Structural basis of the inhibition of GH1 β-glucosidases by multivalent pyrrolidine iminosugars

10 pags., 6 figs., 1 tab.The synthesis of multivalent pyrrolidine iminosugars via CuAAC click reaction between different pyrrolidine-azide derivatives and tri- or hexavalent alkynyl scaffolds is reported. The new multimeric compounds, together with the monomeric reference, were evaluated as inhibitors against two homologous GH1 β-glucosidases (BglA and BglB from Paenibacillus polymyxa). The multivalent inhibitors containing an aromatic moiety in the linker between the pyrrolidine and the scaffold inhibited the octameric BglA (µM range) but did not show affinity against the monomeric BglB, despite the similarity between the active site of both enzymes. A modest multivalent effect (rp/n = 12) was detected for the hexavalent inhibitor 12. Structural analysis of the complexes between the monomeric and the trimeric iminosugar inhibitors (4 and 10) and BglA showed the insertion of the inhibitors at the active site of BglA, confirming a competitive mode of inhibition as indicated by enzyme kinetics. Additionally, structural comparison of the BglA/4 complex with the reported BglB/2F-glucose complex illustrates the key determinants responsible for the inhibitory effect and explains the reasons of the inhibition of BglA and the no inhibition of BglB. Potential inhibition of other β-glucosidases with therapeutic relevance is discussed under the light of these observations.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economyand Competitiveness (CTQ2016-77270-R, BIO2016-76601-C3-3-R,AGL2016-75245-R), the Junta de Andalucía (FQM-345), MIUR-Italy(“Progetto Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018-2022” allocated toDepartment of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”) and Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze (grant n°. 2016/0845). M. Martínez-Bailén acknowledges theSpanish government for a FPU fellowship. We thank CITIUS-Universityof Seville (MS and NMR facilities) and the Synchrotron RadiationSource at Alba (Barcelona, Spain) for assistance at BL13-XALOCbeamlin