FAS-II Enzymes Research Articles

Structural and functional characterization of FabG4 from Mycolicibacterium smegmatis.

The rise in antimicrobial resistance is a global health crisis and necessitates thedevelopment of novel strategies to treat infections. For example, in 2022 tuberculosis (TB) was the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19, withmulti-drug-resistant strains of TB having an ∼40% fatality rate. Targeting essential biosynthetic pathways in pathogens has proven to be successful for the development of novel antimicrobial treatments. Fatty-acid synthesis (FAS) in bacteria proceeds via the type II pathway, which is substantially different from the type I pathway utilized in animals. This makes bacterial fatty-acid biosynthesis (Fab) enzymes appealing as drug targets. FabG is an essential FASII enzyme, and some bacteria, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of TB, harbor multiple homologs. FabG4 is a conserved, high-molecular-weight FabG (HMwFabG) that was first identified in M. tuberculosis and is distinct from the canonical low-molecular-weight FabG. Here, structural and functional analyses of Mycolicibacterium smegmatis FabG4, the third HMwFabG studied to date, are reported. Crystal structures of NAD+ and apo MsFabG4, along with kinetic analyses, show that MsFabG4 preferentially binds and uses NADH when reducing CoA substrates. As M. smegmatis is often used as a model organism for M. tuberculosis, these studies may aid the development of drugs to treat TB and add to the growing body of research that distinguish HMwFabGs from the archetypal low-molecular-weight FabG.

In silico design, synthesis and antitubercular activity of novel 2-acylhydrazono-5-arylmethylene-4-thiazolidinones as enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase inhibitors

Mycobacteria regulate the synthesis of mycolic acid through the fatty acid synthase system type 1 (FAS I) and the fatty acid synthase system type-2 (FAS-II). Because mammalian cells exclusively utilize the FAS-I enzyme system for fatty acid production, targeting the FAS-II enzyme system could serve as a specific approach for developing selective antimycobacterial drugs. Enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase enzyme (MtInhA), part of the FAS-II enzyme system, contains the NADH cofactor in its active site and reduces the intermediate. Molecular docking studies were performed on an in-house database (∼2200 compounds). For this study, five different crystal structures of MtInhA (PDB Code: 4TZK, 4BQP, 4D0S, 4BGE, 4BII) were used due to rotamer difference, mutation and the presence of cofactors. Molecular dynamics simulations (250 ns) were performed for the novel 2-acylhydrazono-5-arylmethylene-4-thiazolidinones derivatives selected by molecular docking studies. Twenty-three compounds selected by in silico methods were synthesized. Antitubercular activity and MtInhA enzyme inhibition studies were performed for compounds whose structures were elucidated by IR,1H-NMR,13C-NMR, HSQC, HMBC, MS and elemental analysis. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Identification of novel compounds against Acinetobacter baumannii 3-oxoacyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] synthase I (FabB) via comprehensive structure-based computational approaches

Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the most serious opportunistic pathogens according to WHO. The difference between bacterial and mammalian fatty acid biosynthesis pathways makes FASII enzymes attractive targets in drug discovery. 3-oxoacyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] synthase I (FabB) from the FAS II pathway catalyze the condensation of malonyl ACP with acyl-ACP, and elongates the fatty acid chain by two carbons. To investigate potential inhibitors of the A. baumannii FabB, we used computational approaches including homology modeling, high-throughput virtual screening, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, and MM-GBSA free energy calculations. After the high-throughput virtual screening, the resulting ligands were further screened using the QM-polarized ligand docking (QPLD) and induced fit docking (IFD) approaches. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed for 100 ns. And according to binding free energy calculations, we have identified nine compounds with the best binding affinities. Three of these compounds were selected for an additional 1 μs MD simulation to assess ligand stability. Two of them named L6 and L7 showed promised stability and affinity to the target. Here, we present novel compounds against A. baumannii FabB via structure-based computational approaches. These compounds might pave the way for the design of new lead structures and inhibitors for multidrug-resistant A. baumannii.

