scholarly journals Tools for Characterizing Bacterial Protein Synthesis Inhibitors

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (12) ◽  
pp. 5994-6004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cédric Orelle ◽  
Skylar Carlson ◽  
Bindiya Kaushal ◽  
Mashal M. Almutairi ◽  
Haipeng Liu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTMany antibiotics inhibit the growth of sensitive bacteria by interfering with ribosome function. However, discovery of new protein synthesis inhibitors is curbed by the lack of facile techniques capable of readily identifying antibiotic target sites and modes of action. Furthermore, the frequent rediscovery of known antibiotic scaffolds, especially in natural product extracts, is time-consuming and expensive and diverts resources that could be used toward the isolation of novel lead molecules. In order to avoid these pitfalls and improve the process of dereplication of chemically complex extracts, we designed a two-pronged approach for thecharacterization ofinhibitors ofproteinsynthesis (ChIPS) that is suitable for the rapid identification of the site and mode of action on the bacterial ribosome. First, we engineered antibiotic-hypersensitiveEscherichia colistrains that contain only one rRNA operon. These strains are used for the rapid isolation of resistance mutants in which rRNA mutations identify the site of the antibiotic action. Second, we show that patterns of drug-induced ribosome stalling on mRNA, monitored by primer extension, can be used to elucidate the mode of antibiotic action. These analyses can be performed within a few days and provide a rapid and efficient approach for identifying the site and mode of action of translation inhibitors targeting the bacterial ribosome. Both techniques were validated using a bacterial strain whose culture extract, composed of unknown metabolites, exhibited protein synthesis inhibitory activity; we were able to rapidly detect the presence of the antibiotic chloramphenicol.

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 1971-1973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucinda M. Lamb ◽  
Jared L. Crandon ◽  
David P. Nicolau

ABSTRACTP-873 is a novel compound in the RX-04 pyrrolocytosine series of protein synthesis inhibitors currently under development by Rib-X Pharmaceuticals. We evaluated the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of this compound againstKlebsiella pneumoniaeusing a murine neutropenic thigh infection model. P-873 demonstrated potent and rapidin vivoactivity against this organism with enhanced penetration and duration of exposure in thigh tissue.


2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 901-908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans H. Locher ◽  
Patrick Caspers ◽  
Thierry Bruyère ◽  
Susanne Schroeder ◽  
Philippe Pfaff ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTCadazolid is a new oxazolidinone-type antibiotic currently in clinical development for the treatment ofClostridium difficile-associated diarrhea. Here, we report investigations on the mode of action and the propensity for spontaneous resistance development inC. difficilestrains. Macromolecular labeling experiments indicated that cadazolid acts as a potent inhibitor of protein synthesis, while inhibition of DNA synthesis was also observed, albeit only at substantially higher concentrations of the drug. Strong inhibition of protein synthesis was also obtained in strains resistant to linezolid, in agreement with low MICs against such strains. Inhibition of protein synthesis was confirmed in coupled transcription/translation assays using extracts from differentC. difficilestrains, including strains resistant to linezolid, while inhibitory effects in DNA topoisomerase assays were weak or not detectable under the assay conditions. Spontaneous resistance frequencies of cadazolid were low in all strains tested (generally <10−10at 2× to 4× the MIC), and in multiple-passage experiments (up to 13 passages) MICs did not significantly increase. Furthermore, no cross-resistance was observed, as cadazolid retained potent activity against strains resistant or nonsusceptible to linezolid, fluoroquinolones, and the new antibiotic fidaxomicin. In conclusion, the data presented here indicate that cadazolid acts primarily by inhibition of protein synthesis, with weak inhibition of DNA synthesis as a potential second mode of action, and suggest a low potential for spontaneous resistance development.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
James Henry Matthews

