Development of potent chemical antituberculosis agents targeting Mycobacterium tuberculosis acetohydroxyacid synthase

•15 chemical inhibitors against Mycobacterium tuberculosis acetohydroxyacid synthase (MTB-AHAS) were identified.•Five hit compounds showed high inhibition against MTB-AHAS at low micromolar concentrations.•Five hit compounds exhibited anti-mycobacterial activity against drug-resistant M. tuberculosis strains with MICs of 0.5–2 μM.•Two inhibitors among the hit compounds specifically inhibited Escherichia coli expressing MTB-AHAS.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis acetohydroxyacid synthase (MTB-AHAS) has been suggested as a crucial target for antibacterial agents. High-throughput screening of a chemical library was performed to identify potent new inhibitors of MTB-AHAS. Among the 6800 tested compounds, 15 were identified as potent inhibitors, exhibiting >80–90% inhibition of in vitro MTB-AHAS activity at a fixed concentration of 20 µM. Five compounds belonging to the triazolopyrimidine structural class showed greater inhibition potency, with a half-maximum inhibition concentration (IC50 value) in the low micromolar range (0.4–1.24 µM). Furthermore, potent inhibitors demonstrated non-competitive, uncompetitive or mixed-competitive inhibition. Molecular docking experiments with these potent chemicals using a homology model of MTB-AHAS indicated hydrophobic and hydrogen bond interactions with some key herbicide binding site residues with binding energies (ΔG) of −8.04 to −10.68 Kcal/mol, respectively. The binding modes were consistent with inhibition mechanisms, as the chemicals were oriented outside the active site. Importantly, these potent inhibitors demonstrated significant growth inhibition of various clinically isolated multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant M. tuberculosis strains, with 50% minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC50 values) ranging from 0.2 µg/mL to 0.8 µg/mL, which resemble the MICs of conventional drugs for tuberculosis (isoniazid, 0.1 µg/mL; rifampicin, 0.4 µg/mL). Thus, the identified potent inhibitors show potential as scaffolds for further in vivo studies and might provide an impetus for the development of strong antituberculosis agents targeting MTB-AHAS.

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