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. 1991 Jan;35(1):170–173. doi: 10.1128/aac.35.1.170

Differential inhibition of chitin synthetases 1 and 2 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae by polyoxin D and nikkomycins.

E Cabib 1
PMCID: PMC244960  PMID: 2014972

Abstract

Polyoxin D, nikkomycin X, and nikkomycin Z are all competitive inhibitors of chitin synthetase 2 (Chs2), the essential enzyme for primary septum formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and of Chs1, a repair enzyme. However, Chs2 is more resistant to these antibiotics than Chs1. When Co2+, the best stimulator of Chs2, was used in the assay for this enzyme, the differences in the Ki values for nikkomycins between the two isozymes reached 3 orders of magnitude. These results point to differences in the active sites of the two isozymes. Polyoxin D was much more effective than nikkomycin Z in inhibiting cell growth. This underlines the importance of the choice of enzyme and of assay conditions when cell wall-synthesizing enzymes are used in screens for possible antifungal agents.

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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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