2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Screening for novel antibiotics targeting RNA metabolism
| Project/Area Number |
23658073
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Applied microbiology
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
TAKADA Ayako 東京工業大学, 技術部, 技術職員 (20401565)
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| Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha) |
WACHI Masaaki 東京工業大学, 大学院・生命理工学研究科, 教授 (90192822)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2011 – 2013
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| Keywords | RNA代謝 / 抗生物質 / Hfq |
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| Research Abstract |
In the chemotherapy of bacterial infectious diseases, the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains is becoming a serious problem. One of the strategies to overcome this problem is to develop new antibiotics with a new molecular target.
The Hfq protein is known as an RNA chaperone. We previously reported that overproduction of Hfq inhibits cell division by suppressing expression of the cell division protein FtsZ.
In this study, we developed a novel screening system for inhibitors of Hfq-mediated RNA metabolism. Escherichia coli strain carrying the IPTG-inducible hfq gene was used in the assay. We assayed culture broths of actinomycetes isolated from soil samples. Recovery of colony formation was observed for 27 samples. It was found that ravidomycin, an inhibitor of RNA synthesis, and streptovaricin C, an inhibitor of RNA polymerase, were active compounds. These results showed that RNA polymerase inhibitors somehow suppressed Hfq-mediated growth inhibition.
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