Discovery of lead compounds targeting the bacterial sliding clamp using a fragment-based approach

  • J Med Chem. 2014 Mar 27;57(6):2799-806. doi: 10.1021/jm500122r.
Zhou Yin  1 Louise R Whittell Yao Wang Slobodan Jergic Michael Liu Elizabeth J Harry Nicholas E Dixon Jennifer L Beck Michael J Kelso Aaron J Oakley
Affiliations
  • 1. School of Chemistry and Centre for Medical and Molecular Bioscience, University of Wollongong , Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.
Abstract

The Bacterial sliding clamp (SC), also known as the DNA Polymerase III β subunit, is an emerging Antibacterial target that plays a central role in DNA replication, serving as a protein-protein interaction hub with a common binding pocket to recognize linear motifs in the partner proteins. Here, fragment-based screening using X-ray crystallography produced four hits bound in the linear-motif-binding pocket of the Escherichia coli SC. Compounds structurally related to the hits were identified that inhibited the E. coli SC and SC-mediated DNA replication in vitro. A tetrahydrocarbazole derivative emerged as a promising lead whose methyl and ethyl ester prodrug forms showed minimum inhibitory concentrations in the range of 21-43 μg/mL against representative Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria species. The work demonstrates the utility of a fragment-based approach for identifying Bacterial sliding clamp inhibitors as lead compounds with broad-spectrum Antibacterial activity.

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