Heterologous expression, purification, and partial characterisation of the apicoplast protein 3-oxoacyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] reductase from Toxoplasma gondii

Recombinant expression and purification of proteins have become a staple of modern drug discovery as it enables more precise in vitro analyses of drug targets, which may help obtain biochemical and biophysical parameters of a known enzyme and even uncover unknown characteristics indicative of novel enzymatic functions. Such information is often necessary to prepare adequate screening assays and drug-discovery experiments in general. Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate protozoan parasite that is a member of the phylum Apicomplexa, can develop several neuro-degenerative symptoms and, in specific cases, certain death for human hosts. Its relict non-photosynthetic plastid, the apicoplast, harbours a unique de novo long-chain fatty acid synthesis pathway of a prokaryotic character, FASII. The FASII pathway shows plasticity and, is essential for many intracellular and membranal components, along with fatty acid uptake via salvaging from the host, therefore, its disruption causes parasite death. TgFabG, a FASII enzyme responsible for a single reduction step in the pathway, was recombinantly expressed, purified and biochemically and biophysically characterised in this study. The bioengineering hurdle of expressing the recombinant gene of a eukaryotic, signal peptide-containing protein in a prokaryotic system was overcome for the apicomplexan enzyme TgFabG, by truncating the N-terminal signal peptide. TgFabG was ultimately recombinantly produced in a plasmid expression vector from its 1131 base pair gene, purified as 260 and 272 amino acid proteins using a hexahistidine (6 × Histag) affinity chromatography and its biochemical (enzyme activity and kinetics) and biophysical characteristics were analysed in vitro.

Divergent acyl carrier protein decouples mitochondrial Fe-S cluster biogenesis from fatty acid synthesis in malaria parasites.

Most eukaryotic cells retain a mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis (FASII) pathway whose acyl carrier protein (mACP) and 4-phosphopantetheine (Ppant) prosthetic group provide a soluble scaffold for acyl chain synthesis and biochemically couple FASII activity to mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) assembly and Fe-S cluster biogenesis. In contrast, the mitochondrion of Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites lacks FASII enzymes yet curiously retains a divergent mACP lacking a Ppant group. We report that ligand-dependent knockdown of mACP is lethal to parasites, indicating an essential FASII-independent function. Decyl-ubiquinone rescues parasites temporarily from death, suggesting a dominant dysfunction of the mitochondrial ETC. Biochemical studies reveal that Plasmodium mACP binds and stabilizes the Isd11-Nfs1 complex required for Fe-S cluster biosynthesis, despite lacking the Ppant group required for this association in other eukaryotes, and knockdown of parasite mACP causes loss of Nfs1 and the Rieske Fe-S protein in ETC complex III. This work reveals that Plasmodium parasites have evolved to decouple mitochondrial Fe-S cluster biogenesis from FASII activity, and this adaptation is a shared metabolic feature of other apicomplexan pathogens, including Toxoplasma and Babesia. This discovery unveils an evolutionary driving force to retain interaction of mitochondrial Fe-S cluster biogenesis with ACP independent of its eponymous function in FASII.

1233. Identification of Novel Inhibitors of Clostridioides difficile Enoyl-Reductase II (FabK) by High-Throughput Virtual and Experimental Screening

Background Clostridioides difficile is one of only three bacteria categorized as an ‘urgent’ drug-resistant threat by the CDC. This pathogen is responsible for nearly 500,000 hospital-acquired infections and 29,000 deaths per year at a cost of nearly $4.8 billion. There is a critical need for the identification of novel, anti-difficile agents with narrow-spectrum activity that can spare the human microbiome. We previously reported the essentiality of the FAS-II enzyme, enoyl-ACP reductase (FabK) in C. difficile, and the narrow-spectrum activity of a series of phenylimidazole inhibitors. We present here experimental and virtual compound screening studies that identified novel FabK inhibitors with sub-micromolar activity and follow-up SAR and structural studies.MethodsUsing a novel luminescence assay, 20K diverse compounds from the St. Jude drug-like and lead-like libraries were screened. In parallel, a ligand-based virtual screen was performed against 2.4 million lead- and drug-like compounds from commercial libraries. Hit compounds were confirmed using an orthogonal fluorescence-intensity assay and SAR studies were performed by testing commercially available hit analogs. The most potent inhibitor was advanced into co-crystallography structural studies.ResultsThe compound screening campaigns resulted in the identification of several confirmed hit compounds with low to sub-micromolar activity and novel scaffolds relative to the known phenylimidazole inhibitors. Importantly, the first confirmed nanomolar inhibitor of C. difficile FabK was identified and validated with an IC50 of 0.35 μM. SAR studies of the hits along with a high-resolution co-crystal structure have allowed new insights into the key binding determinants and structural requirements for activity as well as the structural requirements for species specificity.ConclusionThe C. difficile FabK enzyme offers a promising narrow-spectrum drug target that can potentially spare the human microbiome. The known activity of the phenylimidazole inhibitor series supports the druggability of this target. The newly discovered inhibitor class presented here further demonstrates the potential of FabK inhibition and will facilitate the development of clinically relevant, narrow-spectrum anti-difficile agents.Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

