Fluorescent Tracking of the Endoplasmic Reticulum in Live Pathogenic Fungal Cells.

In fungal cells, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) harbors several of the enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of ergosterol, an essential membrane component, making this organelle the site of action of antifungal azole drugs, used as a first-line treatment for fungal infections. This highlights the need for specific fluorescent labeling of this organelle in cells of pathogenic fungi. Here we report on the development and evaluation of a collection of fluorescent ER trackers in a panel of Candida, considered the most frequently encountered pathogen in fungal infections. These trackers enabled imaging of the ER in live fungal cells. Organelle specificity was associated with the expression of the target enzyme of antifungal azoles that resides in the ER; specific ER labeling was not observed in mutant cells lacking this enzyme. Labeling of live Candida cells with a combination of a mitotracker and one of the novel fungal ER trackers revealed sites of contact between the ER and mitochondria. These fungal ER trackers therefore offer unique molecular tools for the study of the ER and its interactions with other organelles in live cells of pathogenic fungi.

Cationic Amphiphiles Induce Macromolecule Denaturation and Organelle Decomposition in Pathogenic Yeast.

Cationic amphiphiles are a large and diverse class of antimicrobial agents. Although their mode of action is not fully resolved, it is generally accepted that these antimicrobials perturb the structural integrity of the plasma membrane leading to the microbial cell disruption. Here we report on the development of inherently fluorescent antifungal cationic amphiphiles and on the study of their effects on cells of Candida, one of the most common fungal pathogens in humans. Fluorescent images of Candida yeast cells that express a fluorescent reporter protein revealed that the cationic amphiphiles rapidly accumulated in the cytosol and led to structural changes in proteins and DNA. Using fluorescent organelle-specific dyes, we showed that these antifungal agents also caused organelle disassembly in Candida cells. The results of this study indicate that, in designing antifungal cationic amphiphiles for clinical use, the intracellular activities of these molecules must be addressed to avoid undesired side effects to mammalian cells.

Derivatives of Ribosome-Inhibiting Antibiotic Chloramphenicol Inhibit the Biosynthesis of Bacterial Cell Wall.

Here, we describe the preparation and evaluation of α,ß-unsaturated carbonyl derivatives of the bacterial translation inhibiting antibiotic chloramphenicol (CAM). Compared to the parent antibiotic, two compounds containing α,ß-unsaturated ketones (1 and 4) displayed a broader spectrum of activity against a panel of Gram-positive pathogens with a minimum inhibitory concentration range of 2-32 µg/mL. Interestingly, unlike the parent CAM, these compounds do not inhibit bacterial translation. Microscopic evidence and metabolic labeling of a cell wall peptidoglycan suggested that compounds 1 and 4 caused extensive damage to the envelope of Staphylococcus aureus cells by inhibition of the early stage of cell wall peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Unlike the effect of membrane-disrupting antimicrobial cationic amphiphiles, these compounds did not rapidly permeabilize the bacterial membrane. Like the parent antibiotic CAM, compounds 1 and 4 had a bacteriostatic effect on S. aureus. Both compounds 1 and 4 were cytotoxic to immortalized nucleated mammalian cells; however, neither caused measurable membrane damage to mammalian red blood cells. These data suggest that the reported CAM-derived antimicrobial agents offer a new molecular scaffold for development of novel bacterial cell wall biosynthesis inhibiting antibiotics.

Tuning the Effects of Bacterial Membrane Permeability through Photo-Isomerization of Antimicrobial Cationic Amphiphiles.

Several important antimicrobial drugs act by permeabilizing cell membranes. In this study, we showed that the intensity of membrane permeability caused by antimicrobial cationic amphiphiles can be modified not only by their concentration but also through light-induced isomerization of their lipid segment. Two types of photo-isomerizable cationic amphiphiles were developed and the effects of photo-isomerization on bacterial growth and membrane permeability were evaluated. One photo-isomer inhibited cell growth and division, whereas the other photo-isomer led to a rapid and lethal bacterial membrane-disrupting effect. The switch from "on" to "off" can be obtained by either the cis- or trans-isomer depending on the bacterial strain and the type of cationic amphiphile. These cationic amphiphiles offer a novel tool for research and industrial applications that require light-controlled bacterial membrane permeabilization.

Effects of 5-O-Ribosylation of Aminoglycosides on Antimicrobial Activity and Selective Perturbation of Bacterial Translation.

We studied six pairs of aminoglycosides and their corresponding ribosylated derivatives synthesized by attaching a ß-O-linked ribofuranose to the 5-OH of the deoxystreptamine ring of the parent pseudo-oligosaccharide antibiotic. Ribosylation of the 4,6-disubstituted 2-deoxystreptamine aminoglycoside kanamycin B led to improved selectivity for inhibition of prokaryotic relative to cytosolic eukaryotic in vitro translation. For the pseudodisaccharide aminoglycoside scaffolds neamine and nebramine, ribosylated derivatives were both more potent antimicrobials and more selective to inhibition of prokaryotic translation. On the basis of the results of this study, we suggest that modification of the 5-OH position of the streptamine ring of other natural or semisynthetic pseudodisaccharide aminoglycoside scaffolds containing an equatorial amine at the 2' sugar position with a ß-O-linked ribofuranose is a promising avenue for the development of novel aminoglycoside antibiotics with improved efficacy and reduced toxicity.

