Zhou Zi-Yuan, Yuan Jing, Pan Qing, Mo Xiao-Mei, Xie Yong-Li, Yin Feng, Li Zigang, Wong Nai-Kei
Department of Infectious Diseases, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, The Second Hospital Affiliated to Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen 518112 China
Department of Chemical Biology, School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Graduate School of Peking University Shenzhen 518055 China
RSC Adv. 2019 Jun 25;9(34):19869-19881. doi: 10.1039/c9ra00064j. eCollection 2019 Jun 19.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) presents as a serious threat to global public health, which urgently demands action to develop alternative antimicrobial strategies with minimized selective pressure. The bacterial SOS response regulator RecA has emerged as a promising target in the exploration of new classes of antibiotic adjuvants, as RecA has been implicated in bacterial mutagenesis and thus AMR development through its critical roles in error-prone DNA repair. The natural product curcumin has been reported to be an effective RecA inhibitor in several Gram-negative bacteria, but details on the underlying mechanisms are wanting. In order to bridge the gap in how curcumin operates as a RecA inhibitor, we used computational approaches to model interactions between RecA protein and curcumin analogues. We first identified potential binding sites on RecA protein and classified them into four major binding pockets based on biological literature and computational findings from multiple calculations. In docking analysis, curcumin-thalidomide hybrids were predicted to be superior binders of RecA compared with bis-(arylmethylidene)acetone curcumin analogues, which was further confirmed by MMGBSA calculations. Overall, this work provides mechanistic insights into bacterial RecA protein as a target for curcumin-like compounds and offers a theoretical basis for rational design and development of future antibiotic adjuvants.
抗菌药物耐药性(AMR)对全球公共卫生构成严重威胁,迫切需要采取行动来开发选择性压力最小化的替代抗菌策略。细菌SOS反应调节因子RecA已成为探索新型抗生素佐剂的一个有前景的靶点,因为RecA通过其在易错DNA修复中的关键作用参与细菌诱变,进而与AMR的产生有关。据报道,天然产物姜黄素在几种革兰氏阴性菌中是一种有效的RecA抑制剂,但关于其潜在机制的细节尚不清楚。为了填补姜黄素作为RecA抑制剂作用机制方面的空白,我们采用计算方法对RecA蛋白与姜黄素类似物之间的相互作用进行建模。我们首先在RecA蛋白上确定了潜在的结合位点,并根据生物学文献和多次计算的结果将它们分为四个主要结合口袋。在对接分析中,与双(芳基亚甲基)丙酮姜黄素类似物相比,姜黄素-沙利度胺杂化物被预测为RecA的更好结合剂,这一点通过MMGBSA计算得到了进一步证实。总的来说,这项工作为将细菌RecA蛋白作为类姜黄素化合物的靶点提供了机制上的见解,并为未来抗生素佐剂的合理设计和开发提供了理论基础。