title: Diverse functionalization of Aurora-A kinase at specified surface and buried sites by native chemical modification.
abstract: The ability to obtain a homogeneous sample of protein is invaluable when studying the effect of alterations such as post-translational modifications (PTMs). Selective functionalization of a protein to investigate the effect of PTMs on its structure or activity can be achieved by chemical modification of cysteine residues. We demonstrate here that one such technique, which involves conversion of cysteine to dehydroalanine followed by thiol nucleophile addition, is suitable for the site-specific installation of a wide range of chemical mimics of PTMs, including acetylated and dimethylated lysine, and other unnatural amino acids. These reactions, optimized for the clinically relevant kinase Aurora-A, readily proceed to completion as revealed by intact protein mass spectrometry. Moreover, these reactions proceed under non-denaturing conditions, which is desirable when working with large protein substrates. We have determined reactivity trends for a diverse range of thiol nucleophile addition reactions at two separate sites on Aurora-A, and we also highlight limitations when using thiol nucleophiles that contain basic functional groups. We show that chemical modification of cysteine residues is possible not only on a flexible surface-exposed loop, but also within a deep active site pocket at the conserved DFG motif, which reveals the potential use of this method in exploring enzyme function through modification of catalytic site residues.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research U.K. Cancer Therapeutics Unit, Division of Cancer Therapeutics, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom; Division of Structural Biology, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rowan
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research U.K. Cancer Therapeutics Unit, Division of Cancer Therapeutics, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Meirion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.affiliation: Proteomics Core Facility, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Marcella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Widya
authors.affiliation: Division of Structural Biology, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom; Department of Biochemistry, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bayliss
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research U.K. Cancer Therapeutics Unit, Division of Cancer Therapeutics, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blagg
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D064096:Aurora Kinase A / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001665:Binding Sites; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D003545:Cysteine / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D054730:Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs / Q000235:genetics; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational / Q000502:physiology; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; C015102:dehydroalanine; D064096:Aurora Kinase A; D003545:Cysteine; D000409:Alanine
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