A high yield optimized method for the production of acylated ACPs enabling the analysis of enzymes involved in P. falciparum fatty acid biosynthesis

The natural substrates of the enzymes involved in type-II fatty acid biosynthesis (FAS-II) are acylated acyl carrier proteins (acyl-ACPs). The state of the art method to produce acyl-ACPs involves the transfer of a phosphopantetheine moiety from CoA to apo-ACP by E. coli holo-ACP synthase (EcACPS), yielding holo-ACP which subsequently becomes thioesterified with free fatty acids by the E. coli acyl-ACP synthase (EcAAS). Alternatively, acyl-ACPs can be synthesized by direct transfer of acylated phosphopantetheine moieties from acyl-CoA to apo-ACP by means of EcACPS. The need for native substrates to characterize the FAS-II enzymes of P. falciparum prompted us to investigate the potential and limit of the two methods to efficiently acylate P. falciparum ACP (PfACP) with respect to chain length and β-modification and in preparative amounts. The EcAAS activity is found to be independent from the oxidation state at the β-position and accepts fatty acids as substrates with chain lengths starting from C8 to C20, whereas EcACPS accepts very efficiently acyl-CoAs with chain lengths up to C16, and with decreasing activity also longer chains (C18 to C20). Methods were developed to synthesize and purify preparative amounts of high quality natural substrates that are fully functional for the enzymes of the P. falciparum FAS-II system.

Environmental fatty acids enable emergence of infectious Staphylococcus aureus resistant to FASII-targeted antimicrobials.

The bacterial pathway for fatty acid biosynthesis, FASII, is a target for development of new anti-staphylococcal drugs. This strategy is based on previous reports indicating that self-synthesized fatty acids appear to be indispensable for Staphylococcus aureus growth and virulence, although other bacteria can use exogenous fatty acids to compensate FASII inhibition. Here we report that staphylococci can become resistant to the FASII-targeted inhibitor triclosan via high frequency mutations in fabD, one of the FASII genes. The fabD mutants can be conditional for FASII and not require exogenous fatty acids for normal growth, and can use diverse fatty acid combinations (including host fatty acids) when FASII is blocked. These mutants show cross-resistance to inhibitors of other FASII enzymes and are infectious in mice. Clinical isolates bearing fabD polymorphisms also bypass FASII inhibition. We propose that fatty acid-rich environments within the host, in the presence of FASII inhibitors, might favour the emergence of staphylococcal strains displaying resistance to multiple FASII inhibitors.

A Substrate Mimic Allows High-Throughput Assay of the FabA Protein and Consequently the Identification of a Novel Inhibitor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa FabA

Eukaryotes and prokaryotes possess fatty acid synthase (FAS) biosynthetic pathways that comprise iterative chain elongation, reduction, and dehydration reactions. The bacterial FASII pathway differs significantly from human FAS pathways and is a long-standing target for antibiotic development against Gram-negative bacteria due to differences from the human FAS, and several existing antibacterial agents are known to inhibit FASII enzymes. N-Acetylcysteamine (NAC) fatty acid thioesters have been used as mimics of the natural acyl carrier protein pathway intermediates to assay FASII enzymes, and we now report an assay of FabV from Pseudomonas aeruginosa using (E)-2-decenoyl-NAC. In addition, we have converted an existing UV absorbance assay for FabA, the bifunctional dehydration/epimerization enzyme and key target in the FASII pathway, into a high-throughput enzyme coupled fluorescence assay that has been employed to screen a library of diverse small molecules. With this approach, N-(4-chlorobenzyl)-3-(2-furyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-5-amine (N42FTA) was found to competitively inhibit (pIC50=5.7±0.2) the processing of 3-hydroxydecanoyl-NAC by P. aeruginosa FabA. N42FTA was shown to be potent in blocking crosslinking of Escherichiacoli acyl carrier protein and FabA, a direct mimic of the biological process. The co-complex structure of N42FTA with P. aeruginosa FabA protein rationalises affinity and suggests future design opportunities. Employing NAC fatty acid mimics to develop further high-throughput assays for individual enzymes in the FASII pathway should aid in the discovery of new antimicrobials.

