Dual targeting antibacterial peptide inhibitor of early lipid A biosynthesis

ACS Chem Biol. 2012 Jul 20;7(7):1170-7. doi: 10.1021/cb300094a. Epub 2012 Apr 27.

Abstract

UDP-3-O-(R-3-hydroxyacyl)GlcN N-acyltransferase (LpxD) has been shown to be essential to survival of lipid A producing Gram-negative bacteria. In this study, LpxD-binding peptides 12 amino acids in length were identified from a phage-bound random peptide library screen. Three peptides displayed antibacterial activity when expressed intracellularly, one of which (RJPXD33) represented 15% of the total hits. RJPXD33 binds to E. coli LpxD with a K(d) of 6 μM and is competitive with R-3-hydroxymyristoyl-ACP binding. RJPXD33 can be C-terminally fused in vivo with thioredoxin or N-terminally modified in vitro with β-alanyl-fluorescein and maintain LpxD binding. The latter was used to develop an LpxD fluorescent binding assay used to evaluate unlabeled ligands and is amenable to small molecule library screening. Furthermore, RJPXD33 also binds to and inhibits E. coli UDP-N-acetylglucosamine acyltransferase (LpxA) with a K(d) of 20 μM, unearthing the possibility for the development of small molecule, dual-binding LpxA/LpxD inhibitors as novel antimicrobials.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acyltransferases / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Acyltransferases / metabolism
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / administration & dosage*
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / metabolism
  • Binding Sites / physiology
  • Drug Delivery Systems / methods*
  • Lipid A / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Lipid A / biosynthesis*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Lipid A
  • Acyltransferases
  • acyl-(acyl-carrier-protein)-UDP-N-acetylglucosamine acyltransferase