Tyrosine hydroxylase is the rate-limiting enzyme of catecholamine biosynthesis; it uses tetrahydrobiopterin and molecular oxygen to convert tyrosine to DOPA. Its amino terminal 150 amino acids comprise a domain whose structure is involved in regulating the enzyme's activity. Modes of regulation include phosphorylation by multiple kinases at 4 different serine residues, and dephosphorylation by 2 phosphatases. The enzyme is inhibited in feedback fashion by the catecholamine neurotransmitters. Dopamine binds to TyrH competitively with tetrahydrobiopterin, and interacts with the R domain. TyrH activity is modulated by protein-protein interactions with enzymes in the same pathway or the tetrahydrobiopterin pathway, structural proteins considered to be chaperones that mediate the neuron's oxidative state, and the protein that transfers dopamine into secretory vesicles. TyrH is modified in the presence of NO, resulting in nitration of tyrosine residues and the glutathionylation of cysteine residues. KeywordsTyrosine hydroxylase; dopamine biosynthesis; protein kinases; protein nitration; protein glutathionylation; protein-protein interactions; 14-3-3 protein; α-synuclein Tyrosine hydroxylase (TyrH) is the rate-limiting enzyme of catecholamine synthesis. It catalyzes the hydroxylation of tyrosine to L-DOPA (1). The catecholamines dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine are the products of the pathway, important as hormones and neurotransmitters in both the central and peripheral nervous systems. In the latter, they are synthesized in the adrenal medulla (1,2). The biosynthetic pathway is illustrated in Figure 1. These catechol monoamines play roles in many brain functions, such as attention (3), memory (4), cognition (5), and emotion (6,7). As the hormone of the fight-or-flight response, epinephrine produced in the adrenal gland affects many tissues throughout the body (8). Therefore deficits and surfeits in the levels of the catecholamines have many repercussions, perhaps including high blood pressure, bipolar disorder, addiction, and dystonias (9-11). Because of this, the activity of TyrH as the slowest enzyme in the pathway is of great interest in many fields of biomedical research.Given the importance of the activity of TyrH, the complexity of its regulation is not surprising. Control of its expression by transcriptional mechanisms is a very active field of research, as is the relatively new field of its degradation in the proteosome after † To whom inquiries should be addressed: Dept of Biological Sciences, St Mary's University, One Camino Santa Maria, San Antonio TX 78228, sdaubner@stmarytx.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could a...

Pyroptosis is the process of inflammatory cell death. The primary function of pyroptosis is to induce strong inflammatory responses that defend the host against microbe infection. Excessive pyroptosis, however, leads to several inflammatory diseases, including sepsis and autoimmune disorders. Pyroptosis can be canonical or noncanonical. Upon microbe infection, the canonical pathway responds to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), while the noncanonical pathway responds to intracellular lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Gram-negative bacteria. The last step of pyroptosis requires the cleavage of gasdermin D (GsdmD) at D275 (numbering after human GSDMD) into N- and C-termini by caspase 1 in the canonical pathway and caspase 4/5/11 (caspase 4/5 in humans, caspase 11 in mice) in the noncanonical pathway. Upon cleavage, the N-terminus of GsdmD (GsdmD-N) forms a transmembrane pore that releases cytokines such as IL-1 β and IL-18 and disturbs the regulation of ions and water, eventually resulting in strong inflammation and cell death. Since GsdmD is the effector of pyroptosis, promising inhibitors of GsdmD have been developed for inflammatory diseases. This review will focus on the roles of GsdmD during pyroptosis and in diseases.

The advancements of information technology and related processing techniques have created a fertile base for progress in many scientific fields and industries. In the fields of drug discovery and development, machine learning techniques have been used for the development of novel drug candidates. The methods for designing drug targets and novel drug discovery now routinely combine machine learning and deep learning algorithms to enhance the efficiency, efficacy, and quality of developed outputs. The generation and incorporation of big data, through technologies such as high-throughput screening and high through-put computational analysis of databases used for both lead and target discovery, has increased the reliability of the machine learning and deep learning incorporated techniques. The use of these virtual screening and encompassing online information has also been highlighted in developing lead synthesis pathways. In this review, machine learning and deep learning algorithms utilized in drug discovery and associated techniques will be discussed. The applications that produce promising results and methods will be reviewed.

Campylobacter and Helicobacter species express a 6-amino-6-deoxyfutalosine N-ribosylhydrolase (HpM-TAN) proposed to function in menaquinone synthesis. BuT-DADMe-ImmA is a 36 pM transition state analogue of HpM-TAN and the crystal structure of the enzyme-inhibitor complex reveals the mechanism of inhibition. BuT-DADMe-ImmA has a MIC90 value of < 8 ng/ml for H. pylori growth but does not cause growth arrest in other common clinical pathogens, thus demonstrating potential as an H. pylori-specific antibiotic.

Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative bacterium that colonizes the gut of over 50% of the world's population. It is responsible for most peptic ulcers and is an important risk factor for gastric cancer. Antibiotic treatment for H. pylori infections is challenging as drug resistance has developed to antibiotics with traditional mechanisms of action. H. pylori uses an unusual pathway for menaquinone biosynthesis with 5'-methylthioadenosine/S-adenosylhomocysteine nucleosidase (MTAN) catalyzing an essential step. We validated MTAN as a target with a transition-state analogue of the enzyme [Wang, S.; Haapalainen, A. M.; Yan, F.; et al. Biochemistry 2012, 51, 6892-6894]. MTAN inhibitors will only be useful drug candidates if they can both include tight binding to the MTAN target and have the ability to penetrate the complex cell membrane found in Gram-negative H. pylori. Here we explore structural scaffolds for MTAN inhibition and for growth inhibition of cultured H. pylori. Sixteen analogues reported here are transition-state analogues of H. pylori MTAN with dissociation constants of 50 pM or below. Ten of these prevent growth of the H. pylori with IC90 values below 0.01 μg/mL. These remarkable compounds meet the criteria for potent inhibition and cell penetration. As a consequence, 10 new H. pylori antibiotic candidates are identified, all of which prevent H. pylori growth at concentrations 16-2000-fold lower than the five antibiotics, amoxicillin, metronidazole, levofloxacin, tetracyclin, and clarithromycin, commonly used to treat H. pylori infections. X-ray crystal structures of MTAN cocrystallized with several inhibitors show them to bind in the active site making interactions consistent with transition-state analogues.