ODD scientists and collaborators have published a research paper describing the discovery of a new class of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase inhibitors, N-Leucinyl benzenesulfonamides. The binding of inhibitors to the enzyme was measured by using isothermal titration calorimetry. This provided information on enthalpy and entropy contributions to binding, which, together with docking studies, were used for structure鈥揳ctivity relationship analysis. Enzymatic assays revealed that N-leucinyl benzenesulfonamides display remarkable selectivity for聽E. coli聽leucyl-tRNA synthetase compared to聽S. aureus聽and human orthologues. The simplest analogue of the series, N-leucinyl benzenesulfonamide, showed the highest affinity against聽E. coli leucyl-tRNA synthetase and also exhibited antibacterial activity against Gram-negative pathogens, which renders it as a promising template for antibacterial drug discovery.
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