|5859227||RNA sequences which interact with RNA-binding proteins||1999-01-12||Giordano et al.||536/24.1|
|5858675||Double-stranded RNA-binding protein||1999-01-12||Hillman et al.||435/6|
|5834184||In vivo selection of RNA-binding peptides||1998-11-10||Harada et al.||435/6|
|5679548||Methods for producing polypeptide metal binding sites and compositions thereof||1997-10-21||Barbas et al.||435/69.6|
|5618528||Biologically compatible linear block copolymers of polyalkylene oxide and peptide units||1997-04-08||Cooper et al.||424/78.3|
|5612474||Acid labile immunoconjugate intermediates||1997-03-18||Patel||536/27.14|
|5451683||Spatially-addressable immobilization of anti-ligands on surfaces||1995-09-19||Barrett et al.||548/302.7|
|5416193||Coupling reagent and method||1995-05-16||Desai||530/334|
|5364533||Process for separating serum and plasma||1994-11-15||Ogura et al.||210/645|
|5349066||Bifunctional linking compounds, conjugates and methods for their production||1994-09-20||Kaneko et al.||546/294|
|5334640||Ionically covalently crosslinked and crosslinkable biocompatible encapsulation compositions and methods||1994-08-02||Desai et al.||524/56|
|5328603||Lignocellulosic and cellulosic beads for use in affinity and immunoaffinity chromatography of high molecular weight proteins||1994-07-12||Velander et al.||210/198.2|
|5292814||Process for the preparation of monodispersed polymer beads||1994-03-08||Bayer et al.||525/243|
|5137877||Bifunctional linking compounds, conjugates and methods for their production||1992-08-11||Kaneko et al.||514/25|
|4954444||Enzyme immobilization and bioaffinity separations with perfluorocarbon polymer-based supports||1990-09-04||Eveleigh et al.||435/181|
|4952394||Drug-monoclonal antibody conjugates||1990-08-28||Senter||424/85.91|
|4908405||Graft copolymers of crosslinked polymers and polyoxyethylene, processes for their production, and their usage||1990-03-13||Bayer et al.||525/61|
|4894443||Toxin conjugates||1990-01-16||Greenfield et al.||530/388|
|4885250||Enzyme immobilization and bioaffinity separations with perfluorocarbon polymer-based supports||1989-12-05||Eveleigh et al.||435/181|
|4803153||Process for separating blood serum from blood||1989-02-07||Shibata et al.||435/2|
|4795699||T7 DNA polymerase||1989-01-03||Tabor et al.||435/5|
|4762881||Photoreactive benzoylphenylalanines and related peptides||1988-08-09||Kauer||525/54.11|
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|4569981||Solid, water-dispersible plastics precursors containing isocyanate groups, a process for the production of aqueous plastics dispersions using such plastics precursors||1986-02-11||Wenzel et al.||528/67|
|4569789||Acid-cleavable compound, use in protein conjugates and drug delivery systems||1986-02-11||Blattler et al.||260/112R|
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|4485227||Biocompatible poly-(ether-urethane-urea) and process for its preparation||1984-11-27||Fox||528/61|
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|4439585||Polyurethane diacrylate compositions as carrier for pharmacological agents||1984-03-27||Gould et al.||525/127|
|4282287||Biochemical avidin-biotin multiple-layer system||1981-08-04||Giese||428/407|
|4244721||Method of making composite borosilicate glass articles||1981-01-13||Gupta et al.||65/31|
|4241537||Plant growth media utilizing polyurethane hydrogel||1980-12-30||Wood||47/77|
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|3647070||METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE PROVISION OF FLUID INTERFACE BARRIERS||1972-03-07||Adler||210/83|
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|WO1986003840A1||1986-07-03||SOLID PHASE IMMUNOASSAY USING IMMUNOREAGENTS IMMOBILIZED ON INERT SYNTHETIC RESIN SURFACES|
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This application is related to U.S. application Ser. No. 09/347,878 to Chong-Shen Yuan, filed Jul. 6, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,210 entitled “COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR ASSAYING ANALYTES” and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/457,205 to Chong-Shen Yuan, filed Dec. 6, 1999, entitled “COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR ASSAYING ANALYTES.” U.S. application Ser. No. 09/457,205 is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/347,878, filed Jul. 6, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,210. The contents of each of these applications is incorporated herein in its entirety.
Compositions and methods for assaying the activity of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferases and for screening for modulators of the activity SAM-dependent methyltransferases are provided. Kits and articles of manufacture that contain the modified enzymes and that can be used in these methods are also provided herein.
Of the 3,196 enzymes described in the latest version of Enzyme Nomenclature (Webb,
Methyltransferase, including SAM-dependent methyltransferase, catalyzed abnormal methylation has been linked to pathological conditions (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,996). For example, covalent modification of cellular substrates with methyl groups has been implicated in the pathology of cancer and other diseases (Gloria, et al.,
In addition, many pathways of small molecule degradation, such as those of neurotransmitters, require methyltransferase activity (U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,996; and Kagan and Clarke,
In their roles as a rate-limiting step in methyltransferase reactions, SAM-dependent methyltransferases have been identified as targets for psychiatric, antiviral, anticancer and anti-inflammatory drug design (U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,996). For instances, sequence-specific methylation inhibits the activity of the Epstein-Barr virus LMP 1 and BCR2 enhancer-promoter regions (Minarovits et al.,
Hence, methyltransferase activity can be associated with certain pathologies and other conditions, and its acitivity used as an indicator of diseases and conditions. Available methods for assessing the activity of methyltransferases, including SAM-dependent methyltransferases, require the use of radioactively labelled reagents and/or sophisticated and expensive analytical equipment such as HPLCs and GC/MS. To fully exploit the diagnostic potential of the methyltransferase activity as a diagnostic aid, more convenient and cost-effective methods for assessing activity are required.
Therefore, it is an object herein to provide quick and simple methods for assaying the methyltransferase, such as SAM-dependent methyltransferase, activity. It is also an object herein to provide for methods for screening for modulators of such methyltransferases, including SAM-dependent methyltransferases.
Provided herein are methods for assessing the activity of methyltransferases. The methods are exemplified with references to SAM-dependent methyltransferase, but can be applied to any transferase. In particular, methods for assaying the activity of a S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferase are provided. The methods are practiced by contacting the SAM-dependent methyltransferase with a substrate of the methyltransferase in the presence of a methyl donor, such as SAM, whereby a methyl group is transferred from donor, SAM, to a substrate for the methyltransferase. In the instance where SAM is the donor, SAM is converted to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), which is a demethylated donor. The resulting product, in this instance SAH, is contacted with an mutant binding enzyme, in this instance a mutant SAH-binding enzyme, which has binding affinity for SAH (or other product) but has attenuated catalytic activity. The binding between the mutant enzyme and the product, in this instance SAH is detected, and correlated with the amount of product, SAH, which in turn is correlated with the level of activity of the methyltransferase that generated the product.
This reaction, exemplified with reference to SAM-dependent methyltransferase, is summarized as follows:
R is selected from proteins, DNA, RNA, lipids and small molecules.
Hence, a reaction scheme, such as the above, can be used to screen for compounds that modulate the activity of the selected methyltransferase. Modulators include inhbitors, which could serve, for example, as anticancer agents, anti-neurodegenerative agents, and anti-inflammatory agents.
Hence performance of the methods provided herein requires a methy donor, and a mutant enzyme that binds to the demethylated donor, but does not catalyze further reaction thereof. Methods of use and preparation of such mutant binding enzymes are described herein and also described and exemplified in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/347,878 to Chong-Shen Yuan, filed Jul. 6, 1999, entitled “COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR ASSAYING ANALYTES” and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/457,205 to Chong-Shen Yuan, filed Dec. 6, 1999, entitled “COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR ASSAYING ANALYTES.” U.S. application Ser. No. 09/457,205, which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Also provided herein, are methods for identifying modulators of methyltransferases. The methods assess methyltransferase activity by detecting binding of a mutant binding enzyme to the demethylated methyl donor in the methyltransferase reaction. The reactions are performed in the presence of a test compound, and any change (relative to a control) in the amoung mutant enzyme-demethylated product form is indicative of an effect of the test compound on the methyltransferase. Typically the control is the amount of binding in the absence of the test compound or comparison with any suitable standard curve prepared for this purpose. Compounds that result in an altered amount of mutant binding enzyme-methyl donor complex compared to a suitable control are selected for further screening.
The exemplified methods are described with reference to SAM-dependent methyltransferase using SAM as the methyl donor, and SAH as the demethylated product that forms a complexewith the mutant enzyme. In an exemplary embodiment the methods for identifying modulators of methyltransferase activity are practiced by contacting the SAM-dependent methyltransferase with a substrate of the methyltransferase in the presence of SAM and a test substance, whereby a methyl group is transferred from SAM to the substrate and SAM is converted to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH); contacting the SAH with a mutant SAH-binding enzym that has binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity, and detecting binding between SAH and the mutant SAH-binding enzyme to detect or determine the presence or amount of SAH, whereby the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase is assessed; and comparing the assessed activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase with a control.
If the activity measured differs from the activity measured in a control reaction, such as the same reaction performed in the absence of the test compound or a standard curve or other measurement whereby the aunmodulated activity of the methyltransferase can be assessed, then the test substance modulates the activity of the methyltransferase, such as the SAM-dependent methyltransferase.
In certain embodiments, the control is performed by contacting the SAM-dependent methyltransferase with a substrate of the methyltransferase in the presence of SAM, whereby a methyl group is transferred from SAM to the substrate and SAM is converted to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), contacting the SAH with a mutant SAH-binding enzyme that has binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity, and detecting binding between SAH and the mutant SAH-binding enzyme to detect or determine the presence or amount of SAH, whereby the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase is assessed.
Further provided herein are compositions, kits and articles of manufacture to be used in the above assay or screening methods.
The methyltransferases that can be assayed or screened against in the above methods include, but are not limited to, protein methyltransferases, nucleic acid methyltransferases, lipid methyltransferases, polysaccharide methyltransferases and other small molecule methyltransferases. Particularly preferred are SAM-dependent methyltransferases.
The methyltransferase can be isolated from a target cell. Hence in a specific emdodiment, the methyltransferase is a SAM-dependent methyltransferase that is isolated from a target cell, the test substance to be screened for is a therapeutic compound, and the screening assay is used to assess whether the target cell responds to the test substance
For use with the SAM-dependent methyl transferase the mutant enzyme binds to the demethylated product SAH. In a preferred embodiment, the mutant SAH-binding enzyme used is a mutant SAH hydrolase, which mutant SAH hydrolase substantially retains its binding affinity or has enhanced binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity. In another preferred embodiment, the assay or screening is used in a high throughput mode, i.e., the activities of a plurality of SAM-dependent methyltransferases are assayed simultaneously and/or a plurality of test substances are screened for simultaneously.
B. METHODS FOR ASSAYING SAM-DEPENDENT Methyltransferase
1. SAM-dependent methyltransferase
2. Mutant SAH-binding enzyme
a. Nucleic acids encoding SAH-binding enzymes
b. Selecting and producing mutant SAH-binding enzymes
c. Mutant SAH hydrolase
C. METHODS FOR ASSESSING THE ACTIVITY OF METHYLTRANSFERASES AND METHODS OF DIAGNOSIS AND DRUG DISCOVERY BASED THEREON
1. Methods for screening for compounds that modulate that activity of methyltransferases
2. Methods for screening for methyltransferase modulators for diagnosis and methods for detecting and identifying methyltransferase substrates
3. High throughput screening (HTS) assays
a. HTS instrumentation and capabilities
b. Detection technologies
1) Radiochemical methods
2) Non-isotopic detection methods
a) Colorimetry and luminescence
b) Resonance energy transfer
c) Time-resolved fluorescence
d) Cell-based fluorescence assays
e) Fluorescence polarization
f) Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy
4. Test Substances Combinatorial libraries
5. Methods for detecting levels of DNA and RNA methylation
D. LABELLING OF MUTANT SAH-BINDING ENZYMES
a. Fusion proteins
b. Chemical conjugation
1) Heterobifunctional cross-linking reagents
2) Exemplary Linkers
a) Acid cleavable, photocleavable and heat sensitive linkers
b) Other linkers for chemical conjugation
c) Peptide linkers
2. Selection of facilitating agents
a. Protein binding moieties
1) Interaction trap/two-hybrid system
2) Phage-based expression cloning
3) Detection of protein-protein interactions
b. Epitope tags
c. IgG binding proteins
1) pEZZ 18 Protein A gene fusion vector
2) pRIT2T Protein A gene fusion vector
3) The IgG Sepharose 6 fast flow system
d. β-galactosidase fusion proteins
e. Nucleic acid binding moieties
1) DNA binding proteins
2) RNA binding proteins
3) Preparation of nucleic acid binding proteins
4) Assays for identifying nucleic acid binding proteins
a) Mobility shift DNA-binding assay
b) Basic mobility shift assay procedure
c) Competition mobility shift assay
d) Antibody supershift assay
e) Methylation and uracil interference assay
1) Methylation interference assays
2) Uracil interference assay
3) DNase I footprint analysis
4) Screening a λgt11 expression library with recognition-site DNA
5) Rapid separation of protein-bound DNA from free DNA
f. Lipid binding moieties
g. Polysaccharide binding moieties
h. Metal binding moieties
i. Other facilitating agents
3) Alkaline phosphatase
5) Glutathione S-transferase
6) Defense proteins
7) Fluorescent moieties
E. IMMOBILIZATION OF MUTANT SAH-BINDING ENZYMES
F. SAMPLE COLLECTION
1. Preparation of mutant SAH hydrolase-encoding nucleic acid
a. Single-strand DNA-based mutagenesis
b. Design of primers for point mutation
c. PCR-based mutagenesis method
d. Identification of substrate trapping SAH hydrolase
2. Large scale overexpression and purification of wild type and mutant forms of SAH hydrolases
b. Storage of the purified SAH hydrolase
c. Assays for enzyme activity
d. Assay for binding affinity (Kd)
3. Preparation of reagents
a. Preparation of fluorophore-labeled Ado and SAH analogs
1) Method 1
2) Method 2
3) Method 3
4) Method 4
b. Coating mutant SAH hydrolase on microtiter well (96 well plate)
c. Preparation of standard samples and chemical reagents
1) Construction of a standard Hcy curve
2) Wild type SAH hydrolase solution
3) Tri-n-butylphosphine (TBP) solution
4) Fluorophore-labeled Ado-Cys solution
5) SAH hydrolase inhibitor solution
6) Multi-enzyme solution
7) Washing solution
4. Assays of Hcy using the mutant SAH enzyme
a. Plasma Hcy assay procedure 1
1) Conversion of Hcy to SAH
2) Removal of remaining Ado and enzyme inhibitor
3) Trapping the formed SAH onto the mutant SAH hydrolase
5) Binding of fluorophore-labeled Ado-Cys to the mutant enzyme
6) Detection of the mutant SAH hydrolase-bound fluorophore-labeled Ado-Cys
b. Alternative Hcy assay
1) Pre-coating SAH on microtiter well
2) Fluorophore-labeled mutant SAH hydrolase
c. Plasma Hcy assay procedure 2
1) Conversion of Hcy to SAH
2) Removal of remaining Ado and enzyme inhibitor
3) Competition binding of SAH to the Mutant SAH hydrolase
4) Detection of the fluorophore-labeled mutant SAH hydrolase bound to the microtiter well
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as is commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. All patents, applications, published applications and other publications and sequences from GenBank and other data bases referred to herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
As used herein, a methyltransferase refers to any enzyme that transfers a methyl group from a methyl donor to a substrate and converts the donor into a demethylated donor, which is then detected and or quantitated by binding to a mutant binding enzyme that in its unmodified form binds to and catalyzes a further reaction thereof. The mutant enzyme binds to the demethylated donor with substantially the same affinity as the wild-type, but has attenuated, typically 50%, more preferably 20%, most preferably 10% or less of wild-type.
As used herein, “S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferase” refers to an enzyme that transfers a methyl group from SAM to a substrate and converts SAM to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH). SAM-dependent methyltransferase can transfer a methyl group from SAM to a carbon, an oxygen, a nitrogen or a sulfur atom of a substrate, and the SAM-dependent methyltransferase is thereby further classified as a C-, O-, N-, or S-methyltransferase, respectively. Any such SAM-dependent methyltransferase, including those with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity are contemplated herein.
As used herein, “substrate of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase” refers to a substance that receives the methyl group from SAM in a reaction catalyzed by the SAM-dependent methyltransferase. Examples of the substrates of the SAM-dependent methyltransferases include proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, polysaccharides and other small molecules. As used herein, “SAM” is not considered a “substrate of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase.”
As used herein, “protein SAM-dependent methyltransferase” refers to an enzyme that transfers a methyl group from SAM to a protein substrate and converts SAM to SAH.
As used herein, “nucleic acid SAM-dependent methyltransferase” refers to an enzyme that transfers a methyl group from SAM to a nucleic acid substrate, such as a DNA or a RNA, and converts SAM to SAH.
As used herein, “lipid SAM-dependent methyltransferase” refers to an enzyme that transfers a methyl group from SAM to a lipid substrate and converts SAM to SAH.
As used herein, “polysaccharide SAM-dependent methyltransferase” refers to an enzyme that transfers a methyl group from SAM to a polysaccharide substrate and converts SAM to SAH.
As used herein, “small molecule SAM-dependent methyltransferase” refers to an enzyme that transfers a methyl group from SAM to a small molecule substrate and converts SAM to SAH.
In all instances the methyltransferases encompass variants and mutants thereof, particularly those with conservative amino acid subtitutions (see, e.g., Table 1, below), that retain the methyltransferring activity.
As used herein, “macromolecule” refers to a molecule that, without attaching to another molecule, is capable of generating an antibody that specifically binds to the macromolecule.
As used herein, “small molecule” refers to a molecule that, without forming homo-aggregates or without attaching to a macromolecule or adjuvant, is incapable of generating an antibody that specifically binds to the small molecule. Preferably, the small molecule has a molecule weight that is about or less than 10,000 daltons. More preferably, the small molecule has a molecule weight that is about or less than 5,000 dalton.
As used herein, “enzyme” refers to a protein specialized to catalyze or promote a specific metabolic reaction. Generally, enzymes are catalysts, but for purposes herein, such “enzymes” include those that would be modified during a reaction. Since the enzymes are modified to eliminate or substantially eliminate catalytic activity, they will not be so-modified during a reaction.
As used herein, “S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH)-binding enzyme” refers to an enzyme that uses SAH as its co-enzyme, co-factor, or as a substrate. For example, SAH hydrolase is a SAH-binding enzyme. It is intended that SAH-binding enzymes include those conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity. Suitable conservative substitutions of amino acids are known to those of skill in this art and may be made generally without altering the biological activity of the resulting molecule. Those of skill in this art recognize that, in general, single amino acid substitutions in non-essential regions of a polypeptide do not substantially alter biological activity (see, e.g., Watson et al.
Such substitutions are preferably made in accordance with those set forth in TABLE 1 as follows:
|Original residue||Conservative substitution|
|Ala (A)||Gly; Ser|
|Asn (N)||Gln; His|
|Gly (G)||Ala; Pro|
|His (H)||Asn; Gln|
|Ile (I)||Leu; Val|
|Leu (L)||Ile; Val|
|Lys (K)||Arg; Gln; Glu|
|Met (M)||Leu; Tyr; Ile|
|Phe (F)||Met; Leu; Tyr|
|Tyr (Y)||Trp; Phe|
|VaI (V)||Ile; Leu|
Other substitutions are also permissible and may be determined empirically or in accord with known conservative substitutions.
As used herein, the “amino acids,” which occur in the various amino acid sequences appearing herein, are identified according to their well-known, three-letter or one-letter abbreviations. The nucleotides, which occur in the various DNA fragments, are designated with the standard single-letter designations used routinely in the art.
