Development and Testing of Thrombolytics in Stroke

Despite recent advances in recanalization therapy, mechanical thrombectomy will never be a treatment for every ischemic stroke because access to mechanical thrombectomy is still limited in many countries. Moreover, many ischemic strokes are caused by occlusion of cerebral arteries that cannot be reached by intra-arterial catheters. Reperfusion using thrombolytic agents will therefore remain an important therapy for hyperacute ischemic stroke. However, thrombolytic drugs have shown limited efficacy and notable hemorrhagic complication rates, leaving room for improvement. A comprehensive understanding of basic and clinical research pipelines as well as the current status of thrombolytic therapy will help facilitate the development of new thrombolytics. Compared with alteplase, an ideal thrombolytic agent is expected to provide faster reperfusion in more patients; prevent re-occlusions; have higher fibrin specificity for selective activation of clot-bound plasminogen to decrease bleeding complications; be retained in the blood for a longer time to minimize dosage and allow administration as a single bolus; be more resistant to inhibitors; and be less antigenic for repetitive usage. Here, we review the currently available thrombolytics, strategies for the development of new clot-dissolving substances, and the assessment of thrombolytic efficacies in vitro and in vivo

Engineering the protein dynamics of an ancestral luciferase.

Protein dynamics are often invoked in explanations of enzyme catalysis, but their design has proven elusive. Here we track the role of dynamics in evolution, starting from the evolvable and thermostable ancestral protein AncHLD-RLuc which catalyses both dehalogenase and luciferase reactions. Insertion-deletion (InDel) backbone mutagenesis of AncHLD-RLuc challenged the scaffold dynamics. Screening for both activities reveals InDel mutations localized in three distinct regions that lead to altered protein dynamics (based on crystallographic B-factors, hydrogen exchange, and molecular dynamics simulations). An anisotropic network model highlights the importance of the conformational flexibility of a loop-helix fragment of Renilla luciferases for ligand binding. Transplantation of this dynamic fragment leads to lower product inhibition and highly stable glow-type bioluminescence. The success of our approach suggests that a strategy comprising (i) constructing a stable and evolvable template, (ii) mapping functional regions by backbone mutagenesis, and (iii) transplantation of dynamic features, can lead to functionally innovative proteins

Engineering the protein dynamics of an ancestral luciferase

Abstract: Protein dynamics are often invoked in explanations of enzyme catalysis, but their design has proven elusive. Here we track the role of dynamics in evolution, starting from the evolvable and thermostable ancestral protein AncHLD-RLuc which catalyses both dehalogenase and luciferase reactions. Insertion-deletion (InDel) backbone mutagenesis of AncHLD-RLuc challenged the scaffold dynamics. Screening for both activities reveals InDel mutations localized in three distinct regions that lead to altered protein dynamics (based on crystallographic B-factors, hydrogen exchange, and molecular dynamics simulations). An anisotropic network model highlights the importance of the conformational flexibility of a loop-helix fragment of Renilla luciferases for ligand binding. Transplantation of this dynamic fragment leads to lower product inhibition and highly stable glow-type bioluminescence. The success of our approach suggests that a strategy comprising (i) constructing a stable and evolvable template, (ii) mapping functional regions by backbone mutagenesis, and (iii) transplantation of dynamic features, can lead to functionally innovative proteins

The Mask and Face of Comedy a´la Italy

The aim of this work was to try to look at the fertile period of the Italian cinema of the sixties a different perspective - through the genre of comedy Italian style. Focus on those who formed parallel to the greats, and who, often deservedly, disappearing into the shadows. Nevertheless, among the smaller ones can find authors stylish and expressive works. The fact that I finally got to the territory of the greats is nothing surprising genre of comedy Italian style is so broad that it can fit so many things and often handles the same topics as they only told in a lighter vein. Try to purely Italian in context trace its specificity, and create an outline for better orientation in the territory where lions still live

