Identification of a glutathione-S-transferase effector domain for inhibition of jun kinase, by molecular dynamics

We have recently found that the glutathione-S-transferase π-isozyme (GST-π), a cellular detoxification enzyme, potently and selectively inhibits activation of jun protein by its upstream kinase, jun kinase (JNK). This newly identified regulatory activity of GST-π is strongly inhibited by a group of agents that inhibit its enzymatic activity. Since loss of enzymatic activity in general does not correlate with loss of regulatory activity, it is likely that inhibitor binding induces changes in the structure of one or more domains of GST that block its interaction with JNK. To identify regions of GST that change conformation on the binding of inhibitors, we have performed molecular dynamics calculations on GST-π to compute its average structure in the presence and absence of the inhibitor, glutathione sulfonate. Superposition of the two average structures reveals that several regions change local structure depending upon whether the inhibitor is bound or not bound. Two of these regions, residues 36-50 and 194-201, are highly exposed. We have synthesized peptides corresponding to these two segments and find that the 194-201 sequence strongly inhibits the ability of GST-π to block the in vitro phosphorylation of jun by JNK. These results suggest that this region of GST-π is critical to its functioning as a newly discovered regulator of signal transduction.