Corynebactin and enterobactin: Related siderophores of opposite chirality

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja016651s

Most species of bacteria employ siderophores to acquire iron. The chirality of the ferric siderophore complex plays an important role in cell recognition, uptake, and utilization. Corynebactin, isolated from Gram-positive bacteria, is structurally similar

Full text of DOI:10.1021/ja016651s

Published on Web 02/20/2002
Corynebactin and Enterobactin: Related Siderophores of Opposite Chirality
Martin E. Bluhm, Sanggoo S. Kim, Emily A. Dertz, and Kenneth N. Raymond*
Department of Chemistry, UniVersity of California, Berkeley, California 94720-1460
Received July 18, 2001
The major role of siderophores in microbial iron transport and
bacterial pathogenicity is now well established.1 These low mo-
lecular weight chelators are expressed to overcome the insolubility
of Fe3+ at pH 7 (∼10-18 M).2 The ferric complexes enter the
bacterial cell via specific receptor proteins on the cell membrane.
Once incorporated, iron is released via reduction, hydrolysis, or
ligand-exchange mechanisms.3 Enterobactin (1) is produced by both
Gram-negative4a,b and Gram-positive4c bacteria, and has an ex-
traordinarily high stability (Kf ) 1049)5 with metal coordination at
neutral pH accomplished through the six catecholate oxygens.6 The
Figure 1. Siderophores enterobactin (1) and corynebactin (2). The synthetic
analogue 7 is a hybrid, composed of the serine trilactone connected to the
side chain of corynebactin. The triserine trilactone trihydrochloride (5) was
used for the preparation of 7.
chirality of the iron center in enterobactin is ∆,6 and this chirality,
while not essential for receptor recognition and outer membrane
transport,7 is essential for iron utilization; the mirror image enantio-
enterobactin complex does not promote microbial growth.8 Recently
a closely related siderophore, corynebactin (2), was found to be
produced by the Gram-positive Corynebacterium glutamicum.9 Both
siderophores are based on a trilactone backbone, consisting of
L-serine units in enterobactin and L-threonine units in corynebactin.
Each corynebactin side chain also contains one glycine spacer.
Remarkably, the iron complexes of these two closely related
siderophores have opposite chirality!
Scheme 1. Synthesis of serine corynebactin (7)
The synthetic analogue 7, which contains the enterobactin
triserine trilactone backbone and the corynebactin side chain, was
synthesized to investigate the effect of this spacer and the
methylation of the trilactone ring. This paper reports the relative
stereochemistry of the ferric complexes of 1, 2, and 7 (Figure 1).
The preparation of the serine trilactone has been described
previously in the high-yield synthesis of enterobactin.10 The
fluorination of BnGLYCAM (3) to yield 2,3-bis(benzyloxy)-
glycinylfluoride benzoylamide (4) was based upon well-established
peptide syntheses.11,12 The trilactone 5 was then combined with 4
to give the hexabenzyl-protected ligand 6.13 Hydrogenation of 6
with a Pd/C catalyst under pressure afforded the serine corynebactin
ligand 7 in quantitative yield14 (Scheme 1).
(Figure 2). Two characteristic ferric catechol transitions are observed
in the visible region at 435 nm and between 520 and 540 nm. These
bands arise from ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) transitions
and are therefore sensitive to the chirality at the metal center18
(Table 1).
The ferric complexes of 1, 2, and 7 were prepared from the
solutions of the free ligands in water buffered at pH ) 7 together
with equivalent amounts of iron trichloride. All samples were
purified with HPLC to remove contaminants.15 ESI- mass spec-
trometry displayed the molecular ion signals for these negatively
charged ferric complexes.16 Circular dichroism (CD) measurements
were obtained for the iron(III) complexes of both corynebactin and
serine-corynebactin.17 In contrast to the ∆-iron(III)-enterobactin
complex, the ferric corynebactin complex has a Λ conformation.
The ferric serine analogue 7, which can be considered a hybrid of
enterobactin and corynebactin, appears to be a mixture of ∆- and
Λ-isomers.
Molecular modeling was used to probe the effect of both the
addition of the glycine spacer and also the methylation of the
trilactone backbone.19 The lowest-energy conformation for both the
ferric corynebactin and ferric serine-corynebactin complexes is the
Λ-isomer, while the lowest-energy conformation of the ferric
enterobactin complex is the ∆-isomer. The effect of the glycine
spacer is highlighted by a comparison of serine-corynebactin to
enterobactin. The longer side chains of serine-corynebactin favor
the Λ conformation, while the shorter side chains of enterobactin
favor the ∆-isomer. A comparison of corynebactin to serine-
corynebactin shows that methylation of the trilactone backbone does
not change the metal center chirality of the lowest-energy con-
former. However, methylation of the trilactone does influence the
chirality of higher-energy conformers. Therefore, both effects are
important in determining the overall stability of the ferric complex.
In summary, the chirality of the ferric complexes of corynebactin
All ferric complexes of 1, 2, and 7 reveal intense CD bands at
270 nm corresponding to the carbonyl amide in the ligand. The
bands of ferric corynebactin and serine-corynebactin (350 nm) and
ferric enterobactin (330 nm) are due to the chiral trilactone scaffold
9
2436 VOL. 124, NO. 11, 2002 J. AM. CHEM. SOC.
10.1021/ja016651s CCC: $22.00 © 2002 American Chemical Society

