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Multiple Bactericidal Mechanisms of the Zinc Ionophore PBT2
Globally, more antimicrobials are used in food-producing animals than in humans, and the extensive use of medically important human antimicrobials poses a significant public health threat in the face of rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The development of novel ionophores, a class of antimicrob...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
American Society for Microbiology
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7082140/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32188750 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00157-20 |
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author | Harbison-Price, Nichaela Ferguson, Scott A. Heikal, Adam Taiaroa, George Hards, Kiel Nakatani, Yoshio Rennison, David Brimble, Margaret A. El-Deeb, Ibrahim M. Bohlmann, Lisa McDevitt, Christopher A. von Itzstein, Mark Walker, Mark J. Cook, Gregory M. |
author_facet | Harbison-Price, Nichaela Ferguson, Scott A. Heikal, Adam Taiaroa, George Hards, Kiel Nakatani, Yoshio Rennison, David Brimble, Margaret A. El-Deeb, Ibrahim M. Bohlmann, Lisa McDevitt, Christopher A. von Itzstein, Mark Walker, Mark J. Cook, Gregory M. |
author_sort | Harbison-Price, Nichaela |
collection | PubMed |
description | Globally, more antimicrobials are used in food-producing animals than in humans, and the extensive use of medically important human antimicrobials poses a significant public health threat in the face of rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The development of novel ionophores, a class of antimicrobials used exclusively in animals, holds promise as a strategy to replace or reduce essential human antimicrobials in veterinary practice. PBT2 is a zinc ionophore with recently demonstrated antibacterial activity against several Gram-positive pathogens, although the underlying mechanism of action is unknown. Here, we investigated the bactericidal mechanism of PBT2 in the bovine mastitis-causing pathogen, Streptococcus uberis. In this work, we show that PBT2 functions as a Zn(2+)/H(+) ionophore, exchanging extracellular zinc for intracellular protons in an electroneutral process that leads to cellular zinc accumulation. Zinc accumulation occurs concomitantly with manganese depletion and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). PBT2 inhibits the activity of the manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase, SodA, thereby impairing oxidative stress protection. We propose that PBT2-mediated intracellular zinc toxicity in S. uberis leads to lethality through multiple bactericidal mechanisms: the production of toxic ROS and the impairment of manganese-dependent antioxidant functions. Collectively, these data show that PBT2 represents a new class of antibacterial ionophores capable of targeting bacterial metal ion homeostasis and cellular redox balance. We propose that this novel and multitarget mechanism of PBT2 makes the development of cross-resistance to medically important antimicrobials unlikely. IMPORTANCE More antimicrobials are used in food-producing animals than in humans, and the extensive use of medically important human antimicrobials poses a significant public health threat in the face of rising antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, the elimination of antimicrobial crossover between human and veterinary medicine is of great interest. Unfortunately, the development of new antimicrobials is an expensive high-risk process fraught with difficulties. The repurposing of chemical agents provides a solution to this problem, and while many have not been originally developed as antimicrobials, they have been proven safe in clinical trials. PBT2, a zinc ionophore, is an experimental therapeutic that met safety criteria but failed efficacy checkpoints against both Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases. It was recently found that PBT2 possessed potent antimicrobial activity, although the mechanism of bacterial cell death is unresolved. In this body of work, we show that PBT2 has multiple mechanisms of antimicrobial action, making the development of PBT2 resistance unlikely. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7082140 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-70821402020-04-02 Multiple Bactericidal Mechanisms of the Zinc Ionophore PBT2 Harbison-Price, Nichaela Ferguson, Scott A. Heikal, Adam Taiaroa, George Hards, Kiel Nakatani, Yoshio Rennison, David Brimble, Margaret A. El-Deeb, Ibrahim M. Bohlmann, Lisa McDevitt, Christopher A. von Itzstein, Mark Walker, Mark J. Cook, Gregory M. mSphere Research Article Globally, more antimicrobials are used in food-producing animals than in humans, and the extensive use of medically important human antimicrobials poses a significant public health threat in the face of rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The development of novel ionophores, a class of antimicrobials used exclusively in animals, holds promise as a strategy to replace or reduce essential human antimicrobials in veterinary practice. PBT2 is a zinc ionophore with recently demonstrated antibacterial activity against several Gram-positive pathogens, although the underlying mechanism of action is unknown. Here, we investigated the bactericidal mechanism of PBT2 in the bovine mastitis-causing pathogen, Streptococcus uberis. In this work, we show that PBT2 functions as a Zn(2+)/H(+) ionophore, exchanging extracellular zinc for intracellular protons in an electroneutral process that leads to cellular zinc accumulation. Zinc accumulation occurs concomitantly with manganese depletion and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). PBT2 inhibits the activity of the manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase, SodA, thereby impairing oxidative stress protection. We propose that PBT2-mediated intracellular zinc toxicity in S. uberis leads to lethality through multiple bactericidal mechanisms: the production of toxic ROS and the impairment of manganese-dependent antioxidant functions. Collectively, these data show that PBT2 represents a new class of antibacterial ionophores capable of targeting bacterial metal ion homeostasis and cellular redox balance. We propose that this novel and multitarget mechanism of PBT2 makes the development of cross-resistance to medically important antimicrobials unlikely. IMPORTANCE More antimicrobials are used in food-producing animals than in humans, and the extensive use of medically important human antimicrobials poses a significant public health threat in the face of rising antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, the elimination of antimicrobial crossover between human and veterinary medicine is of great interest. Unfortunately, the development of new antimicrobials is an expensive high-risk process fraught with difficulties. The repurposing of chemical agents provides a solution to this problem, and while many have not been originally developed as antimicrobials, they have been proven safe in clinical trials. PBT2, a zinc ionophore, is an experimental therapeutic that met safety criteria but failed efficacy checkpoints against both Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases. It was recently found that PBT2 possessed potent antimicrobial activity, although the mechanism of bacterial cell death is unresolved. In this body of work, we show that PBT2 has multiple mechanisms of antimicrobial action, making the development of PBT2 resistance unlikely. American Society for Microbiology 2020-03-18 /pmc/articles/PMC7082140/ /pubmed/32188750 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00157-20 Text en Copyright © 2020 Harbison-Price et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Research Article Harbison-Price, Nichaela Ferguson, Scott A. Heikal, Adam Taiaroa, George Hards, Kiel Nakatani, Yoshio Rennison, David Brimble, Margaret A. El-Deeb, Ibrahim M. Bohlmann, Lisa McDevitt, Christopher A. von Itzstein, Mark Walker, Mark J. Cook, Gregory M. Multiple Bactericidal Mechanisms of the Zinc Ionophore PBT2 |
title | Multiple Bactericidal Mechanisms of the Zinc Ionophore PBT2 |
title_full | Multiple Bactericidal Mechanisms of the Zinc Ionophore PBT2 |
title_fullStr | Multiple Bactericidal Mechanisms of the Zinc Ionophore PBT2 |
title_full_unstemmed | Multiple Bactericidal Mechanisms of the Zinc Ionophore PBT2 |
title_short | Multiple Bactericidal Mechanisms of the Zinc Ionophore PBT2 |
title_sort | multiple bactericidal mechanisms of the zinc ionophore pbt2 |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7082140/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32188750 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00157-20 |
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