2-Octadecynoic acid as a dual life stage inhibitor of Plasmodium infections and plasmodial FAS-II enzymes

The malaria parasite Plasmodium goes through two life stages in the human host, a non-symptomatic liver stage (LS) followed by a blood stage with all clinical manifestation of the disease. In this study, we investigated a series of 2-alkynoic fatty acids (2-AFAs) with chain lengths between 14 and 18 carbon atoms for dual in vitro activity against both life stages. 2-Octadecynoic acid (2-ODA) was identified as the best inhibitor of Plasmodium berghei parasites with ten times higher potency (IC50=0.34μg/ml) than the control drug. In target determination studies, the same compound inhibited three Plasmodium falciparum FAS-II (PfFAS-II) elongation enzymes PfFabI, PfFabZ, and PfFabG with the lowest IC50 values (0.28–0.80μg/ml, respectively). Molecular modeling studies provided insights into the molecular aspects underlying the inhibitory activity of this series of 2-AFAs and a likely explanation for the considerably different inhibition potentials. Blood stages of P. falciparum followed a similar trend where 2-ODA emerged as the most active compound, with 20 times less potency. The general toxicity and hepatotoxicity of 2-AFAs were evaluated by in vitro and in vivo methods in mammalian cell lines and zebrafish models, respectively. This study identifies 2-ODA as the most promising antiparasitic 2-AFA, particularly towards P. berghei parasites.

Type II Fatty Acid Biosynthesis Is Essential for Plasmodium falciparum Sporozoite Development in the Midgut of Anopheles Mosquitoes

The prodigious rate at which malaria parasites proliferate during asexual blood-stage replication, midgut sporozoite production, and intrahepatic development creates a substantial requirement for essential nutrients, including fatty acids that likely are necessary for parasite membrane formation. Plasmodium parasites obtain fatty acids either by scavenging from the vertebrate host and mosquito vector or by producing fatty acids de novo via the type two fatty acid biosynthesis pathway (FAS-II). Here, we study the FAS-II pathway in Plasmodium falciparum, the species responsible for the most lethal form of human malaria. Using antibodies, we find that the FAS-II enzyme FabI is expressed in mosquito midgut oocysts and sporozoites as well as liver-stage parasites but not during the blood stages. As expected, FabI colocalizes with the apicoplast-targeted acyl carrier protein, indicating that FabI functions in the apicoplast. We further analyze the FAS-II pathway in Plasmodium falciparum by assessing the functional consequences of deleting fabI and fabB/F. Targeted deletion or disruption of these genes in P. falciparum did not affect asexual blood-stage replication or the generation of midgut oocysts; however, subsequent sporozoite development was abolished. We conclude that the P. falciparum FAS-II pathway is essential for sporozoite development within the midgut oocyst. These findings reveal an important distinction from the rodent Plasmodium parasites P. berghei and P. yoelii, where the FAS-II pathway is known to be required for normal parasite progression through the liver stage but is not required for oocyst development in the Anopheles mosquito midgut.

Synthesis and bio-evaluation of alkylaminoaryl phenyl cyclopropyl methanones as antitubercular and antimalarial agents

A series of 4-alkylaminoaryl phenyl cyclopropyl methanones ( 6a– 6u and 8a– 8c) were synthesized from 4-fluorochalcones ( 3a and 3b) by cyclopropanation of double bond followed by nucleophilic substitution of F with different amines. The compounds were screened for their antitubercular and antimalarial activities against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 strains in vitro respectively. Several compounds ( 6a, 6d– 6h, 6p, 6q and 8a– 8c) exhibited good in vitro antitubercular activities with MIC values 3.12–12.5 μg/mL and preferentially inhibited the growth of P. falciparum in vitro ( 4a, 4c, 6a– 6d, 6f, 6s, 8a and 8c) with IC 50 as low as 0.080 and 0.035 μg/mL and SI values 4975 and 6948, respectively. Molecular docking studies and in vitro evaluation against FAS-II enzymes using reporter gene assays were carried out to elucidate the mode of action of these molecules. Two compounds 4a and 6g showed significant inhibition at 25 μM concentration of the compound.

