Mutasynthetic production and antimicrobial characterisation of Darobactin darobactin analogs (MS analysis)

ABSTRACT: There is great need for therapeutics against multi-drug resistant, Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. Recently, darobactin A, a novel bicyclic heptapeptide that selectively kills Gram-negative bacteria by targeting the outer-membrane protein BamA, was discovered. Its efficacy was proven in animal infection models of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, thus promoting darobactin A as a promising lead compound. Originally discovered from members of the nematode symbiotic genus Photorhabdus, the biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) encoding for the synthesis of darobactin A can also be found in other γ-proteobacterial families. Therein, the precursor peptides DarB-F, which differ in their core sequence from darobactin A, were identified in silico. Even though production of these analogs was not observed in the putative producer strains, we were able to generate them by mutasynthetic derivatization of a heterologous expression system. The generated analogs were isolated and tested for their bioactivity. The most potent compound, darobactin B, was used for co-crystallization with the target BamA, revealing an identical binding site to darobactin A. Besides its potency, darobactin B did not exhibit cytotoxicity and was slightly more active against Acinetobacter baumanii isolates than darobactin A. Furthermore, we evaluated the plasma protein binding of darobactin A and B, indicating their different pharmacokinetic properties. This is the first report on new members of this new antibiotics class, which is likely to expand to several promising therapeutic candidates.

ORGANISM(S): Escherichia Coli E. Coli

TISSUE(S): Bacterial Cells

SUBMITTER: Ute Mettal  

PROVIDER: ST001995 | MetabolomicsWorkbench | Thu Nov 18 00:00:00 GMT 2021

REPOSITORIES: MetabolomicsWorkbench