As used herein, “a mutant analyte-binding enzyme” (used interchangeably with “modified enzyme” and “substrate trapping enzyme” that substantially retains its binding affinity or has enhanced binding affinity for the analyte or an immediate analyte enzymatic conversion product” refers to a mutant form of an analyte-binding enzyme that retains sufficient binding affinity for the analyte to be detected in the process or method, particularly assay, of interest. Typically this is at least about 10%, preferably at least about 50% binding affinity for the analyte or an immediate analyte enzymatic conversion product, compared to its wildtype counterpart. Preferably, such mutant analyte-binding enzyme retains 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100% binding affinity for the analyte or an immediate analyte enzymatic conversion product compared to its wildtype counterpart, or has a higher binding affinity than its wildtype counterpart. Such mutant analyte-binding enzyme is herein referred to as a “substrate trapping enzyme”, i.e., a molecule that specifically binds to a selected analyte or target molecule, but does not catalyze conversion thereof.
As used herein, “a mutant SAH-binding enzyme” (used interchangeably with “modified enzyme” and “SAH trapping enzyme” that substantially retains its binding affinity or has enhanced binding affinity for SAH refers to a mutant form of a SAH-binding enzyme that retains sufficient binding affinity for SAH to be detected in the process or method, particularly assay, of interest. Typically this is at least about 10%, preferably at least about 50% binding affinity for SAH, compared to its wildtype counterpart. Preferably, such mutant SAH-binding enzyme retains 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100% binding affinity for SAH compared to its wildtype counterpart, or has a higher binding affinity than its wildtype counterpart. Such mutant SAH-binding enzyme is herein referred to as a “SAH trapping enzyme”, i.e., a molecule that specifically binds to SAH, but does not catalyze conversion thereof.
As used herein, “attenuated catalytic activity” refers to a mutant SAH-binding enzyme that retain sufficiently reduced catalytic activity to be useful as a “pseudo-antibody”, i.e, a molecule used in place of an antibody in immunoassay formats. The precise reduction in catalytic activity for use in the assays can be empirically determined for each assay. Typically, the enzyme will retain less than about 50% of one of its catalytic activities or less than 50% of its overall catalytic activities compared to its wildtype counterpart. Preferably, a mutant analyte-binding enzyme retains less than 40%, 30%, 20%, 10%, 1%, 0.1%, or 0.01% of one of its catalytic activities or its overall catalytic activities compared to its wildtype counterpart. More preferably, a mutant SAH-binding enzyme lacks detectable level of one of its catalytic activities or its overall catalytic activities compared to its wildtype counterpart. In instances in which catalytic activity is retained and/or a further reduction thereof is desired, the contacting step can be effected in the presence of a catalysis inhibitor. Such inhibitors, include, but are not limited to, heavy metals, chelators or other agents that bind to a co-factor required for catalysis, but not for binding, and other such agents.
As used herein the term “assessing” is intended to include quantitative and qualitative determination in the sense of obtaining an absolute value for the amount or concentration of SAH present in the sample, and also of obtaining an index, ratio, percentage, visual or other value indicative of the level of SAH in the sample. Assessment may be direct or indirect and the chemical species actually detected need not of course be SAH itself but may for example be a derivative thereof or some further substance.
As used herein, “test substance” refers to a chemically defined compound (e.g., organic molecules, inorganic molecules, organic/inorganic molecules, proteins, peptides, nucleic acids, oligonucleotides, lipids, polysaccharides, saccharides, or hybrids among these molecules such as glycoproteins, etc.) or mixtures of compounds (e.g., a library of test compounds, natural extracts or culture supernatants, etc.) whose effect on a SAM-dependent methyltransferase is determined by the disclosed and/or claimed methods herein.
As used herein, “target cell” refers to a cell that expresses a SAM-dependent methyltransferase naturally.
As used herein, “serum” refers to the fluid portion of the blood obtained after removal of the fibrin clot and blood cells, distinguished from the plasma in circulating blood.
As used herein, “plasma” refers to the fluid, noncellular portion of the blood, distinguished from the serum obtained after coagulation.
As used herein, a conjugate refers to the compounds provided herein that include one or more mutant SAH-binding enzymes and one or more facilitating agents. These conjugates include those produced by recombinant means as fusion proteins, those produced by chemical means, such as by chemical coupling, through, for example, coupling to sulfhydryl groups, and those produced by any other method whereby at least one mutant SAH-binding enzyme is linked, directly or indirectly via linker(s) to a facilitating agent.
As used herein, a facilitating agent, is any moiety, such as a protein or effective portion thereof, that promotes or facilitates, for example, preferably:
i) affinity isolation or purification of the conjugate;
ii) attachment of the conjugate to a surface;
iii) detection of the conjugate or complexes containing the conjugate; or
iv) targeted delivery of the conjugate to a selected tissue or cell.
As used herein, “substantially pure” means sufficiently homogeneous to appear free of readily detectable impurities as determined by standard methods of analysis, such as thin layer chromatography (TLC), gel electrophoresis and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), used by those of skill in the art to assess such purity, or sufficiently pure such that further purification would not detectably alter the physical and chemical properties, such as enzymatic and biological activities, of the substance. Methods for purification of the compounds to produce substantially chemically pure compounds are known to those of skill in the art. A substantially chemically pure compound may, however, be a mixture of stereoisomers or isomers. In such instances, further purification might increase the specific activity of the compound.
As used herein, “biological activity” refers to the in vivo activities of a compound or physiological responses that result upon in vivo administration of a compound, composition or other mixture. Biological activity, thus, encompasses therapeutic effects and pharmaceutical activity of such compounds, compositions and mixtures. Biological activities may be observed in vitro systems designed to test or use such activities.
As used herein, a “receptor” refers to a molecule that has an affinity for a given ligand. Receptors may be naturally-occurring or synthetic molecules. Receptors may also be referred to in the art as anti-ligands. As used herein, the receptor and anti-ligand are interchangeable. Receptors can be used in their unaltered state or as aggregates with other species. Receptors may be attached, covalently or noncovalently, or in physical contact with, to a binding member, either directly or indirectly via a specific binding substance or linker. Examples of receptors, include, but are not limited to: cell membrane receptors, surface receptors, internalizing receptors, and antibodies and antisera reactive with specific antigenic determinants, drugs, polynucleotides, nucleic acids, peptides, cofactors, lectins, sugars, polysaccharides, cells, cellular membranes, and organelles.
As used herein, “antibody” includes antibody fragments, such as Fab fragments, which are composed of a light chain and the variable region of a heavy chain.
As used herein, “humanized antibodies” refer to antibodies that are modified to include “human” sequences of amino acids so that administration to a human will not provoke an immune response. Methods for preparation of such antibodies are known. For example, the hybridoma that expresses the monoclonal antibody is altered by recombinant DNA techniques to express an antibody in which the amino acid composition of the non-variable regions is based on human antibodies. Computer programs have been designed to identify such regions.
As used herein, “production by recombinant means” refers to production methods that use recombinant nucleic acid methods that rely on well known methods of molecular biology for expressing proteins encoded by cloned nucleic acids.
As used herein, “substantially identical” to a product means sufficiently similar so that the property of interest is sufficiently unchanged so that the substantially identical product can be used in place of the product.
As used herein, “equivalent,” when referring to two sequences of nucleic acids means that the two sequences in question encode the same sequence of amino acids or equivalent proteins. It also encompasses those that hybridize under conditions of moderate, preferably high stringency, whereby the encoded protein retains desired properties.
As used herein, when “equivalent” is used in referring to two proteins or peptides, it means that the two proteins or peptides have substantially the same amino acid sequence with only conservative amino acid substitutions [see, e.g., Table 1, above] that do not substantially alter the activity or function of the protein or peptide.
When “equivalent” refers to a property, the property does not need to be present to the same extent [e.q., two peptides can exhibit different rates of the same type of enzymatic activity], but the activities are preferably substantially the same. “Complementary,” when referring to two nucleic acid molecules, means that the two sequences of nucleotides are capable of hybridizing, preferably with less than 25%, more preferably with less than 15%, even more preferably with less than 5%, most preferably with no mismatches between opposed nucleotides. Preferably the two molecules will hybridize under conditions of high stringency.
As used herein: “stringency of hybridization” in determining percentage mismatch is as follows:
1) high stringency: 0.1×SSPE, 0.1% SDS, 65° C.;
2) medium stringency: 0.2×SSPE, 0.1% SDS, 50° C. (also referred to as moderate stringency); and
3) low stringency: 1.0×SSPE, 0.1% SDS, 50° C.
It is understood that equivalent stringencies may be achieved using alternative buffers, salts and temperatures.
The term “substantially” identical or homologous or similar varies with the context as understood by those skilled in the relevant art and generally means at least 70%, preferably means at least 80%, more preferably at least 90%, and most preferably at least 95% identity.
As used herein, a “composition” refers to any mixture of two or more products or compounds. It may be a solution, a suspension, liquid, powder, a paste, aqueous, non-aqueous or any combination thereof.
As used herein, a “combination” refers to any association between two or more items.
As used herein, “fluid” refers to any composition that can flow. Fluids thus encompass compositions that are in the form of semi-solids, pastes, solutions, aqueous mixtures, gels, lotions, creams and other such compositions.
As used herein, “vector (or plasmid)” refers to discrete elements that are used to introduce heterologous DNA into cells for either expression or replication thereof. Selection and use of such vehicles are well known within the skill of the artisan. An expression vector includes vectors capable of expressing DNAs that are operatively linked with regulatory sequences, such as promoter regions, that are capable of effecting expression of such DNA fragments. Thus, an expression vector refers to a recombinant DNA or RNA construct, such as a plasmid, a phage, recombinant virus or other vector that, upon introduction into an appropriate host cell, results in expression of the cloned DNA. Appropriate expression vectors are well known to those of skill in the art and include those that are replicable in eukaryotic cells and/or prokaryotic cells and those that remain episomal or those which integrate into the host cell genome.
As used herein, “a promoter region or promoter element” refers to a segment of DNA or RNA that controls transcription of the DNA or RNA to which it is operatively linked. The promoter region includes specific sequences that are sufficient for RNA polymerase recognition, binding and transcription initiation. This portion of the promoter region is referred to as the promoter. In addition, the promoter region includes sequences that modulate this recognition, binding and transcription initiation activity of RNA polymerase. These sequences may be cis acting or may be responsive to trans acting factors. Promoters, depending upon the nature of the regulation, may be constitutive or regulated. Exemplary promoters contemplated for use in prokaryotes include the bacteriophage T7 and T3 promoters, and the like.
As used herein, “operatively linked or operationally associated” refers to the functional relationship. of DNA with regulatory and effector sequences of nucleotides, such as promoters, enhancers, transcriptional and translational stop sites, and other signal sequences. For example, operative linkage of DNA to a promoter refers to the physical and functional relationship between the DNA and the promoter such that the transcription of such DNA is initiated from the promoter by an RNA polymerase that specifically recognizes, binds to and transcribes the DNA. In order to optimize expression and/or in vitro transcription, it may be necessary to remove, add or alter 5′ untranslated portions of the clones to eliminate extra, potential inappropriate alternative translation initiation (i.e., start) codons or other sequences that may interfere with or reduce expression, either at the level of transcription or translation. Alternatively, consensus ribosome binding sites (see, e.g., Kozak,
As used herein, “sample” refers to anything which may contain an analyte for which an analyte assay is desired. The sample may be a biological sample, such as a biological fluid or a biological tissue. Examples of biological fluids include urine, blood, plasma, serum, saliva, semen, stool, sputum, cerebral spinal fluid, tears, mucus, amniotic fluid or the like. Biological tissues are aggregate of cells, usually of a particular kind together with their intercellular substance that form one of the structural materials of a human, animal, plant, bacterial, fungal or viral structure, including connective, epithelium, muscle and nerve tissues. Examples of biological tissues also include organs, tumors, lymph nodes, arteries and individual cell(s).
As used herein, “replication” refers to a process of DNA-dependent DNA synthesis where the DNA molecule is duplicated to give identical copies.
As used herein, “transcription” refers to a process of DNA-dependent RNA synthesis.
As used herein, “recombination” refers to a reaction between homologous sequences of DNA. The critical feature is that the enzymes responsible for recombination can use any pair of homologous sequences as substrates, although some types of sequences may be favored over others. Recombination allows favorable or unfavorable mutations to be separated and tested as individual units in new assortments.
As used herein, “DNA structure maintenance” refers to DNA sequences, through binding to proteins, that maintain the DNA molecule in particular structures such as chromatids, chromatins or chromosomes.
As used herein, “DNA polymerase” refers to an enzyme that synthesizes DNA using a DNA as the template. It is intended to encompass DNA polymerase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “DNA-dependent RNA polymerase” or “transcriptase” refers to an enzyme that synthesizes RNA using a DNA as the template. It is intended to encompass DNA-dependent RNA polymerase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “DNAase” refers to an enzyme that attacks bonds in DNA. It is intended to encompass DNAase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “DNA ligase” refers to an enzyme that catalyses the formation of a phosphodiester bond to link two adjacent bases separated by a nick in one strand of double helix of DNA. It is intended to encompass DNA ligase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “DNA topoisomerase” refers to an enzyme that can change the linking number of DNA. It is intended to encompass DNA topoisomerase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “DNA transposase” refers to an enzyme that is involved in insertion of a transposon at a new site. It is intended to encompass DNA transposase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “Transposon” refers to a DNA sequence that is able to replicate and insert one copy at a new location in the genome.
As used herein, “DNA kinase” refers to an enzyme that phosphorylates DNA. It is intended to encompass DNA kinase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “restriction enzyme” refers to an enzyme that recognizes specific short sequences of DNA and cleave the duplex at the recognition site or other site. It is intended to encompass a restriction enzyme with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “rRNA” or “ribosomal RNA” refers to the RNA components of the ribosome, a compact ribonucleoprotein particle that assembles amino acids into proteins.
As used herein, “mRNA” or “messenger RNA” refers to the RNA molecule that bears the same sequence of the DNA coding strand and is used as the template in protein synthesis.
As used herein, “tRNA” or “transfer RNA” refers to the RNA molecule that carries amino acids to the ribosome for protein synthesis.
As used herein, “reverse transcription” refers to the RNA-dependent DNA synthesis.
As used herein, “RNA splicing” refers to the removal of introns and joining of exons in RNA so that introns are spliced out and exons are spliced together.
As used herein, “RNA-dependent DNA polymerase” or “reverse transcriptase” refers to an enzyme that synthesizes DNA using a RNA as the template. It is intended to encompass a RNA-dependent DNA polymerase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “RNA-dependent RNA polymerase” refers to an enzyme that synthesizes RNA using a RNA as the template. It is intended to encompass a RNA-dependent RNA polymerase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “RNA ligase” refers to an enzyme that catalyses the formation of a phosphodiester bond to link two adjacent bases separated by a nick in one strand of RNA. It is intended to encompass a RNA ligase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “RNA maturase” refers to an enzyme that catalyses the removal of intron in the RNA splicing. It is intended to encompass a RNA maturase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “luminescence” refers to the detectable EM radiation, generally, UV, IR or visible EM radiation that is produced when the excited product of an exergic chemical process reverts to its ground state with the emission of light. Chemiluminescence is luminescence that results from a chemical reaction. Bioluminescence is chemiluminescence that results from a chemical reaction using biological molecules or synthetic versions or analogs thereof as substrates and/or enzymes.
As used herein, “bioluminescence,” which is a type of chemiluminescence, refers to the emission of light by biological molecules, particularly proteins. The essential condition for bioluminescence is molecular oxygen, either bound or free in the presence of an oxygenase, a luciferase, which acts on a substrate, a luciferin. Bioluminescence is generated by an enzyme or other protein (luciferase) that is an oxygenase that acts on a substrate luciferin (a bioluminescence substrate) in the presence of molecular oxygen and transforms the substrate to an excited state, which upon return to a lower energy level releases the energy in the form of light.
As used herein, the substrates and enzymes for producing bioluminescence are generically referred to as luciferin and luciferase, respectively. When reference is made to a particular species thereof, for clarity, each generic term is used with the name of the organism from which it derives, for example, bacterial luciferin or firefly luciferase.
As used herein, “luciferase” refers to oxygenases that catalyze a light emitting reaction. For instance, bacterial luciferases catalyze the oxidation of flavin mononucleotide [FMN] and aliphatic aldehydes, which reaction produces light. Another class of luciferases, found among marine arthropods, catalyzes the oxidation of Cypridina [Vargula] luciferin, and another class of luciferases catalyzes the oxidation of Coleoptera luciferin.
Thus, luciferase refers to an enzyme or photoprotein that catalyzes a bioluminescent reaction [a reaction that produces bioluminescence]. The luciferases, such as firefly and Renilla luciferases, that are enzymes which act catalytically and are unchanged during the bioluminescence generating reaction. The luciferase photoproteins, such as the aequorin photoprotein to which luciferin is non-covalently bound, are changed, such as by release of the luciferin, during bioluminescence generating reaction. The luciferase is a protein that occurs naturally in an organism or a variant or mutant thereof, such as a variant produced by mutagenesis that has one or more properties, such as thermal stability, that differ from the naturally-occurring protein. Luciferases and modified mutant or variant forms thereof are well known. For purposes herein, reference to luciferase refers to either the photoproteins or luciferases.
As used herein, “peroxidase” refers to an enzyme that catalyses a host of reactions in which hydrogen peroxide is a specific oxidizing agent and a wide range of substrates act as electron donors. It is intended to encompass a peroxidase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity. Peroxidases are widely distributed in nature and are produced by a wide variety of plant species. The chief commercially available peroxidase is horseradish peroxidase.
As used herein, “urease” refers to an enzyme that catalyses decomposition of urea to form ammonia and carbon dioxide. It is intended to encompass an urease with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity. Urease is widely found in plants, animals and microorganisms.
As used herein, “alkaline phosphatases” refers to a family of functionally related enzymes named after the tissues in which they predominately appear. Alkaline phosphatases carry out hydrolase/transferase reactions on phosphate-containing substrates at a high pH optimum. It is intended to encompass an alkaline phosphatases with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, “glutathione S-transferase” refers to an ubiquitous family of enzymes with dual substrate specificities that perform important biochemical functions of xenobiotic biotransformation and detoxification, drug metabolism, and protection of tissues against peroxidative damage. The basic reaction catalyzed by glutathione S-transferase is the conjugation of an electrophile with reduced glutathione (GSH) and results in either activation or deactivation/detoxification of the chemical. It is intended to encompass a glutathione S-transferase with conservative amino acid substitutions that do not substantially alter its activity.
As used herein, high-throughput screening (HTS) refers to processes that test a large number of samples, such as samples of diverse chemical structures against disease targets to identify “hits” (see, e.g., Broach et al., High throughput screening for drug discovery,
As used herein, the abbreviations for any protective groups, amino acids and other compounds, are, unless indicated otherwise, in accord with their common usage, recognized abbreviations, or the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature (see,
For clarity of disclosure, and not by way of limitation, the detailed description is divided into the subsections that follow.
Provided herein are method for assaying the activity of methyltransferases. The activities of particular methyl transferases can be associated with various conditions and diseases. Hence, these methods can be used to diagnose or detect such conditions and diseases. The particular disease or condition that is diagnosed is dependent upon the methyltransferase with which the methyl donor functions, and further the selected substrate. Different types of methyltransferases react with different types of substrates, and particular methyltransferases may have specific substrates. By assessing the activity of the methyltransferase in a sample, such as a body tissue or body fluid sample, the level of the activity can be correlated with a particular disease or disorder. In addition, the presence or absence of a particular substrate in a body tissue or body fluid sample may be assessed by selecting a particular methyltransferase specific for the substrate and assessing the activity of the methyltransferase that is contacted with a biological sample, such as a body tissue or fluid. The level of activity of the methyltransferase is indicative of the presence and amount of the substrate present in the sample.
In addition, the ability to assess the activity of methyltransferase, proivdes a means to screen for compounds that modulate the activity of a methyltransferase. Compounds that modulate the activity of a methyltransferase would be candidates for therapeutic agents for treatments of diseases in which altered methyltransferase activity play a role. The methyltransferase can play either a direct or indirect role in the condition or disease.
As noted, these methods are described with reference to SAM-dependent methyltransferases, but can be practiced with other transferases and their cognate methyl donors.
