This is a renewal application for a research program that focuses on the development and application of deoxyribozymes for phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of proteins. Deoxyribozymes (DNA enzymes) are specific DNA sequences that have particular catalytic activities, just like protein enzymes are catalytic sequences of amino acids. DNA has many conceptual and practical advantages as a catalyst relative to proteins and RNA. At present, much effort has focused on deoxyribozymes for RNA cleavage and ligation, but a broader range of reaction chemistries remains largely unexamined. Expanding DNA catalysis to include protein substrates for the key reactions of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation will increase our fundamental understanding of such catalytic processes and provide practical catalysts for applications involving these important biomolecular substrates. Our previous work has established that deoxyribozymes can have very high rate enhancements for challenging reactions such as DNA phosphodiester hydrolysis. However, most previous efforts by us and others have focused on substrates that are oligonucleotides, for which binding interactions are provided by simple Watson-Crick base pairing.
In Aim 1, we will establish a more general, modular approach in which small-molecule substrates are bound by generalizable aptamer domains, which will then be integrated with catalytic domains to provide functional deoxyribozymes.
Aims 2 and 3 will focus on identification of deoxyribozymes that catalyze protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation (i.e., kinase and phosphatase activities), respectively.
Aim 4 will apply the new kinase and phosphatase deoxyribozymes in biologically relevant contexts such as cell-surface modification reactions and studies of tau protein, which is implicated in Alzheimer's disease. Finally, Aim 5 will use biochemical methods, solution-state NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography to characterize the newly identified kinase and phosphatase deoxyribozymes, providing important fundamental information that will assist the rational redesign of selection strategies and catalytic activities.

Public Health Relevance

Catalytic DNA molecules (deoxyribozymes) are an intriguing new form of catalyst that can be used to increase our basic understanding of nucleic acids and to enable practical applications. The proposed research expands the chemical scope of DNA catalysis to include phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of protein substrates, providing fundamental insights as well as practical catalysts for immediate biological applications.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01GM065966-10A1
Application #
8577273
Study Section
Macromolecular Structure and Function E Study Section (MSFE)
Program Officer
Preusch, Peter C
Project Start
2003-05-01
Project End
2017-05-31
Budget Start
2013-09-01
Budget End
2014-05-31
Support Year
10
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$341,552
Indirect Cost
$110,986
Name
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Department
Chemistry
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
041544081
City
Champaign
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
61820
Lee, Yujeong; Klauser, Paul C; Brandsen, Benjamin M et al. (2017) DNA-Catalyzed DNA Cleavage by a Radical Pathway with Well-Defined Products. J Am Chem Soc 139:255-261
Silverman, Scott K (2016) Catalytic DNA: Scope, Applications, and Biochemistry of Deoxyribozymes. Trends Biochem Sci 41:595-609
Hesser, Anthony R; Brandsen, Benjamin M; Walsh, Shannon M et al. (2016) DNA-catalyzed glycosylation using aryl glycoside donors. Chem Commun (Camb) 52:9259-62
Chu, Chih-Chi; Silverman, Scott K (2016) Assessing histidine tags for recruiting deoxyribozymes to catalyze peptide and protein modification reactions. Org Biomol Chem 14:4697-703
Camden, Alison J; Walsh, Shannon M; Suk, Sarah H et al. (2016) DNA Oligonucleotide 3'-Phosphorylation by a DNA Enzyme. Biochemistry 55:2671-6
Zhou, Cong; Avins, Joshua L; Klauser, Paul C et al. (2016) DNA-Catalyzed Amide Hydrolysis. J Am Chem Soc 138:2106-9
Wang, Puzhou; Silverman, Scott K (2016) DNA-Catalyzed Introduction of Azide at Tyrosine for Peptide Modification. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 55:10052-6
Walsh, Shannon M; Konecki, Stephanie N; Silverman, Scott K (2015) Identification of Sequence-Selective Tyrosine Kinase Deoxyribozymes. J Mol Evol 81:218-24
Silverman, Scott K (2015) Pursuing DNA catalysts for protein modification. Acc Chem Res 48:1369-79
Chandrasekar, Jagadeeswaran; Wylder, Adam C; Silverman, Scott K (2015) Phosphoserine Lyase Deoxyribozymes: DNA-Catalyzed Formation of Dehydroalanine Residues in Peptides. J Am Chem Soc 137:9575-8

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