skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Structure-Guided Identification of Resistance Breaking Antimalarial N-Myristoyltransferase Inhibitors

Journal Article · · Cell Chemical Biology
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7]; ORCiD logo [8]; ORCiD logo [8]; ORCiD logo [8];  [9]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [10]; ORCiD logo [11]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]
  1. Francis Crick Inst., London (United Kingdom); Imperial College, London (United Kingdom)
  2. Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, WA (United States); UCB Pharma, Bainbridge Island, WA (United States)
  3. Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, WA (United States); Seattle Children’s Research Inst., Seattle, WA (United States)
  4. Columbia Univ. Medical Center, New York, NY (United States)
  5. Imperial College, London (United Kingdom)
  6. Francis Crick Inst., London (United Kingdom)
  7. GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage, Hertfordshire (United Kingdom)
  8. Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva (Switzerland)
  9. Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, WA (United States); Seattle Children’s Research Inst., Seattle, WA (United States); Novo Nordisk Research Center, Seattle, WA (United States)
  10. GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage, Hertfordshire (United Kingdom); GSK Medicines Research Centre, Stevenage (United Kingdom). Crick–GSK Biomedical LinkLabs
  11. Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, WA (United States); Seattle Children’s Research Inst., Seattle, WA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)

The attachment of myristate to the N-terminal glycine of certain proteins is largely a co-translational modification catalyzed by N-myristoyltransferase (NMT), and involved in protein membrane-localization. Pathogen NMT is a validated therapeutic target in numerous infectious diseases including malaria. In Plasmodium falciparum, NMT substrates are important in essential processes including parasite gliding motility and host cell invasion. Here, we generated parasites resistant to a particular NMT inhibitor series and show that resistance in an in vitro parasite growth assay is mediated by a single amino acid substitution in the NMT substrate-binding pocket. The basis of resistance was validated and analyzed with a structure-guided approach using crystallography, in combination with enzyme activity, stability, and surface plasmon resonance assays, allowing identification of another inhibitor series unaffected by this substitution. We suggest that resistance studies incorporated early in the drug development process help selection of drug combinations to impede rapid evolution of parasite resistance.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Sponsoring Organization:
Cancer Research UK; UK Medical Research Council; Wellcome Trust; Medicines for Malaria Venture; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); National Institutes of Health (NIH); US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Grant/Contract Number:
HHSN272201700059C; 1R21AI137815-01
OSTI ID:
1544855
Journal Information:
Cell Chemical Biology, Vol. 26, Issue 7; ISSN 2451-9456
Publisher:
Cell Press - ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 15 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (51)

