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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Covalent Fragment Screening Using the Quantitative Irreversible Tethering Assay
Published on: February 28, 2025
Reversibility of covalent electrophile-protein adducts and chemical toxicity
De Lin1, Samir Saleh, Daniel C Liebler
1Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt Institute for Chemical Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, U1213C Medical Research Building III, 465 21st Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37232, USA.
Abstract:
The biotin-tagged electrophiles 1-biotinamido-4-(4'-[maleimidoethylcyclohexane]-carboxamido)butane (BMCC) and N-iodoacetyl-N-biotinylhexylenediamine (IAB) have been used as model electrophile probes in complex proteomes to identify protein targets associated with chemical toxicity. Whereas IAB activates stress signaling and apoptosis in HEK293 cells, BMCC does not. Cysteine Michael adducts formed from BMCC and nonbiotinylated analogues rapidly disappeared in the intact cells, whereas the adducts were stable in BMCC-treated subcellular fractions, even in the presence of the cellular reductants reduced glutathione, NADH, and NADPH. In contrast, cysteine thioether adducts formed from IAB and its nonbiotinylated analogues were stable in intact cells. Loss of the BMCC adduct in cells was reduced at 4 degrees C, which suggests the involvement of a metabolic process in adduct removal. Model studies with a glutathione-BMCC conjugate indicated rapid hydrolysis of the adducted imide ring, but neither the conjugate nor its hydrolysis product dissociated to release the electrophile in neutral aqueous buffer at significant rates. The results suggest that low BMCC toxicity reflects facile repair that results in transient adduction, which fails to trigger damage-signaling pathways.
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