In vitro genetic code reprogramming and expansion to study protein function and discover macrocyclic peptide ligands

Genetic code expansion allows unnatural (non-canonical) amino acid incorporation into proteins of interest by repurposing the cellular translation machinery. The development of this technique has enabled site-specific incorporation of many structurally and chemically diverse amino acids, facilitating a plethora of applications, including protein imaging, engineering, mechanistic and structural investigations, and functional regulation. Particularly, genetic code expansion provides great tools to study mammalian proteins, of which dysregulations often have important implications in health. In recent years, a series of methods has been developed to modulate protein function through genetically incorporated unnatural amino acids. In this review, we will first discuss the basic concept of genetic code expansion and give an up-to-date list of amino acids that can be incorporated into proteins in mammalian cells. We then focus on the use of unnatural amino acids to activate, inhibit, or reversibly modulate protein function by translational, optical or chemical control. The features of each approach will also be highlighted.

By evolving the N-terminal domain of Methanosarcina mazei pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase (PylRS) that directly interacts with tRNAPyl , a mutant clone displaying improved amber-suppression efficiency for the genetic incorporation of Nϵ -(tert-butoxycarbonyl)-l-lysine threefold more than the wild type was identified. The identified mutations were R19H/H29R/T122S. Direct transfer of these mutations to two other PylRS mutants that were previously evolved for the genetic incorporation of Nϵ -acetyl-l-lysine and Nϵ -(4-azidobenzoxycarbonyl)-l-δ,ϵ-dehydrolysine also improved the incorporation efficiency of these two noncanonical amino acids. As the three identified mutations were found in the N-terminal domain of PylRS that was separated from its catalytic domain for charging tRNAPyl with a noncanonical amino acid, they could potentially be introduced to all other PylRS mutants to improve the incorporation efficiency of their corresponding noncanonical amino acids. Therefore, it represents a general strategy to optimize the pyrrolysine incorporation system-based noncanonical amino-acid mutagenesis.

Stabilization of the reaction intermediate eudesmane cation (3) through interaction with Trp 334 during catalysis by aristolochene synthase from Penicillium roqueforti was investigated by site-directed incorporation of proteinogenic and non-canonical aromatic amino acids. The amount of germacrene A (2) generated by the mutant enzymes served as a measure of the stabilization of 3. 2 is a neutral intermediate, from which 3 is formed during PR-AS catalysis by protonation of the C6,C7 double bond. The replacement of Trp 334 with para-substituted phenylalanines of increasing electron-withdrawing properties led to a progressive accumulation of 2 that showed a good correlation with the interaction energies of simple cations such as Na(+) with substituted benzenes. These results provide compelling evidence for the stabilizing role played by Trp 334 in aristolochene synthase catalysis for the energetically demanding transformation of 2 to 3.

Redesigning protein surface topology to improve target binding holds great promise in the search for highly selective therapeutics. While significant binding improvements can be achieved using natural amino acids, the introduction of non-canonical residues vastly increases sequence space and thus the chance to significantly out-compete native partners. The potency of protein inhibitors can be further enhanced by synthesising mirror image, D-amino versions. This renders them non-immunogenic and makes them highly resistant to proteolytic degradation. Current experimental design methods often preclude the use of D-amino acids and non-canonical amino acids for a variety of reasons. To address this, we build an in silico pipeline for D-protein designs featuring non-canonical amino acids. For a test scaffold we use an existing D-protein inhibitor of VEGF: D-RFX001. We benchmark the approach by recapitulating previous experimental optimisation with canonical amino acids. Subsequent incorporation of non-canonical amino acids allows designs that are predicted to improve binding affinity by up to -7.18 kcal/mol.

