Extensive comparison of the substrate preferences of two subtilisins as determined with peptide substrates which are based on the principle of intramolecular quenching.

Subtilisins are serine endopeptidases with an extended binding cleft comprising at least eight binding subsites. Interestingly, subsites distant from the scissile bond play a dominant role in determining the specificity of the enzymes. The development of internally quenched fluorogenic substrates, which allow polypeptides of more than 11 amino acids to be inserted between the donor and the acceptor, has rendered it possible to perform a highly systematic mapping of the individual subsites of the active sites of subtilisin BPN' from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Savinase from Bacillus lentus. For each enzyme, the eight positions S5-S'3 were characterized by determination of kcat/KM values for the hydrolysis of substrates in which the amino acids were systematically varied. The results emphasize that in both subtilisin BPN' and Savinase interactions between substrate and S4 and S1 are very important. However, it is apparent that interactions between other subsites and the substrate exert a significant influence on the substrate preference. The results are rationalized on the basis of the structural data available for the two enzymes.     

Substrate specificity of recombinant dengue 2 virus NS2B-NS3 protease: influence of natural and unnatural basic amino acids on hydrolysis of synthetic fluorescent substrates

A recombinant dengue 2 virus NS2B-NS3 protease (NS means non-structural virus protein) was compared with human furin for the capacity to process short peptide substrates corresponding to seven native substrate cleavage sites in the dengue viral polyprotein. Using fluorescence resonance energy transfer peptides to measure kinetics, the processing of these substrates was found to be selective for the Dengue protease. Substrates containing two or three basic amino acids (Arg or Lys) in tandem were found to be the best, with Abz-AKRRSQ-EDDnp being the most efficiently cleaved. The hydrolysis of dipeptide substrates Bz-X-Arg-MCA where X is a non-natural basic amino acid were also kinetically examined, the best substrates containing aliphatic basic amino acids. Our results indicated that proteolytic processing by dengue NS3 protease, tethered to its activating NS2B co-factor, was strongly inhibited by Ca2+ and kosmotropic salts of the Hofmeister's series, and significantly influenced by substrate modifications between S4 and S6'. Incorporation of basic non-natural amino acids in short peptide substrates had significant but differential effects on Km and k(cat), suggesting that further dissection of their influences on substrate affinity might enable the development of effective dengue protease inhibitors.     

Subsite specificity of anthrax lethal factor and its implications for inhibitor development

The lethal factor of Bacillus anthracis is a major factor for lethality of anthrax infection by this bacterium. With the aid of the protective antigen, lethal factor gains excess to the cell cytosol where it manifests toxicity as a metalloprotease. For better understanding of its specificity, we have determined its residue preferences of 19 amino acids in six subsites (from P3 to P3′) as relative k_cat/K_m values (specificity constants). These results showed that lethal factor has a broad specificity with preference toward hydrophobic residues, but not charged or branched residues. The most preferred residues in these six subsites are, from P1 to P3′, Trp, Leu, Met, Tyr, Pro, and Leu. The result of residue preference was used to design new substrates with superior hydrolytic characteristics and inhibitors with high potency. For better use of the new findings for inhibitor design, we have modeled the most preferred residues in the active site of lethal factor. The observed interactions provide new insights to future inhibitor designs.     

Substrate specificity of kallikrein-related peptidase 13 activated by salts or glycosaminoglycans and a search for natural substrate candidates

