African sleeping sickness or human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), caused by Trypanosoma brucei spp., is responsible for ~30,000 deaths each year. Available treatments for this neglected disease are poor, with unacceptable efficacy and safety profiles, particularly in the late stage of the disease, when the parasite has infected the central nervous system. Here, we report the validation of a molecular target and discovery of associated lead compounds with potential to address this unmet need. Inhibition of this target, T. brucei N-myristoyltransferase (TbNMT), leads to rapid killing of trypanosomes both in vitro and in vivo and cures trypanosomiasis in mice. These high affinity inhibitors bind into the peptide substrate pocket of the enzyme and inhibit protein N-myristoylation in trypanosomes. The compounds identified have very promising pharmaceutical properties and represent an exciting opportunity to develop oral drugs to treat this devastating disease. Our studies validate TbNMT as a promising therapeutic target for HAT.

Protein O-GlcNAcylation is an essential post-translational modification on hundreds of intracellular proteins in metazoa, catalyzed by O-GlcNAc transferase using unknown mechanisms of transfer and substrate recognition. Through crystallographic snapshots and mechanism-inspired chemical probes, we define how human O-GlcNAc transferase recognizes the sugar donor and acceptor peptide and employs a novel catalytic mechanism of glycosyl transfer, involving the sugar donor α-phosphate as the catalytic base, as well as an essential lysine. This mechanism appears to be a unique evolutionary solution to the spatial constraints imposed by a bulky protein acceptor substrate, and explains the unexpected specificity of a recently reported metabolic O-GlcNAc transferase inhibitor.

N-Myristoyltransferase (NMT) represents a promising drug target for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), which is caused by the parasitic protozoa Trypanosoma brucei. We report the optimization of a high throughput screening hit (1) to give a lead molecule DDD85646 (63), which has potent activity against the enzyme (IC50 = 2 nM) and T. brucei (EC50 = 2 nM) in culture. The compound has good oral pharmacokinetics and cures rodent models of peripheral HAT infection. This compound provides an excellent tool for validation of T. brucei NMT as a drug target for HAT as well as a valuable lead for further optimization.

SummaryThe increasing number of RNA crystal structures enables a structure-based approach to the discovery of new RNA-binding ligands. To develop the poorly explored area of RNA-ligand docking, we have conducted a virtual screening exercise for a purine riboswitch to probe the strengths and weaknesses of RNA-ligand docking. Using a standard protein-ligand docking program with only minor modifications, four new ligands with binding affinities in the micromolar range were identified, including two compounds based on molecular scaffolds not resembling known ligands. RNA-ligand docking performed comparably to protein-ligand docking indicating that this approach is a promising option to explore the wealth of RNA structures for structure-based ligand design.

The structure of the type II DHQase from Streptomyces coelicolor has been solved and refined to high resolution in complexes with a number of ligands, including dehydroshikimate and a rationally designed transition state analogue, 2,3-anhydro-quinic acid. These structures define the active site of the enzyme and the role of key amino acid residues and provide snap shots of the catalytic cycle. The resolution of the flexible lid domain (residues 21-31) shows that the invariant residues Arg23 and Tyr28 close over the active site cleft. The tyrosine acts as the base in the initial proton abstraction, and evidence is provided that the reaction proceeds via an enol intermediate. The active site of the structure of DHQase in complex with the transition state analog also includes molecules of tartrate and glycerol, which provide a basis for further inhibitor design.