Genetic code expansion in multicellular organisms is currently limited to the use of repurposed amber stop codons. Here, we introduce a system for the use of quadruplet codons to direct incorporation of non-canonical amino acids in vivo in an animal, the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. We develop hybrid pyrrolysyl tRNA variants to incorporate non-canonical amino acids in response to the quadruplet codon UAGA. We demonstrate the efficiency of the quadruplet decoding system by incorporating photocaged amino acids into two proteins widely used as genetic tools. We use photocaged lysine to express photocaged Cre recombinase for the optical control of gene expression and photocaged cysteine to express photo-activatable caspase for light inducible cell ablation. Our approach will facilitate the routine adoption of quadruplet decoding for genetic code expansion in eukaryotic cells and multicellular organisms.

Various methods for characterizing binding forces as well as for monitoring and remote control of ion channels are still emerging. A recent innovation is the direct incorporation of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) with corresponding biophysical or biochemical properties, which are integrated using genetic code expansion technology. Minimal changes to natural amino acids, which are achieved by chemical synthesis of corresponding UAAs, are valuable tools to provide insight into the contributions of physicochemical properties of side chains in binding events. To gain unique control over the conformational changes or function of ion channels, a series of light-sensitive, chemically reactive and posttranslationally modified UAAs have been developed and utilized. Here, we present the existing UAA tools, their mode of action, their potential and limitations as well as their previous applications to Ca2+-permeable ion channels.

In this chapter, we discuss recent applications of non-canonical amino acids in modulating enzyme activity. The methodology available for both non-specific and site-specific non-canonical amino acid incorporation into enzymes has advanced in recent years, which has allowed the novel properties of non-canonical amino acids to supplement the already impressive catalytic properties of enzymes. Here, we provide a brief introduction into the methodology underlying non-canonical amino acid incorporation, before discussing recent applications of non-canonical amino acids in developing enzymes with increased soluble expression and thermostability, enhanced catalytic efficiency, altered substrate specificity and selectivity, and to improve chemical modification of enzymes. In addition to these applied aims, we also cover the use of non-canonical amino acids to probe enzyme function and mechanism. We end this chapter by highlighting the smaller number of studies that have used non-canonical amino acid mutagenesis with enzymes, in comparison to its more frequent use in studying binding proteins or peptides, highlighting a number of technical hurdles that must be overcome before this field reaches its potential.

Proteins are the workhorses of the cell, playing crucial roles in virtually every biological process. The revolutionary ability to visualize and monitor proteins in living systems, which is largely the result of the development of green fluorescence protein (GFP) and its derivatives, has dramatically expanded our understanding of protein dynamics and function. Still, GFPs are ill suited in many circumstances; one major drawback is their relatively large size, which can significantly perturb the functions of the native proteins to which they are fused. To bridge this gap, scientists working at the chemistry-biology interface have developed methods to install bioorthogonal functional groups into proteins in living cells. The bioorthogonal group is, by definition, a non-native and nonperturbing chemical group. But more importantly, the installed bioorthogonal handle is able to react with a probe bearing a complementary functionality in a highly selective fashion and with the cell operating in its physiological state. Although extensive efforts have been directed toward the development of bioorthogonal chemical reactions, introducing chemical functionalities into proteins in living systems remains an ongoing challenge. In this Account, we survey recent progress in this area, focusing on a genetic code expansion approach. In nature, a cell uses posttranslational modifications to append the necessary functional groups into proteins that are beyond those contained in the canonical 20 amino acids. Taking lessons from nature, scientists have chosen or engineered certain enzymes to modify target proteins with chemical handles. Alternatively, one can use the cell's translational machinery to genetically encode bioorthogonal functionalities, typically in the form of unnatural amino acids (UAAs), into proteins; this can be done in a residue-specific or a site-specific manner. For studying protein dynamics and function in living cells, site-specific modification by means of genetic code expansion is usually favored. A variety of UAAs bearing bioorthogonal groups as well as other functionalities have been genetically encoded into proteins of interest. Although this approach is well established in bacteria, tagging proteins in mammalian cells is challenging. A facile pyrrolysine-based system, which might potentially become the "one-stop shop" for protein modification in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, has recently emerged. This technology can effectively introduce a series of bioorthogonal handles into proteins in mammalian cells for subsequent chemical conjugation with small-molecule probes. Moreover, the method may provide more precise protein labeling than GFP tagging. These advancements build the foundation for studying more complex cellular processes, such as the dynamics of important receptors on living mammalian cell surfaces.

