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Venglustat is a known allosteric inhibitor for ceramide glycosyltransferase, investigated in diseases caused by lysosomal dysfunction. Here, we identified venglustat as a potent inhibitor (IC

[Image: see text] The discovery and clinical use of multitarget monotherapeutic antibiotics is regarded as a promising approach to reduce the development of antibiotic resistance. Platencin (PTN), a potent natural antibiotic initially isolated from a soil actinomycete, targets both FabH and FabF, the initiation and elongation condensing enzymes for bacterial fatty acid biosynthesis. However, its further clinical development has been hampered by poor pharmacokinetics. Herein we report the semisynthesis and biological evaluation of platencin derivatives 1–15 with potent antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in vitro. Some of these PTN analogues showed similar yet distinct interactions with FabH and FabF, as shown by molecular docking, differential scanning fluorometry, and isothermal titration calorimetry. Compounds 3, 8, 10, and 14 were further evaluated in a mouse peritonitis model, among which 8 showed in vivo antibacterial activity comparable to that of PTN. Our results suggest that semisynthetic modification of PTN is a rapid route to obtain active PTN derivatives that might be further developed as promising antibiotics against drug-resistant major pathogens.

Fracturing equipment is the core device in shale gas reservoir stimulation. As domestic shale gas exploration and development steps into deep layers, the development of fracturing technology puts forward higher requirements for relevant equipment. Electric drive is an important development direction of fracturing equipment technology. In this paper, the technical progress of electric drive fracturing equipment in China and abroad was investigated. It is shown that a high-power frequency conversion system is the key technology to determine the performance of electric drive fracturing equipment. After the adaptability of the high-power frequency conversion technology to electric drive fracturing equipment was analyzed, based on the fracturing operation of Model 2500 electric drive fracturing trucks in the Weiyuan Block of the Sichuan Basin for shale gas reservoir stimulation, electric drive and diesel-driven fracturing equipment were comparatively analyzed from the aspects of economic and technical indicators. And the following research results were obtained. First, compared with a diesel-driven fracturing truck of the same power, an electric drive fracturing truck can realize a full power coverage and a continuous adjustment of output displacement, and can better meet the operation requirements of fracturing process for a precise control of the pumping displacement, while reducing the power cost by 68% and the equipment purchase cost by 10–20%. Second, compared with the skid mounted equipment, an electric drive fracturing truck has a better transport performance, being suitable for the fracturing well sites with poor road conditions, such as loess gullies, hills and mountains. It is suggested that the following development direction of the electric drive fracturing equipment should focus on the improvement of single machine power density. In addition, it is recommended to enhance the basic studies on high-pressure and high-power semiconductor devices and make a good plan for the power demand of shale gas platform construction in advance, so as to give a better play to the operating cost advantage of electric drive fracturing equipment.

Protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) have been implicated in the progression of many diseases. Understanding substrate recognition and specificity of individual PRMT would facilitate the discovery of selective inhibitors towards future drug discovery. Herein, we reported the design and synthesis of bisubstrate analogues for PRMTs that incorporate a S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) analogue moiety and a tripeptide through an alkyl substituted guanidino group. Compound AH237 is a potent and selective inhibitor for PRMT4 and PRMT5 with a half-maximal inhibition concentration (IC50) of 2.8 and 0.42 nmol/L, respectively. Computational studies provided a plausible explanation for the high potency and selectivity of AH237 for PRMT4/5 over other 40 methyltransferases. This proof-of-principle study outlines an applicable strategy to develop potent and selective bisubstrate inhibitors for PRMTs, providing valuable probes for future structural studies., Graphical abstract A potent bisubstrate PRMT inhibitor AH237 was developed, displaying an exceptional selectivity for PRMT4 and PRMT5 with IC50 of 2.8 and 0.42 nmol/L, respectively. This would facilitate the understanding of the biochemical properties for PRMT4/5 and pave the avenue to develop selective and cell-potent PRMT inhibitors.Image 1

Bacterial fatty acid synthases are promising antibacterial targets against multi-drug resistant pathogens. Platensimycin (PTM) is a potent FabB/FabF inhibitor, while its poor pharmacokinetics hampers the clinical development. In this study, a focused library of PTM derivatives was prepared through thiolysis of PTM oxirane (1), followed by various C−C cross-coupling reactions in high yields. Antibacterial screening of these compounds in vitro yielded multiple hits with improved anti-Staphylococcus activities over PTM. Among them, compounds A1, A3, A17, and A28 exhibited improved antibacterial activities over PTM against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a mouse peritonitis model. Compound A28 was further shown to be effective against MRSA infection in a mouse wound model, in comparison to mupirocin. Therefore, the facile preparation and screening of these PTM derivatives, together with their potent antibacterial activities in vivo, suggest a promising strategy to improve the antibacterial activity and pharmacokinetic properties of PTM.

