Rationally Designed Pyrimidine Compounds: Promising Novel Antibiotics for the Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus-Associated Bovine Mastitis

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the major pathogens causing bovine mastitis, and antibiotic treatment is most often inefficient due to its virulence and antibiotic-resistance attributes. The development of new antibiotics for veterinary use should account for the One Health concept, in which humans, animals, and environmental wellbeing are all interconnected. S. aureus can infect cattle and humans alike and antibiotic resistance can impact both if the same classes of antibiotics are used. New effective antibiotic classes against S. aureus are thus needed in dairy farms. We previously described PC1 as a novel antibiotic, which binds the S. aureus guanine riboswitch and interrupts transcription of essential GMP synthesis genes. However, chemical instability of PC1 hindered its development, evaluation, and commercialization. Novel PC1 analogs with improved stability have now been rationally designed and synthesized, and their in vitro and in vivo activities have been evaluated. One of these novel compounds, PC206, remains stable in solution and demonstrates specific narrow-spectrum activity against S. aureus. It is active against biofilm-embedded S. aureus, its cytotoxicity profile is adequate, and in vivo tests in mice and cows show that it is effective and well tolerated. PC206 and structural analogs represent a promising new antibiotic class to treat S. aureus-induced bovine mastitis.