Over the past years, fluorescent proteins (e.g., green fluorescent proteins) have been widely utilized to visualize recombinant protein expression and localization in live cells. Although powerful, fluorescent protein tags are limited by their relatively large sizes and potential perturbation to protein function. Alternatively, site-specific labeling of proteins with small-molecule organic fluorophores using bioorthogonal chemistry may provide a more precise and less perturbing method. This approach involves site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) into proteins via genetic code expansion, followed by bioorthogonal chemical labeling with small organic fluorophores in living cells. While this approach has been used to label extracellular proteins for live cell imaging studies, site-specific bioorthogonal labeling and fluorescence imaging of intracellular proteins in live cells is still challenging. Herein, we systematically evaluate site-specific incorporation of diastereomerically pure bioorthogonal UAAs bearing stained alkynes or alkenes into intracellular proteins for inverse-electron-demand Diels-Alder cycloaddition reactions with tetrazine-functionalized fluorophores for live cell labeling and imaging in mammalian cells. Our studies show that site-specific incorporation of axial diastereomer of trans-cyclooct-2-ene-lysine robustly affords highly efficient and specific bioorthogonal labeling with monosubstituted tetrazine fluorophores in live mammalian cells, which enabled us to image the intracellular localization and real-time dynamic trafficking of IFITM3, a small membrane-associated protein with only 137 amino acids, for the first time. Our optimized UAA incorporation and bioorthogonal labeling conditions also enabled efficient site-specific fluorescence labeling of other intracellular proteins for live cell imaging studies in mammalian cells.

Noncanonical amino acids (NCAAs) have emerged as essential building blocks in protein engineering and peptide drug development owing to their advantages in enhancing metabolic stability, membrane permeability, and resistance to proteolytic degradation. Accurate construction of 3D protein structures containing NCAAs is crucial for elucidating their functions, understanding molecular interactions, and enabling rational design. However, integrating NCAAs into state-of-the-art protein structure prediction frameworks─such as AlphaFold3─often results in chirality violations, steric clashes, and local geometric distortions. These issues likely reflect limited parametrization of nonstandard residues within current models. To address these challenges, we expanded the AMBER force field covering 139 NCAAs, and we developed an enhanced Amber-relax protocol named HighRelax. Unlike conventional workflows that are restricted to linear peptides composed of canonical amino acids, HighRelax is compatible with complex systems containing NCAAs and cyclic peptides and can be seamlessly integrated with structures generated by state-of-the-art models such as AlphaFold3. Our results demonstrate that HighRelax effectively reduces steric clashes, restores residue chirality, and improves overall structural quality. This method provides a general postprocessing strategy for refining NCAA-containing structures, facilitating their applications in molecular simulation, peptide drug design, and protein engineering.

Genetic code expansion enables the incorporation of non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) into expressed proteins. ncAAs are usually encoded by a stop codon that is decoded by an exogenous orthogonal aminoacyl tRNA synthetase and its cognate suppressor tRNA, such as the pyrrolysine {bf{text{synthetase}}}{boldsymbol{/}}{{bf{text{tRNA}}}}_{{bf{text{CUA}}}}^{{bf{text{Pyl}}}} pair. In such systems, stop codon suppression is dependent on the intracellular levels of the exogenous tRNA. Therefore, multiple copies of the tRNAPyl gene (PylT) are encoded to improve ncAA incorporation. However, certain applications in mammalian cells, such as live-cell imaging applications, where labelled tRNAs contribute to background fluorescence, can benefit from the use of less invasive minimal expression systems. Accordingly, we studied the effect of tRNAPyl on live-cell fluorescence imaging of bioorthogonally-labelled intracellular proteins. We found that in COS7 cells, a decrease in PylT copy numbers had no measurable effect on protein expression levels. Importantly, reducing PylT copy numbers improved the quality of live-cell images by enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio and reducing an immobile tRNAPyl population. This enabled us to improve live cell imaging of bioorthogonally labelled intracellular proteins, and to simultaneously label two different proteins in a cell. Our results indicate that the number of introduced PylT genes can be minimized according to the transfected cell line, incorporated ncAA, and application.