In particular embodiments, provided herein are methods for assaying the activity of a S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferase by contacting the SAM-dependent methyltransferase with a substrate of the methyltransferase in the presence of SAM, whereby a methyl group is transferred from SAM to the substrate and SAM is converted to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH); contacting the resulting SAH with a mutant SAH-binding enzyme that has binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity; and detecting binding between SAH and the mutant SAH-binding enzyme to detect or determine the presence or amount of SAH, whereby the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase is assessed. In performing the methods, all reagents may be added simultaneously, or preferably the substrate is first added and the mutant binding enzyme added subsequently. Preferably the reactions are performed sequentially without purifying or isolating the SAH.
In a preferred embodiment, the assay is conducted in a high throughput mode, i.e., the activities of a plurality of SAM-dependent methyltransferases are assayed simultaneously. For example, the assay can be conducted in a multi-well (e.g., 24-, 48-, 96-, or 384- or higher density well), chip or array format. In other embodiments, the assay is conducted on a point of care device.
Also provided herein are kits for assaying the activity of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase. The comination contains a substrate of the methyltransferase to be assayed; SAM; a mutant SAH-binding enzyme that retains at least substantially its binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity; and reagents for detecting binding between SAH and the SAH-binding enzyme. Preferably, the reagent for detecting binding between SAH and the SAH-binding enzyme is a labelled SAH, a labelled mutant SAH-binding enzyme, or a derivative or an analog thereof. The kit can also include instructions for assaying the activity of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase. Each component in the kit may be suitably packaged for storage and use thereof; each component will be formulated in a suitable composition for use in the methods.
Any SAM-dependent methyltransferase can be assayed by the methods provided herein. A variety of SAM-dependent methyltransferases are known (see generally Kagan and Clarke,
In a specific embodiment, the SAM-dependent methyltransferase to be assayed is a protein methyltransferase. Protein methyltransferases include, but but are not limited to, a protein carboxyl methyltransferase (Syed et al.,
Nucleic Acid Methyltransferases
SAM-dependent methyltransferases to be assayed include nucleic acid methyltransferases, including but are not limited to, a DNA methyltransferase, such as a DNA m
Further examples of SAM-dependent DNA methyltransferases that can be assayed include, but are not limited to, Pvull DNA (cytosine-N4)-methyltransferase (Adams and Blumenthal,
Also contempalted are RNA methyltransferases, including, but are not limited to, mRNA, a rRNA and tRNA methyltransferases, such as the vaccinia virus mRNA (guanine-7-)methyltransferase (Higman and Niles,
Lipid methyltransferases include, but are not limited to, DHPB O-methyltransferase, DHHB O-methyltransferase, UbiG O-methyltransferase, phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase (Zawad and Sulser,
Polysaccharide methyltransferases that can be assayed by the methods herein include, but are not limited to, a NodS, which is an SAM-dependent methyltransferase that methylates chitooligosaccharides deacetylated at the non-reducing end (Geelen et al.,
Small Molecule Methyltransferases
Small molecule methyltransferase that can be assayed include, but are not limited to, small molecule O-methyltransferases, small molecule N-methyltransferases, a small molecule S-methyltransferases and porphyrin precursor C-methyltransferases. These include an N-acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase (Itoh et al.,
Others include small molecule N-methyltransferases, such as a phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase, a glycine N-methyltransferase, a guanidinoacetate N-methyltransferase (Takata and Fujioka,
Small molecule S-methyltransferases incude a thioether S-methyltransferase (Mozier et al.,
Other examples include, porphyrin precursor C-methyltransferase, such as a magnesium protoporphyrin IX methyltransferase (Hinchigeri et al.,
Further examples of small molecule methyltransferases that can be assayed include a salicylic acid carboxyl methyltransferase (Ross et al.,
In a specific embodiment, the SAM-dependent methyltransferase to be assayed include at least one of the following amino acid consensus sequences (see generally Kagan and Clarke,
In a preferred embodiment, the SAM-dependent methyltransferase incudes all the motifs I, II and III in the order of N′-I-II-III-C′, the distance between the last amino acid residue of motif I and the first amino acid residue of motif II is from about 36 to about 90 amino acid residues, and the distance between the last amino acid residue of motif II and the first amino acid residue of motif III is from about 12 to about 38 amino acid residues.
In another preferred embodiment, the SAM-dependent methyltransferase only incudes the motif I. In another preferred embodiment, the SAM-dependent methyltransferase includes only the motifs I and III.
A preferred SAM-dependent methyltransferase is that having the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID No. 2 or conservative variant thereof, and that is encoded by the sequence of nucleotides set forth in SEQ ID No. 1 or degenerate variants thereof (see, also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,996 (SEQ ID NOs:1-2).
In another specific embodiment, the SAM-dependent methyltransferase with the following GenBank accession Nos. can be assayed: AW102461 (S-adenosyl-L-methionine:trans-caffeoyl-CoA 3-O-methyltransferase); AW102353 (S-adenosyl-L-methionine:trans-caffeoyl-CoA 3-O-methyltransferase; AW102160 (S-adenosyl-L-methionine:delta24-sterol-C-methyltransferase; AW102098 (S-adenosyl-L-methionine:delta24-sterol-C-methyltransferase; AW067623 (Sugar beet leaf S-adenosyl-L-methionine:trans-caffeoyl-CoA 3-O-methyltransferase); AF133053 (
In still another specific embodiment, the SAM-dependent methyltransferase listed in the following Table 2 can be assayed (see, Table I of Kagan and Clarke,
|Protein carboxyl MTases||Isoaspartyl O-MT||PIMT||126.96.36.199||human||I, II, III||A33404|
|Isoaspartyl O-MT||PIMT||188.8.131.52||bovine||I, II, III||A34242|
|Isoaspartyl O-MT||PIMT||184.108.40.206||mouse||I, II, III||M60320|
|Isoaspartyl O-MT||PIMT||220.127.116.11||rat||I, II, III||D11475|
|Isoaspartyl O-MT||PIMT||18.104.22.168||wheat||I, II, III||L07941|
|Isoaspartyl O-MT||pcm||22.214.171.124||I, II, III||M63493|
|λ-Glutamyl O-MT||cheR||126.96.36.199||I, II, III||M13463|
|λ-Glutamyl O-MT||cheR||188.8.131.52||I, II, III||J02757|
|λ-Glutamyl O-MT||frzF||184.108.40.206||I, II, III||M35200|
|Small molecule O-MTases||Acetylserotonin O-MT||HOMT||220.127.116.11||human||I, II, III||M83779|
|Acetylserotonin O-MT||HOMT||18.104.22.168||bovine||I, II, III||J02671|
|Acetylserotonin O-MT||HOMT||22.214.171.124||chicken||I, II, III||X62309|
|Catechol O-MT||COMT||126.96.36.199||human||I, II, III||M65212|
|Catechol O-MT||COMT||188.8.131.52||rat||I, II, III||M60754|
|Caffeic acid O-MT||(CAOMT)||184.108.40.206||maize||I, II, III||M73235|
|Caffeic acid O-MT||(CAOMT)||220.127.116.11||alfalfa||I, II, III||M63853|
|Caffeic acid O-MT||(CAOMT)||18.104.22.168||aspen||I, II, III||X62096|
|Caffeoyl CoA O-MT||(CCOMT)||22.214.171.124||parsley||I, II, III||M69184|
|O-Demethyl puromycin O-MT||dmpM||126.96.36.199||I, II, III||M74560|
|Hydroxyneurosporene O-MT||crtF||I, II, III||S04408|
|Myo-inositol O-MT||lmtI||188.8.131.52/40||I, II, III||M87340|
|Carminomycin O-MT||dnrK||I, II, III||L13453|
|Tetracenomycin 3-O-MT||tcmN||I, II, III||M80674|
|Tetracenomycin 8-O-MT||tcmO||I, II, III||M80674|
|Midamycin O-MT||mdmC||I, II, III||M93958|
|Erythromycin biosynthesis O-MT||eryG||I, II, III||S18533|
|Small molecule N-MTases||Phenylethanolamine N-MT||PNMT||184.108.40.206||human||I, II, III||J03280|
|Phenylethanolamine N-MT||PNMT||220.127.116.11||bovine||I, II, III||M36706|
|Phenylethanolamine N-MT||PNMT||18.104.22.168||rat||I, II, III||X14211|
|Phenylethanolamine N-MT||PNMT||22.214.171.124||mouse||I, II, III||L12687|
|Glycine-N-MT||GNMT||126.96.36.199||rabbit||I, II, III||D13307|
|Glycine-N-MT||GNMT||188.8.131.52||pig||I, II, III||D13308|
|Glycine-N-MT||GNMT||184.108.40.206||rat||I, II, III||X06150|
|Guanidinoacetate N-MT||(GANMT)||220.127.116.11||rat||I, II, III||J03588|
|Histamine N-MT||HNMT||18.104.22.168||rat||I, II, III||D10693|
|Small molecule S-MTase||Thioether S-MT||(TSMT)||22.214.171.124||mouse||I, II, III||M88694|
|Porphyrin precursor C-MTases||Precorrin-2-MT||cobI||I||M59301|
|Precorrin-3 MT||cobF||I, III||M59301|
|Precorrin-3 MT||cobJ||I, III||M59301|
|Precorrin-3 MT||cobL||I, II, III||M59301|
|Precorrin-3 MT||cobM||I, III||M59301|
|Uroporphyrinogen III MT||cobA||126.96.36.199||I, II, III||M62881|
|Uroporphyrinogen III MT||UMT||188.8.131.52||I, III||M62874|
|Uroporphyrinogen III MT||UMT||184.108.40.206||Pseudomonas||I, III||M32223|
|Uroporphyrinogen III MT||cysG||220.127.116.11||I, II, III|
|Uroporphyrinogen III MT||cysG||18.104.22.168||I, II, III|
|Magnesium protoporphyrin MT||bchH||22.214.171.124||nd||M74001|
|Lipid MTases||DHPB O-MT||COQ3||126.96.36.199||rat||I, II, III||L20427|
|DHHB O-MT||COQ3||188.8.131.52||yeast||I, II, III||M73270|
|UbiG O-MT||ubiG||I, II, III||M87509|
|Phosphatidylethanolamine MT||pmtA||184.108.40.206||I, II, III||L07247|
|Phosphatidylethanolamine MT||pmtA||220.127.116.11||I, II, III||L07247|
|Cyclopropane fatty acid synthase||cfa||18.104.22.168||I, II, III||M98330|
|RNA MTases||tRNA C5 U MT||trmA||22.214.171.124||nd||M57568|
|tRNA N1 G MT||trmD||126.96.36.199||II, III||X01818|
|tRNA N2, N2 G MT||trm1||188.8.131.52||yeast||nd||M17193|
|rRNA G MT||grm||184.108.40.206/52||nd||M55520|
|rRNA G MT||grm||220.127.116.11/52||nd||S17717|
|rRNA G MT||grm||18.104.22.168/52||nd||M55521|
|rRNA N6 A MT||lrm||22.214.171.124||I||JS0635|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ERMA||126.96.36.199||I, III||X51472|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermA||188.8.131.52||I, III||A25101|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermBC||184.108.40.206||I, III||B27739|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermBP||220.127.116.11||I, III||M77169|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermC||18.104.22.168||I||M19652|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermCd||22.214.171.124||I||M36726|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermD||126.96.36.199||I||M29832|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermE||188.8.131.52||I||M11200|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermF||184.108.40.206||I||A25157|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermG||220.127.116.11||I, III||M15332|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermJ||18.104.22.168||I||L08389|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermK||22.214.171.124||I||B42473|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermM||126.96.36.199||I, III||A24497|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermR||188.8.131.52||I, III||M64090|
|rRNA N6 A MT||ermSF||184.108.40.206||I, III||M19269|
|rRNA N6, N6 A MT||ksgA||I||X06536|
Any mutant analyte-binding enzyme that substantially retains its binding affinity or has enhanced binding affinity for the demethylated product, such as SAH, but that has attenuated catalytic activity can be used to bind to the demethylated product in the methods herein. The amount of demethylated product is proportional to the activity of the methyltransferase.
Mutant SAH-binding Enzyme
Any mutant SAH-binding enzyme that has binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity can be used for assaying the activity of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase.
Mutant enzymes having the desired specificity can be prepared using routine mutagenesis methods. Residues to mutate can be identified by systematically mutating residues to different residues, and identifying those that have the desired reduction in catalytic activity and retention of binding activity for a particular substrate. Alternatively or additionally, mutations may be based upon predicted or known 3-D structures of enzymes, including predicted affects of various mutations (see, e.g., Turner et al.,
a. Nucleic Acids Encoding SAH-binding Enzymes
Nucleic acids encoding SAH-binding enzymes can be obtained by methods known in the art. Known nucleic acid sequences of SAH-binding enzymes can be used in isolating nucleic acids encoding SAH-binding enzymes from natural or other sources. Alternatively, complete or partial nucleic acids encoding SAH-binding enzymes can be obtained by chemical synthesis according to the known sequences or obtained from commercial or other sources.
Eukaryotic cells and prokaryotic cells can serve as a nucleic acid source for the isolation of nucleic acids encoding SAH-binding enzymes. The DNA can be obtained by standard procedures known in the art from cloned DNA (e.g., a DNA “library”), chemical synthesis, cDNA cloning, or by the cloning of genomic DNA, or fragments thereof, purified from the desired cell (see, for example, Sambrook et al., 1989, Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, 2d Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York; Glover, D. M. (ed.), 1985, DNA Cloning: A Practical Approach, MRL Press, Ltd., Oxford, U.K. Vol. I, II.). Clones derived from genomic DNA can contain regulatory and intron DNA regions in addition to coding regions; clones derived from cDNA or RNA contain only exon sequences. Whatever the source, the gene is generally molecularly cloned into a suitable vector for propagation of the gene.
In the molecular cloning of the gene from cDNA, cDNA can be generated from totally cellular RNA or mRNA by methods that are known in the art. The gene can also be obtained from genomic DNA, where DNA fragments are generated (e.g., using restriction enzymes or by mechanical shearing), some of which will encode the desired gene. The linear DNA fragments can then be separated according to size by standard techniques, including but not limited to, agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and column chromatography.
Once the DNA fragments are generated, identification of the specific DNA fragment containing all or a portion of the SAH-binding enzymes gene can be accomplished in a number of ways.
A preferred method for isolating a SAH-binding enzyme gene is by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which can be used to amplify the desired SAH-binding enzyme sequence in a genomic or cDNA library or from genomic DNA or cDNA that has not been incorporated into a library. Oligonucleotide primers which hybridize to the SAH-binding enzyme sequences can be used as primers in PCR.
Additionally, a portion of the SAH-binding enzyme (of any species) gene or its specific RNA, or a fragment thereof, can be purified (or an oligonucleotide synthesized) and labeled, the generated DNA fragments may be screened by nucleic acid hybridization to the labeled probe (Benton and Davis,
Alternatives to obtaining the SAH-binding enzyme DNA by cloning or amplification include, but are not limited to, chemically synthesizing the gene sequence itself from the known SAH-binding enzyme nucleotide sequence or making cDNA to the mRNA which encodes the SAH-binding enzyme. Any suitable method known to those of skill in the art may be employed.
Once a clone has been obtained, its identity can be confirmed by nucleic acid sequencing (by methods known in the art) and comparison to known SAH-binding enzyme sequences. DNA sequence analysis can be performed by techniques known in the art, including but not limited to, the method of Maxam and Gilbert (Maxam and Gilbert,
Nucleic acids which are hybridizable to a SAH-binding enzyme nucleic acid, or to a nucleic acid encoding a SAH-binding enzyme derivative can be isolated, by nucleic acid hybridization under conditions of low, high, or medium stringency (Shilo and Weinberg,
b. Selecting and Producing Mutant SAH-binding Enzymes
Once nucleic acids encoding the SAH-binding enzymes are obtained, these nucleic acids can be mutagenized and screened and/or selected for SAH-binding enzymes that substantially retain their binding affinity or have enhanced binding affinity for SAH but have attenuated catalytic activity. Insertional, deletional or point mutation(s) can be introduced into nucleic acids encoding the SAH-binding enzymes. Techniques for mutagenesis known in the art can be used, including, but not limited to, in vitro site-directed mutagenesis (Hutchinson et al.,
Site-directed mutagenesis protocols can take advantage of vectors that provide single stranded as well as double stranded DNA, as needed. Generally, the mutagenesis protocol with such vectors is as follows. A mutagenic primer, i.e., a primer complementary to the sequence to be changed, but including one or a small number of altered, added, or deleted bases, is synthesized. The primer is extended in vitro by a DNA polymerase and, after some additional manipulations, the now double-stranded DNA is transfected into bacterial cells. Next, by a variety of methods, the desired mutated DNA is identified, and the desired protein is purified from clones containing the mutated sequence. For longer sequences, additional cloning steps are often required because long inserts (longer than 2 kilobases) are unstable in those vectors. Protocols are known to one skilled in the art and kits for site-directed mutagenesis are widely available from biotechnology supply companies, for example from Amersham Life Science, Inc. (Arlington Heights, Ill.) and Stratagene Cloning Systems (La Jolla, Calif.).
Information regrading to the structural-function relationship of the SAH-binding enzymes can be used in the mutagenesis and selection of SAH-binding enzymes that substantially retain their binding affinity or have enhanced binding affinity for SAH but have attenuated catalytic activity. For example, mutants can be made in the enzyme's binding site for its co-enzyme, co-factor, a non-analyte substrate, or in the mutant enzyme's catalytic site, or a combination thereof.
Once a mutant SAH-binding enzyme with desired properties, i.e., substantially retaining its binding affinity or having enhanced binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity, is identified, such mutant SAH-binding enzyme can be produced by any methods known in the art including recombinant expression, chemical synthesis or a combination thereof. Preferably, the mutant SAH-binding enzyme is obtained by recombinant expression.
For recombinant expression, the mutant SAH-binding enzyme gene or portion thereof is inserted into an appropriate cloning vector for expression in a particular host cell. A large number of vector-host systems known in the art may be used. Possible vectors include, but are not limited to, plasmids or modified viruses, but the vector system must be compatible with the host cells used. Such vectors include, but are not limited to, bacteriophages such as lambda derivatives, or plasmids such as pBR322 or pUC plasmid derivatives or the Bluescript vector (Stratagene). The insertion into a cloning vector can, for example, be accomplished by ligating the DNA fragment into a cloning vector which has complementary cohesive termini. If, however, the complementary restriction sites used to fragment the DNA are not present in the cloning vector, the ends of the DNA molecules can be enzymatically modified. Alternatively, a desired site can be produced by ligating sequences of nucleotides (linkers) onto the DNA termini; these ligated linkers can include specific oligonucleotides encoding restriction endonuclease recognition sequences. Recombinant molecules can be introduced into host cells via transformation, transfection, infection, electroporation, etc., so that many copies of the gene sequence are generated.
In an alternative method, the desired gene can be identified and isolated after insertion into a suitable cloning vector in a “shot gun” approach. Enrichment for the desired gene, for example, by size fractionation, can be done before insertion into the cloning vector.
In specific embodiments, transformation of host cells with recombinant DNA molecules that incorporate the isolated mutant SAH-binding enzyme gene, cDNA, or synthesized DNA sequence enables generation of multiple copies of the gene. Thus, the gene can be obtained in large quantities by growing transformants, isolating the recombinant DNA molecules from the transformants and, when necessary, retrieving the inserted gene from the isolated recombinant DNA.
The nucleotide sequence coding for a mutant SAH-binding enzyme or a functionally active analog or fragment or other derivative thereof, can be inserted into an appropriate expression vector, e.g., a vector which contains the necessary elements for the transcription and translation of the inserted protein-coding sequence. The necessary transcriptional and translational signals can also be supplied by the native mutant SAH-binding enzyme gene and/or its flanking regions. A variety of host-vector systems can be utilized to express the protein-coding sequence. These systems include but are not limited to mammalian cell systems infected with virus (e.g., vaccinia virus, adenovirus, etc.); insect cell systems infected with virus (e.g., baculovirus); microorganisms such as yeast containing yeast vectors, or bacteria transformed with bacteriophage, DNA, plasmid DNA, or cosmid DNA. The expression elements of vectors vary in their strengths and specificities. Depending on the host-vector system utilized, suitable transcription and translation elements can be used.
