Search results for: antifungal compounds
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Antifungal Effect of Penicillamine Due to the Selective Targeting of L-Homoserine O-Acetyltransferase
PublicationDue to the apparent similarity of fungal and mammalian metabolic pathways, the number of established antifungal targets is low, and the identification of novel ones is highly desirable. The results of our studies, presented in this work, indicate that the fungal biosynthetic pathway of L-methionine, an amino acid essential for humans, seems to be an attractive perspective. The MET2 gene from Candida albicans encoding L-homoserine...
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Amino Acid Based Antimicrobial Agents – Synthesis and Properties
PublicationStructures of several dozen of known antibacterial, antifungal or antiprotozoal agents are based on the amino acid scaffold. In most of them, the amino acid skeleton is of a crucial importance for their antimicrobial activity, since very often they are structural analogs of amino acid intermediates of different microbial biosynthetic pathways. Particularly, some aminophosphonate or aminoboronate analogs of protein amino acids are...
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Fluconazole resistant Candida auris clinical isolates have increased levels of cell wall chitin and increased susceptibility to a glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase inhibitor
PublicationIn 2009 Candida auris was first isolated as fungal pathogen of human disease from ear canal of a patient in Japan. In less than a decade, this pathogen has rapidly spread around the world and has now become a major health challenge that is of particular concern because many strains are resistant to multiple class of antifungal drugs. The lack of available antifungals and rapid increase of this fungal pathogen provides an incentive...
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Emerging anticancer activity of candidal glucoseamine-6-phosphate synthase inhibitors upon nanoparticle-mediated delivery
PublicationNumerous glutamine analogues have been reported as irreversible inhibitors of the glucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcN-6-P) synthase in pathogenic Candida albicans in the last 3.5 decades. Among the reported inhibitors, the most effective N3-(4-methoxyfumaroyl)-L-2,3- diaminopropanoic acid (FMDP) has been extensively studied in order to develop its more active analogues. Several peptide−FMDP conjugates were tested to deliver FMDP to its...
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The complete stereochemistry of the antibiotic candicidin A3 (syn. ascosin A3, levorin A3)
PublicationHerein, the stereostructure of the aromatic heptaene macrolide (AHM) antifungal antibiotic candicidin A3 (syn. ascosin A3, levorin A3) has been established upon the 2D NMR studies, consisting of DQF-COSY, TOCSY, ROESY, HSQC and HMBC experiments, as well as upon extensive molecular dynamics simulations. The geometry of the heptaenic chromophore was defined as: (22E, 24E, 26Z, 28Z, 30E, 32E, 34E). The previously unreported absolute...
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Chemical and biological stability of polyene macrolides
PublicationThe polyene macrolide antibiotics have been used in an-tifungal therapy since first o f them were discovered in 1950's. Up to now, four polyene macrolides are being used in medical practice, namely amphotericin B, nystatin, candi-cidin and pimaricin.The antifungal activity and mode of ac-tion of polyene macrolides is determined by their structure, chemical and physical properties.The main fragment of polyene...
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Influence of a lipid bilayer on the conformational behavior of amphotericin B derivatives - A molecular dynamics study.
PublicationAmphotericin B (AmB) is an effective but very toxic antifungal antibiotic. In our laboratory a series of AmB derivatives of improved selectivity of action was synthesized and tested. To understand molecular basis of this improvement, comparative conformational studies of amphotericin B and its two more selectivederivatives were carried out in an aqueous solution and in a lipid membrane. These molecular simulation studies revealed...
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Isolation of the GFA1 gene encoding glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase of Sporothrix schenckii and its expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
PublicationGlucosamine-6-phosphate synthase (GlcN-6-P synthase) is an essential enzyme involved in cell wall biogenesis that has been proposed as a strategic target for antifungal chemotherapy. Here we describe the cloning and functional characterization of Sporothrix schenckii GFA1 gene which was isolated from a genomic library of the fungus. The gene encodes a predicted protein of 708 amino acids that is homologous to GlcN-6-P synthases...
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Construction of glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase with an internal hexahistydyl fragment
PublicationL-Glutamine: D-fructose-6-phosphate aminotransferase (EC 2.6.1.16), known also as glucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcN-6-P) syntase, catalyzes the first committed step in the amino sugar biosynthetic pathway in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. The enzyme carries out a complex reaction involving ammonia transfer and sugar phosphate isomerization. GlcN-6-P syntase is an important point of metabolic control of amino sugar biosynthesis...
