Abstract
Tuberculosis Tuberculosis is a global health crisis that threatens to become worse as resistance to existing drugs emerges. Identifying ideal targets for drug development requires knowledge of weak points in biochemical pathways that are specific for the pathogen but are absent in hosts. Ballinger et al. identified a small molecule that inhibits the enzyme phosphopantetheinyl transferase (PptT), which is crucial for biosynthesis of mycobacterial structural and virulence lipids (see the Perspective by Mizrahi and Warner). Treatment resulted in selective killing of the bacteria in vitro and in a mouse model. The target pathways were made sensitive to PptT inhibition by a second enzyme, phosphopantetheine hydrolase, whose activity opposes that of the transferase. Science , this issue p. [eaau8959][1]; see also p. [457][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aau8959 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaw5224
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