The methods previously described for the insertion of DNA fragments into a vector can be used to construct expression vectors containing a chimeric gene containing appropriate transcriptional/translational control signals and the protein coding sequences. These methods can include in vitro recombinant DNA and synthetic techniques and in vivo recombinants (genetic recombination). Expression of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a mutant SAH-binding enzyme or peptide fragment can be regulated by a second nucleic acid sequence so that the mutant SAH-binding enzyme or peptide is expressed in a host transformed with the recombinant DNA molecule. For example, expression of a mutant SAH-binding enzyme can be controlled by a promoter/enhancer element as is known in the art. Promoters which can be used to control a mutant SAH-binding enzyme expression include, but are not limited to, the SV40 early promoter region (Bernoist and Chambon,
For example, a vector can be used that contains a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a mutant SAH-binding enzyme, one or more origins of replication, and, optionally, one or more selectable markers (e.g., an antibiotic resistance gene).
In a specific embodiment, an expression construct is made by subcloning a mutant SAH-binding enzyme coding sequence into the EcoRI restriction site of each of the three pGEX vectors (Glutathione S-Transferase expression vectors; see, e.g., Smith and Johnson,
Expression vectors containing a mutant SAH-binding enzyme gene inserts can be identified by any method known to those of skill in the art, including the following three general approaches: (a) nucleic acid hybridization, (b) presence or absence of “marker” gene functions, and (c) expression of inserted sequences. In the first approach, the presence of a mutant SAH-binding enzyme gene inserted in an expression vector can be detected by nucleic acid hybridization using probes containing sequences that are homologous to an inserted mutant SAH-binding enzyme gene. In the second approach, the recombinant vector/host system can be identified and selected based upon the presence or absence of certain “marker” gene functions (e.g., thymidine kinase activity, resistance to antibiotics, transformation phenotype, occlusion body formation in baculovirus, etc.) caused by the insertion of a mutant SAH-binding enzyme gene in the vector. For example, if the mutant SAH-binding enzyme gene is inserted within the marker gene sequence of the vector, recombinants containing the mutant SAH-binding enzyme insert can be identified by the absence of the marker gene function. In the third approach, recombinant expression vectors can be identified by assaying the mutant SAH-binding enzyme product expressed by the recombinant. Such assays can be based, for example, on the physical or functional properties of the mutant SAH-binding enzyme in in vitro assay systems, e.g., binding with anti-mutant SAH-binding enzyme antibody.
Once a particular recombinant DNA molecule is identified and isolated, several methods known in the art can be used to propagate it. Once a suitable host system and growth conditions are established, recombinant expression vectors can be propagated and prepared in quantity. As previously explained, the expression vectors which can be used include, but are not limited to, the following vectors or their derivatives: human or animal viruses such as vaccinia virus or adenovirus; insect viruses such as baculovirus; yeast vectors; bacteriophage vectors (e.g., lambda), and plasmid and cosmid DNA vectors, to name but a few.
In addition, a host cell strain can be chosen which modulates the expression of the inserted sequences, or modifies and processes the gene product in the specific fashion desired. Expression from certain promoters can be elevated in the presence of certain inducers; thus, expression of the genetically engineered mutant SAH-binding enzyme can be controlled. Furthermore, different host cells have characteristic and specific mechanisms for the translational and post-translational processing and modification (e.g., glycosylation, phosphorylation) of proteins. Appropriate cell lines or host systems can be chosen to ensure the desired modification and processing of the foreign protein expressed. For example, expression in a bacterial system can be used to produce an unglycosylated core protein product. Expression in yeast will produce a glycosylated product. Expression in appropriate animal cells can be used to ensure “native” glycosylation of a heterologous protein. Furthermore, different vector/host expression systems can effect processing reactions to different extent.
c. Mutant SAH Hydrolase
In a specific embodiment, the mutant SAH-binding enzyme used is a mutant SAH hydrolase, which mutant SAH hydrolase substantially retains its binding affinity or has enhanced binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity. In a preferred embodiment, the attenuated catalytic activity of the mutant SAH is caused by mutation(s) in the mutant SAH hydrolase's binding site for NAD
Desirably the mutant SAH hydrolase has attenuated 5′-hydrolytic activity but substantially retains its 3′-oxidative activity. For example, the mutant SAH hydrolase can include a sequence of amino acids encoded by the sequence of nucleotides set forth in SEQ ID No. 4 but with one or more mutations selected from Phe 302 to Ser (F302S), Lys 186 to Ala (K186A), His 301 to Asp (H301D), His353 to Ser (H353S), Arg 343 to Ala (R343A), Asp 190 to Ala (D 190A), Phe 82 to Ala (F82A), Thr157 to Leu (T157L), Cys195 to Asp (C195D), Asn181 to Asp (N181D), and deletion of Tyr 432 (Δ432). Another suitable mutant SAH hydrolase includes the sequence of amino acids set forth in SEQ ID No. 4 except that Arg431 is replaced by Ala (R431A) and Lys 426 is replaced by Arg (K426R). It is contemplated that enzymes encoded by nucleic acids that hybridize, particularly under high stringency conditions, to nucleic acid moleucle of SEQ ID No. 4, can be used. Such molecules are tested for the ability to specifically bind to SAH with sufficient affinity to result in detectable complexes from which the amount of SAH can be determined.
Other examples of mutant SAH hydrolases, includ those described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/347,878, filed Jul. 6, 1999, can be used in the above assays. In particular, the nucleic acid molecules containing sequences of nucleotides with the following GenBank accession Nos. can be used to obtaining nucleic acid molecules that encode mutant SAH hydrolases that quantitatively bind to SAH, but do not catalyze hydrolysis thereof: AF129871 (
To perform the methods herein in one embodiment, the SAH is contacted with the mutant SAH hydrolase in the presence of a labelled SAH or a derivative or an analog thereof, whereby the amount of the labeled SAH bound to the mutant SAH hydrolase is inversely related to the amount of the SAH produced in the methyltransferase reaction. The activity of the methyltransferase will be proportional to the amount of SAH produced. In a preferred embodiment, the labelled SAH derivative or analog is fluorescenctly labelled.
In another preferred embodiment, the mutant SAH hydrolase is a labelled mutant SAH hydrolase. More preferably, the labelled mutant SAH hydrolase is a fluorescence-labelled mutant SAH hydrolase.
As described, methods for assessing the activity of methyltransferases, such as SAM-dependent methyltransferases are provided. These methods have particular applicabilty in assays for drug screening in which compounds that alter the activity of the methyltransferases are identified and selected as candidate compounds. These assays may also be used methods for diagnosing disorders in which the activity of a particular methyltransferase can be correlated with a particular disorder or predispostion therefor. These assays may also be used in methods of diagnosis in which the presence of particular methyltransferase substrates associated with a condition (or absence thereof) are identified.
Provided herein are methods for identifying modulators of a methyltransferase. In practicing these methods, the methyltransferase is contacted with a methyl-donor-dependent methyltransferase with a substrate of the methyltransferase in the presence of the methyl donor under conditions whereby a methyl group is transferred from the donor to the substrate to produce a demethylated donor. The methylated donor is contacted with a mutant binding enzyme that has binding affinity for demethylated donor, but has attenuated or absent catalytic activity. The binding is detected generally by detecting the formation of the complex. Formation of the complex is indicative of methyltransferase activity. The amount of complex formed can be correlated with the amount of methyltransferase in the-reaction that produced the demethylated donor, and thereby the methyltransferase activity. The methyltransferase activity can be assessed by comparing the amount of binding of demethylated donor in the test reaction to a control reaction in which a known amount of the methyltransferase is used, or against a standard curve produced using a variety of known methyltransferase concentrations. The standard curve or other control may be run simultaneously or may be run before or after the test reaction. If necessary or desired, the results may also be normalized by running a control in which there is no enzyme and also a saturating level of enzyme.
For drug and compound screening, the test reaction, preferably is run in the presence and absence of the test compound. If there is a difference between the activity of the methyltransferase in the presence of a test compound and in the absence thereof, the compound is selected as a candidate compund. Typically, a difference is assessed using standard methods for assessing statistically significant differences, including running a plurality of tests for each test compound. Again, these methods are preferably performed in a high throughput format, typically a solid phase format where the mutant binding enzyme is immobilized on a solid support, so that a variety of compounds can be tested simulataneously.
The reactions may be run individually, or, preferrably a plurality of test reactions are run simultaneously. The reactions may be homogeneous, or may be run in a solid state format, such as by linking the mutant binding enzyme (or a plurality thereof, which may be the same or different) to a solid support, such as a silicon or other flat surface appropriately derivatizied. The mutant binding enzymes are produced as described herein and also as described in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/347,878 and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/457,205.
As exemplified herein, a preferred methyltransferase is a SAM-dependent methyltransferase and its donor SAM. The resulting demethylated donor is SAH, which can be detected with any of a variety of mutant SAH binding enzymes, described herein and in the above-noted co-pending applications. In particular, SAM-dependent methyltransferase activity is detected by contacting the SAM-dependent methyltransferase with a substrate of the methyltransferase in the presence of SAM and a test substance, whereby a methyl group is transferred from SAM to the substrate and SAM is converted to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), contacting the SAH with a mutant SAH-binding enzyme that has binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity, and detecting binding between SAH and the mutant SAH-binding enzyme to detect or determine the presence or amount of SAH. These results are compared to a control in which a known amount(s) of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase are used. A difference in activity from the activity measured measured in the presence of a test substance or compound indicates that the substance or compound modulates the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase and is a candidate or lead compound.
Provided herein are methods for identifying a modulator of a S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferase, which method comprises: a) contacting the SAM-dependent methyltransferase with a substrate of the methyltransferase in the presence of SAM, whereby a methyl group is transferred from SAM to the substrate and SAM is converted to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), contacting the SAH with a mutant SAH-binding enzyme that has binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity, and detecting binding between SAH and the mutant SAH-binding enzyme to detect or determine the presence or amount of SAH, whereby the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase is assessed; b) contacting the SAM-dependent methyltransferase with a substrate of the methyltransferase in the presence of SAM and a test substance, whereby a methyl group is transferred from SAM to the substrate and SAM is converted to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), contacting the SAH with a mutant SAH-binding enzyme that has binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity, and detecting binding between SAH and the mutant SAH-binding enzyme to detect or determine the presence or amount of SAH, whereby the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase is assessed; and c) comparing the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase assessed in steps a) and b), whereby the activity measured in step a) differs from the activity measured in step b) indicates that the test substance modulates the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase.
In comparing the activity of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase in the presence and absence of a test substance to assess whether the test substance is a modulator of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase, it is unnecessary to assay the activity in parallel, although such parallel measurement is preferred. It is possible to measure the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase at one time point and compare the measured activity to a historical value of the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase. For instance, one can measure the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase in the presence of a test substance and compare with historical value of the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase measured previously in the absence of the test substance, and vice versa. This can be accomplished, for example, by providing the activity of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase on an insert or pamphlet provided with a kit for conducting the assay.
Preferably, the SAM-dependent methyltransferase to be screened against is isolated from a target cell. More preferably, the test substance to be screened for is a therapeutic compound, and whereby a difference of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase measured in the presence and in the absence of the test substance indicates whether the target cell responds to the test substance.
Also provided for herein is a combination for identifying a modulator of the activity of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase, which combination comprises: a) a SAM-dependent methyltransferase; b) a substrate of the methyltransferase to be assayed; c) SAM; d) a mutant SAH-binding enzyme that retains at least substantially its binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity; and e) reagents for detecting binding between SAH and the SAH-binding enzyme. Preferably, the reagent for detecting binding between SAH and the SAH-binding enzyme comprises a labelled SAH, a labelled mutant SAH-binding enzyme, or a derivative or an analog thereof.
Any SAM-dependent methyltransferases, including those described herein, can be used to identify modulators thereof. Any mutant SAH-binding enzyme, which has binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity, including the ones described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/347,878, filed Jul. 6, 1999, can be used in the screening assays. Preferably, the mutant SAH-binding enzyme used is a mutant SAH hydrolase, which mutant SAH hydrolase substantially retains its binding affinity or has enhanced binding affinity for SAH but has attenuated catalytic activity.
Additionally provided herein is a kit comprising the above-described combination. Preferably, the kit further comprises instructions for identifying a modulator of the activity of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase. Typically the kit can include, besides appropriate packaging, including vials and test tubes, compositions containing the the methyltransferase, the mutant binding enzyme that binds to the demethylated donor, such as SAH, optionally controls, such as known compound antagonists, inhibitors or agonists of the methyltransferase.
The above-described methods may be adapted for use in methods of diagnosis that can be correlated with methyltransferase activity, methods for identifying or detecting substrantes for a methyltransferase, or any other method or assay in which a methyltransferase activity can be measured and correlated with a particular parameter or component of te systsem.
a. Methods of Diagnosis by Detecting Methyltransferase Activity
Hence, diseases, such as certain cancers, in which increased or altered methylation patterns are observed, (see, e.g., Nosaka et al. (2000)
b. Methods of Diagnosis by Detecting and Identifying Substrates and Methods of Identifying Substrates
The methods herein may be adapted for detecting the presence and amount of a substrate for a methyltransferase. If such substrate is indicative of a disease, disorder, condition or absence thereof, the methods can be used for such diagnosis. For example, a body fluid or other test sample can be tested by contacting it with a methyltransferase; the amount of demethylated donor is indicative of the presence of the substrate in the sample.
In addition, the methods can be used to identify substrates by testing compounds and looking for production of the demethylated donor.
Although the above-described assay can be conducted using a single SAM-dependent methyltransferase, and/or a single test substance in one assay, the assay preferably is conducted in a high throughput screening mode, i.e., a plurality of the SAM-dependent methyltransferases are screened and/or a plurality of test substances are screened simultaneously (See generally,
High-throughput screening (HTS) is the process of testing a large number of diverse chemical structures against disease targets to identify “hits” (Sittampalam et al.,
a. HTS Instrumentation and Capabilities
In general, the instrumentation used in HTS assays should be accurate, reliable and easily amenable to automation. Analytical methods should be robust and reproducible, with stable reagents and signal responses. Signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios should be large enough to generate signal windows (Sittampalam et al.,
b. Detection Technologies
Detection technologies employed in high-throughput screens depend on the type of biochemical pathway being investigated (Sittampalam et al.,
1) Radiochemical Methods
Although filtration-based receptor binding assays have been used extensively in the past (to separate the bound and free radiolabeled ligand), the scintillation proximity assay (SPA) has become the standard assay in many HTS operations, mainly because it does not require a separation step, and can be easily automated (Braunwalder et al.,
One version of SPA utilizes polyvinyltoluene (PVT) microspheres or beads (˜5 μm diameter, density ˜1.05 g/cm
The ideal isotopes for labeling ligands used in SPA assays are
SPA can also be carried out in scintillating microplates (Braunwalder et al.,
2) Non-isotopic Detection Methods
a) Colorimetry and Luminescence
Colorimetric and luminescence detection methods have significant advantages for HTS laboratories, particularly in light of the cost, safety and disposal issues associates with radiochemical methods. Since luminescence methods can be as sensitive as radioactive methods, with low detection limits, these techniques are being used increasingly in HTS assays (Brown et al.,
b) Resonance Energy Transfer
Resonance energy transfer (RET) between a fluorophore and chromophore was one of the earliest methods developed for HTS. For example, a peptide substrate for an HIV protease was synthesized with EDANS (as the amino terminus) as the donor fluorophore, and DABCYL (at the carboxyl terminus) as the acceptor chromophore (Wang et al.,
c) Time-resolved Fluorescence
A new homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence (HTRF) technology has been described (Mathis,
d) Cell-based Fluorescence Assays
An interesting fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) procedure for sensing voltage across cell membranes has been described recently (Gonzalez et al.,
Many fluorescence intensity measurements, including FRET, can be easily configured on a new instrument specifically designed for cell-based HTS assays in 96-well plates called FLIPr (Schroeder et al.,
e) Fluorescence Polarization
Another technique that has gained popularity recently is fluorescence polarization or anisotropy (Jameson et al.,
f) Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy
Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) has been recently described for HTS applications (Sterrer et al.,
Several factors are fueling efforts to increase the speed of HTS and decrease the volume of individual reactions within an HTS format (Silverman et al.,
One approach involves reducing the well size and increasing the density of the assay plate but retaining the overall assay format used in current 96-well based HTS. Densities of 6,500 assays in a 10 cm array have been reported to cell-free enzyme based assays (Schullek et al.,
Another approach uses glass chips containing microchannels in which reagents, target proteins and compounds are herded by electrokinetic flow controlled by electric potentials applied at the ends of the channels (Hadd et al.,
HTS methods are well known, and any such method, with or without modification for use in the methods herein, can be used in the screening assays provided herein to identify modulators of methyltransferases, particularly SAM-dependent methyltransferases (Janzen et al., The 384-well plate: pros and cons,
Any test substance can be tested in the above methods for identification of compounds and methyltransferase substrates. Sources of such substances, include, but are not limited to, combinatorial libraries. Such libraries can be screened, for example, to identify compounds that moduluate, i.e., agonize or antagonize, that activity of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase.
a. Combinatorial Libraries
Methods for synthesizing combinatorial libraries and characteristics of such combinatorial libraries are known in the art (See generally,
Methods and strategies for generating diverse libraries, primarily peptide- and nucleotide-based oligomer libraries, have been developed using molecular biology methods and/or simultaneous chemical synthesis methodologies (see, e.g., Dower et al.,
The libraries fall into roughly three categories: fusion-protein-displayed peptide libraries in which random peptides or proteins are presented on the surface of phage particles or proteins expressed from plasmids; support-bound synthetic chemical libraries in which individual compounds or mixtures of compounds are presented on insoluble matrices, such as resin beads (see, e.g., Lam et al.,
Either a random or a deterministic combinatorial library can be screened by the presently disclosed and/or claimed screening methods. In either of these two libraries, each unit of the library is isolated and/or immobilized on a solid support. In the deterministic library, one knows a priori a particular unit's location on each solid support. In a random library, the location of a particular unit is not known a priori although each site still contains a single unique unit.
For example, a combinatorial library with deterministic sequences, such as the library generated by the multipin technique originated by Geysen et al.,
Sources of combinatorial libraries and methods for generating them include those set forth in Table 3 (see, Schultz et al.
|Combinatorial Library Technologies|
|ABI/Perkin Elmer (Norwalk, CT)||micromachining|
|Affymax Corp. (Santa Clara, CA)||photolithographic combinatorial|
|Ariad Pharmaceutical (Cambridge,|
|Cambridge Antibody Technologies||phage system for antibodies|
|Chiron (Emeryville, CA)||multipin chemistry, Mimotopes-|
|CuraGen Corp. (Branford, CT)||modularization of DNA, analysis|
|Combion, Inc. (Redwood City, CA)||in situ synthesis, Chem-Jet (ink-jet|
|David Sarnoff Research Center||array hybridization (MicroLab)|
|GeneTrace, Inc. (Menlow Park,||time-of-flight mass spectroscopy|
|CA)||reads array of 1000 cells/in.|
|Genosensor Consortium (The||CCD cameras, flow through|
|Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Foster City,||aptamers|
|Houghten Pharmaceuticals, Inc.||tea bag technique, rapid|
|(San Diego, CA)||identification of peptide leads|
|Hyseq, Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA)||format 3 methods, array-of-arrays,|
|ISIS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.|
|Molecular Tool, Inc. (Baltimore,||micromachining, microfluidics,|
|gene bit analysis|
|Nanogen (San Diego, CA)||individually controlled|
|electrophoretic gradients on a chip|
|NeXagen, Inc. (Boulder, CO)||SELEX (Systematic evolution of|
|ligands by exponential enrichment)|
|Perceptive Biosystems||solubilized targets to more closely|
|(Farmington, MA)||mimics in vivo conditions|
|Pharmacopeia, Inc. (Princeton, NJ)||tags from arylethers that can be|
|distinguished by gas|
|chromatography; up to 10|
|different compounds can be|
|identified by 40 tags|
|3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals||directed diversity (R) process|
|Vysis (Naperville, IL)||genosensor-based, comparative|
|genome hybridization (CHG)|
Other combinatorial libraries can be used in the screening for a modulator of a SAM-dependent methyltransferase (for such libraries, see, e.g., Bartel, et al., Isolation of New Ribozymes from a Large Pool of Random Sequences,
DNA methylation is among the mechanisms for regulating gene expression. DNA methylation is associated with DNA mismatch repair, DNA stability and structure and gene transcription. RNA methylation is related to RNA stability, splicing and translation. Hypermethylation and hypomethylation of nucleic acids are known to be causative or related to a variety of diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and arteriosclerosis. For example, DNA hypomethylation is increased in breast carcinomas, and potentially plays a role in tumor development. Global DNA methylation status is a biological marker for certain neoplasms. CpG hypermethylation is associated with gene silencing in cancer. This epigenetic event is genetically accepted as a stochastic process in tumor cells resulting from aberrant DNA methyltransferase activities. Therefore measurement of global and also specific or local patters of DNA or RNA methylation is of clinical diagnostic use.
