THPP target assignment reveals EchA6 as an essential fatty acid shuttle in mycobacteria.

Phenotypic screens for bactericidal compounds against drug-resistant tuberculosis are beginning to yield novel inhibitors. However, reliable target identification remains challenging. Here, we show that tetrahydropyrazo[1,5-a]pyrimidine-3-carboxamide (THPP) selectively pulls down EchA6 in a stereospecific manner, instead of the previously assigned target Mycobacterium tuberculosis MmpL3.

Design and synthesis of ethyl pyrrolidine-5,5-trans-lactams as inhibitors of hepatitis C virus NS3/4A protease.

Using a pyrrolidine-5,5-trans-lactam template, we have designed small, neutral, mechanism-based inhibitors of hepatitis C NS3/4A protease. Compound 11a, with an alpha-ethyl P1 substituent and a Boc-valine substituent at the pyrrolidine nitrogen, has an IC(50)=30 microM.

A potent dimeric peptide antagonist of interleukin-5 that binds two interleukin-5 receptor alpha chains.

Two series of peptides that specifically bind to the extracellular domain of the alpha chain of the human interleukin-5 receptor (IL-5Ralpha), but share no primary sequence homology to IL-5, were identified from libraries of random recombinant peptides. Affinity maturation procedures generated a 19-aa peptide that binds to the IL-5 receptor alpha/beta heterodimer complex with an affinity equal to that of IL-5 and is a potent and specific antagonist of IL-5 activity in a human eosinophil adhesion assay. The active form of the peptide is a disulfide-crosslinked dimer that forms spontaneously in solution.

Kinetic properties of human dopamine sulfotransferase (SULT1A3) expressed in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems: comparison with the recombinant enzyme purified from Escherichia coli.

Sulfation, catalyzed by members of the sulfotransferase enzyme family, is a major metabolic pathway which modulates the biological activity of numerous endogenous and xenobiotic chemicals. A number of these enzymes have been expressed in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems to produce protein for biochemical and physical characterization. However, the effective use of heterologous expression systems to produce recombinant enzymes for such purposes depends upon the expressed protein faithfully representing the "native" protein.