Deciphering the Chemical Basis of Fluorescence of a Selenium-Labeled Uracil Probe when Bound at the Bacterial Ribosomal A-Site

We unveil in this work the main factors that govern the turn-on/off fluorescence of a Se-modified uracil probe at the ribosomal RNA A-site. Whereas the constraint into an “in-plane” conformation of the two rings of the fluorophore is the main driver for the observed turn-on fluorescence emission in the presence of the antibiotic paromomycin, the electrostatics of the environment plays a minor role during the emission process. Our computational strategy clearly indicates that, in the absence of paromomycin, the probe prefers conformations that show a dark S1 electronic state with participation of nπ* electronic transition contributions between the selenium atom and the π-system of the uracil moiety

Bases moleculares de la selectividad de ligandos por receptores de melatonina

La hormona melatonina (MT), o N-acetil-5-metoxitriptamina, secretada por la glándula pineal, es responsable de la regulación del sueño y el ritmo circadiano a través de la modulación del núcleo supraquiasmático, entre otras funciones. MT actúa sobre 2 receptores diferentes, MT1 (o MT1A) y MT2 (o MT1B), que funcionan acoplados a proteínas G (GPCR). La propia melatonina y otros agonistas de los receptores MT pueden ser usadas para marcar los ritmos circadianos, facilitar el sueño o ejercer un efecto en los osciladores periféricos. Por otro lado, los antagonistas de estos receptores se pueden utilizar para mejorar nuestra comprensión del papel de la MT en el organismo. Sin embargo, los trabajos de diseño molecular basados en la estructura se ven obstaculizados por la ausencia de un modelo tridimensional (3D) experimental de los receptores MT1 o MT2. Los modelos construidos por técnicas de homología ayudan pero tanto el modo real de unión como el mecanismo de activación del receptor siguen estando definidos de forma imprecisa. En este trabajo, hemos utilizado las estructuras 3D recientemente publicadas de los receptores humanos 5-HT1B and 5-HT2B de serotonina (5HT) para construir modelos 3D de los receptores MT1 y MT2 humanos que sirven para explicar una serie de resultados experimentales, incluyendo los provenientes de estudios de mutagénesis dirigida y de selectividad de unión al receptor MT2 de una serie de ligandos sintéticos publicados en la literatura. Nuestros modelos también explican la conservación evolutiva de ciertos aminoácidos clave en toda la familia de receptores MT y destacan las regiones del bolsillo de unión que pueden ser explotadas para conseguir perfiles distintos de selectividad entre los receptores de MT y 5H

Bases moleculares de la selectividad de ligandos por receptores de melatonina

La hormona melatonina (MT), o N-acetil-5-metoxitriptamina, secretada por la glándula pineal, es responsable de la regulación del sueño y el ritmo circadiano a través de la modulación del núcleo supraquiasmático, entre otras funciones. MT actúa sobre 2 receptores diferentes, MT1 (o MT1A) y MT2 (o MT1B), que funcionan acoplados a proteínas G (GPCR). La propia melatonina y otros agonistas de los receptores MT pueden ser usadas para marcar los ritmos circadianos, facilitar el sueño o ejercer un efecto en los osciladores periféricos. Por otro lado, los antagonistas de estos receptores se pueden utilizar para mejorar nuestra comprensión del papel de la MT en el organismo. Sin embargo, los trabajos de diseño molecular basados en la estructura se ven obstaculizados por la ausencia de un modelo tridimensional (3D) experimental de los receptores MT1 o MT2. Los modelos construidos por técnicas de homología ayudan pero tanto el modo real de unión como el mecanismo de activación del receptor siguen estando definidos de forma imprecisa. En este trabajo, hemos utilizado las estructuras 3D recientemente publicadas de los receptores humanos 5-HT1B and 5-HT2B de serotonina (5HT) para construir modelos 3D de los receptores MT1 y MT2 humanos que sirven para explicar una serie de resultados experimentales, incluyendo los provenientes de estudios de mutagénesis dirigida y de selectividad de unión al receptor MT2 de una serie de ligandos sintéticos publicados en la literatura. Nuestros modelos también explican la conservación evolutiva de ciertos aminoácidos clave en toda la familia de receptores MT y destacan las regiones del bolsillo de unión que pueden ser explotadas para conseguir perfiles distintos de selectividad entre los receptores de MT y 5H

Pyrrolopyrimidine vs imidazole-phenyl-thiazole scaffolds in nonpeptidic dimerization inhibitors of leishmania infantum trypanothione reductase