Determination of DNA and RNA methylation has heretofore proven cumbersome. Available methods include radioimmunoassays and HPLC-based assays that require use of either radioactive labels or HPLC after hydrolysis. These assays are complicated, require multiple steps and have low throughput.
The methods for assessing methylase activity provided herein can be used to determine levels of DNA and RNA methylation. This can be achieved, for example, by isolating nucleic acid using sequence-specific probes. The nucleic acid can be randomly or specifically fragmented, such as by restriction endonuclease digestion (complete or partial). The isolated nucleic acid can be incubated with a methyltransferase, such as nucleotide base transferase, including one or more of O-6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase, (cytosine-5-)DNA methyltransferase and adenine-N6 DNA methyltransferase, to methylate unmethylated positions in the nucleic acid in the presence of a methyl donor, such as SAM, to produce the demethylated donor, such as SAH. The demethylated donor is quantitated as described herein. The amount of the demethylated donor is stoichiometrically correlated with the amount of transferred methyl groups, which is related to the amount of unmethylated positions on the nucleic acid sample. The amounts determined can be compared to controls, such as nucleic acid obtained from healthy donors (i.e. individuals not afflicted with the disease being diagnosed) or with previously determined standards, or with a standard curve. These assays can be automated by performing a plurality of such reactions simultaneously, preferably in a multiwell format or array format containing, typically at least 96 samples or higher multiples thereof.
Conjugates, such as fusion proteins and chemical conjugates, of the mutant SAH-binding enzyme with a protein or peptide fragment (or plurality thereof) that functions, for example, to facilitate affinity isolation or purification of the mutant enzyme, attachment of the mutant enzyme to a surface, or detection of the mutant enzyme are provided. The conjugates can be produced by chemical conjugation, such as via thiol linkages, but are preferably produced by recombinant means as fusion proteins. In the fusion protein, the peptide or fragment thereof is linked to either the N-terminus or C-terminus of the mutant enzyme. In chemical conjugates the peptide or fragment thereof may be linked anywhere that conjugation can be effected, and there may be a plurality of such peptides or fragments linked to a single mutant enzyme or to a plurality thereof.
Conjugation can be effected by any method known to those of skill in the art. As described below, conjugation can be effected by chemical means, through covalent, ionic or any other suitable linkage.
a. Fusion Proteins
Fusion proteins are proved herein. A fusion protein contains: a) one or a plurality of mutant SAH-binding enzymes and b) at least one protein or peptide fragment that facilitates, for example: i) affinity isolation or purification of the fusion protein; ii) attachment of the fusion protein to a surface; iii) detection of the fusion protein; or iv) targeted delivery of the conjugate to a selected tissue or cell, or any combination thereof.
The facilitating agent is selected to perform the desired purpose, such as (i)-(iv), and is linked a mutant SAH-binding enzyme such that the resulting conjugate retains the mutant SAH-binding enzyme property and also processes the property(ies) of the facilitating agent. For example, the facilitating agent can be protein or peptide fragment, such as a protein binding peptide, including but not limited to an epitope tag or an IgG binding protein, a nucleotide binding proteins, such as a DNA or RNA binding protein, a lipid binding protein, a polysaccharide binding protein, and a metal binding protein or fragments thereof that possess the requisite desired facilitating activity.
Such facilitating agents can be designed, screened or selected according to the methods known in the art. The screening or selection process begin, for example, with nucleic acid encoding a particular protein or peptide to be used in the fusion protein, and screened or selected for its specific binding partner. Alternatively, the screening or selection process can start with a specific molecule that can be used in the subsequent isolation/purification, attachment or detection, and screen or select for a particular protein or peptide sequence to be used in the fusion protein that can specifically bind to the pre-selected molecule.
The conventional technique of random screening of natural products can be used in screening and selecting a protein or peptide sequence and its specific binding partner. In addition, numerous strategies can be used for preparing proteins having new binding specificities. These new approaches generally involve the synthetic production of large numbers of random molecules followed by some selection procedure to identify the molecule of interest. For example, epitope libraries have been developed using random polypeptides displayed on the surface of filamentous phage particles. The library is made by synthesizing a repertoire of random oligonucleotides to generate all combinations, followed by their insertion into a phage vector. Each of the sequences is separately cloned and expressed in phage, and the relevant expressed peptide can be selected by finding those phage that bind to the particular target. The phages recovered in this way can be amplified and the selection repeated. The sequence of the peptide is decoded by sequencing the DNA (See e.g., Cwirla et al.,
Another approach involves large arrays of peptides that are synthesized in parallel and screened with acceptor molecules labelled with fluorescent or other reporter groups. The sequence of any effective peptide can be decoded from its address in the array (See e.g., Geysen et al.,
Combinatorial approaches can also be employed. For example, in one exemplary approach, combinatorial libraries of peptides are synthesized on resin beads such that each resin bead contains about 20 pmoles of the same peptide. The beads are screened with labeled acceptor molecules and those with bound acceptor are searched for by visual inspection, physically removed, and the peptide identified by direct sequence analysis (Lam et al.,
b. Chemical Conjugation
To effect chemical conjugation herein, the targeting agent is linked via one or more selected linkers or directly to the targeted agent. Chemical conjugation must be used if the targeted agent is other than a peptide or protein, such a nucleic acid or a non-peptide drug. Any means known to those of skill in the art for chemically conjugating selected moieties may be used.
1) Heterobifunctional Cross-linking Reagents
Numerous heterobifunctional cross-linking reagents that are used to form covalent bonds between amino groups and thiol groups and to introduce thiol groups into proteins, are known to those of skill in this art (see, e.g., the PIERCE CATALOG, ImmunoTechnology Catalog & Handbook, 1992-1993, which describes the preparation of and use of such reagents and provides a commercial source for such reagents; see, also, e.g., Cumber et al. (1992)
Other heterobifunctional cleavable cross-linkers include, N-succinimidyl (4-iodoacetyl)-aminobenzoate; sulfosuccinimydil(4-iodoacetyl)-aminobenzoate; 4-succinimidyl-oxycarbonyl-a-(2-pyridyidithio)-toluene; sulfosuccinimidyl-6-[a-methyl-a-(pyridyldithiol)-toluamido]hexanoate; N-succinimidyl-3-(-2-pyridyldithio)-proprionate; succinimidyl 6[3(-(-2-pyridyidithio)-proprionamido]hexanoate; sulfosuccinimidyl 6[3(-(-2-pyridyldithio)-propionamido]hexanoate; 3-(2-pyridyldithio)-propionyl hydrazide, Ellman's reagent, dichlorotriazinic acid, S-(2-thiopyridyl)-L-cysteine. Further exemplary bifunctional linking compounds are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,349,066, 5,618,528, 4,569,789, 4,952,394, and 5,137,877.
2) Exemplary Linkers
Any linker known to those of skill in the art for preparation of conjugates may be used herein. These linkers are typically used in the preparation of chemical conjugates; peptide linkers may be incorporated into fusion proteins.
Linkers can be any moiety suitable to associate a the mutant SAH-binding enzyme and the facilitating agent. Such linkers and linkages include, but are not limited to, peptidic linkages, amino acid and peptide linkages, typically containing between one and about 60 amino acids, more generally between about 10 and 30 amino acids,chemical linkers, such as heterobifunctional cleavable cross-linkers, including but are not limited to, N-succinimidyl (4-iodoacetyl)-aminobenzoate, sulfosuccinimydil (4-iodoacetyl)-aminobenzoate, 4-succinimidyl-oxycarbonyl-a-(2-pyridyldithio)toluene, sulfosuccinimidyl-6-[a-methyl-a-(pyridyidithiol)-toluamido]hexanoate, N-succinimidyl-3-(-2-pyridyldithio)-proprionate, succinimidyl 6[3(-(-2-pyridyldithio)-proprionamido]hexanoate, sulfosuccinimidyl 6[3(-(-2-pyridyldithio)-propionamido]hexanoate, 3-(2-pyridyldithio)-propionyl hydrazide, Ellman's reagent, dichlorotriazinic acid, and S-(2-thiopyridyl)-L-cysteine. Other linkers include, but are not limited to peptides and other moieties that reduce stearic hindrance between the mutant analyte binding enzyme and the facilitating agent, intracellular enzyme substrates, linkers that increase the flexibility of the conjugate, linkers that increase the solubility of the conjugate, linkers that increase the serum stability of the conjugate, photocleavable linkers and acid cleavable linkers.
Other exemplary linkers and linkages that are suitable for chemically linked conjugates include, but are not limited to, disulfide bonds, thioether bonds, hindered disulfide bonds, and covalent bonds between free reactive groups, such as amine and thiol groups. These bonds are produced using heterobifunctional reagents to produce reactive thiol groups on one or both of the polypeptides and then reacting the thiol groups on one polypeptide with reactive thiol groups or amine groups to which reactive maleimido groups or thiol groups can be attached on the other. Other linkers include, acid cleavable linkers, such as bismaleimideothoxy propane, acid labile-transferrin conjugates and adipic acid diihydrazide, that would be cleaved in more acidic intracellular compartments; cross linkers that are cleaved upon exposure to UV or visible light and linkers, such as the various domains, such as C
Chemical linkers and peptide linkers may be inserted by covalently coupling the linker to the mutant SAH-binding enzyme and the facilitating agent. The heterobifunctional agents, described below, may be used to effect such covalent coupling. Peptide linkers may also be linked by expressing DNA encoding the linker and TA, linker and targeted agent, or linker, targeted agent and TA as a fusion protein. Flexible linkers and linkers that increase solubility of the conjugates are contemplated for use, either alone or with other linkers are also contemplated herein.
a) Acid Cleavable, Photocleavable and Heat Sensitive Linkers
Acid cleavable linkers, photocleavable and heat sensitive linkers may also be used, particularly where it may be necessary to cleave the targeted agent to permit it to be more readily accessible to reaction. Acid cleavable linkers include, but are not limited to, bismaleimideothoxy propane; and adipic acid dihydrazide linkers (see, e.g., Fattom et al. (1992)
Photocleavable linkers are linkers that are cleaved upon exposure to light (see, e.g., Goldmacher et al. (1992)
b) Other Linkers for Chemical Conjugation
Other linkers, include trityl linkers, particularly, derivatized trityl groups to generate a genus of conjugates that provide for release of therapeutic agents at various degrees of acidity or alkalinity. The flexibility thus afforded by the ability to preselect the pH range at which the therapeutic agent will be released allows selection of a linker based on the known physiological differences between tissues in need of delivery of a therapeutic agent (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,474). For example, the acidity of tumor tissues appears to be lower than that of normal tissues.
c) Peptide Linkers
The linker moieties can be peptides. Peptide linkers can be employed in fusion proteins and also in chemically linked conjugates.. The peptide typically a has from about 2 to about 60 amino acid residues, for example from about 5 to about 40, or from about 10 to about 30 amino acid residues. The length selected will depend upon factors, such as the use for which the linker is included.
The proteinaceous ligand binds with specificity to a receptor(s) on one or more of the target cell(s) and is taken up by the target cell(s). In order to facilitate passage of the chimeric ligand-toxin into the target cell, it is presently preferred that the size of the chimeric ligand-toxin be no larger than can be taken up by the target cell of interest. Generally, the size of the chimeric ligand-toxin will depend upon its composition. In the case where the chimeric ligand toxin contains a chemical linker and a chemical toxin (i.e., rather than proteinaceous one), the size of the ligand toxin is generally smaller than when the chimeric ligand-toxin is a fusion protein. Peptidic linkers can conveniently be can be encoded by nucleic acid and incorporated in fusion proteins upon expressed in a host cell, such as
Peptide linkers are advantageous when the facilitating agent is proteinaceous. For example, the linker moiety can be a flexible spacer amino acid sequence, such as those known in single-chain antibody research. Examples of such known linker moieties include, but are not limited to, peptides, such as (Gly
Additional linking moieties are described, for example, in Huston et al.,
Any agent that facilitates detection, immobilization, purification or targeted delivery of the conjugate is contemplated for use herein. For chemical conjugates, any moiety that has such properties is contemplated; for fusion proteins, the facilitating agent is a protein, peptide or fragment thereof that sufficient to effects the facilitating activity.
a. Protein Binding Moieties
The conjugate contains a protein binding moiety, particularly a protein binding protein, peptide or effective fragment thereof. Its specific binding partner can be a proteins or peptides generally, a set of proteins or peptides or mixtures thereof, or a particular protein or peptide. Any protein-protein interaction pair known to those of skill in the art is contemplated. For example, the protein-protein interaction pair can be enzyme/protein or peptide substrate, antibody/protein or peptide antigen, receptor/protein or peptide ligand, etc. Any protein-protein interaction pair can be designed, screened or selected according to the methods known in the art (See generally,
1) Interaction Trap/two-hybrid System
Interacting proteins can be identified by a selection or screen in which proteins that specifically interact with a target protein of interest are isolated from a library. One particularly approach to detect interacting proteins is the two-hybrid system or interaction trap (See generally,
In the two-hybrid system, a yeast vector such as the plasmid pEG202 or a related vector can used to express the probe or “bait” protein as a fusion to the heterologous DNA-binding protein LexA. Many proteins, including transcription factors, kinases, and phosphatases, can be used as bait proteins. The major requirements for the bait protein are that it should not be actively excluded from the yeast nucleus, and it should not possess an intrinsic ability to strongly activate transcription. The plasmid expressing the LexA-fused bait protein can be used to transform yeast possessing a dual reporter system responsive to transcriptional activation through the LexA operator.
In one such example, the yeast strain EGY48 containing the reporter plasmid pSH18-34 can be used. In this case, binding sites for LexA are located upstream of two reporter genes. In the EGY48 strain, the upstream activating sequences of the chromosomal LEU2 gene, which is required in the biosynthetic pathway for leucine (Leu), are replaced with LexA operators (DNA binding sites). PSH18-34 contains a LexA operator-lacZ fusion gene. These two reporters allow selection for transcriptional activation by permitting selection for viability when cells are plated on medium lacking Leu, and discrimination based on color when the yeast is grown on medium containing Xgal.
The EGY48/PSH18-34 transformed with a bait is first characterized for its ability to express protein, growth on medium lacking Leu, and for the level of transcriptional activation of lacZ. A number of alternative strains, plasmids, and strategies can be employed if a bait proves to have an unacceptably high level of background transcriptional activation.
In an interactor hunt, the stain EGY48/PSH18-34 containing the bait expression plasmid is transformed, preferably along with carrier DNA, with a conditionally expressed library made in a suitable vector such as the vector pJG4-5. This library uses the inducible yeast GAL1 promoter to express proteins as fusions to an acidic domain (“acid blob”) that functions as a portable transcriptional activation motif (act) and to other useful moieties. Expression of library-encoded proteins is induced by plating transformants on medium containing galactose (Gal), so yeast cells containing library proteins that do not interact specifically with the bait protein will fail to grow in the absence of Leu. Yeast cells containing library proteins that interact with the bait protein will form colonies within 2 to 5 days, and the colonies will turn blue when the cells are streaked on medium containing Xgal. The DNA from interaction trap positive colonies can be analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to streamline screening and detect redundant clones in cases where many positives are obtained in screening. The plasmids can be isolated and characterized by a series of tests to confirm specificity of the interaction with the initial bait protein.
An alternative way of conducting an interactor hunt is to mate a strain that expresses the bait protein with a strain that has been pretransformed with the library DNA, and screen the resulting diploid cells for interactors (Bendixen et al.,
The interaction trap/two-hybrid system and the identified protein-protein interaction pairs have been successfully used (see, e.g., Bartel et al., Using the two-hybrid system to detect protein-protein interactions,
2) Phage-based Expression Cloning
Interaction cloning (also known as expression cloning) is a technique to identify and clone genes that encode proteins that interact with a protein of interest, or “bait” protein. Phage-based interaction cloning requires a gene encoding the bait protein and an appropriate expression library constructed in a bacteriophage expression vector, such as λgt11 (See generally,
In one example, the procedure involves a fusion protein containing bait protein and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) with a PKA site at the junction between them. The labeled protein is subsequently used as a probe to screen a λ bacteriophage-derived cDNA expression library, which expresses β-galactosidase fusion proteins that contain in-frame gene fusions. The phages lyse cells, form plaques, and release fusion proteins that are adsorbed onto nitrocellulose membrane filters. The filters are blocked with excess nonspecific protein to eliminate nonspecific binding and probed with the radiolabeled bait protein. This procedure leads directly to the isolation of genes encoding the interacting protein, bypassing the need for purification and microsequencing or for antibody production.
The phage-based interaction cloning system and the identified protein-protein interaction pairs have been successfully employed (Blanar et al., Interaction cloning: Identification of a helix-loop-helix zipper protein that interacts with c-Fos,
3) Detection of Protein-protein Interactions
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) can be used to verify the protein-protein interactions identified by other systems such as the interaction trap/two-hybrid system and the phage-based expression cloning systems (See generally,
SPR devices are commercially available. The BIAcore instrument (BIAcore) is presently preferred herein. This instrument contains sensing optics, an automated sample delivery system, and a computer for instrument control, data collection, and data processing. Experiments are performed on disposable chips. In practice, a ligand protein is immobilized on the chip while buffer continuously flows over the surface. The sensing apparatus monitors changes in the angle of minimum reflectance from the interface that result when a target protein associates with the ligand protein. Molecular interactions can be directly visualized (on the computer monitor) in real time as the optical response is plotted against time. This response is measured in resonance units (RUs, where 1000 RUs=1 ng protein/mm
The SPR system has been successfully used (see, e.g., BioSupplyNet Source Book, BioSupplyNet, Plainview, N.Y., and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1999); Feng et al., Functional binding between Gβ and the LIM domain of Ste5 is required to activate the MEKK Ste11
b. Epitope Tags
The facilitating agent can be any moiety, particularly a protein, peptide or effective fragment thereof that is specifically recognized by an antibody. In these embodiments, the conjugate contains an epitope tag that is specifically recognized by a set of antibodies or by a particular antibody. Any epitope/antibody pair can be used in the present system (See generally,
|Exemplary epitope tag systems|
For example, in one embodiment, the selected epitope tag is the 6-His tag. Vectors for constructing a fusion protein containing the 6-His tag and reagents for isolating or purifying such fusion proteins are commercially available. For example, the Poly-His gene fusion vector from Invitrogen, Inc. (Carlsbad, Calif.) includes the following features: 1) high-level regulated transcription for the trc promotor; 2) enhanced translation efficiency of eukaryotic genes in
In addition, the fusion protein containing the 6-His tag can be isolated or purified using the His MicroSpin Purification Module or HisTrap Kit from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc. The His MicroSpin Purification Module provides fifty MicroSpin columns prepacked with nickel-charged Chelating Sepharose Fast Flow. The module enables the simple and rapid screening of large numbers of small-scale bacterial lysates for the analysis of putative clones and optimization of expression and purification conditions. Each column contains 50 μl bed volume, enough to purify >100 μg his-tagged fusion protein, from up to 400 μl of his tagged fusion protein sample, e.g., crude lysate and purification intermediates. The HisTrap Kit is designed for rapid, mild affinity purification of histidine-tagged fusion proteins in a single step. The high dynamic capacity of HiTrap Chelating enables milligrams of protein to be purified in less than 15 minutes at flow rates of up to 240 column volumes per hour. The high capacity is maintained after repeated use ensuring cost-effective, reproducible purifications. The Kit includes three HiTrap Chelating columns and buffer concentrates to perform F10-12 purifications with a syringe. The anti-His antibody from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc. is an IgG
Further examples of epitope tagging can be found in Kolodziej and Young, Epitope tagging and protein surveillance,
c. IgG Binding Proteins
In other embodiments, the conjugate contains an IgG binding protein, which, for example provides a means for selective binding of the conjugate. Any IgG binding protein/lgG pair can be used in the present system. Protein A and Protein G are suitable facilitating. Any Protein A or Protein G can be used in the present system.
