PMID: 27607918

Authors:

Holden JK, Lewis MC, Cinelli MA, Abdullatif Z, Pensa AV, Silverman RB, Poulos TL

Title:

Targeting Bacterial Nitric Oxide Synthase with Aminoquinoline-based Inhibitors.

Journal:

Biochemistry. 2016 Sep 8.

Abstract:

Nitric oxide (NO) is produced in Gram-positive pathogens Bacillus anthracis and Staphylococcus aureus by the bacterial isoform of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). Inhibition of bacterial nitric oxide synthase (bNOS) has been identified as a promising antibacterial strategy for targeting methicillin-resistant Staphylocoocus aureus1. One class of NOS inhibitors that demonstrates antimicrobial efficacy utilizes an aminoquinoline scaffold. Here we report on a variety of aminoquinolines that target the bacterial NOS active site, in part, by binding to a hydrophobic patch that is unique to bNOS. Through mutagenesis and crystallographic studies, our findings demonstrate that aminoquinolines are an excellent scaffold to further aid in the development of bNOS-specific inhibitors.