Identification of inhibitors of N5-carboxyaminoimidazole ribonucleotide synthetase by high-throughput screening

The increasing risk of drug-resistant bacterial infections indicates that there is a growing need for new and effective antimicrobial agents. One promising, but unexplored area in antimicrobial drug design is de novo purine biosynthesis. Recent research has shown that de novo purine biosynthesis in microbes is different from that in humans. The differences in the pathways are centered around the synthesis of 4-carboxyaminoimidazole ribonucleotide (CAIR) which requires the enzyme N⁵-carboxyaminoimidazole ribonucleotide (N⁵-CAIR) synthetase. Humans do not require and have no homologs of this enzyme. Unfortunately, no studies aimed at identifying small-molecule inhibitors of N⁵-CAIR synthetase have been published. To remedy this problem, we have conducted high-throughput screening (HTS) against Escherichia coli N⁵-CAIR synthetase using a highly reproducible phosphate assay. HTS of 48,000 compounds identified 14 compounds that inhibited the enzyme. The hits identified could be classified into three classes based on chemical structure. Class I contains compounds with an indenedione core. Class II contains an indolinedione group, and Class III contains compounds that are structurally unrelated to other inhibitors in the group. We determined the Michaelis–Menten kinetics for five compounds representing each of the classes. Examination of compounds belonging to Class I indicates that these compounds do not follow normal Michaelis–Menten kinetics. Instead, these compounds inhibit N⁵-CAIR synthetase by reacting with the substrate AIR. Kinetic analysis indicates that the Class II family of compounds are non-competitive with both AIR and ATP. One compound in Class III is competitive with AIR but uncompetitive with ATP, whereas the other is non-competitive with both substrates. Finally, these compounds display no inhibition of human AIR carboxylase:SAICAR synthetase indicating that these agents are selective inhibitors of N⁵-CAIR synthetase.     

Design,Synthesis and Evaluation of Fe-S Targeted Adenosine 5′-Phosphosulfate Reductase Inhibitors

Adenosine 5′-phosphosulfate reductase (APR) is an iron-sulfur enzyme that is vital for survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis during dormancy and is an attractive target for the treatment of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection. The 4Fe-4S cluster is coordinated to APR by sulfur atoms of four cysteine residues, is proximal to substrate, adenosine 5′-phopsphosulfate (APS), and is essential for catalytic activity. Herein, we present an approach for the development of a new class of APR inhibitors. As an initial step, we have employed an improved solid-phase chemistry method to prepare a series of N⁶-substituted adenosine analogues and their 5′-phosphates as well as adenosine 5′-phosphate diesters bearing different Fe and S binding groups, such as thiols or carboxylic and hydroxamic acid moieties. Evaluation of the resulting compounds indicates a clearly defined spacing requirement between the Fe-S targeting group and adenosine scaffold and that smaller Fe-S targeting groups are better tolerated. Molecular docking analysis suggests that the S atom of the most potent inhibitor may establish a favorable interaction with an S atom in the cluster. In summary, this study showcases an improved solid-phase method that expedites the preparation of adenosine and related 5′-phosphate derivatives and presents a unique Fe-S targeting strategy for the development of APR inhibitors.     

The importance of blood rheology in patient-specific computational fluid dynamics simulation of stenotic carotid arteries

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - The initiation and progression of atherosclerosis, which is the main cause of cardiovascular diseases, correlate with local haemodynamic factors such...     

Benzo(h)quinoline derivatives as G-quadruplex binding agents

G-quadruplexes are unusual structures formed from guanine-rich sequences of nucleic acids. G-quadruplexes have been postulated to play important roles in a number of biological systems including gene regulation and the inhibition of enzyme function. Recently, our laboratory reported on the synthesis and evaluation of a triaza-cyclopentaphenanthrene compound which bound to G-quadruplexes with good affinity and selectivity. This compound contains a 4-pyridone group which has not been previously utilized in other quadruplex binding agents. In this Letter, we describe the synthesis and evaluation of 4-pyridone containing 2- and 3-carboxy-benzoquinolines as G-quadruplex binding agents. We find that these compounds are capable of binding G-quadruplexes with a K_a in the range of 3 × 10⁵ M^?1 and with a 10-fold selectivity for quadruplex over duplex DNA.     

Impact of cyclic bending on coronary hemodynamics

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - It remains unknown that the degree of bias in computational fluid dynamics results without considering coronary cyclic bending. This study aims to...