For example, the following nucleotide sequences can be used for amplifying and constructing Protein A or Protein G fusion proteins: E04365 (Primer for amplifying IgG binding domain AB of protein A); E04364 (Primer for amplifying IgG binding domain AB of protein A); E01756 (DNA sequence encoding subunit which can bind IgG of protein A like substance); M74187 (Cloning vector pKP497 (cloning, screening, fusion vector) encoding an IgG-binding fusion protein from protein A analogue (ZZ) and beta-Gal′(lacZ) genes). In addition, several Protein A gene fusion vectors such as pEZZ 18 and pRIT2T are commercially available (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc.).
1) pEZZ 18 Protein A Gene Fusion Vector
pEZZ 18 Protein A gene fusion vector can be used for rapid expression of secreted fusion proteins and their one-step purification using IgG Sepharose 6FF. The phagemid pEZZ 18 contains the proteins A signal sequence and two synthetic “Z” domains based on the “B” IgG binding domain of Protein A (Löwenadler., et al.,
Expression is controlled by the lacUV5 and protein A promotors and is not inducible. Elements of the protein A gene provide the ATG and ribosome-binding sites. Stop codons must be provided by the insert.
The M13 Universal Sequencing Primer is used for double-stranded and single-stranded sequencing. A protocol for production of single-stranded DNA is provided with the vector.
Inserts containing a stop codon will yield white colonies when grown on media containing X-gal.
Plasmid confers resistance to ampicillin.
Amplification, though not necessarily required can be included.
2) pRIT2T Protein A Gene Fusion Vector
The pRIT2T Protein A gene fusion vector (available from Pharmacia) can be used for high-level expression of intracellular fusion proteins. pRIT2T, a derivative of pRIT2 (Nilsson., et al.,
Genes inserted into the MCS are expressed from the λ right promoter (P
Plasmid confers resistance to ampicillin.
3) The IgG Sepharose 6 Fast Flow System
The Protein A and Protein G fusion protein can be isolated or purified by affinity binding with IgG, such as the IgG Sepharose 6 Fast Flow System (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc.). The IgG Sepharose 6 Fast Flow System includes IgG coupled to the highly cross-linked 6% agarose matrix Sepharose 6 Fast Flow, and is designed for the rapid purification of Protein A and Protein A fusion conjugates. The system binds at least 2 mg Protein A/ml drained gel with flow possible rates of 300 cm/hr at 1 bar (14.5 psi, 0.1 MPa) in an XK 50/30 column (Lundström et al.,
d. β-galactosidase Fusion Proteins
The pMC1871 fusion vector (commercially available from Pharmacia, see, also Shapira et al.
Inserts cloned into the unique Sma I site give fusion proteins with the N-terminal part of β-galactosidase. Insert must contain a promoter, ATG and ribosome-binding site.
Plasmid confers resistance to 15 μg/ml tetracycline.
GenBank Accession Number L08936.
e. Nucleic Acid Binding Moieties
In another embodiment, the conjugate includes a nucleotide binding protein, peptide or effective fragment thereof as a facilitating agent. The specific binding partner can be nucleotide sequences generally, a set of nucleotide sequences or a particular nucleotide sequence. Any protein-nucleotide interaction pair can be used in the present system. For example, the protein-nucleotide interaction pair can be protein/DNA or protein/RNA pairs, or a combination thereof. Protein-nucleotide interaction pairs can be designed, screened or selected according to the methods known in the art (See generally,
1) DNA Binding Proteins
The conjugate can contain a DNA binding protein and its specific binding partner can be DNA molecules generally, a set of DNA molecules or a particular sequence of nucleotides. Any DNA binding protein can be used in the present system. For example, the DNA binding protein can bind to a single-stranded or double-stranded DNA sequence, or to an A-, B- or Z-form DNA sequence. The DNA binding sequence can also bind to a DNA sequence that is involved in replication, transcription, DNA repair, recombination, transposition or DNA structure maintenance. The DNA binding sequence can further be derived from a DNA binding enzyme such as a DNA polymerase, a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase, a DNAase, a DNA ligase, a DNA topoisomerase, a transposase, a DNA kinase, or a restriction enzyme.
Any DNA binding sequence/DNA sequence pair can be designed, screened or selected according to the methods known in the art including methods described in Section above.
The following Table 5 illustrates certain properties of several DNA binding sequence/DNA sequence pair systems.
|Examples of DNA binding sequence/DNA sequence binding|
|DNA binding||DNA binding||(U.S. Pat.|
|sequence||sequence motif||DNA sequence||No.)|
|(SEQ ID NO. 18)||DNA-binding||AATTTGTTTCATAC|
|protein||AG (SEQ ID NO. 19)|
|(SEQ ID NO. 20)||helix|
|Chicken Lung 140||Z-DNA||5,726,050|
|EGR1, EGR2, GLI,||Zinc finger||GACC, GCAC||5,789,538|
|Kruppel, ADR1 and|
|(SEQ ID NO. 21)||protein|
|S1-3 protein (SEQ||zinc finger||CATRRWWG||5,905,146|
|ID NO. 22)||protein|
2) RNA Binding Proteins
In another preferred embodiment, the conjugate can contain an RNA binding protein and its specific binding partner can be RNA generally, a set of RNA molecules or a particular sequence of ribonucleotides. Any RNA binding protein can be used in the present system. For example, the RNA binding protein can bind to a single-stranded or double-stranded RNA, or to rRNA, mRNA or tRNA. The RNA binding protein may specifically bind to a RNA that is involved in reverse transcription, transcription, RNA editing, RNA splicing, translation, RNA stabilization, RNA destabilization, or RNA localization. The RNA binding protein can be derived from or be an RNA binding enzyme such as a RNA-dependent DNA polymerase, a RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, a RNase, a RNA ligase, a RNA maturase, or a ribosome.
Other RNA recognition sequence or binding motifs that can be used in the present system include the zinc-finger motif, the Y-box, the KH motif, AUUUA, histone, RNP motif (U1), arginine-rich motif (ARM or PRE), double-stranded RNA binding motifs (IRE) and RGG box (APP) (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,834,184, 5,859,227 and 5,858,675). The RNP motif is a 90-100 amino acid sequence that is present in one or more copies in proteins that bind pre mRNA, mRNA, pre-ribosomal RNA and snRNA. The consensus sequence and the sequences of several exemplary proteins containing the RNP motif are provided in Burd and Dreyfuss,
A second characteristic RNA binding motif found in viral, phage and ribosomal proteins is an arginine-rich motif (ARM) of about 10-20 amino acids. RNA binding proteins having this motif include the HIV Tat and Rev proteins. Rev binds with high affinity disassociation constant (10
The double-stranded RNA-binding domain (dsRBD) exclusively binds double-stranded RNA or RNA-DNA. A dsRBD motif includes a region of approximately 70 amino acids which includes basic residues and contains a conserved core sequence with a predicted α-helical structure. The dsRBD motif is found in at least 20 known or putative RNA-binding proteins from different organisms. There are two types of dsRBDs; Type A, which is homologous along its entire length with the defined consensus sequence, and Type B, which is more highly conserved at its C terminus than its N terminus. These domains have been functionally delineated in specific proteins by deletion analysis and RNA binding assays (St Johnston, et al.,
Any RNA binding sequence/RNA sequence pair can be designed, screened or selected according to the methods known in the art including the methods described in Section L.2. above and the methods, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,834,184 and 5,859,227, and in SenGupta et al., A three-hybrid system to detect RNA-protein interactions in vivo,
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,834,184 describes a method of screening a plurality of polypeptides for RNA binding activity. The method includes the steps of: (1) culturing a library of procaryotic cells the constitute a library, and (2) detecting expression of the reporter gene in a cell from the library, the expression indicating that the cell comprises a polypeptide having RNA binding activity. The cells contain at least one vector that contains a first DNA segment that encodes a fusion protein of a prokaryotic anti-terminator protein having anti-terminator activity linked in-frame to the test polypeptide, which varies among the cells in the library, that is operably linked to a second DNA segment. The second DNA segment contains a promoter, an RNA recognition sequence foreign to the anti-terminator protein, a transcription termination site and a reporter gene. The termination site blocks transcription of the reporter gene in the absence of a protein with anti-termination activity and affinity for the RNA recognition sequence. If the test polypeptide has specific affinity for the recognition sequence, it binds via the polypeptide to the RNA recognition sequence of a transcript from the second DNA segment thereby inducing transcription of the second DNA segment to proceed through the termination site to the reporter gene resulting in expression of the reporter gene.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,859,227 describes methods for identifying possible binding sites for RNA binding proteins in nucleic acid molecules, and confirming the identity of such prospective binding sites by detection of interaction between the prospective binding site and RNA binding proteins. Theses methods involve identification of possible binding sites for RNA binding proteins, by either searching databases for untranslated regions of gene sequences or cloning untranslated sequences using a single specific primer and an universal primer, followed by confirmation that the untranslated regions in fact interact with RNA binding proteins using the RNA/RBP detection assay. Genomic nucleic acid can further be screened for putative binding site motifs in the nucleic acid sequences. Information about binding sites that are confirmed in the assay then can be used to redefine or redirect the nucleic acid sequence search criteria, for example, by establishing or refining a consensus sequence for a given binding site motif.
SenGupta et al.,
The following Table 6 illustrates certain properties of several RNA binding sequence/RNA sequence pair systems.
|Examples of RNA binding sequence/RNA sequence pairs|
|RNA binding||RNA binding||(U.S. Pat.|
|sequence||sequence motif||RNA sequence||No.)|
|stranded||poly (rl) and poly (rC)|
|Protein extract from||5′ untranslated||UTR of Glut1 (SEQ||5,859,227|
|SH-SY5Y cells||region (UTR)||ID NO. 23); 5′ UTR|
|of (HMG,CoA Red)|
|(SEQ ID NO. 24);|
|5′ UTR of human|
|C4b-binding α chain|
|(SEQ ID NO. 25); 5′|
|UTR of human CD45|
|(SEQ ID NO. 26)|
3) Preparation of Nucleic Acid Binding Proteins
Extracts prepared from the isolated nuclei of cultured cells are functional in accurate in vitro transcription and mRNA processing (See generally,
The nuclear and cytoplasmic extraction procedure (see, e.g., Dignam et al., 1983
4) Assays for Identifying Nucleic Acid Binding Proteins
a) Mobility Shift DNA-binding Assay
The DNA-binding assay using nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) provides a simple, rapid, and extremely sensitive method for detecting sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins (See generally,
b) Basic Mobility Shift Assay Procedure
The basic mobility shift assay procedure includes 4 steps: (1) preparation of a radioactively labeled DNA probe containing a particular protein binding site; (2) preparation of a nondenaturing gel; (3) a binding reaction in which a protein mixture is bound to the DNA probe; and (4) electrophoresis of protein-DNA complexes through the gel, which is then dried and autoradiographed. The mobility of the DNA-binded protein is retarded while that of the non-binded protein is not retarded.
c) Competition Mobility Shift Assay
One important aspect of the mobility shift DNA-binding assay is the ease of assessing the sequence specificity of protein-DNA interactions using a competition binding assay. This is necessary because most protein preparations will contain specific and nonspecific DNA binding proteins. For a specific competitor, the same DNA fragment (unlabeled) as the probe can be used. The nonspecific competitor can be essentially any fragment with an unrelated sequence, but it is useful to roughly match the probe and specific competitor for size and configuration of the ends. For example, some proteins bind blunt DNA ends nonspecifically. These would not be competed by circular plasmid or a fragment with overhands, leading to the false conclusion that the protein-DNA complex represented specific binding. Perhaps the best control competitor is a DNA fragment that is identical to the probe fragment except for a mutation(s) in the binding site that is known to disrupt function (and presumably binding).
d) Antibody Supershift Assay
Another useful variation of the mobility shift DNA-binding assay is to use antibodies to identify proteins present in the protein-DNA complex. Addition of a specific antibody to a binding reaction can have one of several effects. If the protein recognized by the antibody is not involved in complex formation, addition of the antibody should have no effect. If the protein that forms the complex is recognized by the antibody, the antibody can either block complex formation, or it can form an antibody-protein-DNA ternary complex and thereby specifically result in a further reduction in the mobility of the protein-DNA complex (supershift). Results may be different depending upon whether the antibody is added before or after the protein binds DNA (particularly if there are epitopes on the DNA-binding surface of the protein).
The mobility shift DNA-binding assay has been successfully employed (see, e.g., Carthew, et al., 1985
e) Methylation and Uracil Interference Assay
Interference assays identify specific residues in the DNA binding site that, when modified, interfere with binding of the protein (See generally,
1) Methylation Interference Assays
In methylation interference, probes are generated by methylating guanines (at the N-7 position) and adenines (at the N-3 position) with DMS; these methylated bases are cleaved specifically by piperidine. Methylation interference identifies guanines and adenines in the DNA binding site that, when methylated, interfere with binding of the protein. The protocol uses a single end-labeled DNA probe that is methylated at an average of one site per molecule of probe. The labeled probe is a substrate for a protein-binding reaction. DNA-protein complexes are separated from the free probe by the mobility shift DNA-binding assay. A DNA probe that is methylated at a position that interferes with binding will not be retarded in this assay. Therefore, the specific DNA-protein complex is depleted for DNA that contains methyl groups on purines important for binding. After gel purification, DNA is cleaved with piperidine. Finally, these fragments are electrophoresed on polyacrylamide sequencing gels and autoradiographed. Guanines and adenines that interfere with binding are revealed by their absence in the retarded complex relative to a lane containing piperidine-cleaved free probe. This procedure offers a rapid and highly analytical means of characterizing DNA-protein interactions.
2) Uracil Interference Assay
In uracil interference, probes are generated by PCR amplification in the presence of a mixture of TTP and dUTP, thereby producing products in which thymine residues are replaced by deoxyuracil residues (which contains hydrogen in place of the thymine 5-methyl group). Uracil bases are specifically cleaved by uracil-N-glycosylase to generate apyrimidinic sites that are susceptible to piperidine. Uracil interference identifies thymines in a DNA binding site that, when modified, interfere with binding of the protein. Probes generated by PCR amplification in the presence of TTP and dUTP incorporate deoxyuracil in place of thymine residues. PCR products are incubated with the binding protein and resulting complexes are separated from unbound DNA. The DNA recovered from the protein-DNA complex is treated with uracil-N-glycosylase and piperidine, and the products are then electrophoresed on a denaturing polyacrylamide gel.
The methylation and uracil interference assays have been successfully used (see, e.g., Baldwin, et al., 1988
3) DNase I Footprint Analysis
Deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) protection mapping, or footprinting, is a valuable technique for locating the specific binding sites of proteins on DNA (See generally,
DNase I footprint analysis has been successfully employed (see, e.g., Ackers, et al., 1982
4) Screening a λgt11 Expression Library with Recognition-site DNA
A clone encoding a sequence-specific protein can be detected in a λgt11 library because its recombinant protein binds specifically to a radiolabeled recognition-site DNA (See generally,
The λgt11 expression screening methods have been successfully used (see, e.g., Androphy, et al., 1987
5) Rapid Separation of Protein-bound DNA from Free DNA
This method relies on the ability of nitrocellulose to bind proteins but not double-stranded DNA (See generally,
Nitrocellulose filters methods have been successfully used (see, e.g., Barkley, et al., 1975
f. Lipid Binding Moieties
The conjugate can also contain a lipid binding protein, peptide or effective fragment thereof. Its specific binding partner can be lipids generally, a set of lipids or a particular lipid. Any lipid binding moiety, particularly proteins, peptides or effective fragments thereof can be used in the present system. For example, the lipid binding protein can bind to a triacylglycerol, a wax, a phosphoglyceride, a sphingolipid, a sterol and a sterol fatty acid ester. More preferably, the lipid binding sequence comprises a C2 motif or an amphipathic α-helix motif.
Any lipid binding sequence/lipid pair can be designed, screened or selected according to the methods known in the art (see, e.g., Kane et al.,
For example, Kane et al.,
Arnold et al.,
Miller and Cistola,
Teegarden et al.,
In addition, known protein/lipid binding pairs can be used in the methods and with the products provided herein (see, e.g., Hinderliter et al.,
(SEQ ID No. 27) representing the putative lipid-binding region (G region) of the erythrocyte Ca2+ pump interacted with acidic lipids, as shown by the increase in size of phosphatidylserine liposomes in its presence)).
g. Polysaccharide Binding Moieties
The conjugate can include a polysaccharide binding protein, peptide or effective fragment thereof. Its specific binding partner can be polysaccharides generally, a set of polysaccharides or a particular polysaccharide. Any polysaccharide binding moiety, such as a protein, can be used in the present system and include but are not limited to a polysaccharide binding sequence that binds to starch, glycogen, cellulose or hyaluronic acid.
Any polysaccharide binding protein/polysaccharide pair can be designed, screened or selected according to the methods known in the art including the methods disclosed in Kuo et al.,
In addition, known protein/polysaccharide binding pairs can be used in the methods and with the products provided herein (see, e.g., Yamaguchi, et al.,
h. Metal Binding Moieties
The conjugate can contain a metal binding moiety, such as a metal binding protein, peptide or effective fragment thereof. The specific binding partner can be metal ions generally, a set of metal ions or a particular metal ion. Any metal binding moiety is contemplated. For example, the metal binding sequence can bind to a sodium, a potassium, a magnesium, a calcium, a chlorine, an iron, a copper, a zinc, a manganese, a cobalt, an iodine, a molybdenum, a vanadium, a nickel, a chromium, a fluorine, a silicon, a tin, a boron or an arsenic ion.
Any metal binding moiety/metal ion pair can be designed, screened or selected according to the methods known in the art including the methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,548; Kang et al.,
U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,548 discloses a method for producing a metal binding site in a polypeptide capable of binding a preselected metal ion-containing molecule, the step of inducing mutagenesis of a complementarity determining region (CDR) of an immunoglobulin heavy or light chain gene, where the mutagenesis introduces a metal binding site, by amplifying the CDR of the gene by a primer extension reaction using a primer oligonucleotide, the oligonucleotide comprising: a) a 3′ terminus and a 5′ terminus comprising; b) a nucleotide sequence at the 3′ terminus complementary to a first framework region of the heavy or light chain immunoglobulin gene; c) a nucleotide sequence at the 5′ terminus complementary to a second framework region of the heavy or light chain immunoglobulin gene; and d) a nucleotide sequence between the 3′ terminus and 5′ terminus according to the formula; [NNS]
U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,548 also describes a method for producing a metal binding site in a polypeptide capable of binding a preselected metal ion-containing molecule, the step of inducing mutagenesis of a complementarity determining region (CDR) of an immunoglobulin heavy or light chain gene by amplifying the CDR of the gene by a primer extension reaction using a primer oligonucleotide, the oligonucleotide comprising: a) a 3′ terminus and a 5′ terminus; b) a nucleotide sequence at the 3′ terminus complementary to a first framework region of the heavy or light chain immunoglobulin gene; c) a nucleotide sequence at the 5′ terminus complementary to a second framework region of the heavy or light chain immunoglobulin gene; and d) a nucleotide sequence between 3′ terminus and 5′ terminus according to the formula: -X-[NNK]
Kang et al.,
Dealwis et al.,
Hutchens et al.,
In addition, the protein/metal binding pairs, which are known (see, e.g., DiDonato, et al.,
Among the preferred pairs, are the following metal binding sequence/metal ion pairs (see, U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,548) set forth in the following table.
|Examples of Metal Ion Binding Sequence/Metal Ion Pairs|
|Metal Ion||Metal Ion Binding Sequence||SEQ ID NO.|
i. Other Facilitating Agents
Facilitating agents can be derived from an enzyme, a transport protein, a nutrient or storage protein, a contractile or motile protein, a structural protein, a defense protein, a regulatory protein, or a fluorescent protein. Exemplary of such other fragments are those derived from an enzyme such as a peroxidase, a urease, an alkaline phosphatase, a luciferase and a glutathione S-transferase.
