4res

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Cardiotonic steroids (CTSs) are specific and potent inhibitors of the Na(+),K(+)-ATPase, with highest affinity to the phosphoenzyme (E2P) forms. CTSs are comprised of a steroid core, which can be glycosylated, and a varying number of substituents, including a five- or six-membered lactone. These functionalities have specific influence on the binding properties. We report crystal structures of the Na(+),K(+)-ATPase in the E2P form in complex with bufalin (a nonglycosylated CTS with a six-membered lactone) and digoxin (a trisaccharide-conjugated CTS with a five-membered lactone) and compare their characteristics and binding kinetics with the previously described E2P-ouabain complex to derive specific details and the general mechanism of CTS binding and inhibition. CTSs block the extracellular cation exchange pathway, and cation-binding sites I and II are differently occupied: A single Mg(2+) is bound in site II of the digoxin and ouabain complexes, whereas both sites are occupied by K(+) in the E2P-bufalin complex. In all complexes, alphaM4 adopts a wound form, characteristic for the E2P state and favorable for high-affinity CTS binding. We conclude that the occupants of the cation-binding site and the type of the lactone substituent determine the arrangement of alphaM4 and hypothesize that winding/unwinding of alphaM4 represents a trigger for high-affinity CTS binding. We find that the level of glycosylation affects the depth of CTS binding and that the steroid core substituents fine tune the configuration of transmembrane helices alphaM1-2.

Structures and characterization of digoxin- and bufalin-bound Na+,K+-ATPase compared with the ouabain-bound complex.,Laursen M, Gregersen JL, Yatime L, Nissen P, Fedosova NU Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Feb 10;112(6):1755-60. doi:, 10.1073/pnas.1422997112. Epub 2015 Jan 26. PMID:25624492^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.