Characterization and inhibition of a class II diterpene cyclase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis: implications for tuberculosis.

ABSTRACT: Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains a widespread and devastating human pathogen, whose ability to infiltrate macrophage host cells from the human immune system is an active area of investigation. We have recently reported the discovery of a novel diterpene from M. tuberculosis, edaxadiene, whose ability to arrest phagosomal maturation in isolation presumably contributes to this critical process in M. tuberculosis infections. (Mann, F. M., Xu, M., Chen, X., Fulton, D. B., Russell, D. G., and Peters, R. J. (2009) J. Am. Chem. Soc., in press). Here, we present characterization of the class II diterpene cyclase that catalyzes the committed step in edaxadiene biosynthesis, i.e. the previously identified halimadienyl-diphosphate synthase (HPS; EC 5.5.1.16). Intriguingly, our kinetic analysis sugg

SUBMITTER: Mann FM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2749132 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature