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The Enzymatic Activity of Inosine 5′-Monophosphate Dehydrogenase May Not Be a Vulnerable Target for Staphylococcus aureus Infections
Journal article   Peer reviewed

The Enzymatic Activity of Inosine 5′-Monophosphate Dehydrogenase May Not Be a Vulnerable Target for Staphylococcus aureus Infections

Gyan Modi, Gary M Marqus, Mohana Rao Vippila, Deviprasad R Gollapalli, Youngchang Kim, Adhar C Manna, Shibin Chacko, Natalia Maltseva, Xingyou Wang, Ryan T Cullinane, …
ACS infectious diseases, Vol.7(11), pp.3062-3076
09/30/2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00342
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/10192/64717
PMID: 34590817

Abstract

Virulence IMP Dehydrogenase Staphylococcal Infections Staphylococcus aureus infections Infectious Diseases
Many bacterial pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, require inosine 5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) for infection, making this enzyme a promising new target for antibiotics. Although potent selective inhibitors of bacterial IMPDHs have been reported, relatively few have displayed antibacterial activity. Here we use structure-informed design to obtain inhibitors of S. aureus IMPDH (SaIMPDH) that have potent antibacterial activity (minimal inhibitory concentrations less than 2 μM) and low cytotoxicity in mammalian cells. The physicochemical properties of the most active compounds were within typical Lipinski/Veber space, suggesting that polarity is not a general requirement for achieving antibacterial activity. Five compounds failed to display activity in mouse models of septicemia and abscess infection. Inhibitor-resistant S. aureus strains readily emerged in vitro. Resistance resulted from substitutions in the cofactor/inhibitor binding site of SaIMPDH, confirming on-target antibacterial activity. These mutations decreased the binding of all inhibitors tested, but also decreased catalytic activity. Nonetheless, the resistant strains had comparable virulence to wild-type bacteria. Surprisingly, strains expressing catalytically inactive SaIMPDH displayed only a mild virulence defect. Collectively these observations question the vulnerability of the enzymatic activity of SaIMPDH as a target for the treatment of S. aureus infections, suggesting other functions of this protein may be responsible for its role in infection.

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