Platform to Discover Protease-Activated Antibiotics and Application to Siderophore-Antibiotic Conjugates

Here we present a platform for discovery of protease-activated prodrugs and apply it to antibiotics that target Gram-negative bacteria. Because cleavable linkersfor prodrugs had not been developed for bacterial proteases, we used substrate phage to discover substrates for proteases found in the bacterial periplasm. Rather than focusing on a single protease, we used a periplasmic extract to find sequences with the greatest susceptibility to the endogenous mixture of periplasmic proteases. Using a fluorescence assay, candidate sequences were evaluated to identify substrates that release native amine-containing payloads without an attached peptide “scar”. We next designed conjugates consisting of: 1) an N-terminal siderophore to facilitate uptake; 2) a protease-cleavable linker; 3) an amine-containing antibiotic. Using this strategy, we converted daptomycin – which by itself is active only against Gram-positive bacteria – into an antibiotic capable of targeting Gram-negative Acinetobacter species. We similarly demonstrated siderophorefacilitated delivery of oxazolidinone and macrolide antibiotics into a number of Gram-negative species. These results illustrate this platform’s utility for development of protease-activated prodrugs, including Trojan horse antibiotics.

Platform to Discover Protease-Activated Antibiotics and Application to Siderophore-Antibiotic Conjugates

Here we present a platform for discovery of protease-activated prodrugs and apply it to antibiotics that target Gram-negative bacteria. Because cleavable linkersfor prodrugs had not been developed for bacterial proteases, we used substrate phage to discover substrates for proteases found in the bacterial periplasm. Rather than focusing on a single protease, we used a periplasmic extract to find sequences with the greatest susceptibility to the endogenous mixture of periplasmic proteases. Using a fluorescence assay, candidate sequences were evaluated to identify substrates that release native amine-containing payloads without an attached peptide “scar”. We next designed conjugates consisting of: 1) an N-terminal siderophore to facilitate uptake; 2) a protease-cleavable linker; 3) an amine-containing antibiotic. Using this strategy, we converted daptomycin – which by itself is active only against Gram-positive bacteria – into an antibiotic capable of targeting Gram-negative Acinetobacter species. We similarly demonstrated siderophorefacilitated delivery of oxazolidinone and macrolide antibiotics into a number of Gram-negative species. These results illustrate this platform’s utility for development of protease-activated prodrugs, including Trojan horse antibiotics.

Platform to Discover Protease-Activated Antibiotics and Application to Siderophore-Antibiotic Conjugates

Here we present a platform for discovery of protease-activated prodrugs and apply it to antibiotics that target Gram-negative bacteria. Because cleavable linkersfor prodrugs had not been developed for bacterial proteases, we used substrate phage to discover substrates for proteases found in the bacterial periplasm. Rather than focusing on a single protease, we used a periplasmic extract to find sequences with the greatest susceptibility to the endogenous mixture of periplasmic proteases. Using a fluorescence assay, candidate sequences were evaluated to identify substrates that release native amine-containing payloads without an attached peptide “scar”. We next designed conjugates consisting of: 1) an N-terminal siderophore to facilitate uptake; 2) a protease-cleavable linker; 3) an amine-containing antibiotic. Using this strategy, we converted daptomycin – which by itself is active only against Gram-positive bacteria – into an antibiotic capable of targeting Gram-negative Acinetobacter species. We similarly demonstrated siderophorefacilitated delivery of oxazolidinone and macrolide antibiotics into a number of Gram-negative species. These results illustrate this platform’s utility for development of protease-activated prodrugs, including Trojan horse antibiotics.

Protease target prediction via matrix factorization

MotivationProtein cleavage is an important cellular event, involved in a myriad of processes, from apoptosis to immune response. Bioinformatics provides in silico tools, such as machine learning-based models, to guide target discovery. State-of-the-art models have a scope limited to specific protease families (such as Caspases), and do not explicitly include biological or medical knowledge (such as the hierarchical protein domain similarity, or gene-gene interactions). To fill this gap, we present a novel approach for protease target prediction based on data integration.ResultsBy representing protease-protein target information in the form of relational matrices, we design a model that: (a) is general, i.e., not limited to a single protease family; and (b) leverages on the available knowledge, managing extremely sparse data from heterogeneous data sources, including primary sequence, pathways, domains, and interactions from nine databases. When compared to other algorithms on test data, our approach provides a better performance even for models specifically focusing on a single protease family.Availabilityhttps://gitlab.com/smarini/MaDDA/ (Matlab code and utilized data.)[email protected], or [email protected]

