Table 1: Inhibition constants for DAz-1 2 and compounds 3–8 with
oxidation of Cys403 would manifest itself as a loss of catalytic
activity. We evaluated this proposal in steady-state assays
using the fluorogenic substrate, 4-methylumbelliferyl phos-
phate (4-MUP). As shown in Figure 3a, the YopH activity
was detected as fluorescence signal owing to dephosphoryla-
YopH.[a]
Entry
Ki [mm]
DAz-1 2
>12000
162.1
2710
3
4
5
6
7
8
47.1
2.9
21.4[b]
113.3[b]
[a] Ki values represent the average of at least three independent
experiments and the standard deviation was ꢀ25%. [b] Compounds
exhibited aggregation-based inhibition.
biphenyl derivative 6 conferred a 4135-fold increase in the
binding affinity and was the most potent inhibitor of the series
(Ki = 2.9 mm). Finally, the diphenyl ether in 7 and the benzyl
phenyl ether in 8 showed Ki values in the mid-micromolar
range.
In many cases, protein aggregation is a common mecha-
nism of promiscuous chemical inhibitors.[23] The kinetic assays
were therefore repeated with 0.02% Triton-X 100 detergent.
Inhibition by 2–6 was found to be independent of the enzyme
and detergent concentration. By contrast, compounds 7 and 8
both demonstrated a > 15-fold decrease in potency when
detergent was present in the assay buffer. These data are
consistent with aggregation-based inhibition of YopH by 7
and 8. Promiscuous inhibition has been observed previously
in scaffolds that contain the diphenyl ether or benzyl phenyl
ether functional groups.[23,24]
Compounds 3–8 were then tested for detecting sulfenic
acid modification of YopH, and compared against DAz-1. For
these experiments, the PTP was oxidized and then incubated
for 15 min with each probe. The bioorthogonally labeled
protein was detected through reaction of the azido group with
phosphine-biotin (p-biotin) through the Staudinger liga-
tion.[25] The products of these reactions were resolved by
SDS-PAGE and analyzed by streptavidin-HRP western blot.
Figure 4a shows that the majority of compounds exhibited an
increase in labeling relative to DAz-1.[26] The most significant
increase in YopH sulfenic acid detection was observed for 3,
5, and 6. Notably, probe 6 exhibited the most potent Ki value
and also showed the most robust detection of oxidized YopH.
Naphthalene derivative 5, which displayed the second highest
binding activity, also demonstrated enhanced sulfenic acid
detection. By contrast, compounds 4, 7, and 8 showed
moderate to no reaction with the oxidized protein. The
apparent lack of reactivity for compounds 7 and 8 is most
likely due to the formation of promiscuous aggregates.
Additional control experiments also verified that chemical
reduction of YopH or pretreatment of the oxidized protein
with dimedone inhibited incorporation of the azido probe, as
expected (see Figure S4 in the Supporting Information).
Our next goal was to assess the selectivity of probes 5 and
6, relative to DAz-1, for detecting sulfenic acid modifications
in non-PTP proteins. For this purpose, we used the metabolic
Figure 3. Analysis of YopH PTP oxidation by H2O2. a) YopH was
inactivated by the addition of H2O2 in the absence of a reducing agent.
H2O2-inactivated YopH could be reactivated through DTT treatment.
Dimedone (1) forms a covalent adduct with the sulfenic acid form of
YopH, which prevents reactivation of YopH by DTT. b) The observed
rate of YopH inactivation plotted as a function of the H2O2 concen-
tration. The second-order rate constant for oxidation of Cys403 by
H2O2 was about 10mÀ1 sÀ1
.
tion of 4-MUP. Exposure to 100 equivalents of H2O2 for 1 h
abolished the phosphatase activity and subsequent addition of
dithiothreitol (DTT) resulted in substantial restoration of the
PTP function. These results are indicative of reversible
modification of Cys403 with sulfenic acid. To verify the
identity of the modification at the active-site Cys, oxidized
YopH was incubated with dimedone, which reacts with
sulfenic acids to form a covalent adduct that is nonreducible
by thiols. As expected, dimedone treatment inhibited the PTP
activity, which could not be restored by incubation with DTT.
Mass spectrometry analysis also confirmed formation of the
adduct in a stoichiometry of 1:1 (see Figure S1 in the
Supporting Information). Having established that YopH is
susceptible to oxidation, we determined the second-order rate
constant for the reaction of Cys403 with H2O2 to be about
10mÀ1 sÀ1, consistent with values obtained for other PTPs
(Figure 3b).[9]
Next, we examined the ability of compounds 3–8, and the
parent compound DAz-1, to reversibly inhibit activity of
YopH. To this end, the dissociation constants (Ki) for
inhibition were determined by conducting the assays under
reducing conditions, in the absence of H2O2. The resulting
data fit well to a simple model of competitive inhibition[21] and
the Ki values are summarized in Table 1. No significant
inhibition by DAz-1 was observed at concentrations up to
12 mm,[22] consistent with the absence of an active-site-
targeted binding module. The phenyl compound 3 was
moderately active, with a 130-fold increase in the binding
affinity relative to DAz-1. By contrast, the benzyl analogue 4
exhibited weak binding. The naphthalene analogue 5 showed
a 255-fold increase in the affinity relative to DAz-1. The
enzyme
glyceraldehyde
3-phosphate
dehydrogenase
(GAPDH). This protein forms a sulfenic acid modification
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 4423 –4427
ꢀ 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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