C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 2001, 196, 147.
(5) (a) Loomis, L. D.; Raymond, K. N. Inorg. Chem. 1991, 30, 906. (b) Harris,
W. R.; Carrano, C. J.; Raymond, K. N. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1979, 101,
2213.
(6) (a) Karpishin, T. B.; Dewey, T. M.; Raymond, K. N. J. Am. Chem. Soc.
1993, 115, 1842. (b) Stack, D. T. P.; Hou, Z.; Raymond, K. N. J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 6466.
(7) Sprencel, C.; Cao, Z.; Qi, Z.; Scott, D. C.; Montague, M. A.; Ivanoff, N.;
Xu, J.; Raymond, K. N.; Newton, S. M. C.; Klebba, P. E. J. Bacteriol.
2000, 182, 5359.
(8) Nielands, J. B.; Erikson, T. J.; Rastetter, W. H. J. Biol. Chem. 1981, 256,
3831.
(9) (a) Budzikiewicz, H.; Bo¨ssenkamp, A.; Taraz, K.; Pandey, A.; Meyer,
J.-M. Z. Naturforsch., C: Biosci. 1997, 52, 551. (b) The biosynthesis of
corynebactin (improperly renamed) has been reported: May, J. J.;
Wendrich, T. M.; Marahiel, M. A. J. Biol. Chem. 2001, 276, 7209.
(10) Meyer, M.; Telford, J. R.; Cohen, S. M.; White, D. J.; Xu, J.; Raymond,
K. N. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 10093.
(11) (a) Olah, G. A.; Nojima, M.; Kerekes, I. Synthesis 1973, 487-488. (b)
Carpino, L. A.; Sadat-Aalaee, D.; Chao, H. G.; DeSelms, R. H. J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 1990, 112, 9651-9652. (c) Carpino, L. A.; Beyermann, M.;
Wenschuh, H.; Bienert, M. Acc. Chem. Res. 1996, 29, 268-274.
(12) 3: 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ 7.72-7.75 (m, 1H, NH), 7.14-7.47 (m, 13H,
Har), 5.18 (s, 2H, CH2), 5.14 (s, 2H, CH2), 4.06 (d, 2H, glycine CH2).
EI+-MS m/z 391 (M+, 20). Anal. Calcd (Found) for 3 C, 70.58 (70.90);
H, 5.41 (5.37); N 3.58 (3.22). 4: 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ 4.17 (dd, 2H, CH2),
5.17 (d, 4H, CH2), 7.13-7.71 (m, 13H, Har), 8.52 (t, 1H, NH). 19F NMR
(CDCl3) δ -16 (s). EI+-MS m/z 393 (M+, 80).
Figure 2. Circular dichroism spectra of ferric enterobactin, ferric coryne-
bactin, and ferric serine-corynebactin in water. T ) 22 °C.
Table 1. Circular Dichroism Results of Ferric Complexes
ferric complex
diastereomer
λmax [nm]
∆ꢀ [M-1 cm-1
]
(13) 6: UV-vis λ [nm] ) 215, 268, 444 (charge-transfer bands); IR ν ) 1641
(amide CO), 1750 (ester CO). 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ 3.69-3.90 (ddd, J )
5, 15, 23 Hz, 6H, CH2), 4.09 (dd, J ) 3, 11 Hz, 3H, gly-CH2), 4.82 (d,
J ) 8 Hz, 3H, CH), 4.90 (dd, J ) 3, 11 Hz, 3H, gly-CH2), 5.00-5.17 (m,
12H, benzyl-CH2), 7.09-7.72 (m, 39H, Har), 8.30 (d, J ) 8 Hz, 3H, NH),
8.64 (t, J ) 5 Hz, 3H, NH). 13C NMR (CDCl3) δ 43.4, 64.9, 71.2, 117.5,
123.0, 124.5, 126.5, 127.7, 128.3, 128.5, 128.6, 128.7, 129.1, 136.3, 147.3,
152.0, 165.7 (CO), 168.8 (CO), 169.7 (CO). FAB+-LR-MS: m/z 1381
(M+, 80), 1290 (M+ - benzyl, 5). FAB+-HR-MS m/z 1381.495410 (calcd),
found 1381.498135 for C78H73N6O18, δ ) 2.7 mDa. Anal. Calcd (Found)
for 6: C 67.82 (67.87), H 5.25 (5.23), N 6.08 (5.70); mp ) 78 °C.
(14) 7: 1H NMR (d6-acetone) δ 4.11 (s, 6H, gly-CH2), 4.32 (d, J ) 11 Hz,