The bioorthogonal chemistry has become a valuable tool for specific labeling of biomolecules in living systems. One emerging example is to convert the palladium-mediated carbon-carbon bond formation reaction, a landmark reaction in organic synthesis, into the biocompatible reaction for biomolecule modifications. A prerequisite to enable such reactions to be executed on biological samples is to incorporate the corresponding bioorthogonal functional groups into target biomolecules. The genetic code expansion strategy is a leading technology on introducing diverse bioorthogonal functionalities into pro- teins, and the most recently developed pyrrolysine system can now allow unnatural amino acids (UAAs) bearing bioorthogo- nal handles into proteins in prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells and even in living animals. In this perspective, we will first introduce some of the forefronts of the bioorthognal reactions as well as the genetic code expansion strategy. We then will discuss the advantages and attractiveness of combining these newly emerged tools, Pd-mediated biomolecular labeling and pyrrolysine-based genetic code expansion system in particular, to specifically label and study proteins in living mammalian cells. More biocompatible reactions and more flexible UAA incorporation system will significantly strengthen and expand our ability to specifically manipulate proteins in their native cellular environment. Keywords protein labeling; bioothorgonal; palladium catalyzed; cross coupling; unnatural amino acid

Genetic Code Expansion in Rhodobacter sphaeroides to Incorporate Non-canonical Amino Acids into Photosynthetic Reaction Centers

The efficient, site-specific introductionof unnatural amino acidsinto proteins in mammalian cells is an outstanding challenge in realizingthe potential of genetic code expansion approaches. Addressing thischallenge will allow the synthesis of modified recombinant proteinsand augment emerging strategies that introduce new chemical functionalitiesinto proteins to control and image their function with high spatialand temporal precision in cells. The efficiency of unnatural aminoacid incorporation in response to the amber stop codon (UAG) in mammaliancells is commonly considered to be low. Here we demonstrate that tRNAlevels can be limiting for unnatural amino acid incorporation efficiency,and we develop an optimized pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNACUA expression system, with optimized tRNA expression for mammaliancells. In addition, we engineer eRF1, that normally terminates translationon all three stop codons, to provide a substantial increase in unnaturalamino acid incorporation in response to the UAG codon without increasingreadthrough of other stop codons. By combining the optimized pyrrolysyl-tRNAsynthetase/tRNACUA expression system and an engineeredeRF1, we increase the yield of protein bearing unnatural amino acidsat a single site 17- to 20-fold. Using the optimized system, we produceproteins containing unnatural amino acids with comparable yields toa protein produced from a gene that does not contain a UAG stop codon.Moreover, the optimized system increases the yield of protein, incorporatingan unnatural amino acid at three sites, from unmeasurably low levelsup to 43% of a no amber stop control. Our approach may enable theefficient production of site-specifically modified therapeutic proteins,and the quantitative replacement of targeted cellular proteins withversions bearing unnatural amino acids that allow imaging or syntheticregulation of protein function.

Analysis of the developing proteome has been complicated by a lack of tools that can be easily employed to label and identify newly synthesized proteins within complex biological mixtures. Here, we demonstrate that the methionine analogs azidohomoalanine and homopropargylglycine can be globally incorporated into the proteome of mice through facile intraperitoneal injections. These analogs contain bio-orthogonal chemical handles to which fluorescent tags can be conjugated to identify newly synthesized proteins. We show these non-canonical amino acids are incorporated into various tissues in juvenile mice and in a concentration dependent manner. Furthermore, administration of these methionine analogs to pregnant dams during a critical stage of murine development, E10.5–12.5 when many tissues are assembling, does not overtly disrupt development as assessed by proteomic analysis and normal parturition and growth of pups. This successful demonstration that non-canonical amino acids can be directly administered in vivo will enable future studies that seek to characterize the murine proteome during growth, disease and repair.