Synthesis and antimicrobial activity of binaphthyl-based, functionalized oxazole and thiazole peptidomimetics.

Thirty two new binaphthyl-based, functionalized oxazole and thiazole peptidomimetics and over thirty five novel leucine-containing intermediate oxazoles and thiazoles were prepared in this study. This includes the first examples of the direct C-5 arylation of an amino acid dipeptide-derived oxazole. Moderate to excellent antibacterial activity was observed for all new compounds across Gram positive isolates with MICs ranging from 1-16 µg mL(-1). Results for Gram negative E. coli and A. baumannii were more variable, but MICs as low as 4 µg mL(-1) were returned for two examples. Significantly, the in vitro results with a fluoromethyl-oxazole derivative collectively represent the best obtained to date for a member of our binaphthyl peptide antimicrobials.

Binaphthyl-1,2,3-triazole peptidomimetics with activity against Clostridium difficile and other pathogenic bacteria.

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a problematic Gram positive bacterial pathogen causing moderate to severe gastrointestinal infections. Based on a lead binaphthyl-tripeptide dicationic antimicrobial, novel mono-, di- and tri-peptidomimetic analogues targeting C. difficile were designed and synthesized incorporating one, two or three d-configured cationic amino acid residues, with a common 1,2,3-triazole ester isostere at the C-terminus. Copper- and ruthenium-click chemistry facilitated the generation of a 46 compound library for in vitro bioactivity assays, with structure-activity trends over the largest compound subset revealing a clear advantage to triazole-substitution with a linear or branched hydrophobic group. The most active compounds were dicationic-dipeptides where the triazole was substituted with a 4- or 5-cyclohexylmethyl or 4,5-diphenyl moiety, providing MICs of 4 µg mL(-1) against three human isolates of C. difficile. Further biological screening revealed significant antimicrobial activity for several compounds against other common bacterial pathogens, both Gram positive and negative, including S. aureus (MICs ≥2 µg mL(-1)), S. pneumoniae (MICs ≥1 µg mL(-1)), E. coli (MICs ≥4 µg mL(-1)), A. baumannii (MICs ≥4 µg mL(-1)) and vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis (MICs ≥4 µg mL(-1)).

High-temperature protein G is an essential virulence factor of Leptospira interrogans.

Leptospira interrogans is a global zoonotic pathogen and is the causative agent of leptospirosis, an endemic disease of humans and animals worldwide. There is limited understanding of leptospiral pathogenesis; therefore, further elucidation of the mechanisms involved would aid in vaccine development and the prevention of infection. HtpG (high-temperature protein G) is the bacterial homolog to the highly conserved molecular chaperone Hsp90 and is important in the stress responses of many bacteria. The specific role of HtpG, especially in bacterial pathogenesis, remains largely unknown. Through the use of an L. interrogans htpG transposon insertion mutant, this study demonstrates that L. interrogans HtpG is essential for virulence in the hamster model of acute leptospirosis. Complementation of the htpG mutant completely restored virulence. Surprisingly, the htpG mutant did not appear to show sensitivity to heat or oxidative stress, phenotypes common in htpG mutants in other bacterial species. Furthermore, the mutant did not show increased sensitivity to serum complement, reduced survival within macrophages, or altered protein or lipopolysaccharide expression. The underlying cause for attenuation thus remains unknown, but HtpG is a novel leptospiral virulence factor and one of only a very small number identified to date.

Leptospiral outer membrane protein LipL41 is not essential for acute leptospirosis but requires a small chaperone protein, lep, for stable expression.

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira spp., but knowledge of leptospiral pathogenesis remains limited. However, the development of mutagenesis systems has allowed the investigation of putative virulence factors and their involvement in leptospirosis. LipL41 is the third most abundant lipoprotein found in the outer membranes of pathogenic leptospires and has been considered a putative virulence factor. LipL41 is encoded on the large chromosome 28 bp upstream of a small open reading frame encoding a hypothetical protein of unknown function. This gene was named lep, for LipL41 expression partner. In this study, lipL41 was found to be cotranscribed with lep. Two transposon mutants were characterized: a lipL41 mutant and a lep mutant. In the lep mutant, LipL41 protein levels were reduced by approximately 90%. Lep was shown through cross-linking and coexpression experiments to bind to LipL41. Lep is proposed to be a molecular chaperone essential for the stable expression of LipL41. The roles of LipL41 and Lep in the pathogenesis of Leptospira interrogans were investigated; surprisingly, neither of these two unique proteins was essential for acute leptospirosis.

Use of luminescent Leptospira interrogans for enumeration in biological assays.

Rapid and reliable in vitro methods for the detection of pathogenic leptospires, such as Leptospira interrogans, are lacking. The present study investigated the use of luminescence to replace the existing enumeration techniques. Transposon TnSC189 was modified to incorporate the luxCDABE cassette from Photorhabdus luminescens and was used to construct luminescent Leptospira spp. There was a linear relationship between luminescence and cell number, with the theoretical detection limit being less than 10(4) leptospires. A comparison of enumeration by a standard method (counting by dark-field microscopy) and enumeration by luminescence was conducted with luminescent L. interrogans. There was a good correlation between the two methods of enumeration (R(2) = 0.766), although variation in the luminescence early and late in growth phase reduced the degree of correlation. To demonstrate the utility of luminescence as a viability and cell number reporter, in vitro assays, including MIC determination, an extracellular matrix binding experiment, and a complement killing experiment, were conducted. In each case, the results obtained by luminescence matched those obtained by traditional means with high correlations (binding assay R(2) = 0.916, complement killing assay R(2) = 0.988). A strain expressing the luxCDABE transposon retained virulence in the hamster model of infection. Despite some variation in luminescence as a result of the growth phase or the particular assay conditions, enumeration by luminescence was found to be a quick, reliable, and highly sensitive method for the in vitro detection of leptospires that has the potential to replace more time-consuming methods of enumeration.