The increasing prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis highlights the need for identifying new antitubercular drugs that can treat these infections. The antigen 85 (Ag85) complex has emerged as an intriguing mycobacterial drug target due to its central role in synthesizing major components of the inner and outer leaflets of the mycobacterial outer membrane. Here we identify ebselen as a potent inhibitor of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Ag85 complex. Mass spectrometry data show that ebselen binds covalently to a cysteine residue (C209) located near the Ag85C active site. The crystal structure of Ag85C in the presence of ebselen shows that C209 modification restructures the active site, thereby disrupting the hydrogen-bonded network within the active site that is essential for enzymatic activity. C209 mutations display marked decreases in enzymatic activity. These data suggest that compounds using this mechanism of action will strongly inhibit the Ag85 complex and minimize the selection of drug resistance.

The GCN5-related N-acetyltransferases family (GNAT) is an important family of proteins that includes more than 100000 members among eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Acetylation appears as a major regulatory post-translational modification and is as widespread as phosphorylation. N-Acetyltransferases transfer an acetyl group from acetyl-CoA to a large array of substrates, from small molecules such as aminoglycoside antibiotics to macromolecules. Acetylation of proteins can occur at two different positions, either at the amino-terminal end (αN-acetylation) or at the ε-amino group (εN-acetylation) of an internal lysine residue. GNAT members have been classified into different groups on the basis of their substrate specificity, and in spite of a very low primary sequence identity, GNAT proteins display a common and conserved fold. This Current Topic reviews the different classes of bacterial GNAT proteins, their functions, their structural characteristics, and their mechanism of action.

Background:The antigen 85 complex represents three homologous mycolyltransferases that show promise as tuberculosis drug targets. Results: Structures of antigen 85C (Ag85C) covalently modified at a conserved cysteine and Ag85C active site mutants exhibit disruption of the active site structure. Conclusion: Structural dynamics are important for Ag85C function and inhibition. Significance: Targeted thiol modification of the antigen 85 complex is a valid inhibitory mechanism for inhibitor design.

The bacterium that causes tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, possesses a rather unique outer membrane composed largely of lipids that possess long-chain and branched fatty acids, called mycolic acids. These lipids form a permeability barrier that prevents entry of many environmental solutes, thereby making these bacteria acid-fast and able to survive extremely hostile surroundings. Antitubercular drugs must penetrate this layer to reach their target. This review highlights drug development efforts that have added to the slowly growing tuberculosis drug pipeline, identified new enzyme activities to target with drugs and increased the understanding of important biosynthetic pathways for mycobacterial outer membrane and cell wall core assembly. In addition, a portion of this review looks at discovery efforts aimed at weakening this barrier to decrease mycobacterial virulence, decrease fitness in the host or enhance the efficacy of the current drug repertoire by disrupting the permeability barrier.

The branched-chain aminotransferase is a pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme responsible for the final step in the biosynthesis of all three branched-chain amino acids, L-leucine, L-isoleucine, and L-valine, in bacteria. We have investigated the mechanism of inactivation of the branched-chain aminotransferase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MtIlvE) by D- and L-cycloserine. D-Cycloserine is currently used only in the treatment of multidrug–drug-resistant tuberculosis. Our results show a time-and concentration-dependent inactivation of MtIlvE by both isomers, with L-cycloserine being a 40-fold better inhibitor of the enzyme. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) studies revealed that L-cycloserine is a 10-fold better inhibitor of Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth than D-cycloserine. In addition, we have crystallized the MtIlvE-D-cycloserine inhibited enzyme, determining the structure to 1.7 Å. The structure of the covalent D-cycloserine-PMP adduct bound to MtIlvE reveals that the D-cycloserine ring is planar and aromatic, as previously observed for other enzyme systems. Mass spectrometry reveals that both the D-cycloserine- and L-cycloserine-PMP complexes have the same mass, and are likely to be the same aromatized, isoxazole product. However, the kinetics of formation of the MtIlvE D-cycloserine-PMP and MtIlvE L-cycloserine-PMP adducts are quite different. While the kinetics of the formation of the MtIlvE D-cycloserine-PMP complex can be fit to a single exponential, the formation of the MtIlvE L-cycloserine-PMP complex occurs in two steps. We propose a chemical mechanism for the inactivation of D- and L-cycloserine which suggests a stereochemically determined structural role for the differing kinetics of inactivation. These results demonstrate that the mechanism of action of D-cycloserine’s activity against M. tuberculosis may be more complicated than previously thought and that D-cycloserine may compromise the in vivo activity of multiple PLP-dependent enzymes, including MtIlvE.