2-Hexadecynoic acid inhibits plasmodial FAS-II enzymes and arrests erythrocytic and liver stage Plasmodium infections

Acetylenic fatty acids are known to display several biological activities, but their antimalarial activity has remained unexplored. In this study, we synthesized the 2-, 5-, 6-, and 9-hexadecynoic acids (HDAs) and evaluated their in vitro activity against erythrocytic (blood) stages of Plasmodium falciparum and liver stages of Plasmodium yoelii infections. Since the type II fatty acid biosynthesis pathway ( PfFAS-II) has recently been shown to be indispensable for liver stage malaria parasites, the inhibitory potential of the HDAs against multiple P. falciparum FAS-II ( PfFAS-II) elongation enzymes was also evaluated. The highest antiplasmodial activity against blood stages of P. falciparum was displayed by 5-HDA (IC 50 value 6.6 μg/ml), whereas the 2-HDA was the only acid arresting the growth of liver stage P. yoelii infection, in both flow cytometric assay (IC 50 value 2-HDA 15.3 μg/ml, control drug atovaquone 2.5 ng/ml) and immunofluorescence analysis (IC 50 2-HDA 4.88 μg/ml, control drug atovaquone 0.37 ng/ml). 2-HDA showed the best inhibitory activity against the PfFAS-II enzymes PfFabI and PfFabZ with IC 50 values of 0.38 and 0.58 μg/ml (IC 50 control drugs 14 and 30 ng/ml), respectively. Enzyme kinetics and molecular modeling studies revealed valuable insights into the binding mechanism of 2-HDA on the target enzymes. All HDAs showed in vitro activity against Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (IC 50 values 3.7–31.7 μg/ml), Trypanosoma cruzi (only 2-HDA, IC 50 20.2 μg/ml), and Leishmania donovani (IC 50 values 4.1–13.4 μg/ml) with generally low or no significant toxicity on mammalian cells. This is the first study to indicate therapeutic potential of HDAs against various parasitic protozoa. It also points out that the malarial liver stage growth inhibitory effect of the 2-HDA may be promoted via PfFAS-II enzymes. The lack of cytotoxicity, lipophilic nature, and calculated pharmacokinetic properties suggests that 2-HDA could be a useful compound to study the interaction of fatty acids with these key P. falciparum enzymes.

Natural products inhibiting the liver stage of the malaria parasite

Malaria parasite has a complex life cycle involving both human and mosquito as hosts. In human, the sporozoites inoculated by the Anopheles mosquito first invade the hepatocytes and develop the liver stage (LS) parasites from which the blood stage (BS) parasites originate. Antimalarial drug discovery is primarily directed against the asexual BS parasites that cause the clinical symptoms of the disease. The LS that has a longer duration, lower parasite loads and causal malaria prophylaxis effect, has not been truly exploited for drug purposes due to technical challenges. Primaquine is the only licensed drug used against LS parasites, but is highly toxic. Only two natural products with low selectivity and unknown targets were reported to kill LS parasites [1]. We investigated an in-house natural product library for LS activity by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence, both based on in vitro infections of Plasmodium yoelii in the hepatoma cells (HepG2:CD81). Recent studies [2,3] indicate that LS parasites exhibit an absolute requirement for de novo type II fatty acid biosynthesis (FAS-II) making this pathway an excellent target for LS drug discovery. Hence the compounds were also tested against recombinant FAS-II enzymes. Several lichen metabolites appeared to kill LS parasites, without toxicity on primary mammalian or hepatoma cells, and inhibited multiple crucial plasmodial FAS-II enzymes. Hence, these are the first natural products active against Plasmodium LS with a potential target. This presentation will cover our efforts to find natural products targeting the LS malaria parasite.

Revisiting the Assignment of Rv0241c to Fatty Acid Synthase Type II ofMycobacterium tuberculosis

The fatty acid synthase type II enzymatic complex of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (FAS-II(Mt)) catalyzes an essential metabolic pathway involved in the biosynthesis of major envelope lipids, mycolic acids. The partner proteins of this singular FAS-II system represent relevant targets for antituberculous drug design. Two heterodimers of the hydratase 2 protein family, HadAB and HadBC, were shown to be involved in the (3R)-hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydration (HAD) step of FAS-II(Mt) cycles. Recently, an additional member of this family, Rv0241c, was proposed to have the same function, based on the heterologous complementation of a HAD mutant of the yeast mitochondrial FAS-II system. In the present work, Rv0241c was able to complement a HAD mutant in the Escherichia coli model but not a dehydratase-isomerase deficient mutant. However, an enzymatic study of the purified protein demonstrated that Rv0241c possesses a broad chain length specificity for the substrate, unlike FAS-II(Mt) enzymes. Most importantly, Rv0241c exhibited a strict dependence on the coenzyme A (CoA) as opposed to AcpM, the natural acyl carrier protein bearing the chains elongated by FAS-II(Mt). The deletion of Rv0241c showed that this gene is not essential to M. tuberculosis survival in vitro. The resulting mutant did not display any change in the mycolic acid profile. This demonstrates that Rv0241c is a trans-2-enoyl-CoA hydratase/3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydratase that does not belong to FAS-II(Mt). The relevance of a heterologous complementation strategy to identifying proteins of such a system is questioned.

