Structural and <italic toggle="yes">In Vivo</italic> Studies on Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase from Pathogenic Fungi Provide Insights into Its Catalytic Mechanism, Biological Necessity, and Potential for Novel Antifungal Drug Design

ABSTRACT The disaccharide trehalose is critical to the survival of pathogenic fungi in their human host. Trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (Tps1) catalyzes the first step of trehalose biosynthesis in fungi. Here, we report the first structures of eukaryotic Tps1s in complex with substrates or substrate...

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Autores principales: Yi Miao, Jennifer L. Tenor, Dena L. Toffaletti, Stacey A. Maskarinec, Jiuyu Liu, Richard E. Lee, John R. Perfect, Richard G. Brennan
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Publicado: American Society for Microbiology 2017
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:70eac0dc7dc945b89231678ac09012a92021-11-15T15:51:44ZStructural and <italic toggle="yes">In Vivo</italic> Studies on Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase from Pathogenic Fungi Provide Insights into Its Catalytic Mechanism, Biological Necessity, and Potential for Novel Antifungal Drug Design10.1128/mBio.00643-172150-7511https://doaj.org/article/70eac0dc7dc945b89231678ac09012a92017-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.00643-17https://doaj.org/toc/2150-7511ABSTRACT The disaccharide trehalose is critical to the survival of pathogenic fungi in their human host. Trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (Tps1) catalyzes the first step of trehalose biosynthesis in fungi. Here, we report the first structures of eukaryotic Tps1s in complex with substrates or substrate analogues. The overall structures of Tps1 from Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus are essentially identical and reveal N- and C-terminal Rossmann fold domains that form the glucose-6-phosphate and UDP-glucose substrate binding sites, respectively. These Tps1 structures with substrates or substrate analogues reveal key residues involved in recognition and catalysis. Disruption of these key residues severely impaired Tps1 enzymatic activity. Subsequent cellular analyses also highlight the enzymatic function of Tps1 in thermotolerance, yeast-hypha transition, and biofilm development. These results suggest that Tps1 enzymatic functionality is essential for the fungal stress response and virulence. Furthermore, structures of Tps1 in complex with the nonhydrolyzable inhibitor, validoxylamine A, visualize the transition state and support an internal return-like catalytic mechanism that is generalizable to other GT-B-fold retaining glycosyltransferases. Collectively, our results depict key Tps1-substrate interactions, unveil the enzymatic mechanism of these fungal proteins, and pave the way for high-throughput inhibitor screening buttressed and guided by the current structures and those of high-affinity ligand-Tps1 complexes. IMPORTANCE Invasive fungal diseases have emerged as major threats, resulting in more than 1.5 million deaths annually worldwide. This epidemic has been further complicated by increasing resistance to all major classes of antifungal drugs in the clinic. Trehalose biosynthesis is essential for the fungal stress response and virulence. Critically, this biosynthetic pathway is absent in mammals, and thus, the two enzymes that carry out trehalose biosynthesis, namely, trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (Tps1) and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (Tps2), are prominent targets for antifungal intervention. Here, we report the first eukaryotic Tps1 structures from the pathogenic fungi Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus in complex with substrates, substrate analogues, and inhibitors. These structures reveal key protein-substrate interactions, providing atomic-level scaffolds for structure-guided drug design of novel antifungals that target Tps1.Yi MiaoJennifer L. TenorDena L. ToffalettiStacey A. MaskarinecJiuyu LiuRichard E. LeeJohn R. PerfectRichard G. BrennanAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleAspergillus fumigatusCandida albicansTps1fungal pathogensstructural biologytrehaloseMicrobiologyQR1-502ENmBio, Vol 8, Iss 4 (2017)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Aspergillus fumigatus
Candida albicans
Tps1
fungal pathogens
structural biology
trehalose
Microbiology
QR1-502
spellingShingle Aspergillus fumigatus
Candida albicans
Tps1
fungal pathogens
structural biology
trehalose
Microbiology
QR1-502
Yi Miao
Jennifer L. Tenor
Dena L. Toffaletti
Stacey A. Maskarinec
Jiuyu Liu
Richard E. Lee
John R. Perfect
Richard G. Brennan