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Quest for the Molecular Basis of Improved Selective Toxicity of All-Trans Isomers of Aromatic Heptaene Macrolide Antifungal Antibiotics
PublicationThree aromatic heptaene macrolide antifungal antibiotics, Candicidin D, Partricin A (Gedamycin) and Partricin B (Vacidin) were subjected to controlled cis-trans to all trans photochemical isomerization. The obtained all-trans isomers demonstrated substantially improved in vitro selective toxicity in the Candida albicans cells: human erythrocytes model. This effect was mainly due to the diminished hemotoxicity. The molecular modeling...
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The Effect of Sterols on Amphotericin B Self-Aggregation in a Lipid Bilayer as Revealed by Free Energy Simulations
PublicationAmphotericin B (AmB) is an effective but toxic antifungal drug, known to increase the permeability of the cell membrane, presumably by assembling into transmembrane pores in a sterol-dependent manner. The aggregation of AmB molecules in a phospholipid bilayer is, thus, crucial for the drug’s activity. To provide an insight into the molecular nature of this process, here, we report an atomistic molecular dynamics simulation study...
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Engineering Candida albicans glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase for efficient enzyme purification
PublicationRationally designed muteins of Candida albicans glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase, an enzyme known as a promising target for antifungal chemotherapy, were constructed, overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified to near homogeneity. To facilitate and to optimize the purification of the enzyme, three recombinant versionscontaining internal oligoHis fragments were constructed: (i) by substituting residues 343 - 348...
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Analytical studies on ascosin, candicidin and levorin multicomponent antifungal antibiotic complexes. The stereostructure of ascosin A2
PublicationIn the class of polyene macrolides, there is a subgroup of aromatic heptaenes, which exhibit the highest antifungal activity within this type of antibiotics. Yet, due to their complex nature, aromatic heptaenes were not extensively studied and their potential as drugs is currently underexploited. Moreover, there are many inconsistencies in the literature regarding the composition and the structures of the individual components...
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Antibiotic-sterol interactions provide insight into the selectivity of natural aromatic analogues of amphotericin B and their photoisomers
PublicationAromatic heptaene macrolides (AHMs) belong to the group of polyene macrolide antifungal antibiotics. Members of this group were the first to be used in the treatment of systemic fungal infections. Amphotericin B (AmB), a non-aromatic representative of heptaene macrolides, is of significant clinical importance in the treatment of internal mycoses. It includes the all-trans heptaene chromophore, whereas the native AHMs contain two...
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Evaluation of antimicrobial activities of powdered cuttlebone against Klebsiella oxytoca, Staphylococcus aureus, and Aspergillus flavus
PublicationBackground: The presence of medicines in the environment is considered as a serious threat to the human health. The entrance of these substances into the water sources causes soil pollution, which eventually leads to the environmental pollution and it creates some problems for the public health. Also, increasing antibiotic resistant bacteria has attracted the attention of researchers to the use of natural resources such as marine...
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Evaluation of possibilities in identification and susceptibility testing for Candida glabrata clinical isolates with the Integral System Yeast Plus (ISYP)
PublicationThe aim of this study was to evaluate possibilities of correct identification and susceptibility testing of C. glabrata clinical isolates with Integral System Yeast Plus (ISYP). For species identification, as the reference method, API Candida test and species-specific PCR reactions were used. The potential of antifungal susceptibility testing by the ISYP test was compared with the Sensititre Yeast One. Whilst the reference methods...
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Optimizing Ni–Cr patterned boron-doped diamond band electrodes: Doping effects on electrochemical efficiency and posaconazole sensing performance
PublicationThere is growing interest in developing diamond electrodes with defined geometries such as, for example, micrometer-sized electrode arrays to acquire signals for electroanalysis. For electroanalytical sensing applications, it is essential to achieve precise conductive patterns on the insulating surface. This work provides a novel approach to boron-doped diamond patterning using nichrome masking for selective seeding on an oxidized...
