MBLinhibitors.com, a Website Resource Offering Information and Expertise for the Continued Development of Metallo--Lactamase Inhibitors.

In an effort to facilitate the discovery of new, improved inhibitors of the metallo--lactamases (MBLs), a new, interactive website called MBLinhibitors.com was developed. Despite considerable efforts from the science community, there are no clinical inhibitors of the MBLs, which are now produced by human pathogens.

A Single Salt Bridge in VIM-20 Increases Protein Stability and Antibiotic Resistance under Low-Zinc Conditions.

To understand the evolution of Verona integron-encoded metallo-β-lactamase (VIM) genes () and their clinical impact, microbiological, biochemical, and structural studies were conducted. Forty-five clinically derived VIM variants engineered in a uniform background and expressed in afforded increased resistance toward all tested antibiotics; the variants belonging to the VIM-1-like and VIM-4-like families exhibited higher MICs toward five out of six antibiotics than did variants belonging to the widely distributed and clinically important VIM-2-like family. Generally, maximal MIC increases were observed when cephalothin and imipenem were tested.

A Noncanonical Metal Center Drives the Activity of the Sediminispirochaeta smaragdinae Metallo-β-lactamase SPS-1.

In an effort to evaluate whether a recently reported putative metallo-β-lactamase (MβL) contains a novel MβL active site, SPS-1 from Sediminispirochaeta smaragdinae was overexpressed, purified, and characterized using spectroscopic and crystallographic studies. Metal analyses demonstrate that recombinant SPS-1 binds nearly 2 equiv of Zn(II), and steady-state kinetic studies show that the enzyme hydrolyzes carbapenems and certain cephalosporins but not β-lactam substrates with bulky substituents at the 6/7 position. Spectroscopic studies of Co(II)-substituted SPS-1 suggest a novel metal center in SPS-1, with a reduced level of spin coupling between the metal ions and a novel Zn metal binding site.