The small molecule CBR-5884 inhibits the phosphatidylserine synthase.

UNLABELLED

Systemic infections by spp. are associated with high mortality rates, partly due to limitations in current antifungals, highlighting the need for novel drugs and drug targets. The fungal phosphatidylserine synthase, Cho1, from is a logical antifungal drug target due to its importance in virulence, absence in the host, and conservation among fungal pathogens. Inhibitors of Cho1 could serve as lead compounds for drug development, so we developed a target-based screen for inhibitors of purified Cho1. This enzyme condenses serine and cytidyldiphosphate-diacylglycerol (CDP-DAG) into phosphatidylserine (PS) and releases cytidylmonophosphate (CMP). Accordingly, we developed an nucleotidase-coupled malachite-green-based high throughput assay for purified Cho1 that monitors CMP production as a proxy for PS synthesis. Over 7,300 molecules curated from repurposing chemical libraries were interrogated in primary and dose-responsivity assays using this platform. The screen had a promising average ' score of ~0.8, and seven compounds were identified that inhibit Cho1. Three of these, ebselen, LOC14, and CBR-5884, exhibited antifungal effects against cells, with fungicidal inhibition by ebselen and fungistatic inhibition by LOC14 and CBR-5884. Only CBR-5884 showed evidence of disrupting Cho1 function by inducing phenotypes consistent with the mutant, including a reduction of cellular PS levels. Kinetics curves and computational docking indicate that CBR-5884 competes with serine for binding to Cho1 with a of 1,550 ± 245.6 nM. Thus, this compound has the potential for development into an antifungal compound.

IMPORTANCE

Fungal phosphatidylserine synthase (Cho1) is a logical antifungal target due to its crucial role in the virulence and viability of various fungal pathogens, and since it is absent in humans, drugs targeted at Cho1 are less likely to cause toxicity in patients. Using fungal Cho1 as a model, there have been two unsuccessful attempts to discover inhibitors for Cho1 homologs in whole-cell screens prior to this study. The compounds identified in these attempts do not act directly on the protein, resulting in the absence of known Cho1 inhibitors. The significance of our research is that we developed a high-throughput target-based assay and identified the first Cho1 inhibitor, CBR-5884, which acts both on the purified protein and its function in the cell. This molecule acts as a competitive inhibitor with a value of 1,550 ± 245.6 nM and, thus, has the potential for development into a new class of antifungals targeting PS synthase.