Background:
The ability of Pseudouridimycin (PUM) to occupy the nucleotide addition site of bacterial RNA
Polymerase (RNAP) underlies its inhibitory potency as previously reported. PUM has gained high research interest as a
broad-spectrum nucleoside analog that has demonstrated exciting potentials in treating drug-resistant bacterial infections.
Objective:
Herein, we identified, for the first time, a novel complementary mechanism by which PUM elicits its inhibitory
effects on bacterial RNAP.
Methods:
The dynamic binding behavior of PUM to bacterial RNAP was studied using various dynamic analyses approaches.
Results and Discussion:
Findings revealed that in addition to occupying the nucleotide addition site, PUM also interrupts
the unimpeded entry and exit of DNA by reducing the mechanistic extension of the RNAP cleft and perturbing the primary
conformations of the switch regions. Moreover, PUM binding reduced the distances between key residues in the β and β’
subunits that extend to accommodate the DNA.
Conclusion:
This study’s findings present structural insights that would contribute to the structure-based design of potent
and selective PUM inhibitors.
Universal functions of the σ finger in alternative σ factors during transcription initiation by bacterial RNA polymerase
