An integrated molecular modeling system for designing and studying organic and bioorganic molecules and their molecular complexes using molecular mechanics is described. The graphically controlled, atom‐based system allows the construction, display and manipulation of molecules and complexes having as many as 10,000 atoms and provides interactive, state‐of‐the‐art molecular mechanics on any subset of up to 1,000 atoms. The system semiautomates the graphical construction and analysis of complex structures ranging from polycyclic organic molecules to biopolymers to mixed molecular complexes. We have placed emphasis on providing effective searches of conformational space by a number of different methods and on highly optimized molecular mechanics energy calculations using widely used force fields which are supplied as external files. Little experience is required to operate the system effectively and even novices can use it to carry out sophisticated modeling operations. The software has been designed to run on Digital Equipment Corporation VAX computers interfaced to a variety of graphics devices ranging from inexpensive monochrome terminals to the sophisticated graphics displays of the Evans & Sutherland PS300 series.

Modern clinical treatments of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) employ enzymebased methods for depletion of blood asparagine in combination with standard chemotherapeutic agents. Significant side effects can arise in these protocols and, in many cases, patients develop drug-resistant forms of the disease that may be correlated with up-regulation of the enzyme glutamine-dependent asparagine synthetase (ASNS). Though the precise molecular mechanisms that result in the appearance of drug resistance are the subject of active study, potent ASNS inhibitors may have clinical utility in treating asparaginase-resistant forms of childhood ALL. This review provides an overview of recent developments in our understanding of (a) the structure and catalytic mechanism of ASNS, and (b) the role that ASNS may play in the onset of drug-resistant childhood ALL. In addition, the first successful, mechanism-based efforts to prepare and characterize nanomolar ASNS inhibitors are discussed, together with the implications of these studies for future efforts to develop useful drugs.

Oxalate decarboxylase (OxDC) catalyzes a remarkable transformation in which the C-C bond in oxalate is cleaved to give carbon dioxide and formate. Like the native OxDC isolated from Aspergillus niger, the recombinant, bacterial OxDC from Bacillus subtilis contains Mn(II) in its resting state and requires catalytic dioxygen for activity. The most likely mechanism for OxDC-catalyzed C-C bond cleavage involves the participation of free radical intermediates, although this hypothesis remains to be unequivocally demonstrated. Efforts to delineate the catalytic mechanism have been placed on a firm foundation by the high-resolution crystal structure of recombinant, wild type B. subtilis OxDC (Anand et al., Biochemistry 2002, 41, 7659-7669). We now report the results of heavy-atom kinetic isotope effect measurements for the OxDC-catalyzed decarboxylation of oxalate, in what appear to be the first detailed studies of the mechanism employed by OxDC. At pH 4.2, the OxDC-catalyzed formation of formate and CO(2) have normal (13)C isotope effects of 1.5% +/- 0.1% and 0.5% +/- 0.1%, respectively, while the (18)O isotope effect on the formation of formate is 1.1% +/- 0.2% normal. Similarly at pH 5.7, the production of formate and CO(2) exhibits normal (13)C isotope effects of 1.9% +/- 0.1% and 0.8% +/- 0.1%, respectively, and the (18)O isotope effect on the formation of formate is 1.0% +/- 0.2% normal. The (18)O isotope effect on the formation of CO(2), however, 0.7% +/- 0.2%, is inverse at pH 5.7. These results are consistent with a multistep model in which a reversible, proton-coupled, electron transfer from bound oxalate to the Mn-enzyme gives an oxalate radical, which decarboxylates to yield a formate radical anion. Subsequent reduction and protonation of this intermediate then gives formate.

The extent to which synthetic biology can be used to expand genetic information systems compatible with natural enzymes and cells will depend on the extent to which multiple and contiguous non-natural nucleobase pairs fit within the standard double helical conformations of DNA. Toward this goal, two non-standard nucleobases (Z, 6-amino-5-nitro-2(1H)-pyridone and P, 2-amino-imidazo[1,2-a]-1,3,5-triazin-4(8H)one) were designed to form a Z:P pair with a standard “edge on” Watson-Crick geometry, but with rearranged hydrogen bond donor and acceptor groups. Here, we present the crystal structures of two self-complementary 16-mer oligonucleotides containing Z:P pairs. The first contained two consecutive Z:P nucleobase pairs and was found to crystallize within a host-guest complex in B-form. The second contained six consecutive Z:P pairs; it was found to crystallize as an A-form DNA duplex, although it can adopt B-form in solution as inferred from circular dichroism spectra. Although Z:P pairs have some structural properties that are similar to those of G:C pairs, unique features include stacking of the nitro group on Z with the adjacent heterocyclic nucleobase ring in A-DNA. In both B-and A-DNA, major groove widths associated with the Z:P pairs are approximately 1 Å wider than those of comparable G:C pairs potentially due to the presence of the nitro group in Z. Thus, our structural studies suggest that multiple and consecutive Z:P pairs are readily accommodated in DNA duplex structures recognized by natural polymerases, and therefore the GACTZP synthetic genetic system has the requisite properties to expand sequence space.