Elsevier

Biochemical Pharmacology

Volume 36, Issue 2, 15 January 1987, Pages 229-235
Biochemical Pharmacology

Interaction of azole antifungal agents with cytochrome P-45014DM purified from Saccharomyces cerevisiae microsomes

https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-2952(87)90694-0Get rights and content

Abstract

Mechanism of action of azole antifungal agents was studied by analyzing interaction of ketoconazole, itraconazole, triadimefon and triadimenol with a purified yeast cytochrome P-450 which catalyzes lanosterol 14α-demethylation (P-45014DM). These antifungal agents formed low-spin complexes with P-45014DM, indicating the interaction of their azole nitrogens with the heme iron. Affinity of these antifungal agents for the cytochrome was extremely high compared with usual nitrogenous ligands. Upon reduction with sodium dithionite, the azole complexes of ferric P-45014DM were converted to the corresponding ferrous derivatives. Spectral analysis of these complexes suggested that geometric orientation of the azole moiety of an antifungal agent to the ferrous heme iron was regulated by the interaction between the N-1 substituent and the heme environment. CO could not readily replace ketoconazole or itraconazole co-ordinating to the heme iron of ferrous P-45014DM while triadimefon and triadimenol complexes of the cytochrome were promptly converted to the CO complexes. The inhibitory effects of ketoconazole and itraconazole on the P-45014DM-dependent lanosterol 14α-demethylation were higher than that of triadimenfon. The substituents at N-1 of the azole moieties of ketoconazole and itraconazole are extremely large while those of triadimefon and triadimenol are relatively small. Accordingly, observations described above suggest that the N-1 substituent of an azole antifungal agent regulates the mobility of the molecule in the heme crevice of ferrous P-45014DM and determines the inhibitory effect of the compound.

References (20)

  • P. Gadher et al.

    Pest. Biochem. Physiol.

    (1983)
  • M. Ohba et al.

    Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun.

    (1978)
  • Y. Aoyama et al.

    Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun.

    (1978)
  • Y. Aoyama et al.

    Biochim. biophys. Acta

    (1981)
  • Y. Aoyama et al.

    J. biol. Chem.

    (1984)
  • Y. Yoshida et al.

    Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun.

    (1977)
  • Y. Yoshida et al.

    J. biol. Chem.

    (1984)
  • Y. Aoyama et al.

    Archs Biochem. Biophys.

    (1978)
  • R.E. White et al.

    J. biol. Chem.

    (1982)
  • J.H. Dawson et al.

    J. biol. Chem.

    (1982)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (232)

  • The fungicide Tebuconazole induces electromechanical cardiotoxicity in murine heart and human cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells

    2022, Toxicology Letters
    Citation Excerpt :

    Tebuconazole (TEB) [(RS)-1-p-chlorophenyl-4,4-dimethyl-3-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl methyl)pentan-3-ol] is a large-spectrum fungicide with plant growth-regulating properties that belongs to the triazole group. Presently, triazoles are equivalent to 30 % of marketed fungicides (Shishatskaya et al., 2018), and their mechanism of action is attributed to inhibition of the lanosterol-14-α-demethylase activity, which is a cytochrome P450 enzyme (Kwok and Loeffler, 1993; Podust et al., 2001; Yuzo and Yuri, 1987). The use of TEB has consistently grown to become a sales leader due to its high fungicidal effectiveness (Bowen et al., 1997; Toda et al., 2021).

  • Searching molecular determinants of sensitivity differences towards four demethylase inhibitors in Fusarium graminearum field strains

    2020, Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology
    Citation Excerpt :

    In the field, DMIs must be applied within critical time frames (at cereal anthesis in the case of FHB) at an effective dose to obtain their full efficacy. DMIs interfere in fungi with the biosynthesis of the sterol C-14 α-demethylation of 24-methylene dihydrolanosterol, a precursor of ergosterol (Yuzo and Yuri, 1987; Ma and Michailides, 2005). This inhibition induces the vulnerability of fungal cells as ergosterol is the predominant cellular membrane component.

  • Fungal Lanosterol 14α-demethylase: A target for next-generation antifungal design

    2020, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Proteins and Proteomics
  • Can Saccharomyces cerevisiae keep up as a model system in fungal azole susceptibility research?

    2019, Drug Resistance Updates
    Citation Excerpt :

    The high interest in the sterol synthesis pathway in various research fields, has boosted the knowledge we have on this process in yeast compared to other fungi (Lv et al., 2016). Historically, almost all genes encoding enzymes involved in sterol biosynthesis were discovered first in S. cerevisiae, creating a head start with respect to other fungi (Karst and Lacroute, 1977; Yoshida and Aoyama, 1987; Lees et al., 1995). Based on homology, orthologues in other organisms were found.

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text