein functions and assembly of macromolecular complexes. Despite these well-established roles, such information has yet to be exploited for drug design. Here we show by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy that inhibitors of LpxC--an essential enzyme of the lipid A biosynthetic pathway in Gram-negative bacteria and a validated novel antibiotic target--access alternative, minor population states in solution in addition to the ligand conformation observed in crystal structures. These conformations collectively delineate an inhibitor envelope that is invisible to crystallography, but is dynamically accessible by small molecules in solution. Drug design exploiting such a hidden inhibitor envelope has led to the development of potent antibiotics with inhibition constants in the single-digit picomolar range. The principle of the cryptic inhibitor envelope approach may be broadly applicable to other lead optimization campaigns to yield improved therapeutics.
Open Access
Probing the excited-state chemical shifts and exchange parameters by nitrogen-decoupled amide proton chemical exchange saturation transfer (HN(dec)-CEST).
(Chem Commun (Camb), 2017-07-27) Wu, Qinglin; Fenton, Benjamin A; Wojtaszek, Jessica L; Zhou, Pei
CEST-NMR spectroscopy is a powerful tool for probing the conformational dynamics of macromolecules. We present a HN(dec)-CEST experiment that simplifies the relaxation matrix, reduces fitting parameters, and enhances signal resolution. Importantly, fitting of HN(dec)-CEST profiles enables robust extraction of exchange rates as well as excited-state chemical shifts and populations.
Open Access
Suppression of conformational heterogeneity at a protein-protein interface.
(Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2015-07-21) Deis, Lindsay N; Wu, Qinglin; Wang, You; Qi, Yang; Daniels, Kyle G; Zhou, Pei; Oas, Terrence G
Staphylococcal protein A (SpA) is an important virulence factor from Staphylococcus aureus responsible for the bacterium's evasion of the host immune system. SpA includes five small three-helix-bundle domains that can each bind with high affinity to many host proteins such as antibodies. The interaction between a SpA domain and the Fc fragment of IgG was partially elucidated previously in the crystal structure 1FC2. Although informative, the previous structure was not properly folded and left many substantial questions unanswered, such as a detailed description of the tertiary structure of SpA domains in complex with Fc and the structural changes that take place upon binding. Here we report the 2.3-Å structure of a fully folded SpA domain in complex with Fc. Our structure indicates that there are extensive structural rearrangements necessary for binding Fc, including a general reduction in SpA conformational heterogeneity, freezing out of polyrotameric interfacial residues, and displacement of a SpA side chain by an Fc side chain in a molecular-recognition pocket. Such a loss of conformational heterogeneity upon formation of the protein-protein interface may occur when SpA binds its multiple binding partners. Suppression of conformational heterogeneity may be an important structural paradigm in functionally plastic proteins.
Open Access
The Lipid A 1-Phosphatase, LpxE, Functionally Connects Multiple Layers of Bacterial Envelope Biogenesis.
(mBio, 2019-06-18) Zhao, Jinshi; An, Jinsu; Hwang, Dohyeon; Wu, Qinglin; Wang, Su; Gillespie, Robert A; Yang, Eun Gyeong; Guan, Ziqiang; Zhou, Pei; Chung, Hak Suk
Although distinct lipid phosphatases are thought to be required for processing lipid A (component of the outer leaflet of the outer membrane), glycerophospholipid (component of the inner membrane and the inner leaflet of the outer membrane), and undecaprenyl pyrophosphate (C55-PP; precursors of peptidoglycan and O antigens of lipopolysaccharide) in Gram-negative bacteria, we report that the lipid A 1-phosphatases, LpxEs, functionally connect multiple layers of cell envelope biogenesis in Gram-negative bacteria. We found that Aquifex aeolicus LpxE structurally resembles YodM in Bacillus subtilis, a phosphatase for phosphatidylglycerol phosphate (PGP) with a weak in vitro activity on C55-PP, and rescues Escherichia coli deficient in PGP and C55-PP phosphatase activities; deletion of lpxE in Francisella novicida reduces the MIC value of bacitracin, indicating a significant contribution of LpxE to the native bacterial C55-PP phosphatase activity. Suppression of plasmid-borne lpxE in F. novicida deficient in chromosomally encoded C55-PP phosphatase activities results in cell enlargement, loss of O-antigen repeats of lipopolysaccharide, and ultimately cell death. These discoveries implicate LpxE as the first example of a multifunctional regulatory enzyme that orchestrates lipid A modification, O-antigen production, and peptidoglycan biogenesis to remodel multiple layers of the Gram-negative bacterial envelope.IMPORTANCE Dephosphorylation of the lipid A 1-phosphate by LpxE in Gram-negative bacteria plays important roles in antibiotic resistance, bacterial virulence, and modulation of the host immune system. Our results demonstrate that in addition to removing the 1-phosphate from lipid A, LpxEs also dephosphorylate undecaprenyl pyrophosphate, an important metabolite for the synthesis of the essential envelope components, peptidoglycan and O-antigen. Therefore, LpxEs participate in multiple layers of biogenesis of the Gram-negative bacterial envelope and increase antibiotic resistance. This discovery marks an important step toward understanding the regulation and biogenesis of the Gram-negative bacterial envelope.
Open Access
Ubiquitin recognition by FAAP20 expands the complex interface beyond the canonical UBZ domain.
(Nucleic Acids Res, 2014-12-16) Wojtaszek, Jessica L; Wang, Su; Kim, Hyungjin; Wu, Qinglin; D'Andrea, Alan D; Zhou, Pei
FAAP20 is an integral component of the Fanconi anemia core complex that mediates the repair of DNA interstrand crosslinks. The ubiquitin-binding capacity of the FAAP20 UBZ is required for recruitment of the Fanconi anemia complex to interstrand DNA crosslink sites and for interaction with the translesion synthesis machinery. Although the UBZ-ubiquitin interaction is thought to be exclusively encapsulated within the ββα module of UBZ, we show that the FAAP20-ubiquitin interaction extends beyond such a canonical zinc-finger motif. Instead, ubiquitin binding by FAAP20 is accompanied by transforming a disordered tail C-terminal to the UBZ of FAAP20 into a rigid, extended β-loop that latches onto the complex interface of the FAAP20 UBZ and ubiquitin, with the invariant C-terminal tryptophan emanating toward I44(Ub) for enhanced binding specificity and affinity. Substitution of the C-terminal tryptophan with alanine in FAAP20 not only abolishes FAAP20-ubiquitin binding in vitro, but also causes profound cellular hypersensitivity to DNA interstrand crosslink lesions in vivo, highlighting the indispensable role of the C-terminal tail of FAAP20, beyond the compact zinc finger module, toward ubiquitin recognition and Fanconi anemia complex-mediated DNA interstrand crosslink repair.
Open Access
Unbiased measurements of reconstruction fidelity of sparsely sampled magnetic resonance spectra.
(Nat Commun, 2016-07-27) Wu, Qinglin; Coggins, Brian E; Zhou, Pei
The application of sparse-sampling techniques to NMR data acquisition would benefit from reliable quality measurements for reconstructed spectra. We introduce a pair of noise-normalized measurements, and , for differentiating inadequate modelling from overfitting. While and can be used jointly for methods that do not enforce exact agreement between the back-calculated time domain and the original sparse data, the cross-validation measure is applicable to all reconstruction algorithms. We show that the fidelity of reconstruction is sensitive to changes in and that model overfitting results in elevated and reduced spectral quality.