Disruption of protein-protein interactions of essential oligomeric enzymes by small molecules represents a significant challenge. We recently reported some linear and cyclic peptides derived from an α-helical region present in the homodimeric interface of Leishmania infantum trypanothione reductase (Li-TryR) that showed potent effects on both dimerization and redox activity of this essential enzyme. Here, we describe our first steps toward the design of nonpeptidic small-molecule Li-TryR dimerization disruptors using a proteomimetic approach. The pyrrolopyrimidine and the 5-6-5 imidazole-phenyl-thiazole α-helix-mimetic scaffolds were suitably decorated with substituents that could mimic three key residues (K, Q, and I) of the linear peptide prototype (PKIIQSVGIS-Nle-K-Nle). Extensive optimization of previously described synthetic methodologies was required. A library of 15 compounds bearing different hydrophobic alkyl and aromatic substituents was synthesized. The imidazole-phenyl-thiazole-based analogues outperformed the pyrrolopyrimidine-based derivatives in both inhibiting the enzyme and killing extracellular and intracellular parasites in cell culture. The most active imidazole-phenyl-thiazole compounds 3e and 3f inhibit Li-TryR and prevent growth of the parasites at low micromolar concentrations similar to those required by the peptide prototype. The intrinsic fluorescence of these compounds inside the parasites visually demonstrates their good permeability in comparison with previous peptide-based Li-TryR dimerization disruptors.We thank the Spanish Government (MINECO/FEDER Projects SAF2015-64629-C2, BFU2017-90030-P), the Comunidad de Madrid (BIPEDD-2-CM ref S-2010/BMD-2457), and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientıfí cas (CSIC Project 201980E028) for financial support. We thank staff from ALBA Synchrotron (Barcelona, Spain) for support during data collection.Peer Reviewe

Structural Determinants of the Dictyostatin Chemotype for Tubulin Binding Affinity and Antitumor Activity Against Taxane- and Epothilone-Resistant Cancer Cells

13 p.-5 fig.-2 tab.-1 graph.abst.A combined biochemical, structural, and cell biology characterization of dictyostatin is described, which enables an improved understanding of the structural determinants responsible for the high-affinity binding of this anticancer agent to the taxane site in microtubules (MTs). The study reveals that this macrolide is highly optimized for MT binding and that only a few of the structural modifications featured in a library of synthetic analogues resulted in small gains in binding affinity. The high efficiency of the dictyostatin chemotype in overcoming various kinds of clinically relevant resistance mechanisms highlights its potential for therapeutic development for the treatment of drug-resistant tumors. A structural explanation is advanced to account for the synergy observed between dictyostatin and taxanes on the basis of their differential effects on the MT lattice. The X-ray crystal structure of a tubulin–dictyostatin complex and additional molecular modeling have allowed the rationalization of the structure–activity relationships for a set of synthetic dictyostatin analogues, including the highly active hybrid 12 with discodermolide. Altogether, the work reported here is anticipated to facilitate the improved design and synthesis of more efficacious dictyostatin analogues and hybrids with other MT-stabilizing agents.This work was supported in part by grants BIO2013-42984-R (J.F.D.) and SAF2012-39760-C02-02 (F.G.) from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, grant S2010/BMD-2457 BIPEDD2 from Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (F.G. and J.F.D.), and the Swiss National Science Foundation grants 310030B_138659 and 31003A_166608 (M.O.S.). The authors acknowledge networking contribution by the COST Action CM1407 “Challenging organic syntheses inspired by nature—from natural products chemistry to drug discovery” and the COST action CM1470. I.P. thanks the EPSRC and AstraZeneca for funding, Dr. John Leonard (AstraZeneca) for useful discussions, Dr. Stuart Mickel (Novartis) for the provision of chemicals, and the EPSRC UK National Mass Spectrometry Facility at Swansea University for mass spectra

Identification of 1,2,3-triazolium salt-based inhibitors of Leishmania infantum trypanothione disulfide reductase with enhanced antileishmanial potency in cellulo and increased selectivity