KLK13 is a kallikrein-related peptidase preferentially expressed in tonsils, esophagus, testis, salivary glands and cervix. We report the activation of KLK13 by kosmotropic salts and glycosaminoglycans and its substrate specificity by employing a series of five substrates derived from the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) peptide Abz-KLRSSKQ-EDDnp. KLK13 hydrolyzed all these peptides only at basic residues with highest efficiency for R; furthermore, the S₃ to S₂′ subsites accepted most of the natural amino acids with preference also for basic residues. Using a support-bound FRET peptide library eight peptide substrates were identified containing sequences of proteins found in testis and one with myelin basic protein sequence, each of which was well hydrolyzed by KLK13. Histatins are salivary peptides present in higher primates with broad antifungal and mucosal healing activities that are generated from the hydrolysis from large precursor peptides. KLK13 efficiently hydrolyzed synthetic histatin 3 exclusively at R²⁵ (DSHAKRHHGYKRKFHEKHHSHRGYR²⁵↓SNYLYDN) that is the first cleavage observed inside the salivary gland.In conclusion, the observed hydrolytic activities of KLK13 and its co-localization with its activators, glycosaminoglycans in the salivary gland and high concentration of sodium citrate in male reproductive tissues, indicates that KLK13 may play a role in the defense of the upper digestive apparatus and in male reproductive organs.     

A vector projection approach to predicting HIV protease cleavage sites in proteins

A vector projection method is proposed to predict the cleavability of oligopeptides by extended-specificity site proteases. For an enzyme with eight specificity subsites the substrate octapeptide can be uniquely expressed as a vector in an 8-dimensional space, whose eight bases correspond to the amino acids at the eight subsites, P₁, P_1′, P_2′, P_3′ and P_4′, respectively. The component of such a characteristic vector on each of the eight bases is defined as the frequency of an amino acid occurring at a given site. These frequencies were derived from a set of octapeptides known to be cleaved by HIV protease. The cleavability of an octapeptide can then be estimated from the projection of its characteristic vector on an idealized, optimally cleavable vector. The high ratio of correct prediction vs. total prediction for the data in both the training and the testing sets indicates that the new method is self-consistent and efficient. It provides a rapid and accurate algorithm for analyzing the specificity of any multisubsite enzyme for which there is no coupling between subsites. In particular, it is useful for predicting the cleavability of an oligopeptide by either HIV-1 or HIV-2 protease, and hence offers a supplementary means for finding effective inhibitors of HIV protease as potential drugs against AIDS. © Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Substrate binding modes and anomer selectivity of chitinase A from Vibrio harveyi

High-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC MS) was employed to assess the binding behaviors of various substrates to Vibrio harveyi chitinase A. Quantitative analysis revealed that hexaNAG preferred subsites −2 to +2 over subsites −3 to +2 and pentaNAG only required subsites −2 to +2, while subsites −4 to +2 were not used at all by both substrates. The results suggested that binding of the chitooligosaccharides to the enzyme essentially occurred in compulsory fashion. The symmetrical binding mode (−2 to +2) was favored presumably to allow the natural form of sugars to be utilized effectively. Crystalline α chitin was initially hydrolyzed into a diverse ensemble of chitin oligomers, providing a clear sign of random attacks that took place within chitin chains. However, the progressive degradation was shown to occur in greater extent at later time to complete hydrolysis. The effect of the reducing-end residues were also investigated by means of HPLC MS. Substitutions of Trp275 to Gly and Trp397 to Phe significantly shifted the anomer selectivity of the enzyme toward β substrates. The Trp275 mutation modulated the kinetic property of the enzyme by decreasing the catalytic constant (k _cat) and the substrate specificity (k _cat/K _m) toward all substrates by five- to tenfold. In contrast, the Trp397 mutation weakened the binding strength at subsite (+2), thereby speeding up the rate of the enzymatic cleavage toward soluble substrates but slowing down the rate of the progressive degradation toward insoluble chitin.     

Synthesis and subcellular distribution of heparan sulfate in the rat exocrine pancreas.

A kinetic study was conducted to investigate the properties of subsites S₁′ and S₂′ of α-chymotrypsin and subtilisin BPN′, which were deduced from model complexes with a pancreatic trypsin inhibitor and a hexapeptide substrate, respectively. For this purpose,

and

(AA, various amino acid residues) were synthesized. Since they were susceptible to cleavage at the positions shown by the arrows, we could examine the effect of P₁′ or P₂′ amino acid residue on hydrolysis [amino acid residues in peptide substrates and the corresponding subsites in enzymes are numbered according to the system of Schechter and Berger (1967)Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.27, 157–162]. The results agreed well with interactions of the leaving group with the corresponding subsites in both enzymes, which were deduced from the model complexes.     

