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APOBEC3G is a single-stranded DNA cytosine deaminase that comprises part of the innate immune response to viruses and transposons. Although APOBEC3G is the prototype for understanding the larger mammalian polynucleotide deaminase family, no specific chemical inhibitors exist to modulate its activity. High-throughput screening identified 34 compounds that inhibit APOBEC3G catalytic activity. Twenty of 34 small molecules contained catechol moieties, which are known to be sulfhydryl reactive following oxidation to the orthoquinone. Located proximal to the active site, C321 was identified as the binding site for the inhibitors by a combination of mutational screening, structural analysis, and mass spectrometry. Bulkier substitutions C321-to-L, F, Y, or W mimicked chemical inhibition. A strong specificity for APOBEC3G was evident, as most compounds failed to inhibit the related APOBEC3A enzyme or the unrelated enzymes E. coli uracil DNA glycosylase, HIV-1 RNase H, or HIV-1 integrase. Partial, but not complete, sensitivity could be conferred to APOBEC3A by introducing the entire C321 loop from APOBEC3G. Thus, a structural model is presented in which the mechanism of inhibition is both specific and competitive, by binding a pocket adjacent to the APOBEC3G active site, reacting with C321, and blocking access to substrate DNA cytosines.

Cytidine deaminase from Escherichia coli contains 1 mol of tightly bound zinc per enzyme subunit (Yang, C., Carlow, D., Wolfenden, R., & Short, S.A. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 4168-4174). When the metal liganding residues Cys-129 and Cys-132 were replaced by Ala, and His-102 was replaced by Ala, Asn, or Gln, deaminase activities of cell extracts containing these mutant enzymes were decreased by several orders of magnitude relative to that of the wild-type enzyme. After purification, each mutant protein was found to contain less than 0.2 mol of zinc per enzyme subunit, except mutant H102Q, which contained 1 mol of zinc per subunit. The activity of each mutant enzyme increased in the presence of added zinc but never attained wild-type activity. Mutant H102N was unique in that this protein could be purified as a stable apoenzyme, activated by added zinc, and then inhibited by EDTA. This mutant enzyme bound zinc with an apparent Kd value of 6.0 x 10(-10) M and regained maximal activity in the presence of 1 mol of zinc per subunit. Affinities of the mutant cytidine deaminases for the transition-state analogue, 5-fluoropyrimidin-2-one ribonucleoside (3,4) hydrate, were found to decrease in rough proportion to kcat/Km over a range spanning several orders of magnitude. This variation in catalytic efficiency arose mainly from effects on kcat, indicating the involvement of zinc coordination in the catalytic process rather than in substrate binding.

Cytidine deaminase (cytidine aminohydrolase, EC 3.5.4.5) from Escherichia coli has been purified to homogeneity through a rapid and efficient two-step procedure consisting of anion-exchange chromatography followed by preparative electrophoresis. The final preparation is homogeneous, as judged by a single band obtained by disc gel electrophoresis performed in the absence and presence of denaturing agents. The native protein molecular weight determined by gel filtration is 56 000. Sodium dodecyl sulfate disc gel electrophoresis experiments conducted upon previous incubation of the enzyme with dimethyl suberimidate suggest an oligomeric structure of two identical subunits of 33 000 molecular weight. The absorption spectrum of the protein reveals a maximum at 277 nm and a minimum at 255 nm. The isoelectric point is at pH 4.35. Amino acid analysis indicates an excess of acidic amino acid residues as well as six half-cystine residues. No interchain disulfide groups have been evidenced. According to Cleland's nomenclature, kinetic analysis shows a rapid-equilibrium random Uni-Bi mechanism. Cytidine deaminase is competitively inhibited by various nucleosides. Km values for cytidine, deoxycytidine, and 5-methylcytidine are 1.8 X 10(-4), 0.9 X 10(-4), and 12.5 X 10(-4) M, respectively.

Cytidine deaminase, purified to homogeneity from constitutive mutants of Escherichia coli, was found to bind the competitive inhibitors pyrimidin-2-one ribonucleoside (apparent Ki = 3.6 x 10(-7) M) and 5-fluoropyrimidin-2-one ribonucleoside (apparent Ki = 3.5 x 10(-8) M). Enzyme binding resulted in a change of the lambda max of pyrimidin-2-one ribonucleoside from 303 nm for the free species to 239 nm for the bound species. The value for the bound species was identical with that of an oxygen adduct formed by combination of hydroxide ion with 1,3-dimethyl-2-oxopyrimidinium (239 nm), but lower than that of a sulfur adduct formed by combination of the thiolate anion of N-acetylcysteamine with 1,3-dimethyl-2-oxopyrimidinium (259 nm). The results suggest that pyrimidin-2-one ribonucleoside is bound by cytidine deaminase as an oxygen adduct, probably the covalent hydrate 3,4-dihydrouridine, rather than intact or as an adduct involving a thiol group of the enzyme. In dilute solution at 25 degrees C, the equilibrium constant for formation of a single diastereomer of 3,4-dihydrouridine from pyrimidin-2-one ribonucleoside was estimated as approximately 4.7 x 10(-6), from equilibria of dissociation of water, protonation of 1-methylpyrimidin-2-one, and combination of the 1,3-dimethylpyrimidinium cation with the hydroxide ion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)