Wilmington, DE 19880-0328 Communicated by John D. Roberts, September 10, 1990 ABSTRACT A single-chain tethered dimer of human immunodeficiency virus protease (HIV-PR) was produced by expression of a synthetic gene in Escherichia coli. The tethered dimer, which consists of two 99-amino acid HIV-PR subunits linked together by a pentapeptide, was isolated from inclusion

Mutations of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protease at four positions, Val82, Asp30, Gly48, and Lys45 were analyzed for the resulting effects on kinetics and inhibition. In these mutants, Val82 was substituted separately by Asn, Glu, Ala, Ser, Asp, and Gln; Asp30 was individually substituted by Phe or Trp; Gly48 by His, Asp, and Tyr, respectively; and Lys45 by Glu. By examination of the inhibition of a single inhibitor, the differences in Ki values between the native and mutant enzymes can range from very large to insignificant even for the mutants with substitutions at the same position. By examination of a single mutant enzyme, the same broad range of Ki changes was observed for a group of inhibitors: Thus, how much the inhibition changes from the wild-type enzyme to a mutant is dependent on both the mutation and the inhibitor. The examination of Ki changes of inhibitors with closely related structures binding to Val82 mutants also reveals that the change of inhibition involves subsites in which Val82 is not in direct contact, indicating a considerable flexibility of the conformation of HIV protease. For the catalytic activities of the mutants, the kcat and Km values of many Val82 mutants and a Lys45 mutant are comparable to the native enzyme. Surprisingly, Gly48 mutations produce enzymes with catalytic efficiency superior to that of the wild-type enzyme by as much as 10-fold. Modeling of the structure of the mutants suggests that the high catalytic efficiency of some substrates is related to an increase of rigidity of the flap region of the mutants. The examination of the relative changes of inhibition and catalysis of mutants suggests that some of the Val82 and Gly48 mutants are potential resistance mutants. However, the resistance is specific with respect to individual inhibitors.

The conformation of the synthetic renin inhibitor CP‐69,799, bound to the active site of the fungal aspartic proteinase endothiapepsin (EC 3.4.23.6), has been determined by X‐ray diffraction at 1.8 A resolution and refined to the crystallographic R factor of 16%. CP‐69,799 is an oligopeptide transition‐‐state analogue inhibitor that contains a new dipeptide isostere at the P1‐P1′ position. This dipeptide isostere is a nitrogen analogue of the well‐explored hydroxyethylene dipeptide isostere, wherein the tetrahedral P1′ C alpha atom has been replaced by trigonal nitrogen. The inhibitor binds in the extended conformation, filling S4 to S3′ pockets, with hydroxyl group of the P1 residue positioned symmetrically between the two catalytic aspartates of the enzyme. Interactions between the inhibitor and the enzyme include 12 hydrogen bonds and extensive van der Waals contacts in all the pockets, except for S3′. The crystal structure reveals a bifurcated orientation of the P2 histidine side chain and an interesting relative rotation of the P3 phenyl ring to accommodate the cyclohexyl side chain at P1. The binding of the inhibitor to the enzyme, while producing no large distortions in the enzyme active site cleft, results in small but significant change in the relative orientation of the two endothiapepsin domains. This structural change may represent the action effected by the proteinase as it distorts its substrate towards the transition state for proteolytic cleavage.

Crystal structures of the protease of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and two mutant proteases, V82D and V82N, have been determined. In all three cases the enzyme forms a complex with the peptidic inhibitor U-89360E. All structures have been determined to 2.3 Å resolution and have satisfactory agreement factors: 0.173 for wild type, 0.175 for V82D, and 0.182 for V82N. Comparison of the three crystal structures provides explanations which are consistent with the known kinetic properties of these mutant enzymes with the U-89360E inhibitor [