Screening for new antimicrobial agents is routinely conducted only against actively replicating bacteria. However, it is now widely accepted that a physiological state of nonreplicating persistence (NRP) is responsible for antimicrobial tolerance in many bacterial infections. In tuberculosis, the key to shortening the 6-month regimen lies in targeting this NRP subpopulation. Therefore, a high-throughput, luminescence-based lowoxygen-recovery assay (LORA) was developed to screen antimicrobial agents against NRP Mycobacterium tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis H 37 Rv containing a plasmid with an acetamidase promoter driving a bacterial luciferase gene was adapted to low oxygen conditions by extended culture in a fermentor with a 0.5 headspace ratio. The MICs of 31 established antimicrobial agents were determined in microplate cultures maintained under anaerobic conditions for 10 days and, for comparative purposes, under aerobic conditions for 7 days. Cultures exposed to drugs under anaerobic conditions followed by 28 h of "recovery" under ambient oxygen produced a luminescent signal that was, for most compounds, proportional to the number of CFU determined prior to the recovery phase. No agents targeting the cell wall were active against NRP M. tuberculosis, whereas drugs hitting other cellular targets had a range of activities. The calculated Z factor was in the range of 0.58 to 0.84, indicating the suitability of the use of LORA for high-throughput assays. This LORA is sufficiently robust for use for primary high-throughput screening of compounds against NRP M. tuberculosis.It is now widely accepted that a physiological state of nonreplicating persistence (NRP) is responsible for antimicrobial tolerance in many bacterial infections (11). In tuberculosis, a subpopulation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in NRP is considered an important contributing factor to the long treatment duration required, and the key to shortening the currently recommended 6-month regimen (the primary goal of new anti-M. tuberculosis chemotherapy) lies in effective targeting of this phenotype (2, 6). Standard drug susceptibility assays for detection of the activities of drugs against rapidly growing bacteria may not identify such compounds (8,11). In vitro models of M. tuberculosis isolates in NRP exist (4,30,(37)(38)(39), and there are several reports of studies that have assessed drug activity against NRP or stationary-phase cells (20,(34)(35)(36)42); however, these have relied upon the enumeration of CFU, thus precluding high-throughput screening (HTS) applications and requiring a minimum of 3 to 4 weeks for the completion of testing. In addition, the culture and preparation of NRP M. tuberculosis cells (5,17,29,30,38) have used batch cultures, which are not optimal for monitoring and for comparative studies. In contrast, a chemostat or a fermentor with a continuous-oxygen-monitoring culture system allows bacteria to be grown in a controlled and defined environment; there are two reports of the successful cultivation of M. tuberculos...

Multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are resistant to first- and second-line drug regimens and resulted in 210,000 fatalities in 2013. In the current study, we screened a library of aquatic bacterial natural product fractions for their ability to inhibit this pathogen. A fraction from a Lake Michigan bacterium exhibited significant inhibitory activity, from which we characterized novel diazaquinomycins H and J. This antibiotic class displayed an in vitro activity profile similar or superior to clinically used anti-tuberculosis agents and maintained this potency against a panel of drug-resistant M. tuberculosis strains. Importantly, these are among the only freshwater-derived actinomycete bacterial metabolites described to date. Further in vitro profiling against a broad panel of bacteria indicated that this antibiotic class selectively targets M. tuberculosis. Additionally, in the case of this pathogen we present evidence counter to previous reports that claim the diazaquinomycins target thymidylate synthase in Gram-positive bacteria. Thus, we establish freshwater environments as potential sources for novel antibiotic leads and present the diazaquinomycins as potent and selective inhibitors of M. tuberculosis.

Chemical investigation of two cultured cyanobacteria, Westiellopsis sp. (SAG strain number 20.93) and Fischerella muscicola (UTEX strain number LB1829) led to the isolation of three hapalindole-type alkaloids, namely hapalindole X (1), deschloro hapalindole I (2), and 13-hydroxy dechlorofontonamide (3), along with ten known indole alkaloids (hapalindoles A, C, G, H, I, J, and U, hapalonamide H, anhydrohapaloxindole A, and fischerindole L) and fischerellins A and B. The structures were determined by a combination of spectroscopic analyses mainly based on 1D and 2D NMR and HRESIMS data. Selected compounds were evaluated for cytotoxicity and exhibited weak to moderate cytotoxicity against HT-29, MCF-7, NCI-H460, SF268, and IMR90 cells. All compounds, except hapalindole C, were evaluated for 20S proteasome inhibition and displayed either weak or no inhibition at 25 μg/mL. Selected compounds were also evaluated for antimicrobial activity, and hapalindoles X (1) and A, and hapalonamide H showed potent activity against both M. tuberculosis and C. albicans with MIC values ranging from 0.6 to 2.5 μM.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a devastating disease resulting in a death every 20 seconds. Thus, new drugs are urgently needed. Herein we report ten classes of compounds—oxazoline, oxazole, thiazoline, thiazole, pyrazole, pyridine, isoxazole, imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine, imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine and imidazo[1,2-c]pyrimidine—which have good (micromolar) to excellent (sub-micromolar) antitubercular potency. The 5,6-fused heteroaromatic compounds were the most potent with MIC’s as low as <0.195 μM (9 and 11). Overall, the imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine class was determined to be most promising, with potency similar to isoniazid and PA-824 against replicating Mtb H37Rv, clinically relevant drug sensitive, multi- and extensively resistant Mtb strains as well as having good in vitro metabolic stability.

An EtOH extract of the polypore mushroom, Fomitopsis officinalis afforded two new naturally occurring chlorinated coumarins which were identified as the previously synthesized compounds, 6-chloro-4-phenyl-2H-chromen-2-one (1) and ethyl 6-chloro-2-oxo-4-phenyl-2H-chromen-3-carboxylate (2). The structures of the two isolates were deduced ab initio by spectroscopic methods and confirmed by chemical synthesis. In addition, an analogue of each was synthesized as of 7-chloro-4-phenyl-2H-chromen-2-one (3) and ethyl 7-chloro-2-oxo-4-phenyl-2H-chromen-3-carboxylate (4). All four compounds were characterized physicochemically, and their antimicrobial activity profiles revealed a narrow spectrum of activity with lowest MICs against the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.