Interdependency of the binding subsites in subtilisin.

Subtilisins are endopeptidases with an extended binding cleft comprising at least eight subsites, and kinetic studies have revealed that subsites distant from the scissile bond are important in determining the substrate preference of the enzymes. With the subtilisin enzyme Savinase, the interdependency of the individual Sn-Pn interactions has been investigated. It was found that the contributions from each subsite interaction to kcat/KM are not always additive. Such interdependency was also observed between subsites which are remote from each other. With a series of substrates covering S6 to S'4 of Savinase, it was observed that favorable amino acids in P1 or, more significantly, P4 of the substrate shield adverse effects of less favorable amino acids at other positions. Thus, an upper limit of kcat/KM was observed, suggesting a limit on the amount of substrate interaction energy which can be converted into transition-state stabilization. Furthermore, with substrates in which all positions had been optimized, an upper limit of kcat/KM (approximately 2 x 10(9) min-1 M-1) was seen, both for a substrate with a high kcat and for one with a low KM. These results emphasize that the design of optimal substrates or substrate-derived inhibitors for endopeptidases preferably should be based on subsite mappings where interdependent substrate-subsite interactions have been eliminated.     

Catalytic effect of gamma-thrombin on synthetic low molecular weight peptide substrates]

Hydrolysis and respective catalytic parameters of hydrolysis of ester peptide substrates that contain residues of hydrophobic and nonpolar amino acids in P2, P3 subsites have been studied. It is shown that efficiency of hydrolysis by thrombin is determined by the length of polypeptide chains and by the nature of the amino acids in P2, P3 subsites in the substrate. In spite of the fact that gamma-thrombin retains the conformation activity of the catalytic centre the local conformation changes of the second binding region of the enzyme have been discovered.     

Analysis of peptidase activities of a cathepsin B-like (TcoCBc1) from Trypanosoma congolense

The substrate specificity of TcoCBc1 was evaluated using two internally quenched fluorescent peptide libraries with randomized sequences designed to detect carboxydipeptidase (Abz-GXXZXK(Dnp)-OH) and endopeptidase (Abz-GXXZXXQ-EDDnp) activities at acidic and neutral pHs, respectively. All the data obtained with TcoCBc1 were compared with those of human cathepsin B, including the pH profiles of the hydrolytic reactions. The most relevant observation is the preference of TcoCBc1 for substrates with a pair of acidic amino acids at positions P₂ and P₁ for its carboxydipeptidase activity and the well acceptance for E and D at P₁ position for endopeptidase activity. These peculiar preferences for negatively charged groups of TcoCBc1 and its requirements for carboxydipeptidase activity were also observed on Abz labeled analogues of bradykinin (Abz-RPPG^↓FSAFR-OH, Abz-RPPG^↓FS^↓AF-OH, Abz-RPPG^↓DE^↓AF-OH) and angiotensin I (Abz-DR^↓VYIHAFHL-OH), where ^↓ indicates the cleavage site. TcoCBc1 was modeled based on the atomic coordinates of the cathepsin B from Trypanosoma brucei and the positively charged environment in TcoCBc1 catalytic site contrasts with the negatively charged environment in human cathepsin B. The preferences of S₁ and S₂ subsites of TcoCBc1 for acidic amino acids have to be taken into consideration for future studies of physiological roles of TcoCBc1 as for instance in apoptotic processes of Trypanosoma congolense.     

