Multitarget affinity/specificity screening of natural products: finding and characterizing high-affinity ligands from complex mixtures by using high-performance mass spectrometry

J Nat Prod. 2003 Sep;66(9):1186-90. doi: 10.1021/np0301137.

Abstract

In this work we describe a high-throughput screening approach based on electrospray ionization-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR) that rapidly interrogates the noncovalent interaction between RNA-based drug targets and components derived from a bacterial natural product library. The screening process detects molecules present in the natural product library that bind to a synthetic RNA target that mimics the prokaryotic 16S rRNA A-site, while simultaneously measuring specificity for the synthetic A-site target using a control RNA target that lacks the critical structural element of the A-site construct. This screening approach known as multitarget affinity/specificity screening (MASS) demonstrated the expected binding of paromomycin from a fractionated natural product library derived from Streptomyces rimosus sp. paromomycinus. A new molecule was observed to bind with specificity to the 16S A-site RNA construct. MS/MS characterization of this species yielded partial structural information suggesting it is an aminoglycoside consisting of a paromomycin core with one or more modified rings. This work demonstrates the tremendous utility of MASS for screening natural product fractions against macromolecular targets.

MeSH terms

  • Base Sequence
  • Biological Products*
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Nucleic Acid Conformation
  • Paromomycin / metabolism
  • RNA, Bacterial* / chemistry
  • RNA, Ribosomal* / chemistry
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization*
  • Streptomyces / chemistry*

Substances

  • Biological Products
  • RNA, Bacterial
  • RNA, Ribosomal
  • Paromomycin