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Affinity Enhancement of Protein Ligands by Reversible Covalent Modification of Neighboring Lysine Residues
Author(s) -
Dal Corso Alberto,
Catalano Marco,
Schmid Anja,
Scheuermann Jörg,
Neri Dario
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201811650
Subject(s) - chemistry , covalent bond , hydroxylamine , ligand (biochemistry) , lysine , small molecule , combinatorial chemistry , stereochemistry , protein ligand , benzaldehyde , molecule , quenching (fluorescence) , amino acid , fluorescence , biochemistry , organic chemistry , receptor , catalysis , physics , quantum mechanics
Abstract The discovery of protein ligands, capable of forming a reversible covalent bond with amino acid residues on a protein target of interest, may represent a general strategy for the discovery of potent small‐molecule inhibitors. We analyzed the ability of different aromatic aldehydes to form imines by reaction with lysine using 1 H NMR techniques. 2‐Hydroxybenzaldehyde derivatives were found to efficiently form imines in the millimolar concentration range. These benzaldehyde derivatives could increase the binding affinity of protein ligands towards the cognate protein target. Affinity maturation was achieved not only by displaying ligand and aldehyde moieties on two complementary locked nucleic acid strands but also by incorporating the binding fragments in a single small‐molecule ligand. The affinity gain was only observed when lysine residues were accessible in the immediate surroundings of the ligand‐binding site and could be abrogated by quenching with a molar excess of hydroxylamine.