Chorismate mutase catalyzes a key step in the shikimate biosynthetic pathway towards phenylalanine and tyrosine. Curiously, the intracellular chorismate mutase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MtCM; Rv0948c) has poor activity and lacks prominent active-site residues. However, its catalytic efficiency increases 4100-fold on addition of DAHP synthase (MtDS; Rv2178c), another shikimate-pathway enzyme. The 2.35 Å crystal structure of the MtCM-MtDS complex bound to a transition-state analogue shows a central core formed by four MtDS subunits sandwiched between two MtCM dimers. Structural comparisons imply catalytic activation to be a consequence of the repositioning of MtCM active-site residues on binding to MtDS. The mutagenesis of the Cterminal extrusion of MtCM establishes conserved residues as part of the activation machinery. The chorismatemutase activity of the complex, but not of MtCM alone, is inhibited synergistically by phenylalanine and tyrosine. The complex formation thus endows the shikimate pathway of M. tuberculosis with an important regulatory feature. Experimental evidence suggests that such noncovalent enzyme complexes comprising an AroQ d subclass chorismate mutase like MtCM are abundant in the bacterial order Actinomycetales.

DAHP synthase and chorismate mutase catalyze key steps in the shikimate biosynthetic pathway en route to aromatic amino acids. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis, chorismate mutase (MtCM; Rv0948c), located at the branch point toward phenylalanine and tyrosine, has poor activity on its own. However, it is efficiently activated by the first enzyme of the pathway, DAHP synthase (MtDS; Rv2178c), through formation of a non-covalent MtCM-MtDS complex. Here, we show how MtDS serves as an allosteric platform for feedback regulation of both enzymes, using X-ray crystallography, small-angle X-ray scattering, size-exclusion chromatography, and multi-angle light scattering. Crystal structures of the fully inhibited MtDS and the allosterically down-regulated MtCM-MtDS complex, solved at 2.8 and 2.7Å, respectively, reveal how effector binding at the internal MtDS subunit interfaces regulates the activity of MtDS and MtCM. While binding of all three metabolic end products to MtDS shuts down the entire pathway, the binding of phenylalanine jointly with tyrosine releases MtCM from the MtCM-MtDS complex, hence suppressing MtCM activation by 'inter-enzyme allostery'. This elegant regulatory principle, invoking a transient allosteric enzyme interaction, seems to be driven by dynamics and is likely a general strategy used by nature.

The shikimate pathway enzyme chorismate mutase converts chorismate into prephenate, a precursor of Tyr and Phe. The intracellular chorismate mutase (MtCM) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is poorly active on its own, but becomes >100-fold more efficient upon formation of a complex with the first enzyme of the shikimate pathway, 3-deoxy-d-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase (MtDS). The crystal structure of the enzyme complex revealed involvement of C-terminal MtCM residues with the MtDS interface. Here we employed evolutionary strategies to probe the tolerance to substitution of the C-terminal MtCM residues from positions 84–90. Variants with randomized positions were subjected to stringent selection in vivo requiring productive interactions with MtDS for survival. Sequence patterns identified in active library members coincide with residue conservation in natural chorismate mutases of the AroQδ subclass to which MtCM belongs. An Arg-Gly dyad at positions 85 and 86, invariant in AroQδ sequences, was intolerant to mutation, whereas Leu88 and Gly89 exhibited a preference for small and hydrophobic residues in functional MtCM-MtDS complexes. In the absence of MtDS, selection under relaxed conditions identifies positions 84–86 as MtCM integrity determinants, suggesting that the more C-terminal residues function in the activation by MtDS. Several MtCM variants, purified using a novel plasmid-based T7 RNA polymerase gene expression system, showed that a diminished ability to physically interact with MtDS correlates with reduced activatability and feedback regulatory control by Tyr and Phe. Mapping critical protein-protein interaction sites by evolutionary strategies may pinpoint promising targets for drugs that interfere with the activity of protein complexes.

Chorismate mutase catalyzes a key step in the shikimate-biosynthetic pathway and hence is an essential enzyme in bacteria, plants and fungi. Mycobacterium tuberculosis contains two chorismate mutases, a secreted and an intracellular one, the latter of which (MtCM; Rv0948c; 90 amino-acid residues; 10 kDa) is the subject of this work. Here are reported the gene expression, purification and crystallization of MtCM alone and of its complex with another shikimatepathway enzyme, DAHP synthase (MtDS; Rv2178c; 472 amino-acid residues; 52 kDa), which has been shown to enhance the catalytic efficiency of MtCM. The MtCM-MtDS complex represents the first noncovalent enzyme complex from the common shikimate pathway to be structurally characterized. Soaking experiments with a transition-state analogue are also reported. The crystals of MtCM and the MtCM-MtDS complex diffracted to 1.6 and 2.1 Å resolution, respectively.

Directed evolution strategies are being applied ever more frequently to develop novel and improved enzymes for many applications, including those contributing to 'white biotechnology'. In addition to engineering new biocatalysts, evolutionary strategies are equally suited to the elucidation of enzyme structure and function. Here, we illustrate with selected examples from our own work on chorismate mutases how such strategies can be employed to address a range of fundamental questions. Over the last decade, this model system, which was once considered to be a 'very simple' enzyme from the shikimate pathway, has afforded many – sometimes surprising – discoveries about biocatalysis. It has also taught us how to upgrade evolutionary approaches to overcome technical hurdles. Both the new insights and the methodological improvements should enhance our ability to tailor enzymes for novel uses.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a devastating disease that claims millions of lives every year. Hindered access or non-compliance to medication, especially in developing countries, led to drug resistance, further aggravating the situation. With current standard therapies in use for over 50 years and only few new candidates in clinical trials, there is an urgent call for new TB drugs. A powerful tool for the development of new medication is structure-guided design, combined with virtual screening or docking studies. Here, we report the results of a drug-design project, which we based on a publication that claimed the structure-guided discovery of several promising and highly active inhibitors targeting the secreted chorismate mutase (*MtCM) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We set out to further improve on these compounds and synthesized a series of new derivatives. Thorough evaluation of these molecules in enzymatic assays revealed, to our dismay, that neither the claimed lead compounds, nor any of the synthesized derivatives, show any inhibitory effects against *MtCM.

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A reliable, oral cure for hepatitis C infection is still a major unmet medical need. The approval of the NS3 protease inhibitors, telaprevir and boceprevir, in 2011 has been a welcome step in the right direction, but removing the need for pegylated interferon and ribavirin to suppress the emergence of resistance mutations remains an issue. Future treatment is expected to require a combination of drugs acting via different mechanisms. By applying our proprietary fragment screening platform, Pyramid™, to the crystal structure of the full length NS3/4a protein we identified a novel allosteric site at the protease-helicase interface, distinct from the active site targeted by the recently launched drugs boceprevir and telaprevir. Using structure-based design strategies, the initial weakly binding fragment hits were optimised against the full length NS3/4a protein, resulting in leads with low nM potency. Potent compounds demonstrated robust anti-viral activity when evaluated in the cell-based genotype 1b sub-genomic replicon assay, with a wide cytotoxicity window. The physicochemical properties of these early leads were then optimised to gain suitable pharmacokinetics for oral dosing. The resulting key compounds with sub 10nM potency in the replicon assay have MW <400 and cLogP <2a distinct contrast to many known protease inhibitors. During this conference we will show the allosteric binding site with bound compounds and the rationale for targeting this site. Key replicon data, including combination studies, will be shown along with pharmacokinetic data for our preclinical compounds.