Conformation–activity relationships and the mechanism of action of penicillin
Authors: Wolfe Saul , Yang Kiyull , Khalil Maged 
Published: May 2006

Using the MMPEN parameters of Allinger's MMP2(85) force field, a conformational analysis has been performed on four biologically active penicillins; D-ampicillin, L-α-phenoxyethylpenicillin, penicillin G, and penicillin V, and on five biologically inactive or much less active penicillins: L-ampicillin, D-α-phenoxyethylpenicillin, N-methylpenicillin G, 6α-methylpenicillin G, and bisnorpenicillin G. Antibacterial activity is found to be associated with the existence of a global minimum having a compact structure, whose convex face is accessible to a penicillin binding protein (PBP), with the C3-carboxyl group and the side-chain N-H exposed on this face. Using the MMPEP parameters of MMP2(85), a conformational analysis has been performed on phenylacetyl-D-Ala-D-Ala-O−, a peptide model of the normal substrate of a PBP. Labischinski's global minimum has been reproduced, along with structures that correspond to Tipper and Strominger's proposal that the N4—C7 bond of a penicillin corresponds to the Ala–Ala peptide bond, and to Hasan's proposal that the N4—C5 bond of penicillin corresponds to the peptide bond. For both models, conformations of the peptide related to the pseudoaxial and pseudoequatorial conformations of the thiazolidine ring of penicillin G have been examined. It is concluded that penicillin is not a structural analog of the global minimum of the peptide; however, comparisons based on unbound conformations of PBP substrates are unable to determine which model is more appropriate, or which conformation of penicillin G is the biologically significant one. Using the ECEPP/MMPEP strategy, a model of the active site of a PBP has been obtained, following a search of 200,000 structures of the peptide Ac-NH-Val-Gly-Ser-Val-Thr-Lys-NH-Me. This peptide contains the sequence at the active site of a PBP of Streptomyces R61, for which it is also known that the C3-carboxyl group of penicillin binds to the ε-amino group of lysine, and the β-lactam reacts chemically with the serine OH. The lysine and serine side chains and the C-terminal carbonyl group are found to occupy the concave face of the active site model.A strategy for the docking of penicillins or peptides to this model, with full minimization of the conformational energies of the complexes, has been devised. All active penicillins bind through strong hydrogen bonds to the C3-carboxyl group and the side-chain N-H, and with a four-centered relationship between the O-H of serine and the (O)C-N of the β-lactam ring. The geometrical parameters of this relationship are reminiscent of those found in the gas phase transition state of neutral hydration of a carbonyl group. When the energies of formation and geometries of the pseudoaxial and pseudoequatorial penicillin G complexes are examined, there is now a clear preference for the binding of the pseudoaxial conformation, which is the global minimum of the uncomplexed penicillin in this case. A similar examination of the peptide complexes reveals that only the conformation of the peptide that corresponds to Tipper and Strominger's model, and is based on the pseudoaxial conformation of penicillin G, can form a complex with a geometry and energy comparable to those of a biologically active penicillin.