Roles of ring C oxygens in the binding of colchicine to tubulin.

The roles of the oxygens in ring C of colchicine in its binding to tubulin were probed by a study of the interactions of two allocolchicine biphenyl analogues, 2,3,4,4'-tetramethoxy-1,1'-biphenyl (TMB) and 2,3,4-trimethoxy-4'-acetyl-1,1'-biphenyl (TKB), the first one containing a methoxy group in position 4', the second a keto group. Both analogues were found to bind specifically to the colchicine-binding site on tubulin in a rapidly reversible equilibrium. The standard free energies of binding at 25 degrees C were delta G zero (TKB) = 7.19 +/- 0.11 kcal mol-1 and delta G zero (TMB) = -6.76 +/- 0.22 kcal mol-1. The binding of TKB induced the same perturbation in protein circular dichroism at 220 nm as colchicine and allocolchicine, as well as quenching of protein tryptophan fluorescence. Binding of TMB did not affect the protein CD spectrum within experimental error and induced only a marginal quenching of protein fluorescence. Comparison with the binding properties of allocolchicine and its des(ring B) analogue 2,3,4-trimethoxy-4'-carbomethoxy-1,1'-biphenyl (TCB) [Medrano et al. (1989) Biochemistry 28, 5589-5599] has shown that the binding properties of the 4'-keto analogue (TKB) were closer to those of allocolchicine, even though the substituent in the 4'-position of TCB is identical with that of allocolchicine. It has been proposed that binding in the ring C subsite on tubulin, which is stabilized thermodynamically by stacking interactions, can be modulated in a nonidentical fashion by the carbonyl and the ether oxygens in the para position of ring C.