Protein N-terminal acetyltransferase D (NatD, NAA40) that specifically acetylates the alpha-N-terminus of histone H4 and H2A has been implicated in various diseases, but no inhibitor has been reported for this important enzyme. Based on the acetyl transfer mechanism of NatD, we designed and prepared a series of highly potent NatD bisubstrate inhibitors by covalently linking coenzyme A to different peptide substrates via an acetyl or propionyl spacer. The most potent bisubstrate inhibitor displayed an apparent Ki value of 1.0 nM. Biochemical studies indicated that bisubstrate inhibitor is competitive to the peptide substrate and noncompetitive to the cofactor, suggesting NatD undergoes an ordered Bi-Bi mechanism. We also demonstrated that these inhibitors are highly specific towards NatD, displaying about 1,000-fold selectivity over other closely related acetyltransferases. High-resolution crystal structures of NatD bound to two of these inhibitors revealed the molecular basis for their selectivity and inhibition mechanism, providing a rational path for future inhibitor development.

[Image: see text] Protein N-terminal methyltransferases (NTMTs) catalyze the methylation of the α-N-terminal amines of proteins starting with an X–P–K/R motif. NTMT1 has been implicated in various cancers and in aging, implying its role as a potential therapeutic target. Through structural modifications of a lead NTMT1 inhibitor, BM30, we designed and synthesized a diverse set of inhibitors to probe the NTMT1 active site. The incorporation of a naphthyl group at the N-terminal region and an ortho-aminobenzoic amide at the C-terminal region of BM30 generates the top cell-potent inhibitor DC541, demonstrating increased activity on both purified NTMT1 (IC(50) of 0.34 ± 0.02 μM) and the cellular α-N-terminal methylation level of regulator of chromosome condensation 1 (RCC1, IC(50) value of 30 μM) in human colorectal cancer HT29 cells. Furthermore, DC541 exhibits over 300-fold selectivity to several methyltransferases. This study points out the direction for the development of more cell-potent inhibitors for NTMT1.

Bioinspired sulfa-Michael/aldol cascade reactions have been developed for the semisynthesis of sulfur-containing heterocyclic derivatives of platensimycin and platencin, with three newly formed contiguous stereogenic centers. Density functional theory calculations revealed the mechanism for the stereochemistry control. This method was used in a synthesis of a platensimycin thiophene analogue with potent antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus.

Platensimycin (PTM) is an excellent natural product drug lead against various gram-positive pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci. In this study, twenty PTM derivatives with varying aminobenzoic acids were semisynthesized. In contrast to all the previous reported inactive aminobenzaote analogues, a few of them showed moderate antibacterial activities against S. aureus. Our study suggested that modification of the conserved aminobenzoic acid remains a viable approach to diversify the PTM scaffold.

Several sulfur-containing platensimycin (PTM) and platencin (PTN) analogues, with activities comparable to the parent natural products, have recently been discovered from microorganisms, implying a biomimetic route to diversify the PTM and PTN scaffolds for structure−activity relationship study. We present here a substrate-directed and scaleable semisynthetic strategy to make PTM and PTN sulfur analogues with excellent diasteroselectivity, without using any chiral catalysts. Most of the sulfur analogues showed strong activities against clinical Staphylococcus aureus isolates, with minimum inhibitory concentrations of 0.5−2 μg mL(−1). Density functional theory calculations were in agreement with the observed selectivity for these analogues and suggest that the conformation restraints of the terpene cages of PTM and PTN on the transition states determine the si-face attack selectivity.

A dozen oxime, hydrazine and hydrazide derivatives of platensimycin (PTM) analogues were synthesized, some of which showed strong antibacterial activities and were shown to be stable under the bioassay conditions. Docking analysis revealed that they have certain new interactions with β-ketoacyl-[acyl carrier protein] synthase II (FabF), suggesting that Schiff base formation on its terpene scaffold is an effective strategy to diversify PTM structure.

With the recent research advances in molecular biology and technology multiple credible hypotheses about the progress of Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been proposed, among which the amyloid and cholinergic hypotheses are commonly used to develop reliable therapeutic agents. The multitarget-directed ligand (MTDL) approach was taken in this work to develop muilti-functional agents, which can mainly serve as dual beta-secretase (BACE 1) and Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors. Series of new compounds were designed, synthesized and evaluated in this work, from which we identified 2-((4-(1,3-dioxoisoindolin-2-yl)benzyl)amino)-2-oxoethyl-2-(4-methoxyphenyl)acetate (1h) as a new dual cholinesterase and beta-secretase inhibitor without toxicity.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common pathogens causing hospital-acquired and community-acquired infections. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA)-formed biofilms in wounds are difficult to treat with conventional antibiotics. By targeting FabB/FabF of bacterial fatty acid synthases, platensimycin (PTM) was discovered to act as a promising natural antibiotic against MRSA infections. In this study, PTM and its previously synthesized sulfur-Michael derivative PTM-2t could reduce over 95% biofilm formation by S. aureus ATCC 29213 when used at 2 μg/mL in vitro. Topical application of ointments containing PTM or PTM-2t (2 × 4 mg/day/mouse) was successfully used to treat MRSA infections in a BABL/c mouse burn wound model. As a potential prodrug lead, PTM-2t showed improved in vivo efficacy in a mouse peritonitis model compared with PTM. Our study suggests that PTM and its analogue may be used topically or locally to treat bacterial infections. In addition, the use of prodrug strategies might be instrumental to improve the poor pharmacokinetic properties of PTM.