Triclosan inhibition of mycobacterial InhA inSaccharomyces cerevisiae: yeast mitochondria as a novel platform for in vivo antimycolate assays

To demonstrate the suitability of yeast to act as a novel biotechnological platform for conducting in vivo inhibition assays using drugs with low efficacies towards their mycobacterial targets, such as occurs in the situation with triclosan and InhA. A surrogate yeast host represented by Saccharomyces cerevisiae etr1Delta cells lacking Etr1p, the 2-trans-enoyl-thioester reductase of mitochondrial type 2 fatty acid synthase (FASII), was designed to rely on the Mycobacterium tuberculosis FASII enzyme InhA. Although InhA is 10,000 times less sensitive to the antimicrobial drug triclosan than is bacterial FabI, the respiratory growth of yeast cells depending on InhA was severely affected on glycerol medium containing triclosan. The yeast system could detect enzyme inhibition despite the use of a drug with only low efficacy. Tuberculosis affects a third of the human population, and InhA is a major drug target for combating this disease. InhA is inhibited by isoniazid, but triclosan-derived compounds are presently being developed as antimycolates. A demonstration of triclosan inhibition of InhA in yeast represents a meaningful variation in studying this effect in mycobacteria, because it occurred without the potentially confusing aspects of perturbing protein-protein interactions which are presumed vital to mycobacterial FASII, inactivating other important enzymes or eliciting a dedicated transcriptional response in Myco. tuberculosis.

A C. elegans Model for Mitochondrial Fatty Acid Synthase II: The Longevity-Associated Gene W09H1.5/mecr-1 Encodes a 2-trans-Enoyl-Thioester Reductase

Our recognition of the mitochondria as being important sites of fatty acid biosynthesis is continuously unfolding, especially in light of new data becoming available on compromised fatty acid synthase type 2 (FASII) in mammals. For example, perturbed regulation of murine 17β-HSD8 encoding a component of the mitochondrial FASII enzyme 3-oxoacyl-thioester reductase is implicated in polycystic kidney disease. In addition, over-expression in mice of the Mecr gene coding for 2-trans-enoyl-thioester reductase, also of mitochondrial FASII, leads to impaired heart function. However, mouse knockouts for mitochondrial FASII have hitherto not been reported and, hence, there is a need to develop alternate metazoan models such as nematodes or fruit flies. Here, the identification of Caenorhabditis elegans W09H1.5/MECR-1 as a 2-trans-enoyl-thioester reductase of mitochondrial FASII is reported. To identify MECR-1, Saccharomyces cerevisiae etr1Δ mutant cells were employed that are devoid of mitochondrial 2-trans-enoyl-thioester reductase Etr1p. These yeast mutants fail to synthesize sufficient levels of lipoic acid or form cytochrome complexes, and cannot respire or grow on non-fermentable carbon sources. A mutant yeast strain ectopically expressing nematode mecr-1 was shown to contain reductase activity and resemble the self-complemented mutant strain for these phenotype characteristics. Since MECR-1 was not intentionally targeted for compartmentalization using a yeast mitochondrial leader sequence, this inferred that the protein represented a physiologically functional mitochondrial 2-trans-enoyl-thioester reductase. In accordance with published findings, RNAi-mediated knockdown of mecr-1 in C. elegans resulted in life span extension, presumably due to mitochondrial dysfunction. Moreover, old mecr-1(RNAi) worms had better internal organ appearance and were more mobile than control worms, indicating a reduced physiological age. This is the first report on RNAi work dedicated specifically to curtailing mitochondrial FASII in metazoans. The availability of affected survivors will help to position C. elegans as an excellent model for future pursuits in the emerging field of mitochondrial FASII research.

