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Antimalarial Benzoxaboroles Target Plasmodium falciparum Leucyl-tRNA Synthetase.
Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Faculty Scholarship
  • Ebere Sonoiki, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
  • Andres Palencia, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble Outstation and Université Joseph Fourier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and EMBL Unit of Virus Host-Cell Interactions
  • Denghui Guo, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
  • Vida Ahyong, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco
  • Chen Dong, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Xianfeng Li, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Vincent S. Hernandez, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Yong-Kang Zhang, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Wai Choi, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Jiri Gut, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
  • Jennifer Legac, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
  • Roland A. Cooper, Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Dominican University of California
  • M. R. K. Alley, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Yvonne R. Freund, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Joseph DeRisi, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco
  • Stephen Cusack, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble Outstation and Université Joseph Fourier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and EMBL Unit of Virus Host-Cell Interactions
  • Philip J. Rosenthal, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Department
Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Document Type
Article
Source
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Publication Date
8-1-2016
Disciplines
Abstract

There is a need for new antimalarials, ideally with novel mechanisms of action. Benzoxaboroles have been shown to be active against bacteria, fungi, and trypanosomes. Therefore, we investigated the antimalarial activity and mechanism of action of 3-aminomethyl benzoxaboroles against Plasmodium falciparum Two 3-aminomethyl compounds, AN6426 and AN8432, demonstrated good potency against cultured multidrug-resistant (W2 strain) P. falciparum (50% inhibitory concentration [IC50] of 310 nM and 490 nM, respectively) and efficacy against murine Plasmodium berghei infection when administered orally once daily for 4 days (90% effective dose [ED90], 7.4 and 16.2 mg/kg of body weight, respectively). To characterize mechanisms of action, we selected parasites with decreased drug sensitivity by culturing with stepwise increases in concentration of AN6426. Resistant clones were characterized by whole-genome sequencing. Three generations of resistant parasites had polymorphisms in the predicted editing domain of the gene encoding a P. falciparum leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LeuRS; PF3D7_0622800) and in another gene (PF3D7_1218100), which encodes a protein of unknown function. Solution of the structure of the P. falciparum LeuRS editing domain suggested key roles for mutated residues in LeuRS editing. Short incubations with AN6426 and AN8432, unlike artemisinin, caused dose-dependent inhibition of [(14)C]leucine incorporation by cultured wild-type, but not resistant, parasites. The growth of resistant, but not wild-type, parasites was impaired in the presence of the unnatural amino acid norvaline, consistent with a loss of LeuRS editing activity in resistant parasites. In summary, the benzoxaboroles AN6426 and AN8432 offer effective antimalarial activity and act, at least in part, against a novel target, the editing domain of P. falciparum LeuRS.

PubMed ID
27270277
Rights
Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Citation Information
Ebere Sonoiki, Andres Palencia, Denghui Guo, Vida Ahyong, et al.. "Antimalarial Benzoxaboroles Target Plasmodium falciparum Leucyl-tRNA Synthetase." Vol. 60 Iss. 8 (2016) p. 4886 - 4895 ISSN: 1098-6596
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/roland_cooper/52/