The Mask and Face of Comedy a´la Italy

Snahou práce bylo pokusit se nahlédnout na plodné období italské kinematografie šedesátých let jiným zorným úhlem - přes žánr komedie po italsku. Zaměřit se na ty, kteří tvořili souběžné s Velikány a kteří, mnohdy zaslouženě, mizí v jejich stínu. Přesto je však mezi těmi menšími možné najít autory osobité a díla výrazná. To že jsem se nakonec dostal i na území Velikánů není nic překvapivého, žánr komedie po italsku je tak široký, že se do něj vejde leccos a tak mnohdy zpracovává táž témata jako oni, pouze vypráví v lehčím duchu. Pokusit se v ryze italských souvislostech vystopovat její specifikum, a vytvořit přehled sloužící k lepší orientaci na území, kde ještě žijí lvi

Extended Mechanism and Rate-Limiting Step of the Plasminogen Activator Staphylokinase Revealed by Global Kinetic Analysis

The plasminogen activator staphylokinase is a fibrin-specific thrombolytic biomolecule and an attractive target for the development of effective myocardial infarction and stroke therapy. To engineer the protein rationally, a detailed understanding of the biochemical mechanism and limiting steps is essential. Conventional fitting to equations derived based on simplifying approximations may be inaccurate for complex mechanisms like that of staphylokinase. We employed a modern numerical approach of global kinetic data analysis whereby steady-state kinetics and binding affinity datasets were analyzed in parallel. Our approach provided an extended, revised understanding of the staphylokinase mechanism without simplifying approximations and determined the value of turnover number kcat of 117 s-1 that was 10,000-fold higher than that reported in the literature. The model further showed that the rate-limiting step of the catalytic cycle is the binding of staphylokinase to plasmin molecules, which occurs via an induced-fit mechanism. The overall staphylokinase effectivity is further influenced by the formation of an inactive staphylokinase.plasminogen complex. Here, we describe a quick and simplified guide for obtaining reliable estimates of key parameters whose determination is critical to fully understand the staphylokinase catalytic functionality and define rational strategies for its engineering. Our study provides an interesting example of how global numerical analysis of kinetic data can be used to better understand the mechanism and limiting factors of complex biochemical processes

Catalytic mechanism for Renilla-type luciferases

Publié dans Nature Catalysis : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-022-00895-zInternational audienceThe widely used coelenterazine-powered Renilla luciferase was discovered over 40 years ago, but the oxidative mechanism by which it generates blue photons remains unclear. Here we decipher Renilla-type catalysis through crystallographic, spectroscopic and computational experiments. Structures of ancestral and extant luciferases complexed with the substrate-like analogue azacoelenterazine or a reaction product were obtained, providing molecular snapshots of coelenterazine-to-coelenteramide oxidation. Bound coelenterazine adopts a Y-shaped conformation, enabling the deprotonated imidazopyrazinone component to attack O2 via a radical charge-transfer mechanism. A high emission intensity is secured by an aspartate from a conserved proton-relay system, which protonates the excited coelenteramide product. Another aspartate on the rim of the catalytic pocket fine-tunes the electronic state of coelenteramide and promotes the formation of the blue light-emitting phenolate anion. The results obtained also reveal structural features distinguishing flash-type from glow-type bioluminescence, providing insights that will guide the engineering of next-generation luciferase‒luciferin pairs for ultrasensitive optical bioassays

Engineering Protein Dynamics of Ancestral Luciferase

Insertion-deletion mutations are sources of major functional innovations in naturally evolved proteins, but directed evolution methods rely primarily on substitutions. Here, we report a powerful strategy for engineering backbone dynamics based on InDel mutagenesis of a stable and evolvable template, and its validation in application to a thermostable ancestor of haloalkane dehalogenase and Renilla luciferase. First, extensive multidisciplinary analysis linked the conformational flexibility of a loop-helix fragment to binding of the bulky substrate coelenterazine. The fragment’s key role in extant Renilla luciferase was confirmed by transplanting it into the ancestor. This increased its catalytic efficiency 7,000-fold, and fragment-containing mutants showed highly stable glow-type bioluminescence with 100-fold longer half-lives than the flash-type Renilla luciferase RLuc8, thereby addressing a limitation of a popular molecular probe. Thus, our three-step approach: (i) constructing a robust template, (ii) mapping functional regions by backbone mutagenesis, and (iii) transplantation of a dynamic feature, provides a potent strategy for discovering protein modifications with globally disruptive but functionally innovative effects.</p