The molecular basis of action of the toxin Microcin B17 on DNA gyrase

我们正面临传染病危机的危险。耐多药细菌感染的综合影响，如MRSA和艰难梭菌，以及制药公司生产的新抗生素的缺乏，意味着学术实验室需要为解决这一问题做出更大的贡献。我们正在研究一种来自细菌的酶，叫做DNA回转酶，它已经成为抗生素的目标，比如环丙沙星（ciprolo沙星），这种药物在2001年美国恐慌期间用于对抗炭疽。不幸的是，由于耐药性问题，环丙沙星不再像以前那样有效，人们正在寻找替代它的抗生素。Microcin B17是一种由细菌产生的毒素，用于杀死其他细菌，它的工作方式与环丙沙星类似，但不太可能受到同样的耐药性问题的影响。我们的目标是了解Microcin B17如何工作的分子细节，以便这些信息可以用于未来设计可能取代环丙环的新抗生素。

We are in danger of heading for a crisis in infectious diseases. The combined effects of multi-drug-resistant bacterial infections, such as MRSA and C. difficile, and the lack of new antibiotics being produced by pharmaceutical companies, means that academic labs need to make a more significant contribution to solving this problem. We are studying an enzyme from bacteria called DNA gyrase, which is already the target for antibiotics such as Cipro (ciprofloxacin), the drug used to combat anthrax during the scare in the USA in 2001. Unfortunately, due to resistance problems, Cipro is no longer as effective as it was and the search is on for antibiotics to replace it. Microcin B17 is a toxin produced by bacteria to kill other bacteria, and it works in a manner similar to Cipro but is unlikely to be affected by the same resistance problems. We aim to understand the molecular details of how Microcin B17 works such that this information can be used in the future design of new antibiotics that can potentially replace Cipro.