title: An Overview of the Carbonic Anhydrases from Two Pathogens of the Oral Cavity: Streptococcus mutans and Porphyromonas gingivalis.
abstract: Among the crowd of bacteria provoking disease of the oral cavity during the weakened of immune system, Streptococcus mutans and Porphyromonas gingivalis are the main microorganisms implicated in caries formation and periodontitis, respectively. The life cycle of the pathogens, such as protozoa, fungi and bacteria, is influenced by a superfamily of enzymes, called carbonic anhydrases (CAs, EC 4.2.1.1). These metalloenzymes, being crucial for the survival of the pathogen, have been considered as novel anti-infective targets. In fact, bicarbonate and protons, produced by the CA catalyzed carbon dioxide as substrate, are two fundamental ions implicated in the pH regulation, biosynthetic reactions, and adaptation of the pathogen to the host or in the possibility of the pathogen to avoid the host immune system. Bacteria genome encodes for the α-, β- and γ-CAs. Recently, our groups using the recombinant DNA technology prepared and characterized the CAs belonging to the &#946;- and γ-classes encoded by the genome of the two oral cavity pathogens S. mutans and P. gingivalis. An extensive inhibition study was carried out using typical anion/sulfonamide inhibitors of these classes of CAs. We discovered numerous inhibitors, which had in vitro an effective inhibitory activity against the bacterial CAs considered, here, as alternative anti-infective targets.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Bioscienze e Biorisorse, CNR, Via Pietro Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy. clemente.capasso@ibbr.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Clemente
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Capasso
authors.affiliation: Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento Di Chimica, Laboratorio di Chimica Bioinorganica, Polo Scientifico, Via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy; Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento Neurofarba, Sezione di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Polo Scientifico, Via U. Schiff 6, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy. claudiu.supuran@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Claudiu T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Supuran
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002256:Carbonic Anhydrases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology*; D016966:Porphyromonas gingivalis / Q000201:enzymology*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: D002256:Carbonic Anhydrases