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Antifungal Activity and Synergism with Azoles of Polish Propolis
PublicationThe aim of our work was to check if one of the products of natural origin, namely honey 19 bee propolis may be an alternative or supplement to currently used antifungal agents. The activity 20 of 50 ethanolic extracts of propolis (EEPs), harvested in Polish apiaries, was tested on a group of 69 21 clinical isolates of C. albicans. Most of the EEPs showed satisfactory activity, with minimum 22 fungicidal concentrations (MFC) mainly...
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Diagnostic PCR assay for Microsporum and Trichophyton infections
PublicationWe have previously described a highly sensitive 5-hour PCR test for the rapid diagnosis of onychomycosis which detects any dermatophyte and species-identify T. rubrum from patient specimens. We have subsequently developed and evaluated new PCR tests for detection of Trichophyton and Microsporum canis/audouinii infections.58 dermatophyte isolates (21) Microsporum spp. (4 different species), 35 Trichophyton spp (10 different species)...
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Quality control of cheese samples for the presence of natamycin preservative – A natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) based extraction coupled with HPLC
PublicationA new protocol for the determination of natamycin – an antifungal agent used as a food preservative - in cheese samples – is described. This new method is based on a natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) green extraction procedure. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for detection and quantification. NADESs with different molar ratios were evaluated for efficient and selective extraction. NADES made of thymol...
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Phenotypic consequences of the LYS4 gene disruption in Candida albicans
PublicationThe main scientific purpose of our studies was to verify the hypothesis that homoaconitase (HA) from Candida albicans, an enzyme catalyzing a second step of the α-aminoadipate pathway (AAP) of L-Lys biosynthesis may become a new target for antifungal chemotherapy. Previous studies indicated that the A. fumigatus mutant lacking the functional lysF gene, encoding HA, exhibited attenuated virulence in a low-dose mouse infection model...
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Conjugates of Ciprofloxacin and Levofloxacin with Cell-Penetrating Peptide Exhibit Antifungal Activity and Mammalian Cytotoxicity
PublicationSeven conjugates composed of well-known fluoroquinolone antibacterial agents, ciprofloxacin (CIP) or levofloxacin (LVX), and a cell-penetrating peptide transportan 10 (TP10-NH2) were synthesised. The drugs were covalently bound to the peptide via an amide bond, methylenecarbonyl moiety, or a disulfide bridge. Conjugation of fluoroquinolones to TP10-NH2 resulted in congeners demonstrating antifungal in vitro activity against human...
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Solvent influence on the crystal structures of new cadmium tri-tert -butoxysilanethiolate complexes with 1,4-bis(3-aminopropyl)piperazine: luminescence and antifungal activity
PublicationMonocrystals of dinuclear -1,4-bis(3-aminopropyl)piperazine-4N1,N10:N4,N40-bis[bis(tri-tert-butoxysilanethiolato-S)cadmium(II)], [Cd2(C12H27O3SSi)4(C10-H24N4)] or [Cd2{SSi(OtBu)3}4(-BAPP)], 1, and polynuclear catena-poly[[bis-(tri-tert-butoxysilanethiolato-S)cadmium(II)]--1,4-bis(3-aminopropyl)piperazine-2N10:N40], [Cd(C12H27O3SSi)2(C10H24N4)]n or [Cd{SSi(OtBu)3}2(-BAPP)]n,2, with 1,4-bis(3-aminopropyl)piperazine (BAPP)...
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Essential Oils, Silver Nanoparticles and Propolis as Alternative Agents Against Fluconazole Resistant Candida albicans, Candida glabrata and Candida krusei Clinical Isolates
PublicationDevelopment of effective and safe therapeutic treatment of fungal infections remains one of the major challenge for modern medicine. The aim of presented investigation was to analyze the in vitro antifungal activity of selected essential oils, ethanolic extracts of propolis and silver nanoparticles dropped on TiO2 against azole-resistant C. albicans (n = 20), C. glabrata (n = 14) and C. krusei (n = 10) clinical isolates. Among...
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Long range molecular dynamics study of regulation of eukaryotic glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase activity by UDP-GlcNAc
PublicationGlucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcN-6-P) synthase catalyses the first and practically irreversible step in hexosamine metabolism. The final product of this pathway, uridine 5' diphospho N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (UDPGlcNAc), is an essential substrate for assembly of bacterialand fungal cell walls. Moreover, the enzyme is involved in phenomenon of hexosamine induced insulin resistance in type II diabetes, which makes it a potential target...