N-methylation of the triazole moiety present in our recently described triazole-phenyl-thiazole dimerization disruptors of Leishmania infantum trypanothione disulfide reductase (LiTryR) led to a new class of potent in- hibitors that target different binding sites on this enzyme. Subtle structural changes among representative library members modified their mechanism of action, switching from models of classical competitive inhibition to time- dependent mixed noncompetitive inhibition. X-ray crystallography and molecular modeling results provided a rationale for this distinct behavior. The remarkable potency and selectivity improvements, particularly against intracellular amastigotes, of the LiTryR dimerization disruptors 4c and 4d reveal that they could be exploited as leishmanicidal agents. Of note, L. infantum promastigotes treated with 4c significantly reduced their low- molecular-weight thiol content, thus providing additional evidence that LiTryR is the main target of this novel compound.This work has been financially supported by the Spanish MICINN (Projects PID2019-104070RB-C21, PID2019-104070RB-C22 and PID2020-115331 GB-I00), the Spanish Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC, Projects CSIC-PIE-201980E100 and CSIC-PIE-201980E028), and the Comunidad de Madrid (PLATESA2-CM ref. S-2018/BAA-4370). The Spanish MEC is also acknowledged for FPU grants to A. R. and to J.C.G. P.A.S.M. thanks to the Division of Physio- logical Chemistry and the Otto-Loewi Research Center of the Medical University of Graz for their support with the scienfic cluster where the calculations contained in this work were run. We thank Ricardo Lau- reano-Rodríguez, Juan Antonio Rodríguez-Gutierrez, and Laura Lagar- tera for technical assistance with SPR experiments.Peer reviewe

Artificial intelligence within the interplay between natural and artificial computation:Advances in data science, trends and applications

Artificial intelligence and all its supporting tools, e.g. machine and deep learning in computational intelligence-based systems, are rebuilding our society (economy, education, life-style, etc.) and promising a new era for the social welfare state. In this paper we summarize recent advances in data science and artificial intelligence within the interplay between natural and artificial computation. A review of recent works published in the latter field and the state the art are summarized in a comprehensive and self-contained way to provide a baseline framework for the international community in artificial intelligence. Moreover, this paper aims to provide a complete analysis and some relevant discussions of the current trends and insights within several theoretical and application fields covered in the essay, from theoretical models in artificial intelligence and machine learning to the most prospective applications in robotics, neuroscience, brain computer interfaces, medicine and society, in general.BMS - Pfizer(U01 AG024904). Spanish Ministry of Science, projects: TIN2017-85827-P, RTI2018-098913-B-I00, PSI2015-65848-R, PGC2018-098813-B-C31, PGC2018-098813-B-C32, RTI2018-101114-B-I, TIN2017-90135-R, RTI2018-098743-B-I00 and RTI2018-094645-B-I00; the FPU program (FPU15/06512, FPU17/04154) and Juan de la Cierva (FJCI-2017–33022). Autonomous Government of Andalusia (Spain) projects: UMA18-FEDERJA-084. Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria of Galicia: ED431C2017/12, accreditation 2016–2019, ED431G/08, ED431C2018/29, Comunidad de Madrid, Y2018/EMT-5062 and grant ED431F2018/02. PPMI – a public – private partnership – is funded by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and funding partners, including Abbott, Biogen Idec, F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., GE Healthcare, Genentech and Pfizer Inc

Genome-wide associations for birth weight and correlations with adult disease

Birth weight (BW) has been shown to be influenced by both fetal and maternal factors and in observational studies is reproducibly associated with future risk of adult metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease. These life-course associations have often been attributed to the impact of an adverse early life environment. Here, we performed a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of BW in 153,781 individuals, identifying 60 loci where fetal genotype was associated with BW ($\textit{P}$  < 5 × 10$^{-8}$). Overall, approximately 15% of variance in BW was captured by assays of fetal genetic variation. Using genetic association alone, we found strong inverse genetic correlations between BW and systolic blood pressure ($\textit{R}$ $_{g}$ = -0.22, $\textit{P}$  = 5.5 × 10$^{-13}$), T2D ($\textit{R}$ $_{g}$ = -0.27, $\textit{P}$  = 1.1 × 10$^{-6}$) and coronary artery disease ($\textit{R}$ $_{g}$ = -0.30, $\textit{P}$  = 6.5 × 10$^{-9}$). In addition, using large -cohort datasets, we demonstrated that genetic factors were the major contributor to the negative covariance between BW and future cardiometabolic risk. Pathway analyses indicated that the protein products of genes within BW-associated regions were enriched for diverse processes including insulin signalling, glucose homeostasis, glycogen biosynthesis and chromatin remodelling. There was also enrichment of associations with BW in known imprinted regions ($\textit{P}$ = 1.9 × 10$^{-4}$). We demonstrate that life-course associations between early growth phenotypes and adult cardiometabolic disease are in part the result of shared genetic effects and identify some of the pathways through which these causal genetic effects are mediated.For a full list of the funders pelase visit the publisher's website and look at the supplemetary material provided. Some of the funders are: British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Medical Research Council, National Institutes of Health, Royal Society and Wellcome Trust