Discovery of novel Staphylococcus aureus penicillin binding protein 2a inhibitors by multistep virtual screening and biological evaluation

Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters
2021.0

Abstract

Penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a) is an essential protein involved in the resistance to β-lactam antibiotics acquired by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and is a potential antibacterial target. In the current study, we employed a strategy that combined virtual screening with biological evaluation to discover novel inhibitors of PBP2a. In this investigation, a hybrid virtual screening method, consisting of drug-likeness evaluation (Lipinski's Rule of Five and ADMET) and rigid (LibDock) and semi-flexible (CDOCKER) docking-based virtual screenings, was used for retrieving novel PBP2a inhibitors from commercially available chemical databases. 11 compounds were selected from the final hits and subsequently shifted to experimental studies. Among them, Hit 2, Hit 3, and Hit 10 exhibited excellent anti-MRSA ATCC 33591 activity and weak toxicity in vitro. The affinity of the three compounds to bind to PBP2a was further confirmed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) experiments and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. An inter-complex interaction study showed that all hit compounds adapted well to the allosteric site of the PBP2a protein. In addition, Hit 2 (with best binding affinity to PBP2a, K<sub>D</sub> = 1.29 × 10<sup>-7</sup> M) significantly inhibits proliferation of MRSA clinical isolates. Together, the 3 hit compounds, especially Hit 2, may be potential non-β-lactam antibiotics against MRSA and the work will provide clues for the future development of specific compounds that block the interaction of PBP2a with their targets.

Knowledge Graph

Similar Paper

Discovery of novel Staphylococcus aureus penicillin binding protein 2a inhibitors by multistep virtual screening and biological evaluation
Bioorganic &amp; Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2021.0
Discovery of New Inhibitors of Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae Penicillin Binding Protein (PBP) 2x by Structure-Based Virtual Screening
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2009.0
Penicillin binding protein 2a: An overview and a medicinal chemistry perspective
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2020.0
Design, synthesis, in-silico studies and biological screening of quinazolinone analogues as potential antibacterial agents against MRSA
Bioorganic &amp; Medicinal Chemistry 2019.0
Identification of novel bacterial histidine biosynthesis inhibitors using docking, ensemble rescoring, and whole-cell assays
Bioorganic &amp; Medicinal Chemistry 2010.0
Discovery of Novel Inhibitors of the NorA Multidrug Transporter of Staphylococcus aureus
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2011.0
Structural Basis for E. coli Penicillin Binding Protein (PBP) 2 Inhibition, a Platform for Drug Design
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2019.0
Anti-methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus activity, synergism with oxacillin and molecular docking studies of metronidazole-triazole hybrids
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2016.0
Further investigation of inhibitors of MRSA pyruvate kinase: Towards the conception of novel antimicrobial agents
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2017.0
Mapping of a lipoglycopeptide antibiotic binding site on Staphylococcus aureus penicillin-binding protein 2 using a vancomycin photoaffinity analogue
MedChemComm 2012.0