Metalloproteases (MPs) are a large and diverse class of enzymes implicated in numerous physiological and pathological processes, including tissue remodeling, peptide hormone processing, and cancer. MPs are tightly regulated by multiple posttranslational mechanisms in vivo, hindering their functional analysis by conventional genomic and proteomic methods. Here we describe a general strategy for creating activity-based proteomic probes for MPs by coupling a zinc-chelating hydroxamate to a benzophenone photocrosslinker, which promote selective binding and modification of MP active sites, respectively. These probes labeled active MPs but not their zymogen or inhibitor-bound counterparts and were used to identify members of this enzyme class up-regulated in invasive cancer cells and to evaluate the selectivity of MP inhibitors in whole proteomes. Interestingly, the matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor GM6001 (ilomastat), which is currently in clinical development, was found to also target the neprilysin, aminopeptidase, and dipeptidylpeptidase clans of MPs. These results demonstrate that MPs can display overlapping inhibitor sensitivities despite lacking sequence homology and stress the need to evaluate MP inhibitors broadly across this enzyme class to develop agents with suitable target selectivities in vivo. Activitybased profiling offers a powerful means for conducting such screens, as this approach can be carried out directly in whole proteomes, thereby facilitating the discovery of disease-associated MPs concurrently with inhibitors that selectively target these proteins.

The DNA (6-4) photoproduct photolyases are proteins that bind to UV-damaged DNA, specifically to sites that contain a (6-4) pyrimidine-pyrimidone lesion. Upon absorption of UV-A and visible light they catalyze the reversal of these lesions back to normal bases. It has been proposed that the photorepair occurs via an oxetane intermediate, which is formed from a ring-closing isomerization of the (6-4) photoproduct. Four model compounds for the oxetane intermediate have been prepared through photocycloaddition of carbonyl compounds (benzophenone, benzaldehyde, tolualdehyde, and anisaldehyde) with the 5,6 CdC of 1,3dimethylthymine. The behavior of these compounds under sensitized photolysis conditions has been examined. On the basis of laser flash photolysis, fluorescence quenching, and product analysis experiments, it is demonstrated that these oxetane intermediates undergo a cycloreversion reaction upon photosensitized reductive electron-transfer reactions. The cycloreversion process yields the anion radicals of the carbonyl compounds. A lower limit on the rate constant of this anion radical splitting reaction is estimated to be >5 × 10 7 s -1 . These results support the proposed mechanism for DNA (6-4) photoproduct photolyase.

No abstract

Oxetane adducts of 1,3-dimethyluracil and 1,N4,N4-trimethylcytosine were prepared and their behavior under photoinduced electron transfer was examined by fluorescence quenching, laser flash photolysis and product analysis. The excited state electron donor, N,N,N',N'-tetramethylbenzidine, was shown to photosensitize a net cycloreversion of these oxetanes to give the pyrimidine derivative and benzophenone. It is demonstrated that this reaction occurs via the anion radical of the oxetane and that the latter cleaves very rapidly (>10(7) s(-1)).

No abstract