Structures of Leishmania Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphatase Reveal Species-Specific Differences in the Mechanism of Allosteric Inhibition

Abstract

The gluconeogenic enzyme fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase has been proposed as a potential drug target against Leishmania parasites that cause up to 20,000-30,000 deaths annually. A comparison of three crystal structures of Leishmania major fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (LmFBPase) along with enzyme kinetic data show how AMP acts as an allosteric inhibitor and provides insight into its metal-dependent reaction mechanism. The crystal structure of the apoenzyme form of LmFBPase is a homotetramer in which the dimer of dimers adopts a planar conformation with disordered "dynamic loops". The structure of LmFBPase, complexed with manganese and its catalytic product phosphate, shows the dynamic loops locked into the active sites. A third crystal structure of LmFBPase complexed with its allosteric inhibitor AMP shows an inactive form of the tetramer, in which the dimer pairs are rotated by 18° relative to each other. The three structures suggest an allosteric mechanism in which AMP binding triggers a rearrangement of hydrogen bonds across the large and small interfaces. Retraction of the "effector loop" required for AMP binding releases the side chain of His23 from the dimer-dimer interface. This is coupled with a flip of the side chain of Arg48 which ties down the key catalytic dynamic loop in a disengaged conformation and also locks the tetramer in an inactive rotated T-state. The structure of the effector site of LmFBPase shows different structural features compared with human FBPases, thereby offering a potential and species-specific drug target.

Keywords: allostery; crystal structure; enzyme kinetics; gluconeogenesis; leishmaniasis.