The natural product physostigmine is known for its capacity to inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The pyrroloindole-based scaffold of physostigmine is prevalent among various compounds demonstrating AChE inhibition, suggesting that its structural...

Even though pyrroloindoles are widely present in natural products with different kinds of biological activities, their selective synthesis remains challenging with existing tools in organic chemistry, and there is furthermore a demand for stereoselective and mild methods to access this structural motif. Nature uses C3-methyltransferases to form the pyrroloindole framework, starting from the amino acid tryptophan. In the present study, the SAM-dependent methyltransferase StspM1 from Streptomyces sp. HPH0547 is used to build the pyrroloindole structural motif in tryptophan-based diketopiperazines (DKP). The substrate scope of the enzyme regarding different Trp-Trp-DKP isomers was investigated on an experimental and computational level. After further characterization and optimization of the methylation reaction with a design of experiment approach, a preparative scale reaction with the immobilized enzyme including a SAM regeneration system was performed to show the synthetic use of this biocatalytic tool to access the pyrroloindole structural motif.

Enantioselective methylation is a challenging task in organic chemistry, yet often desirable in drug discovery and optimization. S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferases (MTases) offer a selective alternative to chemical synthesis and an abundance of potential scaffolds. The crystal structure of C3-indole MTase PsmD from Streptomyces griseofuscus, involved in the biosynthesis of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor physostigmine, was determined via X-ray crystallography. The amino acid residues essential for catalysis were identified by site-directed mutagenesis, and a mechanism of action was proposed. Furthermore, a PsmD ortholog was identified and characterized. The variant catalyzed enantioselective C-methylation over a broad substrate scope while displaying increased stability. Using this enzyme, preparative-scale enzymatic methylation was performed in cell-free extracts in combination with an SAM recycling system, eliminating the need for cofactor supplementation.

For more than two decades, the development of potent acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors has been an ongoing task to treat dementia associated with Alzheimer’s disease and improve the pharmacokinetic properties of existing drugs. In the present study, we used three docking-based virtual screening approaches to screen both ZINC15 and MolPort databases for synthetic analogs of physostigmine and donepezil, two highly potent AChE inhibitors. We characterised the in vitro inhibitory concentration of 11 compounds, ranging from 14 to 985 μM. The most potent of these compounds, S-I 26, showed a fivefold improved inhibitory concentration in comparison to rivastigmine. Moderate inhibitors carrying novel scaffolds were identified and could be improved for the development of new classes of AChE inhibitors.

Understanding mechanisms of promiscuity is increasingly important from a fundamental and application point of view. As to enzyme structural dynamics, more promiscuous enzymes generally have been recognized to also be more flexible. However, examples for the opposite received much less attention. Here, we exploit comprehensive experimental information on the substrate promiscuity of 147 esterases tested against 96 esters together with computationally efficient rigidity analyses to understand the molecular origin of the observed promiscuity range. Unexpectedly, our data reveal that promiscuous esterases are significantly less flexible than specific ones, are significantly more thermostable, and have a significantly increased specific activity. These results may be reconciled with a model according to which structural flexibility in the case of specific esterases serves for conformational proofreading. Our results signify that an esterase sequence space can be screened by rigidity analyses for promiscuous esterases as starting points for further exploration in biotechnology and synthetic chemistry.

Using the information available in the sequences of well-characterized transglycosidases found in plants, mutations were introduced in the glycoside hydrolase of the bacterium Thermus thermophilus, with the aim of turning it into an efficient transglycosidase. All mutants happen to have fair catalytic efficiencies, being at worst 25 times less efficient than the wild type. Noteworthy, W120F, one of our high transglycosylation yield (approximate to 50%) mutants, is only two times less efficient than the wild type. Interestingly, while in the wild type the sidechain of the acid-base is only found able to sample a pair of equivalent conformations during 0.5-mu s-long molecular dynamics simulations, its flexibility is much higher in the case of the high transglycosylation yield mutants. Our results thus suggest that engineering the flexibility of the acid-base of a retaining glycoside hydrolase could be a general way to turn it into an efficient transglycosidase.

In retaining glycoside hydrolases (GHs), transglycosylase activity is often low due to the natural hydrolytic activity that is favored in water. Improving the relative transglycosylase activity of these enzymes is of particular interest to obtain enzymes suitable for the synthesis of oligosaccharides. We explored the effect of engineering the water dynamics within the endo-beta-agarase AgaD on the transglycosylation/hydrolysis (T/H) balance. By mutating three amino acids (D341, Q342, and S351), which could control water access to a putative water channel ending close to the active site, we obtained AgaD variants with an inverted T/H balance. For the best mutant, D341L/Q342H/S351F, the hydrolysis activity was reduced 50-fold in comparison to the wild type, while the transglycosylase activity was maintained and even slightly improved. This variant produced a large amount of oligo-agaroses by a disproportionation reaction with decaagarose as the substrate. Molecular dynamics simulations showed that these enzymatic modifications were correlated with higher water dynamics, as revealed by a marked reduction in the water survival time and a decrease in the purge time of water in a channel ending close to the active site. These results suggest that modifying the water dynamics in GHs could be a rational basis for engineering of transglycosylase activity.