Abstract
The divisome is a large protein complex that regulates bacterial cell division and therefore represents an attractive target for novel antibacterial drugs. In this study, we report on the ligandability of FtsQ, which is considered a key component of the divisome. For this, the soluble periplasmic domain of Escherichia coli FtsQ was immobilized and used to screen a library of 1501 low molecular weight (< 300 Da), synthetic compounds for those that interact with the protein. A primary screen was performed using target immobilized NMR screening (TINS) and yielded 72 hits. Subsequently, these hits were validated in an orthogonal assay. At first, we aimed to do this using surface plasmon resonance (SPR), but the lack of positive control hampered optimization of the experiment. Alternatively, a two-dimensional heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) NMR spectrum of FtsQ was obtained and used to validate these hits by chemical shift perturbation (CSP) experiments. This resulted in the identification of three fragments with weak affinity for the periplasmic domain of FtsQ, arguing that the ligandability of FtsQ is low. While this indicates that developing high affinity ligands for FtsQ is far from straightforward, the identified hit fragments can help to further interrogate FtsQ interactions.
Highlights
Bacterial cell division is an essential and delicate process, and has been suggested as a potential target for antibacterial treatment [1,2]
The interactions of FtsQ with FtsB and FtsL form an attractive target for intervention with small-molecule inhibitors, which could lead to the development of a novel class of antibiotics targeting bacterial cell division
To use FtsQ in target immobilized NMR screening (TINS), an Avi-tag was introduced at the N-terminus of its soluble periplasmic domain allowing site-specific biotinylation
Summary
Bacterial cell division is an essential and delicate process, and has been suggested as a potential target for antibacterial treatment [1,2]. Only the early cell division proteins FtsZ (a structural homologue of tubulin) [4,5] and ZipA have been studied in small molecule drug research [6,7]. Another divisome protein that has potential as a drug target is FtsQ, one of the late cell division proteins. The interactions of FtsQ with FtsB and FtsL form an attractive target for intervention with small-molecule inhibitors, which could lead to the development of a novel class of antibiotics targeting bacterial cell division
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