Structural and <italic toggle="yes">In Vivo</italic> Studies on Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase from Pathogenic Fungi Provide Insights into Its Catalytic Mechanism, Biological Necessity, and Potential for Novel Antifungal Drug Design
description ABSTRACT The disaccharide trehalose is critical to the survival of pathogenic fungi in their human host. Trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (Tps1) catalyzes the first step of trehalose biosynthesis in fungi. Here, we report the first structures of eukaryotic Tps1s in complex with substrates or substrate analogues. The overall structures of Tps1 from Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus are essentially identical and reveal N- and C-terminal Rossmann fold domains that form the glucose-6-phosphate and UDP-glucose substrate binding sites, respectively. These Tps1 structures with substrates or substrate analogues reveal key residues involved in recognition and catalysis. Disruption of these key residues severely impaired Tps1 enzymatic activity. Subsequent cellular analyses also highlight the enzymatic function of Tps1 in thermotolerance, yeast-hypha transition, and biofilm development. These results suggest that Tps1 enzymatic functionality is essential for the fungal stress response and virulence. Furthermore, structures of Tps1 in complex with the nonhydrolyzable inhibitor, validoxylamine A, visualize the transition state and support an internal return-like catalytic mechanism that is generalizable to other GT-B-fold retaining glycosyltransferases. Collectively, our results depict key Tps1-substrate interactions, unveil the enzymatic mechanism of these fungal proteins, and pave the way for high-throughput inhibitor screening buttressed and guided by the current structures and those of high-affinity ligand-Tps1 complexes. IMPORTANCE Invasive fungal diseases have emerged as major threats, resulting in more than 1.5 million deaths annually worldwide. This epidemic has been further complicated by increasing resistance to all major classes of antifungal drugs in the clinic. Trehalose biosynthesis is essential for the fungal stress response and virulence. Critically, this biosynthetic pathway is absent in mammals, and thus, the two enzymes that carry out trehalose biosynthesis, namely, trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (Tps1) and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (Tps2), are prominent targets for antifungal intervention. Here, we report the first eukaryotic Tps1 structures from the pathogenic fungi Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus in complex with substrates, substrate analogues, and inhibitors. These structures reveal key protein-substrate interactions, providing atomic-level scaffolds for structure-guided drug design of novel antifungals that target Tps1.
format article
author Yi Miao
Jennifer L. Tenor
Dena L. Toffaletti
Stacey A. Maskarinec
Jiuyu Liu
Richard E. Lee
John R. Perfect
Richard G. Brennan
author_facet Yi Miao
Jennifer L. Tenor
Dena L. Toffaletti
Stacey A. Maskarinec
Jiuyu Liu
Richard E. Lee
John R. Perfect
Richard G. Brennan
author_sort Yi Miao
title Structural and <italic toggle="yes">In Vivo</italic> Studies on Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase from Pathogenic Fungi Provide Insights into Its Catalytic Mechanism, Biological Necessity, and Potential for Novel Antifungal Drug Design
title_short Structural and <italic toggle="yes">In Vivo</italic> Studies on Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase from Pathogenic Fungi Provide Insights into Its Catalytic Mechanism, Biological Necessity, and Potential for Novel Antifungal Drug Design
title_full Structural and <italic toggle="yes">In Vivo</italic> Studies on Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase from Pathogenic Fungi Provide Insights into Its Catalytic Mechanism, Biological Necessity, and Potential for Novel Antifungal Drug Design
title_fullStr Structural and <italic toggle="yes">In Vivo</italic> Studies on Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase from Pathogenic Fungi Provide Insights into Its Catalytic Mechanism, Biological Necessity, and Potential for Novel Antifungal Drug Design
title_full_unstemmed Structural and <italic toggle="yes">In Vivo</italic> Studies on Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase from Pathogenic Fungi Provide Insights into Its Catalytic Mechanism, Biological Necessity, and Potential for Novel Antifungal Drug Design
title_sort structural and <italic toggle="yes">in vivo</italic> studies on trehalose-6-phosphate synthase from pathogenic fungi provide insights into its catalytic mechanism, biological necessity, and potential for novel antifungal drug design
publisher American Society for Microbiology
publishDate 2017
url https://doaj.org/article/70eac0dc7dc945b89231678ac09012a9
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