The present invention utilizes three families of bacterial enzymes, which play a key role in mycothiol biosynthesis. The three families are bacterial cysteine:glucosaminyl inositol ligases (MshC) with catalytic ligase activity for ligation of glucosaminyl inositol and cysteine, bacterial acetyl-CoA:Cys-GlcN-Ins acetyltransferases (MshD) with catalytic activity for addition of an acetyl group to Cys-GlcN-Ins and bacterial MshA glycosyltransferase with catalytic activity for production of GlcNAc-Ins. The invention provides methods for using the mycothiol biosynthesis ligases, acetyltransferases or glycosyltransferases in drug screening assays to determine compounds that inhibit activity. The invention also provides inhibitors of the production or activity of the enzymes of mycothiol biosynthesis, and use of the inhibitors for treating microbial infection.
本发明利用三种细菌酶家族,它们在肌
硫醇
生物合成中起着关键作用。这三个家族是:具有催化
配体活性的细菌半胱
氨酸:
葡萄糖胺酰肌醇连接酶(MshC),用于连接
葡萄糖胺酰肌醇和半胱
氨酸;具有催化活性的细菌
乙酰辅酶A:半胱
氨酸-GlcN-Ins乙酰转移酶(MshD),用于向Cys-GlcN-Ins添加乙酰基;以及具有催化活性的细菌MshA糖基转移酶,用于生产GlcNAc-Ins。本发明提供了使用肌
硫醇
生物合成连接酶、乙酰转移酶或糖基转移酶进行药物筛选测定的方法,以确定抑制活性的化合物。本发明还提供了肌
硫醇
生物合成酶的产生或活性的
抑制剂,并将其用于治疗微
生物感染。