Novel antimicrobial classes are in desperate need for clinical management of infections caused by increasingly prevalent multi-drug resistant pathogens. The protein-protein interaction between bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) and the housekeeping sigma initiation factor is essential to transcription and bacterial viability. It also presents a potential target for antimicrobial discovery, for which a hit compound (C3) was previously identified from a pharmacophore model-based in silico screen. In this study, the hit compound was experimentally assessed with some rationally designed derivatives for the antimicrobial activities, in particular against Streptococcus pneumoniae and other pathogens. One compound, C3-005, shows dramatically improved activity against pneumococci compared to C3. C3-005 also attenuates S. pneumoniae toxin production more strongly than existing classes of antibiotics tested. Here we demonstrate a newly validated antimicrobial agent to address an overlooked target in the hit-to-lead process, which may pave the way for further antimicrobial development.
新型抗菌类药物急需用于治疗由日益普遍的多药耐药病原体引起的感染。细菌RNA聚合酶(RNAP)与细菌生长的sigma启动因子之间的蛋白质相互作用对转录和细菌生存至关重要。这也为抗菌药物的发现提供了潜在靶点,之前从药效团模型的计算筛选中鉴定出了一种命中化合物(C3)。在这项研究中,对这种命中化合物进行了实验评估,并设计了一些合理的衍生物,特别针对肺炎链球菌和其他病原体的抗菌活性。一种名为C3-005的化合物与C3相比在对抗肺炎链球菌方面显示出显着改善的活性。C3-005还比已测试的现有抗生素类药物更有效地减弱了肺炎链球菌的毒素产生。在这里,我们展示了一种新验证的抗菌剂,用于解决命中到引导过程中被忽视的靶点,这可能为进一步的抗菌药物开发铺平道路。