Fast-growing, non-infectious and intracellularly surviving drug-resistant Mycobacterium aurum: a model for high-throughput antituberculosis drug screening

Enoyl acyl-carrier-protein reductase (InhA), the primary endogenous target for isoniazid and ethionamide, is crucial to type-II fatty acid biosynthesis (FAS-II). The objectives of this study were first to generate InhA mutants of Mycobacterium aurum, secondly to characterize InhA-mediated isoniazid and ethionamide resistance mechanisms across those mutants and finally to investigate the interaction of InhA with enzymes in the FAS-II pathway in M. aurum. Spontaneous mutants were generated by isoniazid overdose and limited broth dilution, while for genetically modified mutants sense-antisense DNA technology was used. Southern hybridization and immunoprecipitation were both used to identify the InhA homologue in M. aurum. The latter method was further used to compare the level of InhA expression in M. aurum with that in corresponding mutants. Isoniazid/ethionamide susceptibility modulation was examined in vitro and ex vivo using a resazurin assay as well as by cfu counting. In addition, circular dichroism and the bacterial two-hybrid system were exploited to investigate the interaction of InhA with other enzymes of the FAS-II pathway. A Mycobacterium tuberculosis InhA homologue was detected in M. aurum. Susceptibility to isoniazid/ethionamide was significantly altered in genetically modified mutants and simultaneously InhA was overexpressed in both spontaneous and genetically modified mutants. InhA interacts with other FAS-II enzymes of M. aurum in vivo. Close resemblance of isoniazid/ethionamide action on InhA between M. tuberculosis and M. aurum further supports the use of fast-growing and intracellularly surviving drug-resistant M. aurum to substitute for highly virulent, extremely slow-growing M. tuberculosis strains in the early stage of antituberculosis inhibitor screening.

Identification of the Leishmania major Proteins LmjF07.0430, LmjF07.0440, and LmjF27.2440 as Components of Fatty Acid Synthase II

Leishmania major causes leishmaniasis and is grouped within the Trypanosomatidae family, which also includes the etiologic agent for African sleeping sickness, Trypanosoma brucei. Previous studies on T. brucei showed that acyl carrier protein (ACP) of mitochondrial fatty acid synthase type 2 (FASII) plays a crucial role in parasite survival. Additionally, 3-oxoacyl-ACP synthase TbKASIII as well as TbHTD2 representing 3-hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydratase were also identified; however, 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase TbKAR1 has hitherto evaded positive identification. Here, potential Leishmania FASII components LmjF07.0440 and LmjF07.0430 were revealed as 3-hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydratases LmHTD2-1 and LmHTD2-2, respectively, whereas LmjF27.2440 was identified as LmKAR1. These Leishmania proteins were ectopically expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae htd2Δ or oar1Δ respiratory deficient cells lacking the corresponding mitochondrial FASII enzymes Htd2p and Oar1p. Yeast mutants producing mitochondrially targeted versions of the parasite proteins resembled the self-complemented cells for respiratory growth. This is the first identification of a FASII-like 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase from a kinetoplastid parasite.

Caenorhabditis elegans F09E10.3 Encodes a Putative 3‐Oxoacyl‐Thioester Reductase of Mitochondrial Type 2 Fatty Acid Synthase FASII that Is Functional in Yeast

Caenorhabditis elegans F09E10.3 (dhs-25) was identified as encoding a 3-oxoacyl-thioester reductase, potentially of the mitochondrial type 2 fatty acid synthase (FASII) system. Mitochondrial FASII is a relatively recent discovery in metazoans, and the relevance of this process to animal physiology has not been elucidated. A good animal model to study the role of FASII is the nematode C. elegans. However, the components of nematode mitochondrial FASII have hitherto evaded positive identification. The nematode F09E10.3 protein was ectopically expressed without an additional mitochondrial targeting sequence in Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant cells lacking the homologous mitochondrial FASII enzyme 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase Oar1p. These yeast oar1Δ mutants are unable to respire, grow on nonfermentable carbon sources, or synthesize sufficient levels of lipoic acid. Mutant yeast cells producing a full-length mitochondrial F09E10.3 protein contained NAD+-dependent 3-oxoacyl-thioester reductase activity and resembled the corresponding mutant overexpressing native Oar1p for the above-mentioned phenotype characteristics. This is the first identification of a metazoan 3-oxoacyl-thioester reductase (see Note Added in Proof).