Total Chemical Synthesis and Folding of All‑l and All‑d Variants of Oncogenic KRas(G12V)

• Published in: Journal of the American Chemical Society 2017-06, Vol.139 (22), p.7632-7639
• Main Authors: Levinson, Adam M, McGee, John H, Roberts, Andrew G, Creech, Gardner S, Wang, Ting, Peterson, Michael T, Hendrickson, Ronald C, Verdine, Gregory L, Danishefsky, Samuel J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; cell proliferation; enantiomers; Genetic Variation; guanosine triphosphate; guanosinetriphosphatase; Humans; hydrophobicity; ligands; mutants; neoplasms; Protein Folding; proteins; Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) - chemical synthesis; Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) - genetics; signal transduction; synthesis; therapeutics; yeasts
• ISSN: 0002-7863; 1520-5126; 1520-5126
• DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b02988

The Ras proteins are essential GTPases involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and survival. Mutated oncogenic forms of Ras alter effector binding and innate GTPase activity, leading to deregulation of downstream signal transduction. Mutated forms of Ras are involved in approximately 30% of human cancers. Despite decades of effort to develop direct Ras inhibitors, Ras has long been considered “undruggable” due to its high affinity for GTP and its lack of hydrophobic binding pockets. Herein, we report a total chemical synthesis of all-l- and all-d-amino acid biotinylated variants of oncogenic mutant KRas­(G12V). The protein is synthesized using Fmoc-based solid-phase peptide synthesis and assembled using combined native chemical ligation and isonitrile-mediated activation strategies. We demonstrate that both KRas­(G12V) enantiomers can successfully fold and bind nucleotide substrates and binding partners with observable enantio­discrimination. By demonstrating the functional competency of a mirror-image form of KRas bound to its corresponding enantiomeric nucleotide triphosphate, this study sets the stage for further biochemical studies with this material. In particular, this protein will enable mirror-image yeast surface display experiments to identify all-d peptide ligands for oncogenic KRas, providing a useful tool in the search for new therapeutics against this challenging disease target.