Crosstalk between diverse synthetic protein degradation tags inEscherichia coli

Recently, a synthetic circuit inE. colidemonstrated that two proteins engineered with LAA tags targeted to the native protease ClpXP are susceptible to crosstalk due to competition for degradation between proteins. To understand proteolytic crosstalk beyond the single protease regime, we investigated inE. colia set of synthetic circuits designed to probe the dynamics of existing and novel degradation tags fused to fluorescent proteins. These circuits were tested using both microplate reader and single-cell assays. We first quantified the degradation rates of each tag in isolation. We then tested if there was crosstalk between two distinguishable fluorescent proteins engineered with identical or different degradation tags. We demonstrated that proteolytic crosstalk was indeed not limited to the LAA degradation tag, but was also apparent between other diverse tags, supporting the complexity of theE. coliprotein degradation system.

Proteolytic Cleavage of Bovine Adenovirus 3-Encoded pVIII

ABSTRACT Proteolytic maturation involving cleavage of one nonstructural and six structural precursor proteins including pVIII by adenovirus protease is an important aspect of the adenovirus life cycle. The pVIII encoded by bovine adenovirus 3 (BAdV-3) is a protein of 216 amino acids and contains two potential protease cleavage sites. Here, we report that BAdV-3 pVIII is cleaved by adenovirus protease at both potential consensus protease cleavage sites. Usage of at least one cleavage site appears essential for the production of progeny BAdV-3 virions as glycine-to-alanine mutation of both protease cleavage sites appears lethal for the production of progeny virions. However, mutation of a single protease cleavage site of BAdV-3 pVIII significantly affects the efficient production of infectious progeny virions. Further analysis revealed no significant defect in endosome escape, genome replication, capsid formation, and virus assembly. Interestingly, cleavage of pVIII at both potential cleavage sites appears essential for the production of stable BAdV-3 virions as BAdV-3 expressing pVIII containing a glycine-to-alanine mutation of either of the potential cleavage sites is thermolabile, and this mutation leads to the production of noninfectious virions. IMPORTANCE Here, we demonstrated that the BAdV-3 adenovirus protease cleaves BAdV-3 pVIII at both potential protease cleavage sites. Although cleavage of pVIII at one of the two adenoviral protease cleavage sites is required for the production of progeny virions, the mutation of a single cleavage site of pVIII affects the efficient production of infectious progeny virions. Further analysis indicated that the mutation of a single protease cleavage site (glycine to alanine) of pVIII produces thermolabile virions, which leads to the production of noninfectious virions with disrupted capsids. We thus provide evidence about the requirement of proteolytic cleavage of pVIII for production of infectious progeny virions. We feel that our study has significantly advanced the understanding of the requirement of adenovirus protease cleavage of pVIII.

Molecular mechanism of mast cell–mediated innate defense against endothelin and snake venom sarafotoxin

Mast cells are protective against snake venom sarafotoxins that belong to the endothelin (ET) peptide family. The molecular mechanism underlying this recently recognized innate defense pathway is unknown, but secretory granule proteases have been invoked. To specifically disrupt a single protease function without affecting expression of other proteases, we have generated a mouse mutant selectively lacking mast cell carboxypeptidase A (Mc-cpa) activity. Using this mutant, we have now identified Mc-cpa as the essential protective mast cell enzyme. Mass spectrometry of peptide substrates after cleavage by normal or mutant mast cells showed that removal of a single amino acid, the C-terminal tryptophan, from ET and sarafotoxin by Mc-cpa is the principle molecular mechanism underlying this very rapid mast cell response. Mast cell proteases can also cleave ET and sarafotoxin internally, but such “nicking” is not protective because intramolecular disulfide bridges maintain peptide function. We conclude that mast cells attack ET and sarafotoxin exactly at the structure required for toxicity, and hence sarafotoxins could not “evade” Mc-cpa's substrate specificity without loss of toxicity.