Phosphonium pillar[5]arenes as a new class of efficient biofilm inhibitors: importance of charge cooperativity and the pillar platform.

Biofilm formation, which frequently occurs in microbial infections and often reduces the efficacy of antibiotics, also perturbs many industrial and domestic processes. We found that a new class of water soluble pillar[5]arenes bearing phosphonium moieties (1, 2) and their respective ammonium analogues (3, 4) inhibit biofilm formation with IC50 values in the range of 0.67-1.66 µM. These compounds have no antimicrobial activity, do not damage red blood cell membranes, and do not affect mammalian cell viability in culture. Comparison of the antibiofilm activities of the phosphonium-decorated pillar[5]arene derivatives 1 and 2 with their respective ammonium counterparts 3 and 4 and their monomers 5 and 6, demonstrate that while positive charges, charge cooperativity and the pillararene platform are essential for the observed antibiofilm activity the nature of the charges is not.

Cationic Pillararenes Potently Inhibit Biofilm Formation without Affecting Bacterial Growth and Viability.

It is estimated that up to 80% of bacterial infections are accompanied by biofilm formation. Since bacteria in biofilms are less susceptible to antibiotics than are bacteria in the planktonic state, biofilm-associated infections pose a major health threat, and there is a pressing need for antibiofilm agents. Here we report that water-soluble cationic pillararenes differing in the quaternary ammonium groups efficiently inhibited the formation of biofilms by clinically important Gram-positive pathogens. Biofilm inhibition did not result from antimicrobial activity; thus, the compounds should not inhibit growth of natural bacterial flora. Moreover, none of the cationic pillararenes caused detectable membrane damage to red blood cells or toxicity to human cells in culture. The results indicate that cationic pillararenes have potential for use in medical applications in which biofilm formation is a problem.

Di-N-Methylation of Anti-Gram-Positive Aminoglycoside-Derived Membrane Disruptors Improves Antimicrobial Potency and Broadens Spectrum to Gram-Negative Bacteria.

The effect of di-N-methylation of bacterial membrane disruptors derived from aminoglycosides (AGs) on antimicrobial activity is reported. Di-N-methylation of cationic amphiphiles derived from several diversely structured AGs resulted in a significant increase in hydrophobicity compared to the parent compounds that improved their interactions with membrane lipids. The modification led to an enhancement in antibacterial activity and a broader antimicrobial spectrum. While the parent compounds were either modestly active or inactive against Gram-negative pathogens, the corresponding di-N-methylated compounds were potent against the tested Gram-negative as well as Gram-positive bacterial strains. The reported modification offers a robust strategy for the development of broad-spectrum membrane-disrupting antibiotics for topical use.

Tobramycin and nebramine as pseudo-oligosaccharide scaffolds for the development of antimicrobial cationic amphiphiles.

Antimicrobial cationic amphiphiles derived from aminoglycoside pseudo-oligosaccharide antibiotics interfere with the structure and function of bacterial membranes and offer a promising direction for the development of novel antibiotics. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of cationic amphiphiles derived from the pseudo-trisaccharide aminoglycoside tobramycin and its pseudo-disaccharide segment nebramine. Antimicrobial activity, membrane selectivity, mode of action, and structure-activity relationships were studied. Several cationic amphiphiles showed marked antimicrobial activity, and one amphiphilic nebramine derivative proved effective against all of the tested strains of bacteria; furthermore, against several of the tested strains, this compound was well over an order of magnitude more potent than the parent antibiotic tobramycin, the membrane-targeting antimicrobial peptide mixture gramicidin D, and the cationic lipopeptide polymyxin B, which are in clinical use.

Site-selective displacement of tobramycin hydroxyls for preparation of antimicrobial cationic amphiphiles.

A short site-selective strategy for the activation and derivatization of alcohols of the clinically important aminoglycoside tobramycin is reported. The choice of amine protecting group affected the site-selective conversion of secondary alcohols of tobramycin into leaving groups. Temperature-dependent, chemoselective sequential nucleophilic displacements resulted in hetero- and homodithioether tobramycin-based cationic amphiphiles that demonstrated marked antimicrobial activity and impressive membrane selectivity.

Di-alkylated paromomycin derivatives: targeting the membranes of gram positive pathogens that cause skin infections.

A collection of paromomycin-based di-alkylated cationic amphiphiles differing in the lengths of their aliphatic chain residues were designed, synthesized, and evaluated against 14 Gram positive pathogens that are known to cause skin infections. Paromomycin derivatives that were di-alkylated with C7 and C8 linear aliphatic chains had improved antimicrobial activities relative to the parent aminoglycoside as well as to the clinically used membrane-targeting antibiotic gramicidin D; several novel derivatives were at least 16-fold more potent than the parent aminoglycoside paromomycin. Comparison between a di-alkylated and a mono-alkylated paromomycin indicated that the di-alkylation strategy leads to both an improvement in antimicrobial activity and to a dramatic reduction in undesired red blood cell hemolysis caused by many aminoglycoside-based cationic amphiphiles. Scanning electron microscopy provided evidence for cell surface damage by the reported di-alkylated paromomycins.