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

Title: Discovery of multidrug efflux pump inhibitors with a novel chemical scaffold

Journal Article · · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - General Subjects

Multidrug efflux is a major contributor to antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. Inhibition of multidrug efflux pumps is a promising approach for reviving the efficacy of existing antibiotics. Previously, inhibitors targeting both the efflux transporter AcrB and the membrane fusion protein AcrA in the Escherichia coli AcrAB-TolC efflux pump were identified. In this work we use existing physicochemical property guidelines to generate a filtered library of compounds for computational docking. We then experimentally test the top candidate coumpounds using in vitro binding assays and in vivo potentiation assays in bacterial strains with controllable permeability barriers. We thus identify a new class of inhibitors of E. coli AcrAB-TolC. Six molecules with a shared scaffold were found to potentiate the antimicrobial activity of erythromycin and novobiocin in hyperporinated E. coli cells. Importantly, these six molecules were also active in wild-type strains of both Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae, potentiating the activity of erythromycin and novobiocin up to 8-fold.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Science Foundation (NSF); Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; AI052293; 2017219379; S10 OD025014
OSTI ID:
1606783
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1601523
Journal Information:
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - General Subjects, Vol. 1864, Issue 6; ISSN 0304-4165
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 27 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (39)

Platforms for antibiotic discovery journal April 2013
Permeability Barrier of Gram-Negative Cell Envelopes and Approaches To Bypass It journal August 2015
Permeability barriers of Gram‐negative pathogens journal June 2019
Lipopolysaccharide Endotoxins journal June 2002
Molecular Basis of Bacterial Outer Membrane Permeability Revisited journal December 2003
The porin and the permeating antibiotic: a selective diffusion barrier in Gram-negative bacteria journal November 2008
Antibacterial resistance worldwide: causes, challenges and responses journal November 2004
Crystal structures of a multidrug transporter reveal a functionally rotating mechanism journal August 2006
Crystal structure of bacterial multidrug efflux transporter AcrB journal October 2002
Structural basis for the inhibition of bacterial multidrug exporters journal June 2013
Crystal structure of the bacterial membrane protein TolC central to multidrug efflux and protein export journal June 2000
Structure of the AcrAB–TolC multidrug efflux pump journal April 2014
Bypassing the periplasm: Reconstitution of the AcrAB multidrug efflux pump of Escherichia coli journal June 1999
Molecular Properties That Define the Activities of Antibiotics in Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa journal May 2018
Identification and Characterization of Inhibitors of Multidrug Resistance Efflux Pumps in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Novel Agents for Combination Therapy journal January 2001
Evaluation of Multidrug Efflux Pump Inhibitors by a New Method Using Microfluidic Channels journal April 2011
Molecular basis for inhibition of AcrB multidrug efflux pump by novel and powerful pyranopyridine derivatives journal March 2016
Reviving Antibiotics: Efflux Pump Inhibitors That Interact with AcrA, a Membrane Fusion Protein of the AcrAB-TolC Multidrug Efflux Pump journal November 2016
Characterization of a Novel Pyranopyridine Inhibitor of the AcrAB Efflux Pump of Escherichia coli journal November 2013
Structure–activity relationships of a novel pyranopyridine series of Gram-negative bacterial efflux pump inhibitors journal May 2015
Molecular Mechanism of MBX2319 Inhibition of Escherichia coli AcrB Multidrug Efflux Pump and Comparison with Other Inhibitors journal August 2014
Identification and Structure–Activity Relationships of Novel Compounds that Potentiate the Activities of Antibiotics in Escherichia coli journal July 2017
Identification of Binding Sites for Efflux Pump Inhibitors of the AcrAB-TolC Component AcrA journal February 2019
Physicochemical Properties of Antibacterial Compounds: Implications for Drug Discovery journal May 2008
A Gestalt approach to Gram-negative entry journal December 2016
Predictive compound accumulation rules yield a broad-spectrum antibiotic journal May 2017
Getting Drugs into Gram-Negative Bacteria: Rational Rules for Permeation through General Porins journal July 2018
Mechanism and Function of the Outer Membrane Channel TolC in Multidrug Resistance and Physiology of Enterobacteria journal January 2011
Multidrug resistance in Gram-negative bacteria journal October 2001
ZINC 15 – Ligand Discovery for Everyone journal November 2015
Conformational Dynamics of AcrA Govern Multidrug Efflux Pump Assembly journal September 2019
Multi-Conformer Ensemble Docking to Difficult Protein Targets journal August 2014
VinaMPI: Facilitating multiple receptor high-throughput virtual docking on high-performance computers: Software News And Updates journal June 2013
AcrA is a highly asymmetric protein capable of spanning the periplasm 1 1Edited by I. B. Holland journal January 1999
Sequential Mechanism of Assembly of Multidrug Efflux Pump AcrAB-TolC journal April 2011
Kinetic control of TolC recruitment by multidrug efflux complexes journal September 2009
Bifurcation kinetics of drug uptake by Gram-negative bacteria journal September 2017
Aminoacyl β-naphthylamides as substrates and modulators of AcrB multidrug efflux pump journal January 2016
Some Ligands Enhance the Efflux of Other Ligands by the Escherichia coli Multidrug Pump AcrB journal November 2013