PHENIX: a comprehensive Python-based system for macromolecular structure solution journal January 2010
A molecular marker of artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria journal December 2013
Selective Inhibitors of Protozoan Protein N-myristoyltransferases as Starting Points for Tropical Disease Medicinal Chemistry Programs journal April 2012
N-Myristoyltransferase from Leishmania donovani: Structural and Functional Characterisation of a Potential Drug Target for Visceral Leishmaniasis journal March 2010
Mapping the malaria parasite druggable genome by using in vitro evolution and chemogenomics journal January 2018
N -Myristoyltransferase Is a Cell Wall Target in Aspergillus fumigatus journal February 2015
Using Genetic Methods To Define the Targets of Compounds with Antimalarial Activity: Miniperspectives Series on Phenotypic Screening for Antiinfective Targets journal September 2013
N-myristoyltransferase inhibitors as new leads to treat sleeping sickness journal April 2010
Structural analysis of the glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol membrane anchor of the merozoite surface proteins-1 and -2 of Plasmodium falciparum journal January 1996
Genome editing in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum using the CRISPR-Cas9 system journal June 2014
A fluorescence-based assay for N-myristoyltransferase activity journal February 2012
Discovery of Plasmodium vivax N -Myristoyltransferase Inhibitors: Screening, Synthesis, and Structural Characterization of their Binding Mode journal March 2012
Molecular Identification of a Malaria Merozoite Surface Sheddase journal November 2005
Multifunctional protein labeling via enzymatic N-terminal tagging and elaboration by click chemistry journal December 2011
Structure-Based Design of Potent and Selective Leishmania N -Myristoyltransferase Inhibitors journal October 2014
Generating conditional gene knockouts in Plasmodium – a toolkit to produce stable DiCre recombinase-expressing parasite lines using CRISPR/Cas9 journal June 2017
In Vitro Resistance Profile of the Hepatitis C Virus NS3 Protease Inhibitor BI 201335 journal January 2012
UDP-galactose and acetyl-CoA transporters as Plasmodium multidrug resistance genes journal September 2016
Flexible guide-RNA design for CRISPR applications using Protospacer Workbench journal June 2015
Adaptation of the genetically tractable malaria pathogen Plasmodium knowlesi to continuous culture in human erythrocytes journal December 2012
Peptidomimetic inhibitors of N -myristoyltransferase from human malaria and leishmaniasis parasites journal January 2014
The Actinomyosin Motor Drives Malaria Parasite Red Blood Cell Invasion but Not Egress journal September 2018
Design and Synthesis of High Affinity Inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax N -Myristoyltransferases Directed by Ligand Efficiency Dependent Lipophilicity (LELP) journal March 2014
Discovery of high affinity inhibitors of Leishmania donovani N-myristoyltransferase journal January 2015
Dual acylation of the 45kDa gliding-associated protein (GAP45) in Plasmodium falciparum merozoites journal September 2006
Cloning of naturally occurring mixed infections of malaria parasites journal May 1981
N -Myristoylation as a Drug Target in Malaria: Exploring the Role of N -Myristoyltransferase Substrates in the Inhibitor Mode of Action journal January 2018
The mechanism of H171T resistance reveals the importance of Nδ-protonated His171 for the binding of allosteric inhibitor BI-D to HIV-1 integrase journal November 2014
Two Nonrecombining Sympatric Forms of the Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium ovale Occur Globally journal May 2010
N- Myristoyltransferase as a potential drug target in malaria and leishmaniasis journal April 2013
Development and Application of a Simple Plaque Assay for the Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum journal June 2016
Human Malaria Parasites in Continuous Culture journal June 2005
Efficient CRISPR-Cas9–mediated genome editing in Plasmodium falciparum journal August 2014
Validation of N-myristoyltransferase as an antimalarial drug target using an integrated chemical biology approach journal December 2013
Global Profiling and Inhibition of Protein Lipidation in Vector and Host Stages of the Sleeping Sickness Parasite Trypanosoma brucei journal May 2016
Global Analysis of Protein N-Myristoylation and Exploration of N-Myristoyltransferase as a Drug Target in the Neglected Human Pathogen Leishmania donovani journal March 2015
Subcellular Discharge of a Serine Protease Mediates Release of Invasive Malaria Parasites from Host Erythrocytes journal December 2007
Design and Synthesis of Inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparumN -Myristoyltransferase, A Promising Target for Antimalarial Drug Discovery journal September 2012
Discovery of pyridyl-based inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum N-myristoyltransferase journal January 2015
The Exoneme Helps Malaria Parasites to Break out of Blood Cells journal December 2007
Coot model-building tools for molecular graphics journal November 2004
Integration, scaling, space-group assignment and post-refinement journal January 2010
Presenting your structures: the CCP 4 mg molecular-graphics software journal March 2011
High-throughput protein production and purification at the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease journal August 2011
Diverse modes of binding in structures of Leishmania major N -myristoyltransferase with selective inhibitors journal June 2014
MoRDa , an automatic molecular replacement pipeline journal August 2015
Imidazopyridazine Inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase 1 Also Target Cyclic GMP-Dependent Protein Kinase and Heat Shock Protein 90 To Kill the Parasite at Different Stages of Intracellular Development journal March 2016
Simple and Inexpensive Fluorescence-Based Technique for High-Throughput Antimalarial Drug Screening journal May 2004
Resistance to Mutant Group 2 Influenza Virus Neuraminidases of an Oseltamivir-Zanamivir Hybrid Inhibitor journal December 2016
Efficient Editing of Malaria Parasite Genome Using the CRISPR/Cas9 System journal July 2014
PHENIX: a comprehensive Python-based system for macromolecular structure solution. text January 2010