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Solvent influence on the crystal structures of new cadmium tri-tert -butoxysilanethiolate complexes with 1,4-bis(3-aminopropyl)piperazine: luminescence and antifungal activity
PublicationMonocrystals of dinuclear 1,4-bis(3-aminopropyl)piperazine-�4N1,N10:N4,N40-bis[bis(tri-tert-butoxysilanethiolato-�S)cadmium(II)], [Cd2(C12H27O3SSi)4(C10-H24N4)] or [Cd2{SSi(OtBu)3}4(�-BAPP)], 1, and polynuclear catena-poly[[bis- (tri-tert-butoxysilanethiolato-�S)cadmium(II)]-�-1,4-bis(3-aminopropyl)piperazine-�2N10:N40], [Cd(C12H27O3SSi)2(C10H24N4)]n or [Cd{SSi(OtBu)3}2(�-BAPP)]n, 2, with 1,4-bis(3-aminopropyl)piperazine (BAPP)...
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Sławomir Milewski prof. dr hab. inż.
PeopleSławomir Milewski, born in 1955 in Puck, Poland, graduated in 1979 in Chemistry from the Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology (GUT). In 1984 was employed at the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biochemistry. In 1985 he got his PhD, in 1994 became a DSc (habilitation) and in 2002 got the professorship in chemical sciences. Currently he is a full professor and Head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology...
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Desensitization of glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase to inhibition by UDP-GlcNAc
PublicationGlucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcN-6-P) synthase, known also as L-Glutamine: D-fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase, catalyzes the first committed step in the pathway leading to the ultimate formation of UDP-GlcNAc. The final product of this pathway is an activated precursor of numerous macromolecules containing amino sugars, including chitin and mannproteins in fungi, peptidoglycan and lipopolysaccharides in bacteria, and glycoproteins...
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Glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase with an oligoHis insert
PublicationGlucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcN-6-P) synthase known also as L-Glutamine: D-fructose-6-phosphate aminotransferase (EC 2.6.1.16), catalyzes the first committed step in the amino sugar biosynthetic pathway in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. The final product of this pathway is an activated precursor of numerous macromolecules containing amino sugars, including chitin and mannproteins in fungi, peptydoglican and lipopolysaccharides...
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Membrane Sterols Modulate the Binding Mode of Amphotericin B without Affecting Its Affinity for a Lipid Bilayer
PublicationMembrane-active antibiotics are known to selectively target certain pathogens based on cell membrane properties, such as fluidity, lipid ordering, and phase behavior. These are in turn modulated by the composition of a lipid bilayer and in particular by the presence and type of membrane sterols. Amphotericin B (AmB), the golden standard of antifungal treatment, exhibits higher activity toward ergosterol-rich fungal membranes, which...
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Characterization of two aminotransferases from Candida albicans
PublicationAminoadipate aminotransferase (AmAA) is an enzyme of α-aminoadipate pathway (AAP) for l-lysine biosynthesis. AmAA may also participated in biosynthesis or degradation of aromatic amino acids and in d-tryptophan based pigment production. The AAP is unique for fungal microorganisms. Enzymes involved in this pathway have specific structures and properties. These features can be used as potential molecular markers. Enzymes catalyzing...
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Development of biocompatible iron oxide-silicon oxide core-shell nanoparticles as subcellular delivery platform for glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase inhibitors
PublicationIn order to develop the preparation of iron oxide-silica coreshell nanoparticles (CSNPs), thesis deeply explores the cetyltrimethylammonium (CTA+) directed silica coating methods of the oleic-acid capped iron oxide nanoparticles (OA-IONPs) initialized under near-neutral pH conditions. It is demonstrated that the initial alkaline hydrolysis of ethyl acetate in the presence of CTA+ and OA-IONPs induces an unusual ligand exchange...
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Development of Biocompatible Fe3O4@SiO2 Nanoparticles as Subcellular Delivery Platform for Glucosamine-6-phosphate Synthase Inhibitors
PublicationNumerous inhibitors of glucoseamine-6-phophate synthase (GlcN-6-P), the enzyme responsible from catalysis of the first step of metabolic pathway leading to metabolism 5’-diphospho-N-acetyl-D- glucosamine, were reported as effective agents for inhibiting the growth of various fungal pathogens. Among the reported inhibitors,...