Target discovered for modified antibiotics

Researchers at the Technische Universität München (TUM) have been able to discover a promising target for a new class of antibiotics.

The finding is considered to offer insights on how to handle bacterial stems developing resistance to previously life-saving antibiotics.

Results of the work by involved researchers were presented in an issue of the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.

From Sciencedaily.com:

The cells of virtually all life forms synthesize essential natural substances belonging to the class of terpenes and steroids from the small isoprene building blocks dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP) and isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP). Mammals and a large number of other organisms generate these essential metabolites via the so-called mevalonate pathway. But most human pathogens, including Plasmodium falciparum, have developed an alternate mechanism for producing these important substances. Now, this special pathway may spell doom for those bacteria. The TUM researchers have unraveled the structural basis of the terminal step in bacterial isoprene synthesis. The crucial enzyme has a most unusual structure, similar to a three-leaf clover, and may open a forceful line of attack for custom-tailored antibiotics.

Professor Michael Groll, Dr. Jörg Eppinger and Dr. Tobias Gräwert, biochemists at the Technische Universität München, and their team of researchers, described in detail about the structural basis for new reaction steps critical to microorganisms but playing no relevant role in humans.