Posttranslational Chemical Mutagenesis: To Reveal the Role of Noncatalytic Cysteine Residues in Pathogenic Bacterial Phosphatases

The field of chemical site-selective modification of proteins has progressed extensively in recent decades to enable protein functionalization for imaging, drug delivery, and functional studies. In this Perspective, we provide detailed insight into an alternative use of site-selective protein chemistry to probe the role(s) of unpaired Cys residues in the structure and function of disease relevant proteins. Phosphatases are important players in the successful infection of pathogenic bacteria, which represent a significant health burden, particularly in multi-drug-resistant strains. Therefore, a strategy for readily probing the key amino acid role(s) in structure and function may facilitate the targeting and inhibition of these virulence factors. With a dehydroalanine-based posttranslational chemical mutagenesis approach, it is possible to reveal hitherto unknown function(s) of noncatalytic Cys residues and confirm their role and interplay in pathogenic bacterial phosphatases. By selectively modifying reactive sulfhydryl side chains in different protein local environments, this posttranslational site-selective chemical mutagenesis approach reveals structural information about binding pockets and regulatory roles of the modified residues, which can be further validated by conventional site-directed mutagenesis. Ultimately, these new binding pockets can serve as templates for enhanced structure-based drug design platforms and aid the development of potent and specific inhibitors