Comparative specificity of microbial acid proteinases for synthetic peptides. II. Effect of secondary interaction

To investigate the effect of “secondary interaction” on hydrolysis by various acid proteinases from molds and yeasts, synthetic peptides

amino acid residues) were used as substrates. Pepsin was used for the comparative study. These peptides were split at the peptide bonds indicated by the arrows, permitting examination of the effect of residue X distant by two or three amino acid residues from the hydrolytic site in the peptides. According to the system of Schechter and Berger (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 27; 157, 1967), the amino acid residues in peptide substrates were numbered P₁, P₂, etc. toward the N-terminal direction from the site of hydrolysis, and P₁′, P₂′, etc. toward the C-terminal direction. The results indicated that hydrolysis by these microbial enzymes is affected by at least six amino acid residues (P₁-P₃ and P₁′-P₃′) in peptide substrates, as is seen with pepsin. Elongation of the peptide chain with suitable amino acid residues from P₁ to P₂ or P₃ and from P₁′ to P₂′ or P₃′ in peptide substrates resulted in much or less increase of hydrolysis depending upon the species of the enzyme producers.     

Trifluoroacetylated peptides as substrates and inhibitors of elastase: a nuclear magnetic resonance study.

Trifluoroacetyl di- and tripeptides have been synthesized in order to investigate their interactions with elastase by proton and fluorine magnetic resonance. These substituted peptides behave as substrates or inhibitors of the enzyme, depending upon their length. They are hydrolyzed with production of trifluoracetic acid and unsubstituted parent peptides exclusively. The amino acid specificity observed and the absence of hydrolysis in the presence of an enzyme substituted at the serine residue of the active site indicate that the trifluoracetic hydrolysis occurs at this site. It requires the fixation of the C-terminal amino acids at the two S' subsites, as does the peptidic hydrolysis of unsubstituted or acetylated oligoalanines. Trifluoracetyl tripeptides exhibit a much higher affinity for the protein, as compared with the unsubstituted or acetylated peptides as well as compared with the trifluoroacetyl dipeptides, and they act as powerful inhibitors of the enzyme. The inhibitory binding mode has been shown to involve the fixation of the trifluoroacetyl group at subsite S4 or in its vicinity, allowing for the cooperative fixation of the C-terminal alanine at S1 and the accommodation of a transproline at S2.     

Mutagenesis and subsite mapping underpin the importance for substrate specificity of the aglycon subsites of glycoside hydrolase family 11 xylanases

Glycoside hydrolase family (GH) 11 xylanase A from Bacillus subtilis (BsXynA) was subjected to site-directed mutagenesis to probe the role of aglycon active site residues with regard to activity, binding of decorated substrates and hydrolysis product profile. Targets were those amino acids identified to be important by 3D structure analysis of BsXynA in complex with substrate bound in the glycon subsites and the + 1 aglycon subsite. Several aromatic residues in the aglycon subsites that make strong substrate–protein interactions and that are indispensable for enzyme activity, were also important for the specificity of the xylanase. In the + 2 subsite of BsXynA, Tyr65 and Trp129 were identified as residues that are involved in the binding of decorated substrates. Most interestingly, replacement of Tyr88 by Ala in the + 3 subsite created an enzyme able to produce a wider variety of hydrolysis products than wild type BsXynA. The contribution of the + 3 subsite to the substrate specificity of BsXynA was established more in detail by mapping the enzyme binding site of the wild type xylanase and mutant Y88A with labelled xylo-oligosaccharides. Also, the length of the cord – a long loop flanking the aglycon subsites of GH11 xylanases – proved to impact the hydrolytic action of BsXynA. The aglycon side of the active site cleft of BsXynA, therefore, offers great potential for engineering and design of xylanases with a desired specificity.     

New substrate analogue furin inhibitors derived from 4-amidinobenzylamide

A series of new peptidomimetic furin inhibitors was synthesized, which was derived from our previously described lead structure phenylacetyl-Arg-Val-Arg-4-amidinobenzylamide (1). Substitution of Val by other amino acid residues revealed several highly potent furin inhibitors with K_i values of less than 2 nM, containing guanidinoalanine, Ile, Phe or Tyr in the P3 position. The replacement of the P2 Arg by Lys was also well accepted, whereas the incorporation of d-amino acids at various positions resulted in poor inhibitors. The use of the 4-amidinobenzylamide group provides convenient synthetic access to stable proprotein convertase inhibitors and derivatives as biochemical tools and for further studies in cell culture.     

