ABSTRACT
Staphylococci are a major health threat because of increasing resistance to antibiotics. An alternative to antibiotic treatment is preventing virulence by inhibition of bacterial cell-to-cell communication using the quorum-sensing inhibitor RNAIII-inhibiting peptide (RIP). In this work, we identified 2',5-di-O-galloyl-d-hamamelose (hamamelitannin) as a nonpeptide analog of RIP by virtual screening of a RIP-based pharmacophore against a database of commercially available small-molecule compounds. Hamamelitannin is a natural product found in the bark of Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel), and it has no effect on staphylococcal growth in vitro; but like RIP, it does inhibit the quorum-sensing regulator RNAIII. In a rat graft model, hamamelitannin prevented device-associated infections in vivo, including infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis strains. These findings suggest that hamamelitannin may be used as a suppressor to staphylococcal infections.
Subject(s)
Drug Resistance, Bacterial/drug effects , Gallic Acid/analogs & derivatives , Hexoses/chemistry , Hexoses/pharmacology , Oligopeptides/chemistry , Quorum Sensing/drug effects , Staphylococcal Infections/microbiology , Animals , Bacterial Adhesion/drug effects , Drug Evaluation, Preclinical , Gallic Acid/chemistry , Gallic Acid/pharmacology , Hemolysin Proteins/metabolism , Male , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Models, Molecular , Prosthesis-Related Infections/microbiology , RNA, Bacterial/biosynthesis , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Staphylococcus/cytology , Staphylococcus/drug effects , Staphylococcus/growth & developmentABSTRACT
The V1 vascular vasopressin receptor (V1R) is a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) involved in the regulation of body-fluid osmolality, blood volume and blood pressure. Signal transduction is mediated by the third intracellular loop of this seven-transmembrane protein as well as by the C-terminal cytoplasmic segment. A chimera of the maltose-binding protein (MBP) and the C-terminal segment of V1R has been cloned, expressed, purified and crystallized. The crystals belong to space group P2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 51.10, b = 66.56, c = 115.72 A, beta = 95.99 degrees. The 1.8 A crystal structure reveals the conformation of MBP and part of the linker region of this chimera, with the C-terminal segment being unstructured. This may reflect a conformational plasticity in the C-terminal segment that may be necessary for proper function of V1R.
