Antibacterial drugs are among the most crucial tools of modern medical interventions, yet their success is threatened by the ever-growing prevalence of bacterial resistance. The inability to treat such infections gives rise to life-threatening situation of the most vulnerable members of society. With the intention to contribute in the search of new antibacterial active substances that would lower the occurrence of bacterial resistance and therefore prolong its development, we have evaluated the in vitro inhibitory activity of ATP-competitive inhibitors, focusing on dual activity on topoisomerase enzymes (dual targeting), more specifically, on inhibiting DNA-gyrase and topoisomerase IV of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. We biochemically evaluated inhibitors, synthesised at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Ljubljana, using the commercially available Microplate Assay Kit. Based on results obtained by the screening tests performed on Escherichia coli DNA-gyrase we then more precisely determined the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) from sigmoid curves that were plotted from residual activities at the range of 7 different concentrations against the logarithmic values of the given concentrations. Given good activity on Escherichia coli DNA-gyrase, the inhibitor was further evaluated on other enzymes. Screening test proved to be an effective and time worthy approach in the first phase of identifying active inhibitors. The predicted IC50 coincide with the determined 80 in 75 % of cases, whereas the predictions for the other 25 % we rarely off by more than one order. From a total of 107 inhibitors we have identified 9 that have shown dual and potentially broad-spectrum activity. Concentrations needed to inhibit DNA-gyrase were generally lower than those for topoisomerase IV in both bacterial types. Activities on Staphylococcus aureus enzymes ware also lower compared enzymes of Escherichia coli. Both trends can be attributed to slight structural differences in otherwise homologous enzymes and type specifics. Among the most active inhibitors were 67, 72 in 74, which displayed strong and balanced inhibitory activity across all tested enzymes. Due to both Gram positive and Gram negative dual inhibitory activity the before mentioned inhibitors are promising candidates for potential new broad-spectrum active ingredients.
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