Pyrrolysine-Inspired in Cellulo Synthesis of an Unnatural Amino Acid for Facile Macrocyclization of Proteins

J Am Chem Soc. 2023 May 10;145(18):10249-10258. doi: 10.1021/jacs.3c01291. Epub 2023 Apr 26.

Abstract

Macrocyclization has been touted as an effective strategy to enhance the in vivo stability and efficacy of protein therapeutics. Herein, we describe a scalable and robust system based on the endogenous biosynthesis of a noncanonical amino acid coupled to the pyrrolysine translational machinery for the generation of lasso-grafted proteins. The in cellulo biosynthesis of the noncanonical amino acid d-Cys-ε-Lys was achieved by hijacking the pyrrolysine biosynthesis pathway, and then, its genetical incorporation into proteins was performed using an optimized PylRS/tRNAPyl pair and cell line. This system was then applied to the structurally inspired cyclization of a 23-mer therapeutic P16 peptide engrafted on a fusion protein, resulting in near-complete cyclization of the target cyclic subunit in under 3 h. The resulting cyclic P16 peptide fusion protein possessed much higher CDK4 binding affinity than its linear counterpart. Furthermore, a bifunctional bicyclic protein harboring a cyclic cancer cell targeting RGD motif on the one end and the cyclic P16 peptide on the other is produced and shown to be a potent cell cycle arrestor with improved serum stability.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids* / metabolism
  • Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases* / metabolism
  • Peptides / metabolism
  • Protein Biosynthesis
  • Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases
  • Proteins
  • Peptides