<p>Pateamine A is a cytotoxic terpenoid isolated from the marine sponge Mycale hentscheli that induces apoptosis in mammalian cell lines and is growth inhibitory to yeasts and fungi, yet shows no inhibitory action in prokaryotes. The targets of pateamine in mammalian cell lines were isolated and identified using a combination of affinity chromatography and mass spectrometry, putative targets included the DEAD-Box helicase eIF4A family of proteins, β-tubulin and actin. In vitro assessment of tubulin and actin polymerization showed pateamine was able to affect them only at high micromolar concentrations, whereas the effect on eIF4A in vitro was shown by others to occur at nanomolar concentrations. Additionally, pateamine was shown to inhibit cap-dependent protein synthesis in vivo, suggesting eIF4A as a primary target. The generation of a pateamine resistance-conferring mutation in the yeast eIF4A encoding gene TIF1, suggested further that eIF4A is a primary target in both mammalian and yeast cells, and allows the speculation of the position of the binding site for pateamine on the N-terminal lobe of eIF4A and the proposal of potential covalent interaction between this drug and its target. Given the size of the DEAD-Box helicase family, all of which share considerable homology with the eIF4As, FAL1 especially which is essential for rRNA maturation, a chemogenomic screen was performed in an attempt to establish the breadth of functional interactions of pateamine. The results of hierarchical clustering of these screen results suggest that pateamine has a mode-of-action distinct from other compounds screened previously, despite its effect on protein synthesis it failed to cluster with any other protein synthesis inhibitors regardless of their separate mechanisms, though, as a class, protein synthesis inhibitors were not found to form a discrete cluster in any of the variations of cluster analysis performed. Functional analysis, by GO term enrichment, of the genes whose deletions are hypersensitive to pateamine indicates that deletions of genes involved in numerous aspects of RNA metabolism affect pateamine sensitivity, however clear results regarding the involvement of FAL1 or any other non-eIF4A target in pateamine’s mode-of-action were not found.</p>


2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (23) ◽  
pp. 7691-7698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Taylor ◽  
Lydia H. Zeglin ◽  
Sandra Dooley ◽  
David D. Myrold ◽  
Peter J. Bottomley

ABSTRACT A method was developed to determine the contributions of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) to the nitrification potentials (NPs) of soils taken from forest, pasture, cropped, and fallowed (19 years) lands. Soil slurries were exposed to acetylene to irreversibly inactivate ammonia monooxygenase, and upon the removal of acetylene, the recovery of nitrification potential (RNP) was monitored in the presence and absence of bacterial or eukaryotic protein synthesis inhibitors. For unknown reasons, and despite measureable NPs, RNP did not occur consistently in forest soil samples; however, pasture, cropped, and fallowed soil RNPs commenced after lags that ranged from 12 to 30 h after acetylene removal. Cropped soil RNP was completely prevented by the bacterial protein synthesis inhibitor kanamycin (800 μg/ml), whereas a combination of kanamycin plus gentamicin (800 μg/ml each) only partially prevented the RNP (60%) of fallowed soils. Pasture soil RNP was completely insensitive to either kanamycin, gentamicin, or a combination of the two. Unlike cropped soil, pasture and fallowed soil RNPs occurred at both 30�C and 40�C and without supplemental NH4 + (≤10 μM NH4 + in solution), and pasture soil RNP demonstrated ∼50% insensitivity to 100 μM allyl thiourea (ATU). In addition, fallowed and pasture soil RNPs were insensitive to the fungal inhibitors nystatin and azoxystrobin. This combination of properties suggests that neither fungi nor AOB contributed to pasture soil RNP and that AOA were responsible for the RNP of the pasture soils. Both AOA and AOB may contribute to RNP in fallowed soil, while RNP in cropped soils was dominated by AOB.


2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 3812-3818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven D. Podos ◽  
Jane A. Thanassi ◽  
Melissa Leggio ◽  
Michael J. Pucci

