A phage-encoded anti-activator inhibits quorum sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The arms race between bacteria and phages has led to the evolution of diverse anti-phage defenses, several of which are controlled by quorum-sensing pathways. In this work, we characterize a quorum-sensing anti-activator protein, Aqs1, found in Pseudomonas phage DMS3. We show that Aqs1 inhibits LasR, the master regulator of quorum sensing, and present the crystal structure of the Aqs1-LasR complex. The 69-residue Aqs1 protein also inhibits PilB, the type IV pilus assembly ATPase protein, which blocks superinfection by phages that require the pilus for infection. This study highlights the remarkable ability of small phage proteins to bind multiple host proteins and disrupt key biological pathways. As quorum sensing influences various anti-phage defenses, Aqs1 provides a mechanism by which infecting phages might simultaneously dampen multiple defenses. Because quorum-sensing systems are broadly distributed across bacteria, this mechanism of phage counter-defense may play an important role in phage-host evolutionary dynamics.

A synthetic, species-specific activator of secondary metabolism and sporulation in Streptomyces coelicolor.

The secondary metabolites produced by bacterial species serve many clinically useful purposes, and Streptomyces have been an abundant source of such compounds. However, a poor understanding of their regulatory cascades leads to an inability to isolate all of the secondary metabolites this genus is capable of producing. This study focuses on comparing synthetic small molecules that were found to alter the production of secondary metabolites in Streptomyces coelicolor. A survey of these molecules suggests that each has a distinct mechanism of action, and hence, could be used as a unique probe of secondary metabolism. A comparative analysis of two of these molecules, ARC2 and ARC6, confirmed that they modulate secondary metabolites in different ways. In a separate study, ARC2 was shown to give rise to a different phenotype through the inhibition of a target in fatty acid biosynthesis. The results of this study suggest that ARC6 does not have the same target, although it might target the same metabolic system. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that ARC2 and ARC6 act through distinct mechanisms and further suggest that chemical probes can be important tools in enhancing our understanding of secondary metabolism and the streptomycete life cycle.

New tetromycin derivatives with anti-trypanosomal and protease inhibitory activities.

Four new tetromycin derivatives, tetromycins 1-4 and a previously known one, tetromycin B (5) were isolated from Streptomyces axinellae Pol001(T) cultivated from the Mediterranean sponge Axinella polypoides. Structures were assigned using extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy as well as HRESIMS analysis. The compounds were tested for antiparasitic activities against Leishmania major and Trypanosoma brucei, and for protease inhibition against several cysteine proteases such as falcipain, rhodesain, cathepsin L, cathepsin B, and viral proteases SARS-CoV M(pro), and PL(pro). The compounds showed antiparasitic activities against T. brucei and time-dependent inhibition of cathepsin L-like proteases with K(i) values in the low micromolar range.

Isolation, phylogenetic analysis and anti-infective activity screening of marine sponge-associated actinomycetes.

Terrestrial actinomycetes are noteworthy producers of a multitude of antibiotics, however the marine representatives are much less studied in this regard. In this study, 90 actinomycetes were isolated from 11 different species of marine sponges that had been collected from offshore Ras Mohamed (Egypt) and from Rovinj (Croatia). Phylogenetic characterization of the isolates based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing supported their assignment to 18 different actinomycete genera representing seven different suborders. Fourteen putatively novel species were identified based on sequence similarity values below 98.2% to other strains in the NCBI database. A putative new genus related to Rubrobacter was isolated on M1 agar that had been amended with sponge extract, thus highlighting the need for innovative cultivation protocols. Testing for anti-infective activities was performed against clinically relevant, Gram-positive (Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria, fungi (Candida albicans) and human parasites (Leishmania major, Trypanosoma brucei). Bioactivities against these pathogens were documented for 10 actinomycete isolates. These results show a high diversity of actinomycetes associated with marine sponges as well as highlight their potential to produce anti-infective agents.

An oxindole efflux inhibitor potentiates azoles and impairs virulence in the fungal pathogen Candida auris.