Any peroxidase can be used in the present system. More preferably, a horseradish peroxidase is used. For example, the horseradish peroxidases with the following GenBank accession Nos. can be used: E01651; D90116 (prxC3 gene); D90115 (prxC2 gene); J05552 (Synthetic isoenzyme C(HRP-C)); S14268 (neutral); OPRHC (C1 precursor); S00627 (C1C precursor); JH0150 (C3 precursor); S00626 (C1B precursor); JH0149 (C2 precursor); CAA00083 (
Any urease can be used in the present system. For example, the ureases with the following GenBank accession Nos. can be used: AF085729 (
3) Alkaline Phosphatase
Any alkaline phosphatase can be used in the present system. For example, the alkaline phosphatases encoded by nucleic acids with the following GenBank accession Nos. can be used: AB013386 (
Any luciferase can be used in the present system. Numerous luciferases are available and have been cloned. For example, the luciferases encoded by nucleic acids with the following GenBank accession Nos. can be used: AH00771 1 (
5) Glutathione S-transferase
A glutathione S-transferase (GST), more preferably a
For example, fusion proteins are easily purified from bacterial lysates by affinity chromatography using Glutathione Sepharose 4B contained in the GST Purification Modules (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc.). Cleavage of the desired protein from GST is achieved using a site-specific protease whose recognition sequence is located immediately upstream from the multiple cloning site on the pGEX plasmids. Fusion proteins can be detected using a colorimetric assay or immunoassay provided in the GST Detection Module, or by Western blotting with anti-GST antibody. The system has been used successfully in many applications such as molecular immunology (Toye et al.,
Any glutathione S-transferase is contemplated. For example, the glutathione S-transferase encoded by nucleic acid with the following GenBank accession Nos. can be used: [AF112567]
In addition, commercially available Glutathione S-transferase (GST) gene fusion system can be used. For example, the Glutathione S-transferase (GST) Gene Fusion System (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc.) can be used. The system from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc. is an integrated system for the expression, purification and detection of fusion proteins produced in
The GST Detection Module from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc. can be used for identification of GST fusion proteins using either a biochemical or immunological assay. In the biochemical assay, glutathione and 1-chloro-2-4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) serve as substrates for GST to yield a yellow product detectable at 340 nm (Habig et al.,
The GST 96-Well Detection Module from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc. contains five microtitre strip plates, horseradish perioxidase (HRP) conjugated anti-GST antibody and recombinant GST protein. The wells of each plate are coated with purified anti-GST antibody to capture GST fusion proteins and are preblocked to provide a low background. HRP conjugated antibody enables sensitive detection of GST proteins.
The anti-GST antibody supplied in the system from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc. is a polyclonal antibody purified from the sera of goats immunized with purified schistosomal glutathione S-transferase (GST). Because of its polyclonal nature, it can recognize more than one epitope on GST, thereby improving its capacity for recognizing GST fusion proteins even if some binding sites are masked due to recombinant protein folding.
Factor Xa can be used for site-specific separation of the GST affinity tag from proteins expressed using pGEX X vectors. Factor Xa enables the site-specific cleavage of fusion proteins containing an accessible Factor Xa recognition sequence. It can be used either following affinity purification or while fusion proteins are bound to Glutathione Sepharose 4B. Factor Xa, purified from bovine plasma, is used to digest fusion proteins prepared from pGEX vectors containing the recognition sequence for factor Xa (pGEX-3X, pGEX-5X-1, pGEX-5X-2 and pGEX-5X-3). It specifically cleaves following the tetrapeptide Ile-Glu-Gly-Arg (SEQ ID No. 80) (Nagai and Thøgersen,
PreScission protease can be used for site-specific separation of the GST affinity tag from proteins expressed using pGEX-6P vectors. It enables the low-temperature cleavage of fusion proteins containing the PreScission Protease recognition sequence. It can be used either following affinity purification or while fusion proteins are bound to Glutathione Sepharose 4B. PreScission Protease is a genetically engineered fusion protein containing human rhinovirus 3C protease and GST (Walker et al.,
Thrombin can be used for site-specific separation of the GST affinity tag from proteins expressed using pGEX T vectors. It enables the site-specific cleavage of fusion proteins containing an accessible thrombin recognition sequence. It is purified from bovine plasma; functionally free of other clotting factors, plasminogen and plasmin. It can be used either following affinity purification or while fusion proteins are bound to Glutathione Sepharose 4B. Thrombin is used to digest fusion proteins prepared from pGEX vectors containing the recognition sequence for thrombin (pGEX-1λT, pGEX-2T, pGEX-2TK, pGEX-4T-1, pGEX-4T2 and pGEX-4T-3). In the system from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Inc., one unit of Thrombin cleaves≧90% of 100 μg of a test GST fusion protein when incubated in 1×PBS at 22° C. for 16 hours.
6) Defense Proteins
The conjugates can contain defense protein, such as an antibody. Any antibody, including polyclonal, monoclonal, single chain or Fab fragments, can be used.
7) Fluorescent Moieties
The conjugates can contain a fluorescent moiety, such as a green, a blue or a red fluorescent protein. Any green, blue or red fluorescent protein can be used in the present system. For instances, the green fluorescent proteins encoded by nucleic acids with the following GenBank accession Nos. can be used: U47949 (AGP1); U43284; AF007834 (GFPuv); U89686 (
Similarly, the blue fluorescent proteins encoded by nucleic acids with the following GenBank accession Nos. can be used: U70497 (soluble-modified blue fluorescent protein (smBFP); 1BFP (blue variant of green fluorescent protein); AAB16959 (soluble-modified blue fluorescent protein).
Also similarly, the red fluorescent proteins encoded by nucleic acids with the following GenBank accession Nos. can be used: U70496 (soluble-modified red-shifted green fluorescent protein (smRSGFP); AAB16958 ((U70496) soluble-modified red-shifted green fluorescent protein).
In the methods for assaying the activity of SAM-dependent methyl-transferases or screening for modulators of such SAM-dependent methyl-transferases described in the above Sections B-C, the mutant SAH-binding enzyme or complex thereof can be immobilized on the surface of a support, either directly or via a linker. Preferably, the support used is an insoluble support such as a silicon chip. Non-limiting examples of the geometry of the support include beads, pellets, disks, capillaries, hollow fibers, needles, solid fibers, random shapes, thin films, membranes and chips. Also more preferably, the mutant SAH-binding enzyme or complex thereof is immobilized in an array or a well format on the surface.
In certain embodiments, where the facilitating agents are designed for linkage to surfaces, recovered, isolated or purified conjugates, such as fusion proteins can be attached to a surface of a matrix material. Immobilization may be effected directly or via a linker. The conjugates may be immobilized on any suitable support, including, but are not limited to, silicon chips, and other supports described herein and known to those of skill in the art. A plurality of conjugates, which may contain the same or different or a variety of mutant SAH-binding enzymes (SAH trapping enzymes) may be attached to a support, such as an array (i.e., a pattern of two or more) of conjugates on the surface of a silicon chip or other chip for use in high throughput protocols and formats.
It is also noted that the mutant SAH-binding enzymes can be linked directly to the surface or via a linker without a facilitating agent linked thereto. Hence chips containing arrays of mutant SAH-binding enzymes are contemplated.
For example, an isolated or purified fusion protein can be attached to the surface as the intact fusion proteins. Alternatively, the protein or peptide fragment portion can be cleaved off and the mutant SAH-binding enzyme be attached to the surface. The fusion protein can be cleaved by any methods known in the art such as chemical or enzymatic means. The cleavage means must be compatible with the linking sequence between the protein or peptide fragment portion and the mutant SAH-binding enzyme so that the cleavage is linker sequence specific and the cleaved mutant enzyme is functional, i.e., can be used as a SAH-trapping enzyme. Those skilled in the art can readily determine, if necessary, with empirical studies, which cleavage/linker sequence pair to be used. Many cleavage/linker sequence pairs are well known in the art. For example, Factor Xa can be used for site-specific separation of the GST affinity tag from proteins expressed using pGEX X vectors; PreScission protease can be used for site-specific separation of the GST affinity tag from proteins expressed using pGEX-6P vectors; and Thrombin can be used for site-specific separation of the GST affinity tag from proteins expressed using pGEX T vectors.
The matrix material substrates contemplated herein are generally insoluble materials used to immobilize ligands and other molecules, and are those that used in many chemical syntheses and separations. Such substrates, also called matrices, are used, for example, in affinity chromatography, in the immobilization of biologically active materials, and during chemical syntheses of biomolecules, including proteins, amino acids and other organic molecules and polymers. The preparation of and use of matrices is well known to those of skill in this art; there are many such materials and preparations thereof known. For example, naturally-occurring matrix materials, such as agarose and cellulose, may be isolated from their respective sources, and processed according to known protocols, and synthetic materials may be prepared in accord with known protocols.
The substrate matrices are typically insoluble materials that are solid, porous, deformable, or hard, and have any required structure and geometry, including, but not limited to: beads, pellets, disks, capillaries, hollow fibers, needles, solid fibers, random shapes, thin films and membranes. Thus, the item may be fabricated from the matrix material or combined with it, such as by coating all or part of the surface or impregnating particles.
Typically, when the matrix is particulate, the particles are at least about 10-2000 μM, but may be smaller or larger, depending upon the selected application. Selection of the matrices will be governed, at least in part, by their physical and chemical properties, such as solubility, functional groups, mechanical stability, surface area swelling propensity, hydrophobic or hydrophilic properties and intended use.
If necessary, the support matrix material can be treated to contain an appropriate reactive moiety. In some cases, the support matrix material already containing the reactive moiety may be obtained commercially. The support matrix material containing the reactive moiety may thereby serve as the matrix support upon which molecules are linked. Materials containing reactive surface moieties such as amino silane linkages, hydroxyl linkages or carboxysilane linkages may be produced by well established surface chemistry techniques involving silanization reactions, or the like. Examples of these materials are those having surface silicon oxide moieties, covalently linked to gamma-amino-propylsilane, and other organic moieties; N-[3-(triethyoxysilyl)propyl]-phthelamic acid; and bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)aminopropyltriethoxysilane. Exemplary of readily available materials containing amino group reactive functionalities, include, but are not limited to, para-aminophenyl-triethyoxysilane. Also derivatized polystyrenes and other such polymers are well known and readily available to those of skill in this art (e.g., the Tentagel® Resins are available with a multitude of functional groups, and are sold by Rapp Polymere, Tubingen, Germany; see, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,908,405 and 5,292,814; see, also Butz et al.,
These matrix materials include any material that can act as a support matrix for attachment of the molecules of interest. Such materials are known to those of skill in this art, and include those that are used as a support matrix. These materials include, but are not limited to, inorganics, natural polymers, and synthetic polymers, including, but are not limited to: cellulose, cellulose derivatives, acrylic resins, glass, silica gels, polystyrene, gelatin, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, co-polymers of vinyl and acrylamide, polystyrene cross-linked with divinylbenzene and others (see, Merrifield,
Synthetic matrices include, but are not limited to: acrylamides, dextran-derivatives and dextran co-polymers, agarose-polyacrylamide blends, other polymers and co-polymers with various functional groups, methacrylate derivatives and co-polymers, polystyrene and polystyrene copolymers (see, e.g., Merrifield,
Synthetic matrices include those made from polymers and co-polymers such as polyvinylalcohols, acrylates and acrylic acids such as poly-ethylene-co-acrylic acid, polyethylene-co-methacrylic acid, polyethylene-co-ethylacrylate, polyethylene-co-methyl acrylate, polypropylene-co-acrylic acid, polypropylene-co-methyl-acrylic acid, polypropylene-co-ethylacrylate, polypropylene-co-methyl acrylate, polyethylene-co-vinyl acetate, polypropylene-co-vinyl acetate, and those containing acid anhydride groups such as polyethylene-co-maleic anhydride, polypropylene-co-maleic anhydride and the like. Liposomes have also been used as solid supports for affinity purifications (Powell et al.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,750, describes the preparation of polyurethane-based polymers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,537 describes a plant growth medium containing a hydrophilic polyurethane gel composition prepared from chain-extended polyols; random copolymerization is preferred with up to 50% propylene oxide units so that the prepolymer will be a liquid at room temperature. U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,123 describes lightly crosslinked polyurethane polymers of isocyanate terminated prepolymers containing poly(ethyleneoxy) glycols with up to 35% of a poly(propyleneoxy) glycol or a poly(butyleneoxy) glycol. In producing these polymers, an organic polyamine is used as a crosslinking agent. Other matrices and preparation thereof are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,177,038, 4,175,183, 4,439,585, 4,485,227, 4,569,981, 5,092,992, 5,334,640, 5,328,603.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,355 describes a polymer suitable for use in affinity chromatography, which is a polymer of an aminimide and a vinyl compound having at least one pendant halo-methyl group. An amine ligand, which affords sites for binding in affinity chromatography is coupled to the polymer by reaction with a portion of the pendant halo-methyl groups and the remainder of the pendant halo-methyl groups are reacted with an amine containing a pendant hydrophilic group. A method of coating a substrate with this polymer is also described. An exemplary aminimide is 1,1-dimethyl-1-(2-hydroxyoctyl)amine methacrylimide and vinyl compound is a chloromethyl styrene.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,412 describes specific matrices based on hydrophilic polymeric gels, preferably of a macroporous character, which carry covalently bonded D-amino acids or peptides that contain D-amino acid units. The basic support is prepared by copolymerization of hydroxyalkyl esters or hydroxyalkylamides of acrylic and methacrylic acid with crosslinking acrylate or methacrylate comonomers are modified by the reaction with diamines, aminoacids or dicarboxylic acids and the resulting carboxyterminal or aminoterminal groups are condensed with D-analogs of aminoacids or peptides. The peptide containing D-amino-acids also can be synthesized stepwise on the surface of the carrier. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,439 describes a cationic ion exchanger and a method for preparation thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,524 describes chemical syntheses on a silica support.
The fusion protein can be attached to the surface of the matrix material by methods known in the art. Numerous methods have been developed for the immobilization of proteins and other biomolecules onto solid or liquid supports (see, e.g., Mosbach,
Among the most commonly used methods are absorption and adsorption or covalent binding to the support, either directly or via a linker, such as the numerous disulfide linkages, thioether bonds, hindered disulfide bonds, and covalent bonds between free reactive groups, such as amine and thiol groups, known to those of skill in art (see, e.g., the PIERCE CATALOG, Immuno Technology Catalog & Handbook, 1992-1993, which describes the preparation of and use of such reagents and provides a commercial source for such reagents; Wong,
To effect immobilization, a composition containing the protein or other biomolecule is contacted with a support material such as alumina, carbon, an. ion-exchange resin, cellulose, glass or a ceramic. Fluorocarbon polymers have been used as supports to which biomolecules have been attached by adsorption (see, U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,443; Published International PCT Application WO/86 03840).
A large variety of methods are known for attaching biological molecules, including proteins and nucleic acids, molecules to solid supports (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,683). For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,870 describes a method for introducing free amino or carboxyl groups onto a silica matrix. These groups may subsequently be covalently linked to other groups, such as a protein or other anti-ligand, in the presence of a carbodiimide. Alternatively, a silica matrix may be activated by treatment with a cyanogen halide under alkaline conditions. The anti-ligand is covalently attached to the surface upon addition to the activated surface. Another method involves modification of a polymer surface through the successive application of multiple layers of biotin, avidin and extenders (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,287). Other methods involve photoactivation in which a polypeptide chain is attached to a solid substrate by incorporating a light-sensitive unnatural amino acid group into the polypeptide chain and exposing the product to low-energy ultraviolet light (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,881). Oligonucleotides have also been attached using a photochemically active reagents, such as a psoralen compound, and a coupling agent, which attaches the photoreagent to the substrate (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,542,102 and 4,562,157). Photoactivation of the photoreagent binds a nucleic acid molecule to the substrate to give a surface-bound probe.
Covalent binding of the protein or other biomolecule or organic molecule or biological particle to chemically activated solid matrix supports such as glass, synthetic polymers, and cross-linked polysaccharides is a more frequently used immobilization technique. The molecule or biological particle may be directly linked to the matrix support or linked via linker, such as a metal (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,402; and Smith et al.,
The activation and use of matrices are well known and may be effected by any such known methods (see, e.g., Hermanson et al.,
Other suitable methods for linking molecules to solid supports are well known to those of skill in this art (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,193). These include linkers that are suitable for chemically linking molecules, such as proteins, to supports and include, but are not limited to, disulfide bonds, thioether bonds, hindered disulfide bonds, and covalent bonds between free reactive groups, such as amine and thiol groups. These bonds can be produced using heterobifunctional reagents to produce reactive thiol groups on one or both of the moieties and then reacting the thiol groups on one moiety with reactive thiol groups or amine groups to which reactive maleimido groups or thiol groups can be attached on the other.
Other linkers include, acid cleavable linkers, such as bismaleimideothoxy propane, acid labile-transferrin conjugates and adipic acid diihydrazide, that would be cleaved in more acidic intracellular compartments; cross linkers that are cleaved upon exposure to UV or visible light and linkers, such as the various domains, such as C
Other linkages are photocleavable linkages that can be activated by exposure to light (see, e.g., Goldmacher et al.,
In a preferred embodiment, the recovered fusion protein is attached to the surface through affinity binding between the protein or peptide fragment of the fusion protein and an affinity binding moiety on the surface.
Any sample can be assayed for SAM-dependent methyltransferase activity or screening for modulators of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase using the methods described in the above Sections B-C. In one embodiment, the sample being assayed is a biological sample from a mammal, particularly a human, such as a biological fluid or a biological tissue. Biological fluids, include, but are not limited to, urine, blood, plasma, serum, saliva, semen, stool, sputum, hair and other keratinous samples, cerebral spinal fluid, tears, mucus and amniotic fluid. Biological tissues contemplated include, but are not limited to, aggregates of cells, usually of a particular kind together with their intercellular substance that form one of the structural materials of a human, animal, plant, bacterial, fungal or viral structure, including connective, epithelium, muscle and nerve tissues, organs, tumors, lymph nodes, arteries and individual cell(s). In one specific embodiment, the body fluid to be assayed is urine. In another specific embodiment, the body fluid to be assayed is blood. Preferably, the blood sample is further separated into a plasma or sera fraction.
Serum or plasma can be recovered from the collected blood by any methods known in the art. In one specific embodiment, the serum or plasma is recovered from the collected blood by centrifugation. Preferably, the centrifugation is conducted in the presence of a sealant having a specific gravity greater than that of the serum or plasma and less than that of the blood corpuscles which will form the lower, whereby upon centrifugation, the sealant forms a separator between the upper serum or plasma layer and the lower blood corpuscle layer. The sealants that can be used in the processes include, but are limited to, styrene resin powders (Japanese Patent Publication No. 38841/1973), pellets or plates of a hydrogel of a crosslinked polymer of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate or acrylamide (U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,070), beads of polystyrene bearing an antithrombus agent or a wetting agent on the surfaces (U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,890) and a silicone fluid (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,852,194 and 3,780,935). In a preferred embodiment, the sealant is a polymer of unsubstituted alkyl acrylates and/or unsubstituted alkyl methacrylates, the alkyl moiety having not more than 18 carbon atoms, the polymer material having a specific gravity of about 1.03 to 1.08 and a viscosity of about 5,000 to 1,000,000 cps at a shearing speed of about 1 second
In another specific embodiment, the serum or plasma is recovered from the collected blood by filtration. Preferably, the blood is filtered through a layer of glass fibers with an average diameter of about 0.2 to 5μ and a density of about 0.1 to 0.5 g./cm
In still another specific embodiment, the serum or plasma is recovered from the collected blood by treating the blood with a coagulant containing a lignan skelton having oxygen-containing side chains or rings (U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,153). Preferably, the coagulant contains a lignan skelton having oxygen-containing side chains or rings, e.g., d-sesamin, I-sesamin, paulownin, d-asarinin, I-asarinin, 2α-paulownin, 6α-paulownin, pinoresinol, d-eudesmin, I-pinoresinol β-D-glucoside, I-pinoresinol, I-pinoresinol monomethyl ether β-D-glucoside, epimagnolin, lirioresinol-B, syringaresinol (dl), lirioresinonB-dimethyl ether, phillyrin, magnolin, lirioresinol-A, 2α,6a-d-sesamin, d-diaeudesmin, lirioresinol-C dimethyl ether (ddiayangambin) and sesamolin. More preferably, the coagulant is used in an amount ranging from about 0.01 to 50 g per 1 l of the blood.