ABSTRACTMany bacterial infections involve slow or nondividing bacterial growth states and localized high cell densities. Antibiotics with demonstrated bactericidal activity rarely remain bactericidal at therapeutic concentrations under these conditions. The isothiazoloquinolone (ITQ) ACH-702 is a potent, bactericidal compound with activity against many antibiotic-resistant pathogens, including methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA). We evaluated its bactericidal activity under conditions where bacterial cells were not dividing and/or had slowed their growth. AgainstS. aureuscultures in stationary phase, ACH-702 showed concentration-dependent bactericidal activity and achieved a 3-log-unit reduction in viable cell counts within 6 h of treatment at ≥16× MIC values; in comparison, the bactericidal quinolone moxifloxacin and the additional comparator compounds vancomycin, linezolid, and rifampin at 16× to 32× MICs showed little or no bactericidal activity against stationary-phase cells. ACH-702 at 32× MIC retained bactericidal activity against stationary-phaseS. aureusacross a range of inoculum densities. ACH-702 did not kill cold-arrested cells yet remained bactericidal against cells arrested by protein synthesis inhibitors, suggesting that its bactericidal activity against nondividing cells requires active metabolism but notde novoprotein synthesis. ACH-702 also showed a degree of bactericidal activity at 16× MIC againstS. epidermidisbiofilm cells that was superior to that of moxifloxacin, rifampin, and vancomycin. The bactericidal activity of ACH-702 against stationary-phase staphylococci and biofilms suggests potential clinical utility in infections containing cells in these physiological states.


2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (21) ◽  
pp. 6544-6551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Taylor ◽  
Neeraja Vajrala ◽  
Andrew T. Giguere ◽  
Alix I. Gitelman ◽  
Daniel J. Arp ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTAmmonia (NH3)-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and thaumarchaea (AOA) co-occupy most soils, yet no short-term growth-independent method exists to determine their relative contributions to nitrificationin situ. Microbial monooxygenases differ in their vulnerability to inactivation by aliphaticn-alkynes, and we found that NH3oxidation by the marine thaumarchaeonNitrosopumilus maritimuswas unaffected during a 24-h exposure to ≤20 μM concentrations of 1-alkynes C8and C9. In contrast, NH3oxidation by two AOB (Nitrosomonas europaeaandNitrosospira multiformis) was quickly and irreversibly inactivated by 1 μM C8(octyne). Evidence that nitrification carried out by soilborne AOA was also insensitive to octyne was obtained. In incubations (21 or 28 days) of two different whole soils, both acetylene and octyne effectively prevented NH4+-stimulated increases in AOB population densities, but octyne did not prevent increases in AOA population densities that were prevented by acetylene. Furthermore, octyne-resistant, NH4+-stimulated net nitrification rates of 2 and 7 μg N/g soil/day persisted throughout the incubation of the two soils. Other evidence that octyne-resistant nitrification was due to AOA included (i) a positive correlation of octyne-resistant nitrification in soil slurries of cropped and noncropped soils with allylthiourea-resistant activity (100 μM) and (ii) the finding that the fraction of octyne-resistant nitrification in soil slurries correlated with the fraction of nitrification that recovered from irreversible acetylene inactivation in the presence of bacterial protein synthesis inhibitors and with the octyne-resistant fraction of NH4+-saturated net nitrification measured in whole soils. Octyne can be useful in short-term assays to discriminate AOA and AOB contributions to soil nitrification.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (10) ◽  
pp. 6271-6280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrés Palencia ◽  
Xianfeng Li ◽  
Wei Bu ◽  
Wai Choi ◽  
Charles Z. Ding ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe recent development and spread of extensively drug-resistant and totally drug-resistant resistant (TDR) strains ofMycobacterium tuberculosishighlight the need for new antitubercular drugs. Protein synthesis inhibitors have played an important role in the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) starting with the inclusion of streptomycin in the first combination therapies. Although parenteral aminoglycosides are a key component of therapy for multidrug-resistant TB, the oxazolidinone linezolid is the only orally available protein synthesis inhibitor that is effective against TB. Here, we show that small-molecule inhibitors of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (AARSs), which are known to be excellent antibacterial protein synthesis targets, are orally bioavailable and effective againstM. tuberculosisin TB mouse infection models. We applied the oxaborole tRNA-trapping (OBORT) mechanism, which was first developed to target fungal cytoplasmic leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LeuRS), toM. tuberculosisLeuRS. X-ray crystallography was used to guide the design of LeuRS inhibitors that have good biochemical potency and excellent whole-cell activity againstM. tuberculosis. Importantly, their good oral bioavailability translates intoin vivoefficacy in both the acute and chronic mouse models of TB with potency comparable to that of the frontline drug isoniazid.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document