Antimycobacterial activities of novel 2-(sub)-3-fluoro/nitro-5,12-dihydro-5-oxobenzothiazolo[3,2-a]quinoline-6-carboxylic acid

Various 2-(sub)-3-fluoro/nitro-5,12-dihydro-5-oxobenzothiazolo[3,2-a]quinoline-6-carboxylic acid derivatives were synthesized from 2-aminothiophenol by a five-step reaction, evaluated for in-vitro and in-vivo antimycobacterial activities against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv (MTB), multi-drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB), and Mycobacterium smegmatis (MC2), and also tested for the ability to inhibit the supercoiling activity of DNA gyrase from M. smegmatis. Among the thirty-four synthesized compounds, 2-(3-(diethylcarbamoyl)piperidin-1-yl)-)-3-fluoro-5,12-dihydro-5-oxobenzothiazolo[3,2-a]quinoline-6-carboxylic acid (7l) was found to be the most active compound in vitro with MIC of 0.18 and 0.08 microM against MTB and MTR-TB, respectively. Compound 7l was found to be 2 and 570 times more potent than isoniazid against MTB and MDR-TB, respectively. In the in-vivo animal model 7l decreased the bacterial load in lung and spleen tissues with 2.78 and 3.12-log10 protections, respectively, at the dose of 50 mg/kg body weight.     

Antimicrobial activity and membrane selective interactions of a synthetic lipopeptide MSI-843

Lipopeptide MSI-843 consisting of the nonstandard amino acid ornithine (Oct-OOLLOOLOOL-NH₂) was designed with an objective towards generating non-lytic short antimicrobial peptides, which can have significant pharmaceutical applications. Octanoic acid was coupled to the N-terminus of the peptide to increase the overall hydrophobicity of the peptide. MSI-843 shows activity against bacteria and fungi at micromolar concentrations. It permeabilizes the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacterium and a model membrane mimicking bacterial inner membrane. Circular dichroism investigations demonstrate that the peptide adopts α-helical conformation upon binding to lipid membranes. Isothermal titration calorimetry studies suggest that the peptide binding to membranes results in exothermic heat of reaction, which arises from helix formation and membrane insertion of the peptide. ²H NMR of deuterated-POPC multilamellar vesicles shows the peptide-induced disorder in the hydrophobic core of bilayers. ³¹P NMR data indicate changes in the lipid head group orientation of POPC, POPG and Escherichia colitotal lipid bilayers upon peptide binding. Results from ³¹P NMR and dye leakage experiments suggest that the peptide selectively interacts with anionic bilayers at low concentrations (up to 5 mol%). Differential scanning calorimetry experiments on DiPOPE bilayers and ³¹P NMR data from E.coli total lipid multilamellar vesicles indicate that MSI-843 increases the fluid lamellar to inverted hexagonal phase transition temperature of bilayers by inducing positive curvature strain. Combination of all these data suggests the formation of a lipid-peptide complex resulting in a transient pore as a plausible mechanism for the membrane permeabilization and antimicrobial activity of the lipopeptide MSI-843.     

Phenotypic Assessment of Probiotic and Bacteriocinogenic Efficacy of Indigenous LAB Strains from Human Breast Milk

Breast milk is the combination of bioactive compounds and microflora that promote newborn’s proper growth, gut flora, and immunity. Thus, it is always considered the perfect food for newborns. Amongst their bioactives, probiotic communities—especially lactic acid bacteria (LAB)—are characterized from breast milk over the first month of parturition. In this study, seven LAB were characterized phenotypically and genotypically as Levilactobacillus brevis BDUMBT08 ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"MT673657","term_id":"1863149999"}}MT673657), L. gastricus BDUMBT09 ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"MT774596","term_id":"1873222494"}}MT774596), L. paracasei BDUMBT10 ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"MT775430","term_id":"1874262304"}}MT775430), L. brevis BDUMBT11 ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"MW785062","term_id":"2009762994"}}MW785062), L. casei BDUMBT12 ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"MW785063","term_id":"2009820773"}}MW785063), L. casei BDUMBT13 ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"MW785178","term_id":"2010296340"}}MW785178), and Brevibacillus brevis M2403 ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"MK371781","term_id":"1548854744"}}MK371781) from human breast milk. Their tolerance to lysozyme, acid, bile, gastric juice, pancreatic juice, and NaCl and potential for mucoadhesion, auto-aggregation, and co-aggregation with pathogens are of great prominence in forecasting their gut colonizing ability. They proved their safety aspects as they were negative for virulence determinants such as hemolysis and biofilm production. Antibiogram of LAB showed their sensitivity to more than 90% of the antibiotics tested. Amongst seven LAB, three isolates (L. brevis BDUMBT08 and BDUMBT11, and L. gatricus BDUMBT09) proved their bacteriocin producing propensity. Although the seven LAB isolates differed in their behavior, their substantial probiotic properties with safety could be taken as promising probiotics for further studies to prove their in vivo effects, such as health benefits, in humans.     

