Cell-based screen for discovering lipopolysaccharide biogenesis inhibitors.

New drugs are needed to treat gram-negative bacterial infections. These bacteria are protected by an outer membrane which prevents many antibiotics from reaching their cellular targets. The outer leaflet of the outer membrane contains LPS, which is responsible for creating this permeability barrier. Interfering with LPS biogenesis affects bacterial viability. We developed a cell-based screen that identifies inhibitors of LPS biosynthesis and transport by exploiting the nonessentiality of this pathway in Acinetobacter We used this screen to find an inhibitor of MsbA, an ATP-dependent flippase that translocates LPS across the inner membrane. Treatment with the inhibitor caused mislocalization of LPS to the cell interior. The discovery of an MsbA inhibitor, which is universally conserved in all gram-negative bacteria, validates MsbA as an antibacterial target. Because our cell-based screen reports on the function of the entire LPS biogenesis pathway, it could be used to identify compounds that inhibit other targets in the pathway, which can provide insights into vulnerabilities of the gram-negative cell envelope.

A Fluorescent Probe Distinguishes between Inhibition of Early and Late Steps of Lipopolysaccharide Biogenesis in Whole Cells.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) biogenesis in Gram-negative organisms involves its biosynthesis in the cytoplasm and subsequent transport across three cellular compartments to the cell surface. We developed a fluorescent probe that allows us to determine the spatial distribution of LPS in whole cells. We show that polymyxin B nonapeptide (PMBN) containing a dansyl fluorophore specifically binds to LPS in membranes. We show that this probe detects decreases in LPS levels on the cell surface when LPS biosynthesis is inhibited at an early step. We also can detect accumulation of LPS in particular subcellular locations when LPS assembly is blocked during transport, allowing us to differentiate inhibitors targeting early and late stages of LPS biogenesis.

Delineating the biosynthesis of gentamicin x2, the common precursor of the gentamicin C antibiotic complex.

Gentamicin C complex is a mixture of aminoglycoside antibiotics used worldwide to treat severe Gram-negative bacterial infections. Despite its clinical importance, the enzymology of its biosynthetic pathway has remained obscure. We report here insights into the four enzyme-catalyzed steps that lead from the first-formed pseudotrisaccharide gentamicin A2 to gentamicin X2, the last common intermediate for all components of the C complex. We have used both targeted mutations of individual genes and reconstitution of portions of the pathway in vitro to show that the secondary alcohol function at C-3″ of A2 is first converted to an amine, catalyzed by the tandem operation of oxidoreductase GenD2 and transaminase GenS2. The amine is then specifically methylated by the S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM)-dependent N-methyltransferase GenN to form gentamicin A. Finally, C-methylation at C-4″ to form gentamicin X2 is catalyzed by the radical SAM-dependent and cobalamin-dependent enzyme GenD1.