Importance of the prime subsites of the C1s protease of the classical complement pathway for recognition of substrates

The classical complement pathway, which plays a vital role in preventing infection, is initiated by the action of the serine proteases C1r and C1s. We have examined the hydrolysis of substrates representing cleavage sequences in the physiological substrates for C1s, C2 and C4. These studies showed that the P(1)'-P(4)' substrate residues of C2 and C4 conferred greater affinity of substrate for enzyme and also induced a sigmoidal dependence of enzyme velocity on substrate concentration. This indicates that the substrate gave rise to homotropic positive cooperative behavior in the enzyme. When C1s was in complex with C1q and C1r, as would occur under physiological conditions, the same behavior was observed, indicating that this mechanism is relevant in the complement pathway in vivo. We further investigated the requirements of C1s for prime side amino acids by examining a substrate library in which each of the P(1)'-P(4)' positions had been substituted by different classes of amino acids. This revealed that the P(1)' position was a major determinant of the selectivity of the enzyme, while certain substitutions at the P(1)'-P(4)' positions abolished the allosteric behavior, indicating that contact residues at these positions in the C1s enzyme must mediate the cooperativity. The studies reported here highlight the importance of prime subsites in C1s for interaction with its cognate substrates in the complement pathway and therefore yield greater understanding of the mechanism of interaction between this vital protease and its physiological substrates.     

The action of neutrophil serine proteases on elastin and its precursor

This study aimed to investigate the degradation of the natural substrates tropoelastin and elastin by the neutrophil-derived serine proteases human leukocyte elastase (HLE), proteinase 3 (PR3) and cathepsin G (CG). Focus was placed on determining their cleavage site specificities using mass spectrometric techniques. Moreover, the release of bioactive peptides from elastin by the three proteases was studied. Tropoelastin was comprehensively degraded by all three proteases, whereas less cleavage occurred in mature cross-linked elastin. An analysis of the cleavage site specificities of the three proteases in tropoelastin and elastin revealed that HLE and PR3 similarly tolerate hydrophobic and/or aliphatic amino acids such as Ala, Gly and Val at P₁, which are also preferred by CG. In addition, CG prefers the bulky hydrophobic amino acid Leu and accepts the bulky aromatic amino acids Phe and Tyr. CG shows a strong preference for the charged amino acid Lys at P₁ in tropoelastin, whereas Lys was not identified at P₁ in CG digests of elastin due to extensive cross-linking at Lys residues in mature elastin. All three serine proteases showed a clear preference for Pro at P₂ and P₄′. With respect to the liberation of potentially bioactive peptides from elastin, the study revealed that all three serine proteases have a similar ability to release bioactive sequences, with CG producing the highest number of these peptides. In bioactivity studies, potentially bioactive peptides that have not been investigated on their bioactivity to date, were tested. Three new bioactive GxxPG motifs were identified; GVYPG, GFGPG and GVLPG.     

Yellow fever virus NS2B/NS3 protease: Hydrolytic Properties and Substrate Specificity

Here we report the hydrolytic behavior of recombinant YFV NS2B/NS3 protease against FRET substrates mimicking the prime and non-prime region of the natural polyprotein cleavage sites. While the P2-P′1 motif is the main factor associated with the catalytic efficiency of Dengue (DV) and West Nile Virus (WNV) protease, we show that the k_cat/K_m of YFV NS2B/NS3 varied by more than two orders of magnitude, despite the presence of the same motif in all natural substrates. The catalytic significance of this homogeneity – a unique feature among worldwide prominent flavivirus – was kinetically analyzed using FRET peptides containing all possible combinations of two and three basic amino acids in tandem, and Arg and Lys residues produced distinct effects on k_cat/K_m. The parallel of our data with those obtained in vivo by Chambers et al. (1991) restrains the idea that these sites co-evolved with the NS2B/NS3 protease to promote highly efficient hydrolysis and supports the notion that secondary substrate interaction distant from cleavage sites are the main factor associated with the different hydrolytic rates on YFV NS2B-NS3pro natural substrates.     

Plasticity of extended subsites facilitates divergent substrate recognition by Kex2 and furin

Yeast Kex2 and human furin are subtilisin-related proprotein convertases that function in the late secretory pathway and exhibit similar though distinguishable patterns of substrate recognition. Although both enzymes prefer Arg at P(1) and basic residues at P(2), the two differ in recognition of P(4) and P(6) residues. To probe P(4) and P(6) recognition by Kex2p, furin-like substitutions were made in the putative S(4) and S(6) subsites of Kex2. T252D and Q283E mutations were introduced to increase the preference for Arg at P(4) and P(6), respectively. Glu(255) was replaced with Ile to limit recognition of P(4) Arg. The effects of putative S(4) and S(6) mutations were determined by examining the cleavage by purified mutant enzymes of a series of fluorogenic substrates with systematic changes in P(4) and/or P(6). Whereas wild Kex2 exhibited little preference type for Arg at P(6), the T252D mutant and T252D/Q283E double mutant exhibited clear interactions with P(6) Arg. Moreover, the T252D and T252D/Q283E substitutions altered the influence of the P(6) residue on P(4) recognition. We infer that cross-talk between S(4) and S(6), not seen in furin, allows wild type and mutant forms of Kex2 to adapt their subsites for altered modes of recognition. This apparent plasticity may allow the subsites to rearrange their local environment to interact with different substrates in a productive manner. E255I-Kex2 exhibited significantly decreased recognition of P(4) Arg in a tetrapeptide substrate with Lys at P(1), although the general pattern of selectivity for aliphatic residues at P(4) remained unchanged.     

Mechanism-based inhibitors of serine proteases with high selectivity through optimization of S′ subsite binding

A series of mechanism-based inhibitors designed to interact with the S′ subsites of serine proteases was synthesized and their inhibitory activity toward the closely-related serine proteases human neutrophil elastase (HNE) and proteinase 3 (PR 3) was investigated. The compounds were found to be time-dependent inhibitors of HNE and were devoid of any inhibitory activity toward PR 3. The results suggest that highly selective inhibitors of serine proteases whose primary substrate specificity and active sites are similar can be identified by exploiting differences in their S′ subsites. The best inhibitor (compound 16) had a k_inact/K_I value of 4580 M^?1 s^?1.     

Kinetic and modeling studies of S3-S3' subsites of HIV proteinases.

Kinetic analysis and modeling studies of HIV-1 and HIV-2 proteinases were carried out using the oligopeptide substrate [formula: see text] and its analogs containing single amino acid substitutions in P3-P3' positions. The two proteinases acted similarly on the substrates except those having certain hydrophobic amino acids at P2, P1, P2', and P3' positions (Ala, Leu, Met, Phe). Various amino acids seemed to be acceptable at P3 and P3' positions, while the P2 and P2' positions seemed to be more restrictive. Polar uncharged residues resulted in relatively good binding at P3 and P2 positions, while at P2' and P3' positions they gave very high Km values, indicating substantial differences in the respective S and S' subsites of the enzyme. Lys prevented substrate hydrolysis at any of the P2-P2' positions. The large differences for subsite preference at P2 and P2' positions seem to be at least partially due to the different internal interactions of P2 residue with P1', and P2' residue with P1. As expected on the basis of amino acid frequency in the naturally occurring cleavage sites, hydrophobic residues at P1 position resulted in cleavable peptides, while polar and beta-branched amino acids prevented hydrolysis. On the other hand, changing the P1' Pro to other amino acids prevented substrate hydrolysis, even if the substituted amino acid had produced a good substrate in other oligopeptides representing naturally occurring cleavage sites. The results suggest that the subsite specificity of the HIV proteinases may strongly depend on the sequence context of the substrate.