Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic systemic infectious disease
caused
by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). Methionine aminopeptidase 1 (MtMET-AP1)
is a hydrolase that mediates the necessary post-translational N-terminal methionine excision (NME) of peptides during
protein synthesis, which is necessary for bacterial proliferation
and is a potential target for the treatment of tuberculosis. Based
on the functional characteristics of MtMET-AP1, we developed an enzymatic
activated near-infrared fluorescent probe DDAN-MT for
rapid, highly selective, and real-time monitoring of endogenous MtMET-AP1
activity in M. tuberculosis. Using
the probe DDAN-MT, a visually high-throughput screening
technique was established, which obtained three potential inhibitors
(GSK-J4 hydrochchloride, JX06, and lavendustin C) against MtMET-AP1
from a 2560 compounds library. More importantly, these inhibitors
could inhibit the growth of M. tuberculosis H37Ra especially (MICs < 5 μM), with low toxicities on
intestinal bacteria strains and human cells. Therefore, the visual
sensing of MtMET-AP1 was successfully performed by DDAN-MT, and MtMET-AP1 inhibitors were discovered as potential antituberculosis
agents.