Ofloxacin-like antibiotics inhibit pneumococcal cell wall-degrading virulence factors

The M. tuberculosis Rv1523 Methyltransferase Promotes Drug Resistance Through Methylation-Mediated Cell Wall Remodeling and Modulates Macrophages Immune Responses

The acquisition of antibiotics resistance is a major clinical challenge limiting the effective prevention and treatment of the deadliest human infectious disease tuberculosis. The molecular mechanisms by which initially Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) develop drug resistance remain poorly understood. In this study, we report the novel role of M.tb Rv1523 MTase in the methylation of mycobacterial cell envelope lipids and possible mechanism of its contribution in the virulence and drug resistance. Initial interactome analyses predicted association of Rv1523 with proteins related to fatty acid biosynthetic pathways. This promoted us to investigate methylation activity of Rv1523 using cell wall fatty acids or lipids as a substrate. Rv1523 catalyzed the transfer of methyl group from SAM to the cell wall components of mycobacterium. To investigate further the in vivo methylating role of Rv1523, we generated a recombinant Mycobacterium smegmatis strain that expressed the Rv1523 gene. The M. smegmatis strain expressing Rv1523 exhibited altered cell wall lipid composition, leading to an increased survival under surface stress, acidic condition and resistance to antibiotics. Macrophages infected with recombinant M. smegmatis induced necrotic cell death and modulated the host immune responses. In summary, these findings reveal a hitherto unknown role of Rv1523 encoded MTase in cell wall remodeling and modulation of immune responses. Functional gain of mycolic acid Rv1523 methyltransferase induced virulence and resistance to antibiotics in M. smegmatis. Thus, mycolic acid methyltransferase may serve as an excellent target for the discovery and development of novel anti-TB agents.

Streptococcus pneumoniae and lytic antibiotic therapy: are we adding insult to injury during invasive pneumococcal disease and sepsis?

Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae), otherwise known as 'the pneumococcus', is a fascinating microbe that continues to pose a significant problem to public health. Currently there are no specific National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) or British Thoracic Society (BTS) clinical guidelines referring to the treatment of invasive pneumococcal infection. NICE clinical guidelines suggest the use of lytic β-lactam antibiotic regimens for the management of community-acquired pneumonia and bacterial meningitis; infections for which S. pneumoniae is a likely causative organism. Lytic antibiotics have been shown to increase the release of pneumolysin (the highly inflammatory and damaging toxin of the pneumococcus), thus theoretically increasing host damage, which may lead to a decline of clinical outcomes in vulnerable patients. In light of this information, should the use of non-lytic antibiotics, such as quinolones, rifamycins and macrolides, be considered for the treatment of invasive pneumococcal disease?

Choline Binding Proteins from Streptococcus pneumoniae: A Dual Role as Enzybiotics and Targets for the Design of New Antimicrobials

Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is an important pathogen responsible for acute invasive and non-invasive infections such as meningitis, sepsis and otitis media, being the major cause of community-acquired pneumonia. The fight against pneumococcus is currently hampered both by insufficient vaccine coverage and by rising antimicrobial resistances to traditional antibiotics, making necessary the research on novel targets. Choline binding proteins (CBPs) are a family of polypeptides found in pneumococcus and related species, as well as in some of their associated bacteriophages. They are characterized by a structural organization in two modules: a functional module (FM), and a choline-binding module (CBM) that anchors the protein to the choline residues present in the cell wall through non-covalent interactions. Pneumococcal CBPs include cell wall hydrolases, adhesins and other virulence factors, all playing relevant physiological roles for bacterial viability and virulence. Moreover, many pneumococcal phages also make use of hydrolytic CBPs to fulfill their infectivity cycle. Consequently, CBPs may play a dual role for the development of novel antipneumococcal drugs, both as targets for inhibitors of their binding to the cell wall and as active cell lytic agents (enzybiotics). In this article, we review the current state of knowledge about host- and phage-encoded pneumococcal CBPs, with a special focus on structural issues, together with their perspectives for effective anti-infectious treatments.

