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. 1988 Aug;32(8):1119–1123. doi: 10.1128/aac.32.8.1119

Inhibition of Escherichia coli growth and diaminopimelic acid epimerase by 3-chlorodiaminopimelic acid.

R J Baumann 1, E H Bohme 1, J S Wiseman 1, M Vaal 1, J S Nichols 1
PMCID: PMC172362  PMID: 3056252

Abstract

The diaminopimelic acid (DAP) analog, 3-chloro-DAP, was synthesized and tested as the racemic acid for antibacterial activity and for inhibition of DAP epimerase. 3-Chloro-DAP was a potent inhibitor of DAP epimerase purified from Escherichia coli (Ki = 200 nM), and it is argued that 3-chloro-DAP is converted to a tight-binding transition state analog at the active site of this enzyme. Furthermore, 3-chloro-DAP inhibited growth of two E. coli mutants. In one of the mutants known for supersusceptibility to beta-lactams, inhibition was not seen until the mid-log phase of growth, while in the other mutant, a DAP auxotroph, inhibition occurred much earlier. Growth inhibition was reversed by DAP in both strains. In the auxotroph, the reversal was specific for meso-DAP, indicating that DAP epimerase was the target for 3-chloro-DAP. Thus we suggest a novel mechanism of bacterial growth inhibition which depends on DAP epimerase inhibition by a DAP analog.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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