Publications

• Nucleoside selectivity of Aspergillus fumigatus nucleoside-diphosphate kinase.

  Nguyen S., Jovcevski B., Pukala T.L., Bruning J.B.

  Aspergillus fumigatus infections are rising at a disconcerting rate in tandem with antifungal resistance rates. Efforts to develop novel antifungals have been hindered by the limited knowledge of fundamental biological and structural mechanisms of A. fumigatus propagation. Biosynthesis of NTPs, th ... >> More

  Aspergillus fumigatus infections are rising at a disconcerting rate in tandem with antifungal resistance rates. Efforts to develop novel antifungals have been hindered by the limited knowledge of fundamental biological and structural mechanisms of A. fumigatus propagation. Biosynthesis of NTPs, the building blocks of DNA and RNA, is catalysed by NDK. An essential enzyme in A. fumigatus, NDK poses as an attractive target for novel antifungals. NDK exhibits broad substrate specificity across species, using both purines and pyrimidines, but the selectivity of such nucleosides in A. fumigatus NDK is unknown, impeding structure-guided inhibitor design. Structures of NDK in unbound- and NDP-bound states were solved, and NDK activity was assessed in the presence of various NTP substrates. We present the first instance of a unique substrate binding mode adopted by CDP and TDP specific to A. fumigatus NDK that illuminates the structural determinants of selectivity. Analysis of the oligomeric state reveals that A. fumigatus NDK adopts a hexameric assembly in both unbound- and NDP-bound states, contrary to previous reports suggesting it is tetrameric. Kinetic analysis revealed that ATP exhibited the greatest turnover rate (321 ± 33.0 s^-1 ), specificity constant (626 ± 110.0 mm^-1 ·s^-1 ) and binding free energy change (-37.0 ± 3.5 kcal·mol^-1 ). Comparatively, cytidine nucleosides displayed the slowest turnover rate (53.1 ± 3.7 s^-1 ) and lowest specificity constant (40.2 ± 4.4 mm^-1 ·s^-1 ). We conclude that NDK exhibits nucleoside selectivity whereby adenine nucleosides are used preferentially compared to cytidine nucleosides, and these insights can be exploited to guide drug design. ENZYMES: Nucleoside-diphosphate kinase (EC 2.7.4.6). DATABASE: Structural data are available in the PDB database under the accession numbers: Unbound-NDK (6XP4), ADP-NDK (6XP7), GDP-NDK (6XPS), IDP-NDK (6XPU), UDP-NDK (6XPT), CDP-NDK (6XPW), TDP-NDK (6XPV). << Less

  FEBS J 288:2398-2417(2021) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

  This publication is cited by 4 other entries.

• Saccharomyces cerevisiae nucleoside-diphosphate kinase: purification, characterization, and substrate specificity.

  Jong A.Y., Ma J.J.

  Nucleoside-diphosphate kinase is an enzyme which catalyzes the phosphorylation of nucleoside diphosphates into the corresponding triphosphates for nucleic acid biosynthesis. In this communication, we describe the purification and characterization of nucleoside-diphosphate kinase from yeast. The pu ... >> More

  Nucleoside-diphosphate kinase is an enzyme which catalyzes the phosphorylation of nucleoside diphosphates into the corresponding triphosphates for nucleic acid biosynthesis. In this communication, we describe the purification and characterization of nucleoside-diphosphate kinase from yeast. The purified protein appears to be homogeneous by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel analysis, with a molecular weight of about 17,000-18,000. An estimate from the fast protein liquid chromatography Superose 12 gel filtration shows a native molecular weight of about 68,000 to 70,000. The results suggest that yeast nucleoside-diphosphate kinase is composed of four subunits. Substrate specificity studies show that the relative activity of nucleoside diphosphates (NDP) as phosphate acceptors is in the order of dTDP greater than CDP greater than UDP greater than dUDP greater than GDP greater than or equal to dGDP greater than dCDP greater than dADP greater than ADP; and the relative activity of triphosphate donors is in the order of UTP greater than dTTP greater than CTP greater than dCTP greater than dATP greater than ATP greater than or equal to dGTP greater than GTP. The Km and Vm of dTDP, dGDP, dCDP, dUDP, CDP, and UDP have been determined. The rate constant studies indicate that the purified NDP kinase prefers using, to a slight extent, dTDP (approximately 800 min-1) as the substrate rather than other tested deoxyribo- and ribonucleotides (350-450 min-1). The broad substrate specificity and kinetic data suggest that the enzyme is involved in both DNA and RNA metabolism. << Less

  Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 291:241-246(1991) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

  This publication is cited by 9 other entries.