Structural and functional insights into peptidoglycan access for the lytic amidase LytA of Streptococcus pneumoniae

The cytosolic N-acetylmuramoyl-l-alanine amidase LytA protein of Streptococcus pneumoniae, which is released by bacterial lysis, associates with the cell wall via its choline-binding motif. During exponential growth, LytA accesses its peptidoglycan substrate to cause lysis only when nascent peptidoglycan synthesis is stalled by nutrient starvation or β-lactam antibiotics. Here we present three-dimensional structures of LytA and establish the requirements for substrate binding and catalytic activity. The solution structure of the full-length LytA dimer reveals a peculiar fold, with the choline-binding domains forming a rigid V-shaped scaffold and the relatively more flexible amidase domains attached in a trans position. The 1.05-Å crystal structure of the amidase domain reveals a prominent Y-shaped binding crevice composed of three contiguous subregions, with a zinc-containing active site localized at the bottom of the branch point. Site-directed mutagenesis was employed to identify catalytic residues and to investigate the relative impact of potential substrate-interacting residues lining the binding crevice for the lytic activity of LytA. In vitro activity assays using defined muropeptide substrates reveal that LytA utilizes a large substrate recognition interface and requires large muropeptide substrates with several connected saccharides that interact with all subregions of the binding crevice for catalysis. We hypothesize that the substrate requirements restrict LytA to the sites on the cell wall where nascent peptidoglycan synthesis occurs.

IMPORTANCE

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a human respiratory tract pathogen responsible for millions of deaths annually. Its major pneumococcal autolysin, LytA, is required for autolysis and fratricidal lysis and functions as a virulence factor that facilitates the spread of toxins and factors involved in immune evasion. LytA is also activated by penicillin and vancomycin and is responsible for the lysis induced by these antibiotics. The factors that regulate the lytic activity of LytA are unclear, but it was recently demonstrated that control is at the level of substrate recognition and that LytA required access to the nascent peptidoglycan. The present study was undertaken to structurally and functionally investigate LytA and its substrate-interacting interface and to determine the requirements for substrate recognition and catalysis. Our results reveal that the amidase domain comprises a complex substrate-binding crevice and needs to interact with a large-motif epitope of peptidoglycan for catalysis.

A click chemistry approach to 5,5'-disubstituted-3,3'-bisisoxazoles from dichloroglyoxime and alkynes: luminescent organometallic iridium and rhenium bisisoxazole complexes

5,5'-Disubstituted-3,3'-bisisoxazoles are prepared in one step by the dropwise addition of aqueous potassium hydrogen carbonate to a mixture of dichloroglyoxime and terminal alkynes. The reaction exhibits a striking preference for the 5,5'-disubstituted 3,3'-bisisoxazole over the 4,5'-regioisomer. Organometallic iridium and rhenium bisisoxazole complexes are luminescent with emission wavelengths varying depending upon the identity of the 5,5'-substituent (phenyl, butyl).

Gentisic acid, a compound associated with plant defense and a metabolite of aspirin, heads a new class of in vivo fibroblast growth factor inhibitors

Fibroblast growth factors are key proteins in many intercellular signaling networks. They normally remain attached to the extracellular matrix, which confers on them a considerable stability. The unrestrained accumulation of fibroblast growth factors in the extracellular milieu, either due to uncontrolled synthesis or enzymatic release, contributes to the pathology of many diseases. Consequently, the neutralization of improperly mobilized fibroblast growth factors is of clear therapeutic interest. In pursuing described rules to identify potential inhibitors of these proteins, gentisic acid, a plant pest-controlling compound, an aspirin and vegetarian diet common catabolite, and a component of many traditional liquors and herbal remedies, was singled out as a powerful inhibitor of fibroblast growth factors. Gentisic acid was used as a lead to identify additional compounds with better inhibitory characteristics generating a new chemical class of fibroblast growth factor inhibitors that includes the agent responsible for alkaptonuria. Through low and high resolution approaches, using representative members of the fibroblast growth factor family and their cell receptors, it was shown that this class of inhibitors may employ two different mechanisms to interfere with the assembly of the signaling complexes that trigger fibroblast growth factor-driven mitogenesis. In addition, we obtained evidence from in vivo disease models that this group of inhibitors may be of interest to treat cancer and angiogenesis-dependent diseases.