Survival strategies of Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme disease

To fight, flee or hide are the imperatives of long-term survival by an infectious microbe. Active immune suppression, induction of immune tolerance, phase and antigenic variation, intracellular seclusion, and incursion into immune privileged sites are examples of survival strategies of persistent pathogens. Here we critically review the supporting evidence for possible stratagems utilized by Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete that causes Lyme disease, to persist in the mammalian host.     

Cholesterol reduces pardaxin's dynamics—a barrel-stave mechanism of membrane disruption investigated by solid-state NMR

While high-resolution 3D structures reveal the locations of all atoms in a molecule, it is the dynamics that correlates the structure with the function of a biological molecule. The complete characterization of dynamics of a membrane protein is in general complex. In this study, we report the influence of dynamics on the channel-forming function of pardaxin using chemical shifts and dipolar couplings measured from 2D broadband-PISEMA experiments on mechanically aligned phospholipids bilayers. Pardaxin is a 33-residue antimicrobial peptide originally isolated from the Red Sea Moses sole, Pardachirus marmoratus, which functions via either a carpet-type or barrel-stave mechanism depending on the membrane composition. Our results reveal that the presence of cholesterol significantly reduces the backbone motion and the tilt angle of the C-terminal amphipathic helix of pardaxin. In addition, a correlation between the dynamics-induced heterogeneity in the tilt of the C-terminal helix and the membrane disrupting activity of pardaxin by the barrel-stave mechanism is established. This correlation is in excellent agreement with the absence of hemolytic activity for the derivatives of pardaxin. These results explain the role of cholesterol in the selectivity of the broad-spectrum of antimicrobial activities of pardaxin.     

Membrane thinning due to antimicrobial peptide binding: an atomic force microscopy study of MSI-78 in lipid bilayers

The interaction of an antimicrobial peptide, MSI-78, with phospholipid bilayers has been investigated using atomic force microscopy, circular dichroism, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Binding of amphipathic peptide helices with their helical axis parallel to the membrane surface leads to membrane thinning. Atomic force microscopy of supported 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) bilayers in the presence of MSI-78 provides images of the membrane thinning process at a high spatial resolution. This data reveals that the membrane thickness is not reduced uniformly over the entire bilayer area. Instead, peptide binding leads to the formation of distinct domains where the bilayer thickness is reduced by 1.1 +/- 0.2 nm. The data is interpreted using a previously published geometric model for the structure of the peptide-lipid domains. In this model, the peptides reside at the hydrophilic-hydrophobic boundary in the lipid headgroup region, which leads to an increased distance between lipid headgroups. This picture is consistent with concentration-dependent 31P and 2H NMR spectra of MSI-78 in mechanically aligned DMPC bilayers. Furthermore, 2H NMR experiments on DMPC-d54 multilamellar vesicles indicate that the acyl chains of DMPC are highly disordered in the presence of the peptide as is to be expected for the proposed structure of the peptide-lipid assembly.     

Kinetic and Structural Characterization of the Interaction between the FMN Binding Domain of Cytochrome P450 Reductase and Cytochrome c

Cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) is a diflavin enzyme that transfers electrons to many protein partners. Electron transfer from CPR to cyt c has been extensively used as a model reaction to assess the redox activity of CPR. CPR is composed of multiple domains, among which the FMN binding domain (FBD) is the direct electron donor to cyt c. Here, electron transfer and complex formation between FBD and cyt c are investigated. Electron transfer from FBD to cyt c occurs at distinct rates that are dependent on the redox states of FBD. When compared with full-length CPR, FBD reduces cyt c at a higher rate in both the semiquinone and hydroquinone states. The NMR titration experiments reveal the formation of dynamic complexes between FBD and cyt c on a fast exchange time scale. Chemical shift mapping identified residues of FBD involved in the binding interface with cyt c, most of which are located in proximity to the solvent-exposed edge of the FMN cofactor along with other residues distributed around the surface of FBD. The structural model of the FBD-cyt c complex indicates two possible orientations of complex formation. The major complex structure shows a salt bridge formation between Glu-213/Glu-214 of FBD and Lys-87 of cyt c, which may be essential for the formation of the complex, and a predicted electron transfer pathway mediated by Lys-13 of cyt c. The findings provide insights into the function of CPR and CPR-cyt c interaction on a structural basis.