Structure-Based Design of an RNase Chimera for Antimicrobial Therapy

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics urges the development of alternative therapies. Based on the structure-function of antimicrobial members of the RNase A superfamily, we have developed a hybrid enzyme. Within this family, RNase 1 exhibits the highest catalytic activity and the lowest cytotoxicity;...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Prats-Ejarque, Guillem|||0000-0002-8213-4947, Lorente, Helena, Villalba, Clara, Anguita, Raúl|||0000-0003-2491-4811, Lu, Lu|||0000-0002-0960-1529, Vázquez-Monteagudo, Sergi|||0000-0001-9476-0980, Fernandez Millan, Pablo|||0000-0002-1887-8466, Boix, Ester|||0000-0003-1790-2142
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:252169
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/252169
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.3390/ijms23010095
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:RNase
Protein engineering
Structure-function relationship
Antimicrobial proteins
Descripción
Sumario:Bacterial resistance to antibiotics urges the development of alternative therapies. Based on the structure-function of antimicrobial members of the RNase A superfamily, we have developed a hybrid enzyme. Within this family, RNase 1 exhibits the highest catalytic activity and the lowest cytotoxicity; in contrast, RNase 3 shows the highest bactericidal action, alas with a reduced catalytic activity. Starting from both parental proteins, we designed a first RNase 3/1-v1 chimera. The construct had a catalytic activity much higher than RNase 3, unfortunately without reaching an equivalent antimicrobial activity. Thus, two new versions were created with improved antimicrobial properties. Both of these versions (RNase 3/1-v2 and -v3) incorporated an antimicrobial loop characteristic of RNase 3, while a flexible RNase 1-specific loop was removed in the latest construct. RNase 3/1-v3 acquired both higher antimicrobial and catalytic activities than previous versions, while retaining the structural determinants for interaction with the RNase inhibitor and displaying non-significant cytotoxicity. Following, we tested the constructs' ability to eradicate macrophage intracellular infection and observed an enhanced ability in both RNase 3/1-v2 and v3. Interestingly, the inhibition of intracellular infection correlates with the variants' capacity to induce autophagy. We propose RNase 3/1-v3 chimera as a promising lead for applied therapeutics.