Discovery of Antimicrobial Agents Based on Structural and Functional Study of the <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> MazEF Toxin-Antitoxin System
<i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> causes severe human diseases, but its resistance to current antibiotics is increasing. Therefore, new antibiotics to eradicate <i>K. pneumoniae</i> are urgently needed. Bacterial toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are strongly correlated with physiologi...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book |
| Published: |
MDPI AG,
2024-04-01T00:00:00Z.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to this object online. |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> causes severe human diseases, but its resistance to current antibiotics is increasing. Therefore, new antibiotics to eradicate <i>K. pneumoniae</i> are urgently needed. Bacterial toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are strongly correlated with physiological processes in pathogenic bacteria, such as growth arrest, survival, and apoptosis. By using structural information, we could design the peptides and small-molecule compounds that can disrupt the binding between <i>K. pneumoniae</i> MazE and MazF, which release free MazF toxin. Because the MazEF system is closely implicated in programmed cell death, artificial activation of MazF can promote cell death of <i>K. pneumoniae</i>. The effectiveness of a discovered small-molecule compound in bacterial cell killing was confirmed through flow cytometry analysis. Our findings can contribute to understanding the bacterial MazEF TA system and developing antimicrobial agents for treating drug-resistant <i>K. pneumoniae</i>. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | 10.3390/antibiotics13050398 2079-6382 |