Platensimycin (PTM), originally isolated from soil bacteria Streptomyces platensis, is a potent FabF inhibitor against many Gram-positive pathogens, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci. However, the further clinical development of PTM is hampered by its poor pharmacokinetic properties. In this study, 20 PTM derivatives were prepared by Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions catalyzed by Pd (0)/C. Compared to PTM, 6-pyrenyl PTM (6t) showed improved antibacterial activity against MRSA in a mouse peritonitis model. Our results support the strategy to target the essential fatty acid synthases in major pathogens, in order to discover and develop new generations of antibiotics.

Thiocarboxylic acid-containing natural products are rare and their biosynthesis and biological significance remain unknown. Thioplatensimycin (thioPTM) and thioplatencin (thioPTN), thiocarboxylic acid congeners of the antibacterial natural products platensimycin (PTM) and platencin (PTN), were recently discovered. Here we report the biosynthetic origin of the thiocarboxylic acid moiety in thioPTM and thioPTN. We identify a thioacid cassette encoding two proteins, PtmA3 and PtmU4, responsible for carboxylate activation by coenzyme A and sulfur transfer, respectively. ThioPTM and thioPTN bind tightly to β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase II (FabF) and retain strong antibacterial activities. Density functional theory calculations of binding and solvation free energies suggest thioPTM and thioPTN bind to FabF more favorably than PTM and PTN. Additionally, thioacid cassettes are prevalent in the genomes of bacteria, implicating that thiocarboxylic acid-containing natural products are underappreciated. These results suggest that thiocarboxylic acid, as an alternative pharmacophore, and thiocarboxylic acid-containing natural products may be considered for future drug discovery.

With the recent research advances in molecular biology and technology, many credible hypothe-ses about the progress of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have been proposed, among which the amyloid and cholinergic hypotheses are commonly used to develop reliable therapeutic agents. The multitarget-directed ligand (MTDL) approach was taken in this work to develop multi-functional agents, which can mainly serve as dual BACE 1 and AChE inhibitors. Depending on the scaffolds of (+)-(S)- dihydro-ar-tumerone and (－)-gallocatechin gallate, 3 series of new compounds have been designed, synthesized and evaluated, from which we have identified 2-(2-(3-methylbenzoyl)-3-oxo-1,2,3,4- tetrahydroisoquinolin-6-yl) isoindoline-1,3-dione (3d) as a new cholinesterase and β-secretase dual inhibitor without toxicity. Furthermore, 3d also exhibits hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity which could help to reduce the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the brain of AD patients.

Background Although many studies have estimated the association between the butyrylcholinesterase (BCHE) K variant and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk, the results are still controversial. We thus conducted this meta-analysis. Material/Methods We searched NCBI, Medline, Web of Science, and Embase databases to find all eligible studies. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of the association. Results We found a significant association between BCHE K variant and AD risk (OR=1.20; 95% CI 1.03–1.39; P=0.02). In the stratified analysis by ethnicity, we observed a significant association between BCHE K variant and AD risk in Asians (OR=1.32; 95% CI 1.02–1.72; P=0.04). However, no significant association between BCHE K variant and AD risk in Caucasians was found (OR=1.14; 95% CI 0.95–1.37; P=0.16). When stratified by the age of AD onset, we found that late-onset AD (LOAD) was significantly associated with BCHE K variant (OR=1.44; 95% CI 1.05–1.97; P=0.02). No significant association between BCHE K variant and early-onset AD (EOAD) risk was observed (OR=1.16; 95% CI 0.89–1.51; P=0.27). Compared with non-APOE ɛ4 and non-BCHE K carriers, no significant association between BCHE K variant and AD risk was found (OR=1.11; 95% CI 0.91–1.35; P=0.30). However, APOE ɛ4 carriers showed increased AD risk in both non-BCHE K carriers (OR=2.81; 95% CI 1.75–4.51; P=0.0001) and BCHE K carriers (OR=3.31; 95% CI 1.82–6.02; P=0.0001). Conclusions The results of this meta-analysis indicate that BCHE K variant might be associated with AD risk.