1. Academic Validation
  2. Venturicidin A, A Membrane-active Natural Product Inhibitor of ATP synthase Potentiates Aminoglycoside Antibiotics

Venturicidin A, A Membrane-active Natural Product Inhibitor of ATP synthase Potentiates Aminoglycoside Antibiotics

  • Sci Rep. 2020 May 18;10(1):8134. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-64756-0.
Venkateswarlu Yarlagadda 1 Ricardo Medina 2 Gerard D Wright 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 David Braley Centre for Antibiotic Discovery, M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4K1, Canada.
  • 2 Department of Microbiology, Central University of Las Villas, Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba.
  • 3 David Braley Centre for Antibiotic Discovery, M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4K1, Canada. wrightge@mcmaster.ca.
Abstract

Despite the remarkable advances due to the discovery and development of antimicrobials agents, infectious diseases remain the second leading cause of death worldwide. This fact underlines the importance of developing new therapeutic strategies to address the widespread Antibiotic resistance, which is the major contributing factor for clinical failures of the current therapeutics. In a screen for Antibiotic adjuvants, we identified a natural product from actinomycetes, venturicidin A (VentA), that potentiates the Aminoglycoside antibiotic gentamicin against multidrug-resistant clinical isolates of Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Furthermore, the combination of gentamicin and VentA was bactericidal and rapidly eradicated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The molecular mechanism of gentamicin potentiation activity is attributed to uncoupling of ATP synthesis by VentA from electron transport presumably by blocking the proton flow through ATP Synthase, which results in an elevated concentration of extracellular protons and subsequent anticipated raise in gentamicin uptake. The disruption of the proton flux was characterized by perturbed membrane potential in MRSA. These results demonstrate that inhibition of ATP Synthase along with the subsequent membrane dysregulation, as shown here with VentA, complements Aminoglycoside antibiotics against MDR bacteria, and that this approach may be employed to combat Bacterial resistance.

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