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Significance Despite considerable advances in de novo protein design in recent years, it still remains challenging to engineer proteins with large internal cavities that can be functionalized to become biotechnological tools, such as specific binders, sensors, or catalysts. In this work, we outline a computational strategy to combine multiple de novo designed domains into symmetric protein assemblies that enclose large internal chambers. The high stability of de novo scaffolds enables ready functionalization of these chambers; for instance, with specific metal-binding sites, as demonstrated here by generating a lanthanide-binding protein with ultra-high affinity., De novo protein design has succeeded in generating a large variety of globular proteins, but the construction of protein scaffolds with cavities that could accommodate large signaling molecules, cofactors, and substrates remains an outstanding challenge. The long, often flexible loops that form such cavities in many natural proteins are difficult to precisely program and thus challenging for computational protein design. Here we describe an alternative approach to this problem. We fused two stable proteins with C2 symmetry—a de novo designed dimeric ferredoxin fold and a de novo designed TIM barrel—such that their symmetry axes are aligned to create scaffolds with large cavities that can serve as binding pockets or enzymatic reaction chambers. The crystal structures of two such designs confirm the presence of a 420 cubic Ångström chamber defined by the top of the designed TIM barrel and the bottom of the ferredoxin dimer. We functionalized the scaffold by installing a metal-binding site consisting of four glutamate residues close to the symmetry axis. The protein binds lanthanide ions with very high affinity as demonstrated by tryptophan-enhanced terbium luminescence. This approach can be extended to other metals and cofactors, making this scaffold a modular platform for the design of binding proteins and biocatalysts.

APH(2″)-Ia is a widely disseminated resistance factor frequently found in clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and pathogenic enterococci, where it is constitutively expressed. APH(2″)-Ia confers high-level resistance to gentamicin and related aminoglycosides through phosphorylation of the antibiotic using guanosine triphosphate (GTP) as phosphate donor. We have determined crystal structures of the APH(2″)-Ia in complex with GTP analogs, guanosine diphosphate, and aminoglycosides. These structures collectively demonstrate that aminoglycoside binding to the GTP-bound kinase drives conformational changes that bring distant regions of the protein into contact. These changes in turn drive a switch of the triphosphate cofactor from an inactive, stabilized conformation to a catalytically competent active conformation. This switch has not been previously reported for antibiotic kinases or for the structurally related eukaryotic protein kinases. This catalytic triphosphate switch presents a means by which the enzyme can curtail wasteful hydrolysis of GTP in the absence of aminoglycosides, providing an evolutionary advantage to this enzyme.

The APH(2″)-Ia aminoglycoside resistance enzyme forms the C-terminal domain of the bifunctional AAC(6′)-Ie/APH(2″)-Ia enzyme and confers high-level resistance to natural 4,6-disubstituted aminoglycosides. In addition, reports have suggested that the enzyme can phosphorylate 4,5-disubstituted compounds and aminoglycosides with substitutions at the N1 position. Previously determined structures of the enzyme with bound aminoglycosides have not indicated how these noncanonical substrates may bind and be modified by the enzyme. We carried out crystallographic studies to directly observe the interactions of these compounds with the aminoglycoside binding site and to probe the means by which these noncanonical substrates interact with the enzyme. We find that APH(2″)-Ia maintains a preferred mode of binding aminoglycosides by using the conserved neamine rings when possible, with flexibility that allows it to accommodate additional rings. However, if this binding mode is made impossible because of additional substitutions to the standard 4,5- or 4,6-disubstituted aminoglycoside architecture, as in lividomycin A or the N1-substituted aminoglycosides, it is still possible for these aminoglycosides to bind to the antibiotic binding site by using alternate binding modes, which explains the low rates of noncanonical phosphorylation activities seen in enzyme assays. Furthermore, structural studies of a clinically observed arbekacin-resistant mutant of APH(2″)-Ia revealed an altered aminoglycoside binding site that can stabilize an alternative binding mode for N1-substituted aminoglycosides. This mutation may alter and expand the aminoglycoside resistance spectrum of the wild-type enzyme in response to newly developed aminoglycosides.

Aminoglycoside (6′) acetyltransferase-Ie/aminoglycoside (2″) phosphotransferase-Ia [AAC(6′)-Ie/APH(2″)-Ia] is one of the most problematic aminoglycoside resistance factors in clinical pathogens, conferring resistance to almost every aminoglycoside antibiotic available to modern medicine. Despite 3 decades of research, our understanding of the structure of this bifunctional enzyme remains limited. We used small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to model the structure of this bifunctional enzyme in solution and to study the impact of substrate binding on the enzyme. It was observed that the enzyme adopts a rigid conformation in solution, where the N-terminal AAC domain is fixed to the C-terminal APH domain and not loosely tethered. The addition of acetyl-coenzyme A, coenzyme A, GDP, guanosine 5′-[β,γ-imido]triphosphate (GMPPNP), and combinations thereof to the protein resulted in only modest changes to the radius of gyration ( R G ) of the enzyme, which were not consistent with any large changes in enzyme structure upon binding. These results imply some selective advantage to the bifunctional enzyme beyond coexpression as a single polypeptide, likely linked to an improvement in enzymatic properties. We propose that the rigid structure contributes to improved electrostatic steering of aminoglycoside substrates toward the two active sites, which may provide such an advantage.

The APH(2'')-Ia domain of the bifunctional aminoglycoside resistance enzyme AAC(6')-Ie/APH(2'')-Ia confers high-level resistance to aminoglycoside antibiotics. Crystal structures of this kinase domain in complex with GTP analogues and acceptor substrates have uncovered a surprising conformational bistability of the GTP substrate, which may reduce futile hydrolysis of the cofactor by the enzyme. This conformational switch is influenced by the binding of aminoglycosides, and may represent an adaptive feature of the enzyme, improving its evolutionary fitness in bacterial populations. This mechanism combines with a remarkable flexibility observed in the binding of diverse aminoglycoside substrates to make this enzyme a formidable antibiotic resistance machine.