RESUMEN
In a recent study of polyketide biosynthetic gene clusters cloned directly from soil, we isolated two antibiotics, fasamycins A and B, which showed activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis. To identify the target of the fasamycins, mutants with elevated fasamycin A minimum inhibitory concentrations were selected from a wild-type culture of E. faecalis OG1RF. Next-generation sequencing of these mutants, in conjunction with in vitro biochemical assays, showed that the fasamycins inhibit FabF of type II fatty acid biosynthesis (FASII). Candidate gene overexpression studies also showed that fasamycin resistance is conferred by fabF overexpression. On the basis of comparisons with known FASII inhibitors and in silico docking studies, the chloro-gem-dimethyl-anthracenone substructure seen in the fasamycins is predicted to represent a naturally occurring FabF-specific antibiotic pharmacophore. Optimization of this pharmacophore should yield FabF-specific antibiotics with increased potencies and differing spectra of activity. This study demonstrates that culture-independent antibiotic discovery methods have the potential to provide access to novel metabolites with modes of action that differ from those of antibiotics currently in clinical use.
Asunto(s)
3-Oxoacil-(Proteína Transportadora de Acil) Sintasa/efectos de los fármacos , Antibacterianos/química , Proteínas Bacterianas/efectos de los fármacos , Compuestos de Bifenilo/síntesis química , Química Farmacéutica/métodos , ADN/química , Enterococcus faecalis/metabolismo , Ácidos Grasos/metabolismo , Hidrocarburos Policíclicos Aromáticos/síntesis química , Secuencia de Bases , Bioquímica/métodos , Cromatografía/métodos , Clonación Molecular , Cartilla de ADN/genética , Biblioteca de Genes , Humanos , Concentración 50 Inhibidora , Modelos Químicos , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Familia de Multigenes , MutaciónRESUMEN
The proliferation of large-scale DNA-sequencing projects in recent years has driven a search for alternative methods to reduce time and cost. Here we describe a scalable, highly parallel sequencing system with raw throughput significantly greater than that of state-of-the-art capillary electrophoresis instruments. The apparatus uses a novel fibre-optic slide of individual wells and is able to sequence 25 million bases, at 99% or better accuracy, in one four-hour run. To achieve an approximately 100-fold increase in throughput over current Sanger sequencing technology, we have developed an emulsion method for DNA amplification and an instrument for sequencing by synthesis using a pyrosequencing protocol optimized for solid support and picolitre-scale volumes. Here we show the utility, throughput, accuracy and robustness of this system by shotgun sequencing and de novo assembly of the Mycoplasma genitalium genome with 96% coverage at 99.96% accuracy in one run of the machine.