Kinesin motor proteins comprise an ATPase superfamily that goes hand in hand with microtubules in every eukaryote. The mitotic kinesins, by virtue of their potential therapeutic role in cancerous cells, have been a major focus of research for the past 28 years since the discovery of the canonical Kinesin-1 heavy chain. Perhaps the simplest player in mitotic spindle assembly, Kinesin-5 (also known as Kif11, Eg5, or kinesin spindle protein, KSP) is a plus-end-directed motor localized to interpolar spindle microtubules and to the spindle poles. Comprised of a homotetramer complex, its function primarily is to slide anti-parallel microtubules apart from one another. Based on a multi-faceted analysis of this motor from numerous laboratories over the years, we have learned a great deal about the function of this motor at the atomic level for catalysis and as an integrated element of the cytoskeleton. These data have, in turn, informed the function of motile kinesins on the whole, as well as spearheaded integrative models of the mitotic apparatus in particular and regulation of the microtubule cytoskeleton in general. We review what is known about how this nanomotor works, its place inside the cytoskeleton of cells, and its small-molecule inhibitors that provide a toolbox for understanding motor function and for anticancer treatment in the clinic.

Essential in mitosis, the human Kinesin-5 protein is a target for >80 classes of allosteric compounds that bind to a surfaceexposed site formed by the L5 loop. Not established is why there are differing efficacies in drug inhibition. Here we compare the ligand-bound states of two L5-directed inhibitors against 15 Kinesin-5 mutants by ATPase assays and IR spectroscopy. Biochemical kinetics uncovers functional differences between individual residues at the N or C termini of the L5 loop. Infrared evaluation of solution structures and multivariate analysis of the vibrational spectra reveal that mutation and/or ligand binding not only can remodel the allosteric binding surface but also can transmit long range effects. Changes in L5-localized 3 10 helix and disordered content, regardless of substitution or drug potency, are experimentally detected. Principal component analysis couples these local structural events to two types of rearrangements in ␤-sheet hydrogen bonding. These transformations in ␤-sheet contacts are correlated with inhibitory drug response and are corroborated by wild type Kinesin-5 crystal structures. Despite considerable evolutionary divergence, our data directly support a theorized conserved element for long distance mechanochemical coupling in kinesin, myosin, and F 1 -ATPase. These findings also suggest that these relatively rapid IR approaches can provide structural biomarkers for clinical determination of drug sensitivity and drug efficacy in nucleotide triphosphatases.Allostery is important in controlled catalysis, signal transduction, and apoptosis (1). The classic view of proteins demonstrating this property (2) asserts that binding of a ligand at one site provokes conformational changes at a remote, second site. Recent studies (3) evaluating underlying mechanisms of allostery alternatively suggest that ligand binding results in selection of preexisting conformational substates. Implicit in the latter model is the principle that interactions between the orthosteric and allosteric sites are tightly linked through structure and thermodynamics (4). Active challenges in structural biology, which are central to this work, are deciphering the chemical nature of the ligand-protein interactions as well as how energy is transduced through protein structures to transmit allosteric events.Our experimental model, the human Kinesin-5 motor protein (Eg5 or KSP), plays key roles in bipolar mitotic spindle formation and is a protein target for allosteric compounds (5-7) that alter catalytic ATPase activity of the protein (8, 9). Biochemical studies demonstrate a wide concentration range of inhibition by these compounds (10 -12); there may be differences in the kinetic mechanism of allostery (13-15), and even allosteric activation (16) is possible. The best characterized inhibitors, monastrol (10) and S-trityl-L-cysteine (STC)2 (11), were uncovered from independent chemical screens.Interest in these allosteric compounds has been acute because they are potential anticancer agents. Additionally, these compo...

Pyruvate carboxylase is an enzyme of the so-called pyruvate cycling pathways, which have been proposed to contribute to glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in pancreatic beta-cells. In the rat insulinoma cell line 832/13, transcripts from both the distal and proximal gene promoter for pyruvate carboxylase are up-regulated by glucose, with pyruvate carboxylase being expressed mainly from the distal gene promoter. At position -408 to -392 relative to the transcription start site, the distal gene promoter was found to contain a ChoRE (carbohydrate response element). Its deletion abolishes glucose responsiveness of the promoter, and the sequence can mediate glucose responsiveness to a heterologous gene promoter. ChREBP (carbohydrate response element-binding protein) and its dimerization partner Mlx (Max-like protein X) bind to the ChoRE in vitro. ChREBP further binds to the distal promoter region at a high glucose concentration in situ. The E-box-binding transcription factors USF1/2 (upstream stimulatory factor 1/2) and E2A variant 2 [also known as E47 and TCF3 (transcription factor 3)] can also bind to the ChoRE. Overexpression of E2A diminishes the magnitude of the glucose response from the pyruvate carboxylase ChoRE. This illustrates that competition between ChREBP-Mlx and other factors binding to the ChoRE affects glucose responsiveness. We conclude that a ChoRE in the distal gene promoter contributes to the glucose-mediated expression of pyruvate carboxylase.

Human Kinesin-5 (Eg5) has a large number of known allosteric inhibitors that disrupt its mitotic function. Small-molecule inhibitors of Eg5 are candidate anti-cancer agents and important probes for understanding the cellular function. Here we show that Eg5 is capable of more than one type of microtubule interaction, and these activities can be controlled by allosteric agents. While both monastrol and S-trityl-L-cysteine inhibit Eg5 motility, our data reveal an unexpected ability of these loop5 targeting inhibitors to differentially control a novel Eg5 microtubule depolymerizing activity. Remarkably, small molecule loop5 effectors are able to independently modulate discrete functional interactions between the motor and microtubule track. We establish that motility can be uncoupled from the microtubule depolymerase activity and argue that loop5-targeting inhibitors of Kinesin-5 should not all be considered functionally synonymous. Also, the depolymerizing activity of the motor does not contribute to the genesis of monopolar spindles during allosteric inhibition of motility, but instead reveals a new function. We propose that, in addition to its canonical role in participating in the construction of the three-dimensional mitotic spindle structure, Eg5 also plays a distinct role in regulating the dynamics of individual microtubules, and thereby impacts the density of the mitotic spindle.

Eg5, a motor kinesin involved in the formation of the bipolar mitotic spindle, is essential for the successful completion of mitosis. Monastrol and S‐trityl‐L‐cysteine (STC) are two well‐characterized inhibitors of Eg5, with STC being the more potent inhibitor. We have determined the 2.5 Åresolution crystal structure of the Eg5 motor domain in complex with STC and Mg ?ADP. STC interacts with Eg5 via a pocket formed by helices a2, a3 and loop L5, and induces conformational changes within the Eg5 necklinker and switch I and II regions similar to those seen with bound monastrol. However, there are two distinctions between the STC‐Eg5 and monastrol‐Eg5 structures: the nature of the interactions between the allosteric ligand and Eg5 and solvent accessibility of residues in the allosteric binding site. Monastrol contacts with Eg5 are largely mediated by nonpolar drug surfaces. During STC binding, contact between the motor domain and polar surfaces of the drug is increased in relation to that of monastrol by over 20 Å2. STC binding occludes ~80 Å2 more of the Eg5 surface from solvent access than does monastrol. Site‐directed mutagenesis and coupled biochemical assays monitoring ATP hydrolysis were used to test the hypothesis that several residues altered in solvent accessibility upon STC binding to Eg5 were critical to the increased efficacy of inhibition by this small molecule.Supported by Louisiana Board of Regents Grant