Although dispensable, costimulation through CD28 facilitates activation of naïve T lymphocytes. CD28 engagement led to the redistribution and clustering of membrane and intracellular kinase-rich raft microdomains at the site of T cell receptor (TCR) engagements. Although not affecting TCR down-regulation, this process led to higher and more stable tyrosine phosphorylation of several substrates and higher consumption of Lck. These results may provide a general mechanism for amplifying receptor signaling by reorganization of membrane microdomains.

SummaryHaem is a life supporting molecule that is ubiquitous in all major kingdoms. In Staphylococcus aureus, the importance of haem is highlighted by the presence of systems both for the exogenous acquisition and endogenous synthesis of this prosthetic group. In this work, we show that in S. aureus the formation of haem involves the conversion of coproporphyrinogen III into coproporphyrin III by coproporphyrin synthase HemY, insertion of iron into coproporphyrin III via ferrochelatase HemH, and oxidative decarboxylation of Fe-coproporphyrin III into protohaem IX by Fe-coproporphyrin oxidase/dehydrogenase HemQ. Together, this route represents a transitional pathway between the classic pathway and the more recently acknowledged alternative biosynthesis machinery. The role of the haem biosynthetic pathway in the survival of the bacterium was investigated by testing for inhibitors of HemY. Analogues of acifluorfen are shown to inhibit the flavin-containing HemY, highlighting this protein as a suitable target for the development of drugs against S. aureus. Moreover, the presence of a transitional pathway for haem biosynthesis within many Gram positive pathogenic bacteria suggests that this route has the potential not only for the design of antimicrobials but also for the selective discrimination between bacteria operating different routes to the biosynthesis of haem.

bClostridium difficile is a leading cause of health care-associated diarrhea with significant morbidity and mortality, and new options for the treatment of C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) are needed. Cadazolid is a new oxazolidinone-type antibiotic that is currently in clinical development for treatment of CDAD. Here, we report the in vitro and in vivo antibacterial evaluation of cadazolid against C. difficile. Cadazolid showed potent in vitro activity against C. difficile with a MIC range of 0.125 to 0.5 g/ml, including strains resistant to linezolid and fluoroquinolones. In time-kill kinetics experiments, cadazolid showed a bactericidal effect against C. difficile isolates, with >99.9% killing in 24 h, and was more bactericidal than vancomycin. In contrast to metronidazole and vancomycin, cadazolid strongly inhibited de novo toxin A and B formation in stationary-phase cultures of toxigenic C. difficile. Cadazolid also inhibited C. difficile spore formation substantially at growth-inhibitory concentrations. In the hamster and mouse models for CDAD, cadazolid was active, conferring full protection from diarrhea and death with a potency similar to that of vancomycin. These findings support further investigations of cadazolid for the treatment of CDAD.C lostridium difficile infection (CDI), or CDAD for C. difficileassociated diarrhea, is a major health care problem and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in elderly hospitalized patients (1, 2). During the past decade, there has been a renewed interest in CDAD triggered by an increase in both frequency and severity of the disease in the Western world and the discovery of new hypervirulent strains (3-6), as well as an increased incidence of CDAD in the community (7). CDAD results from overgrowth of toxin-producing strains in the colon, typically following disturbances of the normal protective enteric flora. Clinical symptoms range from asymptomatic colonization to diarrhea, severe pseudomembranous colitis, sepsis, and death. The main virulence factors of C. difficile are two high-molecular-weight toxins, the enterotoxin toxin A (TcdA) and the cytotoxin toxin B (TcdB), while the contribution of the binary toxin remains unclear (8). Toxin A and toxin B cause damage to the intestinal epithelial barrier and promote mucosal inflammation. In fact, the main clinical symptoms of CDAD (secretory diarrhea and inflammation of the colonic mucosa) can be explained by the action of toxins A and B (8). Moreover, C. difficile produces endospores that are resistant to antibiotic treatment and routine disinfection (9). Spores surviving in the gut of patients and in the hospital environment may play a major role in reinfection and relapse of CDAD. Current antibiotic therapy for CDAD includes vancomycin and metronidazole, which have limited treatment success in severe disease, and high recurrence rates of up to 30% have been observed with these treatments (10). Only one new antibiotic, fidaxomicin (11, 12), has been approved in the last 30 years for this indication. In c...

Cadazolid is a new oxazolidinone-type antibiotic currently in clinical development for the treatment of Clostridium difficileassociated diarrhea. Here, we report investigations on the mode of action and the propensity for spontaneous resistance development in C. difficile strains. Macromolecular labeling experiments indicated that cadazolid acts as a potent inhibitor of protein synthesis, while inhibition of DNA synthesis was also observed, albeit only at substantially higher concentrations of the drug. Strong inhibition of protein synthesis was also obtained in strains resistant to linezolid, in agreement with low MICs against such strains. Inhibition of protein synthesis was confirmed in coupled transcription/translation assays using extracts from different C. difficile strains, including strains resistant to linezolid, while inhibitory effects in DNA topoisomerase assays were weak or not detectable under the assay conditions. Spontaneous resistance frequencies of cadazolid were low in all strains tested (generally <10؊10 at 2؋ to 4؋ the MIC), and in multiple-passage experiments (up to 13 passages) MICs did not significantly increase. Furthermore, no cross-resistance was observed, as cadazolid retained potent activity against strains resistant or nonsusceptible to linezolid, fluoroquinolones, and the new antibiotic fidaxomicin. In conclusion, the data presented here indicate that cadazolid acts primarily by inhibition of protein synthesis, with weak inhibition of DNA synthesis as a potential second mode of action, and suggest a low potential for spontaneous resistance development.

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The biosynthesis of many vitamins and coenzymes has often proved difficult to elucidate due to a combination of low abundance and kinetic lability of the pathway intermediates. Through a serial reconstruction of the cobalamin (vitamin B12) pathway in E. coli, and by His-tagging the terminal enzyme in the reaction sequence, we have observed that many unstable intermediates can be isolated as tightly-bound enzyme-product complexes. Together, these approaches have been used to extract intermediates between precorrin-4 and hydrogenobyrinic acid in their free acid form and permitted the delineation of the overall reaction catalysed by CobL, including the formal elucidation of precorrin-7 as a metabolite. Furthermore, a substrate-carrier protein, CobE, has been identified, which can also be used to stabilize some of the transient metabolic intermediates and enhance their onward transformation. The tight association of pathway intermediates with enzymes provides evidence for a form of metabolite channeling.

Vitamin B is made by only certain prokaryotes yet is required by a number of eukaryotes such as mammals, fish, birds, worms, and Protista, including algae. There is still much to learn about how this nutrient is trafficked across the domains of life. Herein, we describe ways to make a number of different corrin analogs with fluorescent groups attached to the main tetrapyrrole-derived ring. A further range of analogs were also constructed by attaching similar fluorescent groups to the ribose ring of cobalamin, thereby generating a range of complete and incomplete corrinoids to follow uptake in bacteria, worms, and plants. By using these fluorescent derivatives we were able to demonstrate that Mycobacterium tuberculosis is able to acquire both cobyric acid and cobalamin analogs, that Caenorhabditis elegans takes up only the complete corrinoid, and that seedlings of higher plants such as Lepidium sativum are also able to transport B.

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