title: Prospects for novel inhibitors of peptidoglycan transglycosylases.
abstract: The lack of novel antimicrobial drugs under development coupled with the increasing occurrence of resistance to existing antibiotics by community and hospital acquired infections is of grave concern. The targeting of biosynthesis of the peptidoglycan component of the bacterial cell wall has proven to be clinically valuable but relatively little therapeutic development has been directed towards the transglycosylase step of this process. Advances towards the isolation of new antimicrobials that target transglycosylase activity will rely on the development of the enzymological tools required to identify and characterise novel inhibitors of these enzymes. Therefore, in this article, we review the assay methods developed for transglycosylases and review recent novel chemical inhibitors discovered in relation to both the lipidic substrates and natural product inhibitors of the transglycosylase step.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: Nicola F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Galley
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: Amy M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: O'Reilly
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. Electronic address: david.roper@warwick.ac.uk.
authors.forename: David I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Roper
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D046928:Peptidoglycan Glycosyltransferase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D010457:Peptidoglycan; D046928:Peptidoglycan Glycosyltransferase
keywords: Antibiotic; Discovery; Inhibitor; Peptidoglycan; Transglycosylase