Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Antibacterial drugs

New paths to beating bacteria

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 7, page 891 (2008)Cite this article

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

The first study, by Haydon and colleagues, set out to target bacterial cell division. FtsZ is an essential bacterial protein that undergoes GTP-dependent polymerization to form the Z ring — the site of cell division — promoting the sequential recruitment of additional proteins that are vital to the process. Of these proteins, FtsZ is considered to be a particularly attractive target, as it is a distant relative of mammalian tubulin — the target of anticancer drugs such as paclitaxel — suggesting that it might also be amenable to inhibitor development.

Indeed, previous studies have identified several compounds that can inhibit FtsZ activity in vitro, but so far, none have demonstrated in vivo efficacy. However, using one such compound (3-methoxybenzamide) as a starting point, Haydon and colleagues used a fragment-based approach to develop the more potent cell-division inhibitor PC190723. Mechanistic studies revealed that PC190723 directly inhibited the GTPase activity of FtsZ, and bound to a region of the protein analogous to the paclitaxel-binding site of human tubulin.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. Haydon, D. J. et al. An inhibitor of FtsZ with potent and selective anti-staphylococcal activity. Science 321, 1673–1675 (2008)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Rasko, D. A. et al. Targeting QseC signaling and virulence for antibiotic development. Science 321, 1078–1080 (2008)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

FURTHER READING

  1. Lock, R. L. & Harry, E. J. Cell-division inhibitors: new insights for future antibiotics. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 7, 324–338 (2008)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Sarah Crunkhorn
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Crunkhorn, S. New paths to beating bacteria. Nat Rev Drug Discov 7, 891 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd2735

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd2735

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing