Paleontology and Evolution in the News

A review of recent media publications and journal articles about evolution and paleontology     

Paleontology and Evolution in the News

This paper is a review of recent media publications and journal articles about evolution and paleontology.     

Potential state-selective hydrogen bond formation can modulate activation and desensitization of the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

A series of arylidene anabaseines were synthesized to probe the functional impact of hydrogen bonding on human α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) activation and desensitization. The aryl groups were either hydrogen bond acceptors (furans), donors (pyrroles), or neither (thiophenes). These compounds were tested against a series of point mutants of the ligand-binding domain residue Gln-57, a residue hypothesized to be proximate to the aryl group of the bound agonist and a putative hydrogen bonding partner. Q57K, Q57D, Q57E, and Q57L were chosen to remove the dual hydrogen bonding donor/acceptor ability of Gln-57 and replace it with hydrogen bond donating, hydrogen bond accepting, or nonhydrogen bonding ability. Activation of the receptor was compromised with hydrogen bonding mismatches, for example, pairing a pyrrole with Q57K or Q57L, or a furan anabaseine with Q57D or Q57E. Ligand co-applications with the positive allosteric modulator PNU-120596 produced significantly enhanced currents whose degree of enhancement was greater for 2-furans or -pyrroles than for their 3-substituted isomers, whereas the nonhydrogen bonding thiophenes failed to show this correlation. Interestingly, the PNU-120596 agonist co-application data revealed that for wild-type α7 nAChR, the 3-furan desensitized state was relatively stabilized compared with that of 2-furan, a reversal of the relationship observed with respect to the barrier for entry into the desensitized state. These data highlight the importance of hydrogen bonding on the receptor-ligand state, and suggest that it may be possible to fine-tune features of agonists that mediate state selection in the nAChR.     

Free energy study of the catalytic mechanism of Trypanosoma cruzi trans-sialidase. From the Michaelis complex to the covalent intermediate

Trypanosoma cruzi trans-sialidase (TcTS) is a crucial enzyme for the infection of Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoa responsible for Chagas' disease in humans. It catalyzes the transfer of sialic acids from the host's glycoconjugates to the parasite's glycoconjugates. Based on kinetic isotope effect (KIE) studies, a strong nucleophilic participation at the transition state could be determined, and recently, elaborate experiments used 2-deoxy-2,3-difluorosialic acid as substrate and were able to trap a long-lived covalent intermediate (CI) during the catalytic mechanism. In this paper, we compute the KIE and address the entire mechanistic pathway of the CI formation step in TcTS using computational tools. Particularly, the free energy results indicate that in the transition state there is a strong nucleophilic participation of Tyr342, and after this, the system collapsed into a stable CI. We find that there is no carbocation intermediate for this reaction. By means of the energy decomposition method, we identify the residues that have the biggest influence on catalysis. This study facilitates the understanding of the catalytic mechanism of TcTS and can serve as a guide for future inhibitor design studies.