6GQ3

Human asparagine synthetase (ASNS) in complex with 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine (DON) at 1.85 A resolution

Summary for 6GQ3

• Entry DOI: 10.2210/pdb6gq3/pdb
• Descriptor: Asparagine synthetase [glutamine-hydrolyzing], 5-OXO-L-NORLEUCINE, 1,2-ETHANEDIOL, ... (6 entities in total)
• Functional Keywords: l-asparagine biosynthesis, breast cancer, inhibitor development, biosynthetic protein
• Biological source: Homo sapiens (Human)
• Total number of polymer chains: 2
• Total formula weight: 129997.70

Authors

Zhu, W.,Radadiya, A.,Bisson, C.,Jin, Y.,Nordin, B.E.,Imasaki, T.,Wenzel, S.,Sedelnikova, S.E.,Berry, A.H.,Nomanbhoy, T.K.,Kozarich, J.W.,Takagi, Y.,Rice, D.W.,Richards, N.G.J. (deposition date: 2018-06-07, release date: 2019-09-18, Last modification date: 2024-01-17)

Primary citation

Zhu, W.,Radadiya, A.,Bisson, C.,Wenzel, S.,Nordin, B.E.,Martinez-Marquez, F.,Imasaki, T.,Sedelnikova, S.E.,Coricello, A.,Baumann, P.,Berry, A.H.,Nomanbhoy, T.K.,Kozarich, J.W.,Jin, Y.,Rice, D.W.,Takagi, Y.,Richards, N.G.J.
High-resolution crystal structure of human asparagine synthetase enables analysis of inhibitor binding and selectivity.
Commun Biol, 2:345-345, 2019

PubMed Abstract: Expression of human asparagine synthetase (ASNS) promotes metastatic progression and tumor cell invasiveness in colorectal and breast cancer, presumably by altering cellular levels of L-asparagine. Human ASNS is therefore emerging as a drug target for cancer therapy. Here we show that a slow-onset, tight binding inhibitor, which exhibits nanomolar affinity for human ASNS in vitro, exhibits excellent selectivity at 10 μM concentration in HCT-116 cell lysates with almost no off-target binding. The high-resolution (1.85 Å) crystal structure of human ASNS has enabled us to identify a cluster of negatively charged side chains in the synthetase domain that plays a key role in inhibitor binding. Comparing this structure with those of evolutionarily related AMP-forming enzymes provides insights into intermolecular interactions that give rise to the observed binding selectivity. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of developing second generation human ASNS inhibitors as lead compounds for the discovery of drugs against metastasis.

PubMed: 31552298
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-019-0587-z

Experimental method

X-RAY DIFFRACTION (1.85 Å)