3H, CH2), 4.61 (d, J ) 11 Hz, 3H, CH2), 4.78 (s, 3H, CH), 6.68 (t, J )
8 Hz, 3H, Har), 6.93 (d, J ) 8 Hz, 3H, Har), 7.27 (d, J ) 8 Hz, 3H, Har),
7.95 (s, br, NH), 8.45 (s, br, NH). 13C NMR (d6-acetone) δ 42.9, 52.9,
65.1, 114.9, 117.6, 118.8, 119.1, 146.6, 149.9, 169.1 (CO), 169.4 (CO),
171.0 (CO). FAB+-LR-MS m/z 841 (M+, 85). FAB+-HR-MS m/z
840.210375 (calcd), found: 840.208609 for C36H36N6O18, δ ) 1.8 mDa;
mp ) 130 °C.
(15) Ligands (1, 2, and 7) were dissolved in a mixture of 2 mL water and 3
mL of methanol. The initial concentration of the complex was 0.5 mM.
Ferric ion dissolved in 10 mM HCl was added to the solution to make a
1:1 complex. A color change was observed, and the solution was
centrifuged for 10 min (14000 rpm Eppendorf) to remove solid precipitate.
Impurities were removed by preparative HPLC eluting with H2O:MeOH
(35:65), with a pressure of approximately 1000 psi and a flow rate of 10
mL/min. The intensity of the eluent was measured at 254 nm. The colored
fraction of each ligand was collected.
enterobactin (1)
corynebactin (2)
serine-corynebactin (7)
∆
553
545
520
-2.2
+1.7
+0.6
Λ
Λ (slight)
and a new serine trilactone analogue (7) have been determined.
While the chirality of ferric enterobactin is ∆, ferric corynebactin
(2) is Λ. The hybrid analogue 7 is a mixture of ∆- and Λ-isomers.
It will be interesting to see how the microbial transport properties
respond to these different chiralities.
Acknowledgment. This work was supported by a Feodor Lynen
grant for M.B. from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and
Grant AI11744 from the National Institutes of Health. We thank
Jasco for help in obtaining the circular dichroism spectra and Dr.
Benjamin P. Hay (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) for the
modeling calculations.
Supporting Information Available: Detailed synthetic procedures
for 1, 2, and 7 and intermediates (PDF). This material is available at
http://pubs.acs.org.
(16) Ferric enterobactin: ESI--HR-MS m/z 721.047857 (calcd), found 721.048500
for C30H23N3O15Fe [M - H]-, δ ) 0.6 mDa, ferric corynebactin: ESI--
HR-MS m/z 934.159198 (calcd), found 934.160100 for C39H38N6O18Fe
[M - H]-, δ ) 0.9 mDa, ferric serine corynebactin: ESI--HR-MS m/z
892.112248 (calcd), found 892.112100 for C36H32N6O18Fe [M - H]-, δ
) 0.1 mDa.
(17) The pure fraction collected from HPLC was measured by UV-vis
spectrophotometry (Cary 300 Scan). The concentrations of the ferric
compounds were approximately 0.066 mM (ꢀ ) 15000 M-1 cm-1 at 330
nm). The CD spectra of the complexes were measured using a Jasco J-810
spectrometer.
References
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(18) Karpishin, T. B.; Gebhard, M. S.; Solomon, E. L.; Raymond, K. N. J.
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(19) Bluhm, M. E.; Hay, B. P.; Kim, S. S.; Dertz, E. A.; Raymond, K. N.
Manuscript submitted for publication.
(4) (a) O’Brien, I. G.; Gibson, F. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1970, 215, 393. (b)
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