Mammalian Nudt15 hydrolytic and binding activity on methylated guanosine mononucleotides

The Nudt15 enzyme of the NUDIX protein family is the subject of extensive study due to its action on thiopurine drugs used in the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. In addition to thiopurines, Nudt15 is enzymatically active in vitro on several nucleotide substrates. It has also been suggested that this enzyme may play a role in 5′RNA turnover by hydrolyzing m(7)GDP, a product of mRNA decapping. However, no detailed studies on this substrate with Nudt15 are available. Here, we analyzed the enzymatic activity of Nudt15 with m(7)GDP, its triphosphate form m(7)GTP, and the trimethylated counterparts (m(3)(2,2,7)GDP and m(3)(2,2,7)GTP). Kinetic data revealed a moderate activity of Nudt15 toward these methylated mononucleotides compared to the dGTP substrate. However m(7)GDP and m(3)(2,2,7)GDP showed a distinct stabilization of Nudt15 upon ligand binding, in the same range as dGTP, and thus these two mononucleotides may be used as leading structures in the design of small molecule binders of Nudt15. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00249-023-01678-5.