Candida auris is an emerging fungal pathogen that exhibits resistance to multiple drugs, including the most commonly prescribed antifungal, fluconazole. Here, we use a combinatorial screening approach to identify a bis-benzodioxolylindolinone (azoffluxin) that synergizes with fluconazole against C. auris. Azoffluxin enhances fluconazole activity through the inhibition of efflux pump Cdr1, thus increasing intracellular fluconazole levels. This activity is conserved across most C. auris clades, with the exception of clade III. Azoffluxin also inhibits efflux in highly azole-resistant strains of Candida albicans, another human fungal pathogen, increasing their susceptibility to fluconazole. Furthermore, azoffluxin enhances fluconazole activity in mice infected with C. auris, reducing fungal burden. Our findings suggest that pharmacologically targeting Cdr1 in combination with azoles may be an effective strategy to control infection caused by azole-resistant isolates of C. auris.

Silencing cryptic specialized metabolism in Streptomyces by the nucleoid-associated protein Lsr2.

Lsr2 is a nucleoid-associated protein conserved throughout the actinobacteria, including the antibiotic-producing Streptomyces. Streptomyces species encode paralogous Lsr2 proteins (Lsr2 and Lsr2-like, or LsrL), and we show here that of the two, Lsr2 has greater functional significance. We found that Lsr2 binds AT-rich sequences throughout the chromosome, and broadly represses gene expression. Strikingly, specialized metabolic clusters were over-represented amongst its targets, and the cryptic nature of many of these clusters appears to stem from Lsr2-mediated repression. Manipulating Lsr2 activity in model species and uncharacterized isolates resulted in the production of new metabolites not seen in wild type strains. Our results suggest that the transcriptional silencing of biosynthetic clusters by Lsr2 may protect Streptomyces from the inappropriate expression of specialized metabolites, and provide global control over Streptomyces' arsenal of signaling and antagonistic compounds.

Activity-Independent Discovery of Secondary Metabolites Using Chemical Elicitation and Cheminformatic Inference.

Most existing antibiotics were discovered through screens of environmental microbes, particularly the streptomycetes, for the capacity to prevent the growth of pathogenic bacteria. This "activity-guided screening" method has been largely abandoned because it repeatedly rediscovers those compounds that are highly expressed during laboratory culture. Most of these metabolites have already been biochemically characterized. However, the sequencing of streptomycete genomes has revealed a large number of "cryptic" secondary metabolic genes that are either poorly expressed in the laboratory or that have biological activities that cannot be discovered through standard activity-guided screens. Methods that reveal these uncharacterized compounds, particularly methods that are not biased in favor of the highly expressed metabolites, would provide direct access to a large number of potentially useful biologically active small molecules. To address this need, we have devised a discovery method in which a chemical elicitor called Cl-ARC is used to elevate the expression of cryptic biosynthetic genes. We show that the resulting change in product yield permits the direct discovery of secondary metabolites without requiring knowledge of their biological activity. We used this approach to identify three rare secondary metabolites and find that two of them target eukaryotic cells and not bacterial cells. In parallel, we report the first paired use of cheminformatic inference and chemical genetic epistasis in yeast to identify the target. In this way, we demonstrate that oxohygrolidin, one of the eukaryote-active compounds we identified through activity-independent screening, targets the V1 ATPase in yeast and human cells and secondarily HSP90.

Anti-protease and immunomodulatory activities of bacteria associated with Caribbean sponges.

Marine sponges and their associated bacteria have been proven to be a rich source of novel secondary metabolites with therapeutic usefulness in cancer, infection, and autoimmunity. In this study, 79 strains belonging to 20 genera of the order Actinomycetales and seven strains belonging to two genera of the order Sphingomonadales were cultivated from 18 different Caribbean sponges and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Seven of these strains are likely to represent novel species. Crude extracts from selected strains were found to exhibit protease inhibition against cathepsins B and L, rhodesain, and falcipain-2 as well as immunomodulatory activities such as induction of cytokine release by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These results highlight the significance of marine sponge-associated bacteria to produce bioactive secondary metabolites with therapeutic potential in the treatment of infectious diseases and disorders of the immune system.