Current and former Biochemistry and Chemistry students along with faculty mentor Scott Ulrich published a paper titled “Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of Transition-State Analogs as Inhibitors of the Bacterial Quorum Sensing Autoinducer Synthase CepI” in the journal Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
The paper describes the discovery of drug-like molecules that interfere with a signaling system used by bacteria to coordinate group behaviors. These behaviors include virulence in some bacteria that are human pathogens, so this signaling system is an antibacterial drug target. The students showed that their molecules inhibit the signal-producing enzyme, and they are investigating the effects the molecules have on the bacterial behaviors the signal controls.
The paper can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmcl.2021.127873
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