Azithromycin (AZ), a broad-spectrum antibacterial macrolide that inhibits protein synthesis, also manifests reasonable efficacy as an antimalarial. Its mode of action against malarial parasites, however, has remained undefined. Our in vitro investigations with the human malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum document a remarkable increase in AZ potency when exposure is prolonged from one to two generations of intraerythrocytic growth, with AZ producing 50% inhibition of parasite growth at concentrations in the mid to low nanomolar range. In our culture-adapted lines, AZ displayed no synergy with chloroquine (CQ), amodiaquine, or artesunate. AZ activity was also unaffected by mutations in the pfcrt (P. falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter) or pfmdr1 (P. falciparum multidrug resistance-1) drug resistance loci, as determined using transgenic lines. We have selected mutant, AZ-resistant 7G8 and Dd2 parasite lines. In the AZ-resistant 7G8 line, the bacterial-like apicoplast large subunit ribosomal RNA harbored a U438C mutation in domain I. Both AZ-resistant lines revealed a G76V mutation in a conserved region of the apicoplast-encoded P. falciparum ribosomal protein L4 (PfRpl4). This protein is predicted to associate with the nuclear genome-encoded P. falciparum ribosomal protein L22 (PfRpl22) and the large subunit rRNA to form the 50 S ribosome polypeptide exit tunnel that can be occupied by AZ. The PfRpl22 sequence remained unchanged. Molecular modeling of mutant PfRpl4 with AZ suggests an altered orientation of the L75 side chain that could preclude AZ binding. These data imply that AZ acts on the apicoplast bacterial-like translation machinery and identify Pfrpl4 as a potential marker of resistance.Licensed antibiotics with antimalarial activity offer considerable promise as suitable partners for novel combination therapies directed against drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparuminfections. Clinical studies have demonstrated good clinical cure rates with treatments that use tetracycline, its more potent derivative doxycycline, or clindamycin, in combination with fast-acting antimalarials such as quinine (1-3). Whereas the mode of action of these antibiotics has until recently remained elusive for Plasmodium, against bacteria they act by binding to the 70 S ribosome (comprised of the 50 S and 30 S subunits), thereby inhibiting protein synthesis. Tetracycline and doxycycline bind to the 30 S subunit (comprising the 16 S rRNA and ribosomal proteins), whereas clindamycin binds to the 50 S subunit (comprising the 23 S rRNA, the 5 S rRNA, and ribosomal proteins including L4 and L22) (4). The World Health Organization recommends doxycycline as malaria prophylaxis for travelers to endemic areas. Tetracycline and doxycycline, however, manifest toxicity in children below the age of eight and in pregnant women, effectively precluding their use in the most important malaria patient populations (5).Another antibiotic that appears particularly promising for antimalarial combination therapy is azithromycin (AZ), 2 a 15-m...

SummaryMycobacteriophages encounter a unique problem among phages of Gram-positive bacteria, in that lysis must not only degrade the peptidoglycan layer but also circumvent a mycolic acid-rich outer membrane covalently attached to the arabinogalactanpeptidoglycan complex. Mycobacteriophages accomplish this by producing two lysis enzymes, Lysin A (LysA) that hydrolyses peptidoglycan, and Lysin B (LysB), a novel mycolylarabinogalactan esterase, that cleaves the mycolylarabinogalactan bond to release free mycolic acids. The D29 LysB structure shows an a/b hydrolase organization with a catalytic triad common to cutinases, but which contains an additional four-helix domain implicated in the binding of lipid substrates. Whereas LysA is essential for mycobacterial lysis, a Giles DlysB mutant mycobacteriophage is viable, but defective in the normal timing, progression and completion of host cell lysis. We propose that LysB facilitates lysis by compromising the integrity of the mycobacterial outer membrane linkage to the arabinogalactan-peptidoglycan layer.

Summary The glyoxylate shunt plays an important role in fatty-acid metabolism, and has been shown to be critical to survival of several pathogens involved in chronic infections. For Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), a strain with a defective glyoxylate shunt was previously shown to be unable to establish infection in a mouse model. We report the development of novel phenyl-diketo acid (PDKA) inhibitors of malate synthase (GlcB), one of two glyoxylate shunt enzymes, using structure-based methods. PDKA inhibitors were active against Mtb grown on acetate, and over-expression of GlcB ameliorated this inhibition. Crystal structures of complexes of GlcB with PDKA inhibitors were used to guide optimization of potency. A selected PDKA compound demonstrated efficacy in a mouse model of tuberculosis. The discovery of these PDKA derivatives provides chemical validation of GlcB as an attractive target for tuberculosis therapeutics.

R21, the lysozyme of coliphage 21, has a N-terminal Signal-Anchor-Release (SAR) domain that directs its secretion in a membrane-tethered, inactive form and then its release and activation in the periplasm. Both genetic and crystallographic studies reveal that the SAR domain, once extracted from the bilayer, refolds into the body of the enzyme and effects muralytic activation by repositioning one residue of the canonical lysozyme catalytic triad.

Pyrazinamide has been a mainstay in the multidrug regimens used to treat tuberculosis. It is active against the persistent, non-replicating mycobacteria responsible for the protracted therapy required to cure tuberculosis. Pyrazinamide is a pro-drug that is converted into pyrazinoic acid (POA) by pyrazinamidase, however, the exact target of the drug has been difficult to determine. Here we show the enzyme PanD binds POA in its active site in a manner consistent with competitive inhibition. The active site is not directly accessible to the inhibitor, suggesting the protein must undergo a conformational change to bind the inhibitor. This is consistent with the slow binding kinetics we determined for POA. Drug-resistant mutations cluster near loops that lay on top of the active site. These resistant mutants show reduced affinity and residence time of POA consistent with a model where resistance occurs by destabilizing the closed conformation of the active site.