Pruned Machine Learning Models to Predict Aqueous Solubility.

Solubility is a key metric for therapeutic compounds. Conversely, insoluble compounds cloud the accuracy of assays at all stages of chemical biology and drug discovery. Herein, we disclose naïve Bayesian classifier models to predict aqueous solubility.

A Preclinical Candidate Targeting Mycobacterium tuberculosis KasA.

Published Mycobacterium tuberculosis β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase KasA inhibitors lack sufficient potency and/or pharmacokinetic properties. A structure-based approach was used to optimize existing KasA inhibitor DG167. This afforded indazole JSF-3285 with a 30-fold increase in mouse plasma exposure.

Antitubercular Triazines: Optimization and Intrabacterial Metabolism.

The triazine antitubercular JSF-2019 was of interest due to its in vitro efficacy and the nitro group shared with the clinically relevant delamanid and pretomanid. JSF-2019 undergoes activation requiring FH and one or more nitroreductases in addition to Ddn. An intrabacterial drug metabolism (IBDM) platform was leveraged to demonstrate the system kinetics, evidencing formation of NO and a des-nitro metabolite.

Structural basis of DSF recognition by its receptor RpfR and its regulatory interaction with the DSF synthase RpfF.

The diffusible signal factors (DSFs) are a family of quorum-sensing autoinducers (AIs) produced and detected by numerous gram-negative bacteria. The DSF family AIs are fatty acids, differing in their acyl chain length, branching, and substitution but having in common a cis-2 double bond that is required for their activity. In both human and plant pathogens, DSFs regulate diverse phenotypes, including virulence factor expression, antibiotic resistance, and biofilm dispersal.

Synergistic Lethality of a Binary Inhibitor of Mycobacterium tuberculosis KasA.

We report GSK3011724A (DG167) as a binary inhibitor of β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase (KasA) in Genetic and biochemical studies established KasA as the primary target. The X-ray crystal structure of the KasA-DG167 complex refined to 2.0-Å resolution revealed two interacting DG167 molecules occupying nonidentical sites in the substrate-binding channel of KasA.

Novel Pyrimidines as Antitubercular Agents.

infection is responsible for a global pandemic. New drugs are needed that do not show cross-resistance with the existing front-line therapeutics. A triazine antitubercular hit led to the design of a related pyrimidine family.

Human Microbiome Inspired Antibiotics with Improved β-Lactam Synergy against MDR Staphylococcus aureus.

The flippase MurJ is responsible for transporting the cell wall intermediate lipid II from the cytoplasm to the outside of the cell. While essential for the survival of bacteria, it remains an underexploited target for antibacterial therapy. The humimycin antibiotics are lipid II flippase (MurJ) inhibitors that were synthesized on the basis of bioinformatic predictions derived from secondary metabolite gene clusters found in the human microbiome.

Antimicrobials Inspired by Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetase Gene Clusters.

Bacterial culture broth extracts have been the starting point for the development of numerous therapeutics. However, only a small fraction of bacterial biosynthetic diversity is accessible using this strategy. Here, we apply a discovery approach that bypasses the culturing step entirely by bioinformatically predicting small molecule structures from the primary sequences of the biosynthetic gene clusters.

Discovery of MRSA active antibiotics using primary sequence from the human microbiome.

Here we present a natural product discovery approach, whereby structures are bioinformatically predicted from primary sequence and produced by chemical synthesis (synthetic-bioinformatic natural products, syn-BNPs), circumventing the need for bacterial culture and gene expression. When we applied the approach to nonribosomal peptide synthetase gene clusters from human-associated bacteria, we identified the humimycins. These antibiotics inhibit lipid II flippase and potentiate β-lactam activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in mice, potentially providing a new treatment regimen.

Discovery of a small-molecule inhibitor and cellular probe of Keap1-Nrf2 protein-protein interaction.

A high-throughput screen (HTS) of the MLPCN library using a homogenous fluorescence polarization assay identified a small molecule as a first-in-class direct inhibitor of Keap1-Nrf2 protein-protein interaction. The HTS hit has three chiral centers; a combination of flash and chiral chromatographic separation demonstrated that Keap1-binding activity resides predominantly in one stereoisomer (SRS)-5 designated as ML334 (LH601A), which is at least 100× more potent than the other stereoisomers. The stereochemistry of the four cis isomers was assigned using X-ray crystallography and confirmed using stereospecific synthesis.

Optimization of fluorescently labeled Nrf2 peptide probes and the development of a fluorescence polarization assay for the discovery of inhibitors of Keap1-Nrf2 interaction.

Activation of the antioxidant response element (ARE) upregulates enzymes involved in detoxification of electrophiles and reactive oxygen species. The induction of ARE genes is regulated by the interaction between redox sensor protein Keap1 and the transcription factor Nrf2. Fluorescently labeled Nrf2 peptides containing the ETGE motif were synthesized and optimized as tracers in the development of a fluorescence polarization (FP) assay to identify small-molecule inhibitors of the Keap1-Nrf2 interaction.

Kinetic analyses of Keap1-Nrf2 interaction and determination of the minimal Nrf2 peptide sequence required for Keap1 binding using surface plasmon resonance.

The Keap1-Nrf2 interaction plays important roles in regulation of Nrf2 activity and induction of chemopreventive enzymes. To better understand the interaction and to determine the minimal Nrf2 sequence required for Keap1 binding, we synthesized a series of Nrf2 peptides containing ETGE motif and determined their binding affinities to the Kelch domain of Keap1 in solution using a surface plasmon resonance-based competition assay. The equilibrium dissociation constant for the interaction between 16mer Nrf2 peptide and Keap1 Kelch domain in solution (K(solution)(D)) was found to be 23.

The intrinsic conformational propensities of the 20 naturally occurring amino acids and reflection of these propensities in proteins.

Here, we compare the distributions of main chain (Phi,Psi) angles (i.e., Ramachandran maps) of the 20 naturally occurring amino acids in three contexts: (i) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of Gly-Gly-X-Gly-Gly pentapeptides in water at 298 K with exhaustive sampling, where X = the amino acid in question; (ii) 188 independent protein simulations in water at 298 K from our Dynameomics Project; and (iii) static crystal and NMR structures from the Protein Data Bank.