Why drug development is hard #30 — more new interactions we had no idea existed

We’re full of proteins which bind RNA wrangling it into a desired conformation.  The ribosome (whose enzymatic business end is pure RNA) has a mere 80 proteins doing this.  Its mass is 4,300,000 times that of a hydrogen atom.  However the idea that RNA could return the favor was pretty much unheard of until [ Science vol. 358 pp. 993 – 994, 1051 – 1055 ’17 — http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6366/1051 ].

As is often the case, viruses and the RNA world continue to instruct us.  In order to survive, some viruses induce cells to express a long (2,200+ nucleotides) nonCoding (for protein that is) RNA called lncRNA-ACOD1.   It binds to a protein enzyme (called GOT2, for Glutamic acid OxaloAcetic Transaminase 2) increasing its catalytic efficiency.  This shifts cellular metabolism around making it more favorable for virus proliferation, as GOT2 is found in mitochondria being used to replenish tricarboxylic cycle intermediates — e.g. making more energy available to the virus.

lncRNA-ACOD1 is induced by a variety of viruses, most importantly influenza virus in man, and vaccinia, herpes simplex 1, vesicular stomatitis virus in mice.  Exactly how viruses induce it isn’t clear, but the transcription factor NFkappaB is involved.

Viruses continue to teach us.  The amino acids of GOT2 (#15 – #68) and the interacting sequence of nucleotides in lncRNA-ACOD1 (#165 – #390) are well conserved across species.  This might be a primordial mechanism from the RNA world (forgotten but not gone) to produce ATP production to compe with metabolic stress.   The RNA/protein binding site is close (4.2 Angstroms) to the substrate binding site.

The fun is just starting as several other lncRNAs are induced by viruses.  You can only imagine what they will tell us.  Another set of drug targets perhaps, or worse, the cause of peculiar side effects from drugs already in use.

Why drug discovery is hard #29 — a very old player doing a very new thing

We all know what RNA does don’t we?  It binds to other RNAs and to DNA.  Sure lots of new forms of RNA have been found: microRNAs, competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA), long nonCoding (for protein) RNA (lncRNA), piwiRNAs, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), . .. The list appears endless.  But the basic mechanism of action of RNA in the cell is binding to some other polynucleotide (RNA or DNA) and affecting its function.

Not so fast.  A new paper http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6366/1051 describes  lncRNA-ACOD1, a cellular RNA induced by a variety of viruses.  lncRNA-ACOD1 binds to an enzyme enhancing its catalytic efficiency.  Now that’s new.  Certainly RNAs and proteins bind to each other in the ribosome, and in RNAase P, but here the proteins serve to structure the RNA so it can carry out its catalytic function, not the other way around.

The enzyme bound is called GOT2 (Glutamic Oxaloacetic Transaminase 2).  Much interesting cellular biochemistry is discussed in the paper which I’ll skip, except to say that the virus uses the hyped up GOT2 to repurpose the cell’s metabolic machinery for its own evil ends.

lncRNA-ACOD1 has 3 exons and a polyAdenine tail.  There are two transcript variants containing  2,330 and 2,259 nucleotides.  There are only 100 copies/cell.  lncRNA-ACOD1 nucleotides #165 – #390 bind to amino acids #54 – #68 of GOT2.

So what are the other 2000 or so nucleotides of lncRNA-ACOD1 doing?   The phenomenon of RNA binding to protein is quite likely to be more widespread.  Both the GOT2 interacting motif and the interacting sequence of lncRNA-ACOD1 are well conserved across species of hosts and viruses.

Although viruses co-opt lncRNA-ACOD1, it is normally expressed in the heart as is GOT2 with no viral infection at all.  So we have likely stumbled onto an entirely new method of cellular metabolic control, AND a whole new set of players and interactions for drugs to act on (if they aren’t already doing this unknown to us).

This is series member #29 of why drug development is hard, most of which concentrated on the fact that we don’t know all the players.  lncRNA-ACOD1 is different — RNA is a player we’ve known for a very long time  but it appears to be playing a game entirely new to us.

It is also good to see cutting edge research like this coming out of China.  Hopefully it will stand up, but enough questionable stuff has come from them that every Chinese paper is under a cloud.

This is why I love reading the current literature.  You never know what you’re going to find.  It’s like opening presents.