Photocontrol of the mitotic kinesin Eg5 using a novel S-trityl-L-cysteine analogue as a photochromic inhibitor

In this study, we synthesized a novel photochromic S-trityl-l-cysteine analogue, 4-(N-(2-(N-acetylcysteine-S-yl) acetyl) amino)-4'- (N-(2-(N-(triphenylmethyl)amino)acetyl)amino)azobenzene (ACTAB), composed of a trityl group, azobenzene and N-acetyl-l-cysteine, which exhibits cis–trans photoisomerization in order to photocontrol the function of Eg5. ACTAB exhibited cis–trans photoisomerization upon alternating irradiation at two different wavelengths in the visible range, 400 and 480 nm. ACTAB induced reversible changes in the inhibitory activity of ATPase and motor activities correlating with the cis–trans photoisomerization. Compared with cis-ACTAB, trans-ACTAB reduced ATPase activity and microtubule gliding velocity more significantly. These results suggest that ACTAB could be used as photochromic inhibitor of Eg5 to achieve photocontrol of living cells.
Source: Journal of Biochemistry - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Regular Papers Source Type: research