RESUMEN
Lyme disease is on the rise. Caused by a spirochete Borreliella burgdorferi, it affects an estimated 500,000 people in the United States alone. The antibiotics currently used to treat Lyme disease are broad spectrum, damage the microbiome, and select for resistance in non-target bacteria. We therefore sought to identify a compound acting selectively against B. burgdorferi. A screen of soil micro-organisms revealed a compound highly selective against spirochetes, including B. burgdorferi. Unexpectedly, this compound was determined to be hygromycin A, a known antimicrobial produced by Streptomyces hygroscopicus. Hygromycin A targets the ribosomes and is taken up by B. burgdorferi, explaining its selectivity. Hygromycin A cleared the B. burgdorferi infection in mice, including animals that ingested the compound in a bait, and was less disruptive to the fecal microbiome than clinically relevant antibiotics. This selective antibiotic holds the promise of providing a better therapeutic for Lyme disease and eradicating it in the environment.
Asunto(s)
Antibacterianos/uso terapéutico , Enfermedad de Lyme/tratamiento farmacológico , Animales , Borrelia burgdorferi/efectos de los fármacos , Calibración , Cinamatos/química , Cinamatos/farmacología , Cinamatos/uso terapéutico , Evaluación Preclínica de Medicamentos , Heces/microbiología , Femenino , Células HEK293 , Células Hep G2 , Humanos , Higromicina B/análogos & derivados , Higromicina B/química , Higromicina B/farmacología , Higromicina B/uso terapéutico , Enfermedad de Lyme/microbiología , Ratones , Pruebas de Sensibilidad Microbiana , Microbiota/efectos de los fármacosRESUMEN
Condensins play a unique role in orchestrating the global folding of the chromosome, an essential cellular process, and contribute to human disease and bacterial pathogenicity. As such, they represent an attractive and as yet untapped target for diverse therapeutic interventions. We describe here the discovery of small molecule inhibitors of the Escherichia coli condensin MukBEF. Pilot screening of a small diversity set revealed five compounds that inhibit the MukBEF pathway, two of which, Michellamine B and NSC260594, affected MukB directly. Computer-assisted docking suggested plausible binding sites for the two compounds in the hinge and head domains of MukB, and both binding sites were experimentally validated using mutational analysis and inspection of NSC260594 analogs. These results outline a strategy for the discovery of condensin inhibitors, identify druggable binding sites on the protein, and describe two small molecule inhibitors of condensins.