Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of infectious disease mortality in the world by a single bacterial pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Current TB chemotherapy remains useful in treating susceptible M. tuberculosis strains, however, the emergence of MDR-TB and XDR-TB demand the development of new drugs. Enzymes involved in mycobactin biosynthesis, low molecular weight iron chelators, do not have mammalian homologues; therefore they are considered potential targets for the development of new anti-TB drugs. The aims of this study were to identify potential inhibitors and to investigate the function of the mbtG and AmbtE and AMbtF genes during mycobactin biosynthesis. The full length of mbtB and the ArCP domain were successfully cloned and post-translationally modified by MtaA, a broad phosphopantetheinyl transferase from Stigmatella aurantiaca, using Escherichia coli. Inhibitors identified by virtual screening as well as 13 chemically synthesised PAS analogues were initially investigated in whole-cell assay against Mycobacterium bovis BCG Pasteur. Seven of these compounds had interesting growth inhibition under ironsufficient conditions. The mbtA gene was cloned and expressed as soluble protein using Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155. Preliminary in vitro MbtA assays provided hints of its activity, although, the KM for SAL and ATP have not been determined yet. The mbtG and ambtE genes have been cloned and expressed in E. coli to further investigate their biochemical function in mycobactin biosynthesis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:532311 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | GoĢmez Velasco, Anaximandro |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/8030/ |
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