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The I3C NMR chemical shifts of 126 steroidal sapogenins published between 1983 and 1993 are listed and critical spectral features and advances made in the NMR characterization of these compounds are discussed as a guide for the identification of the parent skeleton and the determination of substitution patterns. The NMR spectroscopic methods applicable to deduce the complete structure of the oligosaccharide moiety and its linkage to the sapogenin residue are also presented to elucidate the structure of steroidal saponins.

Numerous bacterial pathogens, particularly those that colonize fast-flow areas in the bladder and gastrointestinal tract, require motility to establish infection and spread beyond the initially colonized tissue. Vibrio cholerae strains of serogroups O1 and O139, the causative agents of the diarrheal illness cholera, express a single polar flagellum powered by sodium motive force and require motility to colonize and spread along the small intestine. Therefore, motility may be an attractive target for small molecules that can prevent and/or block the infective process. In this study, we describe a high-throughput screening (HTS) assay to identify small molecules that selectively inhibit bacterial motility. The HTS assay was used to screen an ϳ8,000-compound structurally diverse chemical library for inhibitors of V. cholerae motility. The screen identified a group of quinazoline-2,4-diamino analogs that completely suppressed motility without affecting the growth rate in broth. A further study on the effects of one analog, designated Q24DA, showed that it induces a flagellated but nonmotile (Mot ؊ ) phenotype and is specific for the Na ؉ -driven flagellar motor of pathogenic Vibrio species. A mutation conferring phenamil-resistant motility did not eliminate inhibition of motility by Q24DA. Q24DA diminished the expression of cholera toxin and toxin-coregulated pilus as well as biofilm formation and fluid secretion in the rabbit ileal loop model. Furthermore, treatment of V. cholerae with Q24DA impacted additional phenotypes linked to Na ؉ bioenergetics, such as the function of the primary Na ؉ pump, Nqr, and susceptibility to fluoroquinolones. The above results clearly show that the described HTS assay is capable of identifying small molecules that specifically block bacterial motility. New inhibitors such as Q24DA may be instrumental in probing the molecular architecture of the Na ؉ -driven polar flagellar motor and in studying the role of motility in the expression of other virulence factors.Cholera is an acute waterborne diarrheal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae strains of serogroups O1 and O139. This Gramnegative pathogen continues to be a major public health concern in areas of endemicity in South Asia and Africa, with an estimated 5 million cases and more than 100,000 deaths per year. Cases of severe cholera are commonly treated with antibiotics to diminish the duration of its life-threatening clinical symptoms. In this regard, the emergence of multipleantibiotic-resistant V. cholerae O1 and O139 strains has been recognized as a major concern (12,43,45,49). The availability of novel prophylactic measures and/or adjunctive therapies could contribute to diminishing the burden of cholera and antibiotic resistance.V. cholerae strains that cause epidemic cholera exhibit three major virulence traits: (i) production of cholera toxin (CT), (ii) expression of the toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP), and (iii) expression of a single, fast-rotating sheathed polar flagellum driven by sodium motive force (SMF) (34). CT is an AD...

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Thio analogues of purine, pyridine, and pyrimidine were prepared based on the initial activity screening of several analogues of these heterocycles against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Certain 6-thio-substituted purine analogues described herein showed moderate to good inhibitory activity. In particular, two purine analogues 9-(ethylcarboxymethyl)-6-(decylthio)-9H-purine (20) and 9-(ethylcarboxymethyl)-6-(dodecylthio)-9H-purine (21) exhibited MIC values of 1.56 and 0.78 microg/mL respectively against the Mtb H(37)Rv strain. N(9)-Substitution apparently enhances the antimycobacterial activity in the purine series described herein.

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Lipomannan (LM) and lipoarabinomannan (LAM) are key Corynebacterineae glycoconjugates that are integral components of the mycobacterial cell wall, and are potent immunomodulators during infection. LAM is a complex heteropolysaccharide synthesized by an array of essential glycosyltransferase family C (GT-C) members, which represent potential drug targets. Herein, we have identified and characterized two open reading frames from Corynebacterium glutamicum that encode for putative GT-Cs. Deletion of NCgl2100 and NCgl2097 in C. glutamicum demonstrated their role in the biosynthesis of the branching α(1→2)-Manp residues found in LM and LAM. In addition, utilizing a chemically defined nonasaccharide acceptor, azidoethyl 6-O-benzyl-α-D-mannopyranosyl-(1→6)-[α-D-mannopyranosyl-(1→6)]7-D-mannopyranoside, and the glycosyl donor C50-polyprenol-phosphate-[14C]-mannose with membranes prepared from different C. glutamicum mutant strains, we have shown that both NCgl2100 and NCgl2097 encode for novel α(1→2)-mannopyranosyltransferases, which we have termed MptC and MptD respectively. Complementation studies and in vitro assays also identified Rv2181 as a homologue of Cg-MptC in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Finally, we investigated the ability of LM and LAM from C. glutamicum, and C. glutamicumΔmptC and C. glutamicumΔmptD mutants, to activate Toll-like receptor 2. Overall, our study enhances our understanding of complex lipoglycan biosynthesis in Corynebacterineae and sheds further light on the structural and functional relationship of these classes of polysaccharides.

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