Mechanism of inhibition of reverse transcriptase by quinone antibiotics. II. Dependence on putative quinone pocket on the enzyme molecule.

Inhibition of avian myeloblastosis virus (AMV) reverse transcriptase by natural and synthetic quinones including antibiotics could be accounted for by an oxidation-reduction reaction. The quinones were shown to function as electron acceptors as revealed by the catalytic oxidation of NADH by Clostridium kluyveri diaphorase which was in excellent agreement with enzyme inhibition activity. The kinetics of inhibition of AMV reverse transcriptase by three synthetic quinones with different core structures, i.e., 6-methoxy-5,8-dihydroquinoline-5,8- dione, 5,8-dihydroisoquinoline-5,8-dione and 1,4-naphthoquinone, were studied. These quinones inhibited reverse transcriptase in the same manner as streptonigrin (STN) and were shown to act at a single class of reaction site(s) on the enzyme molecule. In contrast, the quinones with bulky substituents, i.e., 7-(2-nitrophenethylamino)-5,8-dihydroisoquinoline-5,8-dione and 7-methoxy-6-methyl-3-piperidino-5,8-dihydroisoquinoline-5,8-dione, were inactive as inhibitors of reverse transcriptase, whereas they retained competent catalytic activities in the oxidation of NADH by C. kluyveri diaphorase. Based on these observations, the existence of a specific site of interaction on the enzyme molecule, referred to as a quinone pocket, was proposed. The quinone pocket might play a crucial role in the early sequence of events leading to the inhibition of reverse transcriptase by quinones including STN and sakyomicin A (SKM). Access of SKM to a quinone pocket might be restricted due to its bulky structure in the vicinity of the quinone group. This is inferred from unsuccessful inhibition of reverse transcriptase by the quinones with bulky substituents, resulting in much poorer inhibition of reverse transcriptase in spite of more potent electron acceptor activity in the oxidation-reduction system as compared with those of STN.