In vitro bactericidal activity of the antiprotozoal drug miltefosine against Streptococcus pneumoniae and other pathogenic streptococci

Miltefosine (hexadecylphosphocholine), the first oral drug against visceral leishmaniasis, triggered pneumococcal autolysis at concentrations higher than 2.5 microM. Bactericidal activity was also observed in cultures of other streptococci, although these failed to undergo lysis. The autolysis elicited by miltefosine can be attributed to triggering of the pneumococcal autolysin LytA.

Inhibition of pneumococcal choline-binding proteins and cell growth by esters of bicyclic amines

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the major pathogens worldwide. The use of currently available antibiotics to treat pneumococcal diseases is hampered by increasing resistance levels; also, capsular polysaccharide-based vaccination is of limited efficacy. Therefore, it is desirable to find targets for the development of new antimicrobial drugs specifically designed to fight pneumococcal infections. Choline-binding proteins are a family of polypeptides, found in all S. pneumoniae strains, that take part in important physiologic processes of this bacterium. Among them are several murein hydrolases whose enzymatic activity is usually inhibited by an excess of choline. Using a simple chromatographic procedure, we have identified several choline analogs able to strongly interact with the choline-binding module (C-LytA) of the major autolysin of S. pneumoniae. Two of these compounds (atropine and ipratropium) display a higher binding affinity to C-LytA than choline, and also increase the stability of the protein. CD and fluorescence spectroscopy analyses revealed that the conformational changes of C-LytA upon binding of these alkaloids are different to those induced by choline, suggesting a different mode of binding. In vitro inhibition assays of three pneumococcal, choline-dependent cell wall lytic enzymes also demonstrated a greater inhibitory efficiency of those molecules. Moreover, atropine and ipratropium strongly inhibited in vitro pneumococcal growth, altering cell morphology and reducing cell viability, a very different response than that observed upon addition of an excess of choline. These results may open up the possibility of the development of bicyclic amines as new antimicrobials for use against pneumococcal pathologies.

Crystal structure of receptor-binding C-terminal repeats from Clostridium difficile toxin A

Clostridium difficile is a major nosocomial pathogen that produces two large protein toxins [toxin A (TcdA) and toxin B (TcdB)] capable of disrupting intestinal epithelial cells. Both belong to the family of large clostridial cytotoxins, which are characterized by the presence of a repetitive C-terminal repetitive domain (CRD). In TcdA, the CRD is composed of 39 repeats that are responsible for binding to cell surface carbohydrates. To understand the molecular structural basis of cell binding by the toxins from C. difficile, we have determined a 1.85-A resolution crystal structure of a 127-aa fragment from the C terminus of the toxin A CRD. This structure reveals a beta-solenoid fold containing five repeats, with each repeat consisting of a beta-hairpin followed by a loop of 7-10 residues in short repeats (SRs) or 18 residues in long repeats (LRs). Adjacent pairs of beta-hairpins are related to each other by either 90 degree or 120 degree screw-axis rotational relationships, depending on the nature of the amino acids at key positions in adjacent beta-hairpins. Models of the complete CRDs of toxins A and B suggest that each CRD contains straight stretches of beta-solenoid composed of three to five SRs that are punctuated by kinks introduced by the presence of a single LR. These structural features provide a framework for understanding how large clostridial cytotoxins bind to cell surfaces and suggest approaches for developing novel treatments for C. difficile-associated diseases by blocking the binding of toxins to cell surfaces.