Human placental SAH hydrolase gene (SEQ ID No. 3) was subcloned into an expression vector pKK223-3 (Pharmacia Biotech, Piscataway, N.J.) at the EcoR I site. pKK223-3 contains the strong tac promoter upstream from the multiple cloning site and the strong rrnB ribosomal terminator downstream for control of protein expression. The SAH hydrolase gene-containing expression vector was transferred into an
a. Single-strand DNA-based Mutagenesis
Single-strand DNA-based mutagenesis was conducted based on the method described by Taylor et al.,
The M13 phage containing the SAH hydrolase gene were incubated with TG1 cells in 3 ml of 2×YT media overnight. One drop of the overnight culture was mixed with growing TG1 cells (in log phase) in 30 ml of 2×YT media. Cells were incubated for 8 hours with shaking. After centrifugation, the supernatant was collected for single-strand template DNA purification. The purification was conducted according to the manufacture's procedure provided by Amersham Life Science.
b. Design of Primers for Point Mutation
Oligonucleotides (15-30 bases) were synthesized by CruaChem (Sterling, Va.). The sequence of the oligonucleotides were designed to be complementary to the sequence in the region covering both sides of the mutation site. For example, to mutate lys426 to glu426, the oligonucleotides used as primer contained the following sequence: GGCCCCTTCGAGCCGGATCACTACCGC (SEQ ID No. 82) where GAG codes for glu instead of original (wild type) AAG which codes for lys. The selection of mutation sites was based on x-ray structure of the substrate binding site and coenzyme binding site of human SAH hydrolase (Turner et al.,
The oligonucleotides were dissolved in water to a concentration of 5 ng/μl. The oligonucleotide solution was then phosphorylated at the 5′-end using polynucleotide kinase. The phosphorylation reaction mixture contained the following materials: 2.5 μl of oligonucleotides (5 ng/μl), 3 μl of one-phor-all 10×kinase buffer (Pharmacia Biotech), 21.5 μl of water, 2 μl of 10 mM ATP, and 1 μl of polynucleotide kinase (100,000U/ml) (Pharmacia Biotech). The reaction mixture was incubated at 37° C. for 30 min. followed by heating at 70° C. for 10 min. to inactivate the enzyme.
|Oligonucleotides used for site-directed mutagenesis of|
|human SAH hydrolases|
|Mutant||Mutagenic oligonucleotide||Codon Change||SEQ ID|
The 5′-phosphorylated oligonucleotides DNA was annealed with single-stranded DNA (M13 phage containing wild type human SAH hydrolase gene, 1 μg/μl) in a ratio of oligonucleotide: template of 2:1 in annealing buffer. The annealing reaction was performed by incubating the annealing mixture at 70° C. for 3 min. followed by 30 min. at 37° C. or followed by transferring the micro centrifuge tube to a 55° C. beaker and then allow to cool to room temperature. To the annealing mixture (17 μl), 19 μl of dNTP A (α-S) mix, 1.5 μl of T7 DNA polymerase (0.8 units), and 2.5 μl of T4 DNA ligase (92.5 units), and 6 μl of water were added. After 10 min. at room temperature and 30 min. at 37° C., the reaction was stopped by heat inactivation at 70° C. for 15 min. To the reaction mixture was added T5 exonuclease (2000 units) and exonuclease buffer to remove single-strand non-mutant DNA at 37° C. for 30 min. followed by 15 min. of heat inactivation at 70° C. Ncil (5 units) was added to the reaction mixture to nicking the non-mutant strand by incubating Ncil at 37° C. for 90 min. The non-mutant strand was digested by adding 160 units of Exonuclease III and incubating at 37° C. for 30 min. followed by heat inactivation. To repolymerize the gaped DNA, dNTP mix B and 3.5 units of DNA polymerase I and 2.5 units of T4 DNA ligase were added to the reaction mixture, and incubated at 37° C. for 1 h.
The M13 plasmid containing the mutated SAH hydrolase gene was then transferred into competent TG 1 host cells by heat shock method or an electroporation method. Ten μl of the mutant M13 plasmid was added to 90 μl of water and mixed with competent TG1 cells in ice for 40 min. The TG1 cells were shocked by incubation at 42° C. for 45 sec. and immediately at 0° C. for 5 min. The transferred TG1 cells were allowed to return to room temperature, and mixed with 200 μl of growing non-transferred TG1 cells (sever as lawn cells). Three ml of motten Htop agar was added and mixed followed by immediate pouring the cells onto a L plate. The plate was incubated in 37° C. for overnight. Phage plaques formed were picked by sterile tooth pick and swirling in a tube containing 3 ml of 2×YT medium. After overnight culture, cells were collected by centrifugation, and the double-strand M13 plasmid from the cells was purified by using Promega DNA purification kit (Wizard plus Minipreps).
The supernatant from centrifugation was used to purify single-strand M13 DNA. The mutation was confirmed by DNA sequencing of the single-strand M13 DNA using Sequenase Version 2.0 (Unites States Biochemical). The double-strand M13 DNA containing correct mutation sequence was selected, and digested with EcoR I. The EcoR I fragment containing the mutant SAH hydrolase gene was purified by agarose electrophoresis followed by gene cleaning using Qlaquick Gel Extraction kit (Qiagen, Valencia, Calif.). The purified EcoR I fragment was subcloned into pKK223-3 expression vector using T4 ligase. Two μl of EcoR 1 treated and 5′-dephosphorylated pKK223-3 vector backbone was incubated with 10 μl of the purified mutant insert DNA in a backbone to insert ratio of 2:1. The ligation reaction was carried out in One-phore-All buffer containing 0.01 M ATP at 16C. overnight. The ligated vector containing mutant SAH hydrolase gene was transferred into competent
c. PCR-based Mutagenesis Method
PCR-based mutagenesis was performed using the ExSite PCR-based Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.). The ExSite method uses increased template concentration and <10 PCR cycles. The resulting mixture of template DNA, newly synthesized DNA and hybrid parental/newly synthesized DNA is treated with Dpn I and Pfu DNA polymerase. Dpn I digests the in vivo methylated parental template and hybrid DNA, and Pfu DNA polymerase polishes the ends to create a blunt-ended PCR product. The end-polished PCR product is then intramolecularly ligated together and transformed into
To a microcentrifuge tube were added 0.5 pmol of template DNA, 2.5 μl of 10×mutagenesis buffers, 1 μl of 25 mM dNTP mix, 15 pmol of each primer, and ddH
|Mutagenesis Cycling Parameters|
|1||1||94° C.||4 min.|
|50° C.||2 min.|
|72° C.||2 min.|
|2||8||94° C.||1 min.|
|56° C.||2 min.|
|72° C.||1 min.|
|72° C.||5 min.|
|3||72° C.||5 min.|
Following amplification, the reaction tube was placed on ice for 2 min. to cool the reaction to <37° C. To the reaction tube were added 1 μl of the Dpn I restriction enzyme (10 U/μl) and 0.5 μl of cloned Pfu DNA polymerase (2.5 U/μl) followed by incubation at 37° C. for 30 min. The reaction was stopped by heating at 72° C. for 30 min. For ligating the product, to the reaction tube were added 100 μl of ddH
Double-strand pKK223-3 containing human SAH hydrolase (wild type) was purified from 50 ml of
Deletion and insertion mutations were also performed according to the manufacture's protocol using ExSite PCR-based Site-directed Mutagenesis Kit. Double mutations or combinations of mutation and deletion or insertion were carried out using mutated or deleted DNA as template for secondary mutation or deletion using either M13-based mutagenesis or PCR-based mutagenesis methods.
d. Identification of Substrate Trapping SAH Hydrolase
The cell-free extracts from colonies that inducibly overexpressed mutant SAH hydrolase proteins were chromatographed on a monoQ column (HR5/5) equipped with FPLC system. Proteins were eluted with a linear gradient of NaCl from 0 to 1 M in 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0 over 35 min. The major protein peak that eluted at the same or close retention time as that of the wild type SAH hydrolase was collected. An aliquot collected mutant SAH hydrolase (1-10 μg) was incubated with [
The reaction solution was filtered through a membrane of molecular weight cut-off at 30,000 by centrifugation. The filtrate was measured at 412 nm for Hcy formation (enzyme activity) and the [
The mutant hydrolases that show high radioactivity on the membrane and low O.D. at 412 nm of the filtrate relative to the wild type enzyme were selected as candidates for further characterization including determination of Km or Kd and binding energy (ΔG). Mutant SAH hydrolases with Km value lower than 10 μM toward SAH and kcat value lower than 0.1 per second were overexpressed in larger quantity (1-2 L of
The cell-free extract of IPTG-induced
b. Storage of the Purified SAH Hydrolase
The purified wild type and mutant SAH hydrolases were dialyzed against 5 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0 for 6 hours at 4° C. The protein was then frozen in liquid nitrogen and lyophilized under vacuum. The lyophilized protein was stored at −70° C. The protein was stable for at least 2 years. The purified protein can also be stored in liquid containing 20% of glycerol at −20° C. For wild type enzyme, addition of 5 mole excess of adenosine (Ado) to the 20% glycerol solution stabilizes the enzyme activity even better.
c. Assays for Enzyme Activity
The assay of SAH hydrolase activity in the hydrolytic direction was performed as described in Yuan et al.,
d. Assay for Binding Affinity (Kd)
For mutant enzyme that completely lacks activity, the binding constant (Kd) values were determined by an equilibrium dialysis technique using [
Preparation of Reagents
a. Preparation of fluorophore-labeled Ado and SAH Analogs
1) Method 1
Ado-5′-carboxylic acid (Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.) was derivatized with 9-(hydroxylmethyl)anthracene (HMA) (Fluka, Buchs, Switzerland). To 10 mg of Ado-5′-carboxylic acid dissolved in 100 ml of chloroform (10 min sonication) was added 50 mg 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HOBT) (Janssen Chimica, Beerse, Belgium). After evaporation to dryness under nitrogen, 300 mg of N-ethyl-N′-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride in 300 ml chloroform and 5 ml of triethylamine were added. The resulting solution was kept at 0° C. for 30 min. To the above reaction mixture was added 200 mg HMA in 100 ml of chloroform. The mixture was allowed to stand at room temperature for 10 min. and then evaporated to dryness under a stream of nitrogen. The residue obtained was dissolved in 10 ml of HPLC mobile phase (methanol-water mixture, 90:10, w/w). One ml of the above solution was injected into a semi-prepative column (Econosphere, C18, 7×300 mm, Alltech, Dearfield, Ill.). The column was eluted with an isocratic method. The flow rate was 2 ml/min. The peaks were monitored at UV260 nm and fluorescence at Ex-365 nm, Em-415 nm. The peaks with UV and fluorescence absorbance were collected as HMA-labeled Ado-5′-ester.
2) Method 2
Ado-5′caroboxylic acid and 4-bromomethyl-7-methoxycoumarin (Br-Mmc) (Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.) were dissolved in ethyl acetate in a molar ratio of 1:3. The reaction volume was 25 ml. After addition of 2 g of finely powdered K
3) Method 3
This method is depicted in FIG.
4) Method 4
Ado-Cys was dissolved in carbonate buffer, pH 9.0 in 1 mM concentration. Fluorescein isotiocyanate (FITC) (PcPierce, Rockford, Ill.) was dissolved in DMSO in 5 mM concentration, and diluted to 1 mM with carbonate buffer, pH 9.0. Equal volumes of Ado-Cys and FITC in carbonate buffer were mixed and incubated in room temperature for 1 our. The Ado-Cys-FITC conjugate was then isolated by HPLC using a C18 column (Econsphere, C18, Alltech, Dearfield, Ill.). The elution was monitored at UV 260 nm and fluorescence at Ex484 nm and Em520 nm. The mobile phases were water and methanol in a linear gradient from 0 to 80% of methanol in 35 min.
b. Coating Mutant SAH Hydrolase on Microtiter Well (96 Well Plate)
Mutant SAH hydrolase (F302S) was coated on flat-bottomed 96 well plate (Dynex Technologies, Chantilly, Va.). 200 μl of 20 μg/ml of F302S mutant hydrolase in 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.6. was added to each well. After incubation at 4° C. overnight, the plate was emptied by inversion. After blocking with 0.5% BSA, the plate was then washed three times with 10 mM PBS containing 0.1 NaCl and 0.05% of Tween 20. After inversion and tapping, the plate was stored at 4° C. before use.
c. Preparation of Standard Samples and Chemical Reagents
1) Construction of a Standard Hcy Curve
Human albumin (Fraction V powder, Sigma) was dissolved in PBS in a protein concentration equal to that of human plasma. To 10 ml of the albumin was added 4 ml of 1% tri-n-butylphosphine (TBP). The mixture was incubated at room temperature for 15 min. followed by gel filtration through a size exclusion column (Sephacryl-S100, 2×90 cm). The albumin protein concentration was normalized to human plasma concentration using protein concentrator (Bio-Rad). The protein concentration was determined by Bradford reagent (Bio-Rad). A series of known concentration of L-homocysteine and L-homocysteine were spiked into the TBP-treated human albumin in a final concentrations ranging from 0 to 50 μM. After incubation at 37° C. for 1 hour, the L-homocysteine spiked albumin and L-homocystine albumin were aliquoted in 70 μl/tube as standard samples, and stored at −20° C. before use.
2) Wild Type SAH Hydrolase Solution
The wild type SAH hydrolase (20 mU/50 μl) was dissolved in 50 mM phosphate buffer, Ph 7.2, containing 1 mM EDTA, 0.25 mM Ado and 1 mg/ml of BSA.
3) Tri-n-butylphosphine (TBP) Solution
Tri-n-btylphosphine (Sigma) was dissolved in dimethylformamide (DMF) to 1% concentration.
4) Fluorophore-labeled Ado-Cys Solution
Br-Mmc-labeled Ado-Cys or FITC-labeled Ado-Cys was dissolved in 50 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, in a concentration of 0.5 mM.
5) SAH Hydrolase Inhibitor Solution
Neplanocin A (natural product), an inhibitor of SAH hydrolase, and a substrate of adenosine deaminase, was dissolved in 50 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.2. The inhibitor solution (50 μM) was used in an enzyme to inhibitor ratio of 1:1.5.
6) Multi-enzyme Solution
Adenosine (0.2 U/μl), nucleoside phosphorylase (0.2 U/l) and xanthine oxidase (0.2 U/μl) were dissolved in 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.2. All the enzymes were from Sigma.
7) Washing Solution
The plate washing solution contains of 10 mM PBS, pH 7.2, 0.1 M NaCl, and 0.05% Tween 20.
a. Plasma Hcy Assay Procedure 1
1) Conversion of Hcy to SAH
To 50 μl of plasma sample in microcentrifuge tube or in uncoated 96-well plate was added 20 μl of 1% TBP and 50 μl of the wild type SAH hydrolase solution. After incubation at 25° C. for 15 min, 20 μl of the enzyme inhibitor solution was added to the reaction mixture, and incubated for 10 min. to inactivate SAH hydrolase.
2) Removal of Remaining Ado and Enzyme Inhibitor
To the solution in Step 1 was added 30 μl of the multi-enzyme solution, and incubated for 15 min at room temperature.
3) Trapping the Formed SAH onto the Mutant SAH Hydrolase
150 μl solution in Step 2 was transferred to a microtiter well pre-coated with mutant SAH hydrolase. After 30 min. incubation at room temperature, the solution was emptied by inversion.
The plate from Step 3 was washed three times with the washing solution followed by inversion and tapping.
5) Binding of Fluorophore-labeled Ado-Cys to the Mutant Enzyme
100 μl of the fluorophore-labeled Ado-Cys or fluorophore-labeled Ado-5′ ester was added to the microtiter well in Step 4. After 20 min. incubation at room temperature, the plate was washed three times with the washing solution.
6) Detection of the Mutant SAH Hydrolase-bound Fluorophore-labeled Ado-Cys
To the microtiter well from Step 5, 200 μl of 50 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, was added, and the plate was read for fluorescence using a plate reader (Molecular Devices, fmax). The plasma Hcy concentration was calculated from the standard curve constructed under the same conditions.
b. Alternative Hcy Assay
Alternatively, the Hcy assay can be performed by pre-coating SAH on microtiter well, and using fluorophore-labeled mutant SAH hydrolase for competition binding assay. The details are described as follows:
1) Pre-coating SAH on Microtiter Well
SAH was conjugated to polylysine by activate the carboxylic group of SAH with PCl
2) Fluorophore-labeled Mutant SAH Hydrolase
Mutant SAH hydrolase (e.g., F302S) was specifically fluorescence labels on Cys421, an non-essential cysteine residue which is located on the surface of the protein that is not involved in substrate binding and catalysis. Cys421 residue is readily accessible by thiol reactive molecules, and can be modified without effect the binding affinity of the enzyme. Thiol specific reactive probes such as 7-diethylamino-3(4′-maleimidylphenyl)-4-methylcoumarin (CPM) can specifically label protein thiols. Mutant SAH hydrolase (F302S) (0.5 mg/ml) in 50 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, was incubated with 2 mM of adenine to protect other thiols in the substrate binding site, followed by addition of CPM to final concentration of 50 μM. The reaction mixture was incubated at room temperature for 30 min. followed by gel filtration on a size exclusion column (Sephacryl S-300, 4.5 mm×60 cm) to remove adenine and excess CPM. The CPM-labeled F302S mutant SAH hydrolase (2 mg/ml) was kept in 50 mM phosphate buffer containing 20% glycerol at −20° C. The comparison of Km (SAH) and Kcat (SAH) for wild type and mutant F302S is shown below in Table 10.
|Comparison of kinetic constants between mutant and|
|wild type SAH hydrolases|
|Enzyme||Km (SAH)||Kcat (SAH)|
|wild type||7.9 μM||3.8 S|
|F302S||1.0 μM||0.1 S|
c. Plasma Hcy Assay Procedure 2
1) Conversion of Hcy to SAH
To 50 μl of plasma sample in microcentrifuge tube or in uncoated 96-well plate was added 20 μl of 1% TBP and 50 μl of the enzyme inhibitor solution was added to the reaction mixture, and incubated for 10 min. to inactivate SAH hydrolase.
2) Removal of Remaining Ado and Enzyme Inhibitor
To the solution in Step 1 was added 30 μl of the multi-enzyme solution, and incubated for 15 min. at room temperature.
3) Competition Binding of SAH to the Mutant SAH Hydrolase
One hundred μl of the solution from Step 2 was transferred to a microtiter well pre-coated with polylysine-SAH conjugate to which 150 μl of the fluorophore-labeled mutant SAH hydrolase was added. After incubation at room temperature for 30 min., the plate was inverted and tapped followed by three times of washing with the washing solution.
4) Detection of the Fluorophore-labeled Mutant SAH Hydrolase Bound to the Microtiter Well
To the plate from Step 3 was added 200 μl of 10 nM PBS, and the plate was read by a plate reader (Molecular Devices, fmax) at Ex390 nm and Em460 nm. The plasma concentration of Hcy was calculated from the standard curve constructed under the same conditions with the standard samples.
Since modifications will be apparent to those of skill in this art, it is intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.