Rapid development of resistance of the most prevalent bacterial pathogens to antibacterial drugs is one of the major threats to public health. Bacterial type IIA topoisomerases, DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV, are essential and highly conserved enzymes that catalyze topological changes and maintain DNA integrity during replication and transcription. Fluoroquinolones act on subunit A of DNA gyrase (GyrA) and subunit C of topoisomerase IV (ParC), which are responsible for breakage and reunion of DNA double strand. Due to the development of bacterial resistance against fluoroquinolones, research is increasingly focused on the subunit B of DNA gyrase (GyrB) and subunit E of topoisomerase IV (ParE), which provide energy for GyrA and ParC activity by hydrolysis of the ATP molecule and represent an unexploited target of antibacterial drugs.
In the experimental part of this master's thesis, we designed and synthesized new ATP-competitive inhibitors of DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV. The synthesized compounds possessed benzo[d]thiazole-6-carboxylic acid scaffold, to which 3-chloro-4-bromo-5-methyl-1H-pyrrole-2-carboxamide or 3,4-dichloro-5-methyl-1H-pyrrole-2-carboxamide is attached at position 2. Compounds with 3,4-dichloro-5-methyl-1H-pyrrole-2-carboxamide differ in the structure of the substituent attached to the amide group (N-ethyl, N-cyclopropyl, N-isopropyl and N-(2-methoxyethyl)). Compounds 7, 13, 23, 24 and 25 were tested for their inhibitory activities on recombinant DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV from Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The most active compound in the enzyme assay was compound 13, which has the 3-chloro-4-bromo-5-methyl-1H-pyrrole-2-carboxamide bound to the central scaffold and unsubstituted amide group. Compound 13 displayed potent inhibitory activity on DNA gyrase from E. coli (IC50, < 10 nM) and on DNA gyrase from S. aureus (IC50, 15 nM), and it also exhibited inhibitory activity on topoisomerase IV from S. aureus in the nanomolar concentration range (IC50, 90 nM). Compounds 7, 13, 23, 24 and 25 were also tested for their antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacterial strains Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis and against Gram-negative bacterial strains Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. The compounds exhibited stronger antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria than against Gram-negative bacteria. The results of this master's thesis make an important contribution to understanding the structural requirements for the antibacterial activity of DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV inhibitors.
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