1. Academic Validation
  2. Discovery of Inhibitors Targeting Protein-Protein Interaction between Bacterial RNA Polymerase and NusG as Novel Antimicrobials

Discovery of Inhibitors Targeting Protein-Protein Interaction between Bacterial RNA Polymerase and NusG as Novel Antimicrobials

  • J Med Chem. 2024 Sep 26;67(18):16556-16575. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c01386.
Yingbo Zheng 1 Cheuk Hei Kan 2 Tsz Fung Tsang 2 Yanpeng Liu 1 Tiankuang Liu 1 Man Wai Tsang 2 Long Yin Lam 1 Xiao Yang 2 Cong Ma 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
  • 2 Department of Microbiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Abstract

Bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP), the core Enzyme responsible for Bacterial transcription, requires the NusG factor for efficient transcription elongation and termination. As the primary binding site for NusG, the RNAP clamp-helix (CH) domain represents a potential protein-protein interaction (PPI) target for novel antimicrobial agent design and discovery. In this study, we designed a pharmacophore model based on the essential Amino acids of the CH for binding to NusG, such as R270, R278, and R281 (Escherichia coli numbering), and identified a hit compound with mild antimicrobial activity. Subsequent rational design and synthesis of this hit compound led to improved antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae, with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) reduced from 128 to 1 μg/mL. Additional characterization of the antimicrobial activity, inhibitory activity against RNAP-NusG interaction, and cell-based transcription and fluorescent assays of the optimized compounds demonstrated their potential for further lead optimization.

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