Due to the widespread emergence of drug-resistance, diseases caused by bacterial pathogens have become a major public health concern in recent years. There is an urgent need for the development of new antimicrobials, especially those that have a new target and/or can overcome drug resistance. The long-term goal of this project is the development of novel antimicrobial agents that inhibit SecA, an indispensable ATPase of the protein translocation machinery present in all bacteria. SecA is responsible for the secretion of many vital proteins, important toxins and other virulence factors, and is essential for bacterial survival. SecA has no counterpart in mammalian cells, thus providing an ideal target for developing antimicrobial agents. We hypothesize that inhibition of this essential protein would lead to hindered bacterial growth and/or viability. Moreover, SecA functions as a membrane protein, forming a transmembrane channel, and thus provides the possibility for antimicrobial agents to reach this target without entering into the cells. Therefore, these inhibitors may have the intrinsic ability to overcome the effect of efflux pumps and thus multi-drug resistance (MDR). In addition, because SecA is present in all bacteria, this is a target for the development of broad-spectrum antimicrobials. Indeed, our preliminary results support all these hypotheses. In this project, we plan to examine the mechanistic issues aimed at examining the feasibility of targeting SecA for the development of potential antimicrobial agents. The project is based on strong preliminary results including our finding of very promising antimicrobial agents that inhibit SecA and show more potent activities than known drugs such as vancomycin on drug resistant strains of bacteria, and a strong team of investigators that have had a long collaboration history. Successful completion of the proposed research will lay a strong foundation for future development of novel antimicrobials that have a new mechanism of action and have the potential to overcome efflux-mediated drug resistance.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
High Priority, Short Term Project Award (R56)
Project #
1R56AI104168-01A1
Application #
8913328
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BCMB-K (02))
Program Officer
Xu, Zuoyu
Project Start
2014-08-22
Project End
2015-07-31
Budget Start
2014-08-22
Budget End
2015-07-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$444,000
Indirect Cost
$144,000
Name
Georgia State University
Department
Chemistry
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
837322494
City
Atlanta
State
GA
Country
United States
Zip Code
30302
Hsieh, Ying-Hsin; Huang, Ying-Ju; Zhang, Hao et al. (2017) Dissecting structures and functions of SecA-only protein-conducting channels: ATPase, pore structure, ion channel activity, protein translocation, and interaction with SecYEG/SecDF•YajC. PLoS One 12:e0178307
Ji, Xingyue; Damera, Krishna; Zheng, Yueqin et al. (2016) Toward Carbon Monoxide-Based Therapeutics: Critical Drug Delivery and Developability Issues. J Pharm Sci 105:406-416
Cui, Jianmei; Jin, Jinshan; Chaudhary, Arpana Sagwal et al. (2016) Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Triazole-Pyrimidine Analogues as SecA Inhibitors. ChemMedChem 11:43-56
Jin, Jinshan; Hsieh, Ying-Hsin; Cui, Jianmei et al. (2016) Using Chemical Probes to Assess the Feasibility of Targeting SecA for Developing Antimicrobial Agents against Gram-Negative Bacteria. ChemMedChem 11:2511-2521
Chaudhary, Arpana S; Chen, Weixuan; Jin, Jinshan et al. (2015) SecA: a potential antimicrobial target. Future Med Chem 7:989-1007
Jin, Jinshan; Cui, Jianmei; Chaudhary, Arpana Sagwal et al. (2015) Evaluation of small molecule SecA inhibitors against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Bioorg Med Chem 23:7061-8
Hsieh, Ying-Hsin; Zou, Juan; Jin, Jin-Shan et al. (2015) Monitoring channel activities of proteoliposomes with SecA and Cx26 gap junction in single oocytes. Anal Biochem 480:58-66
Hsieh, Ying-Hsin; Huang, Ying-Ju; Jin, Jin-Shan et al. (2014) Mechanisms of Rose Bengal inhibition on SecA ATPase and ion channel activities. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 454:308-12