Chemists Synthesize Carboxypolyamines and Design Inhibitors of Bacterial Polyamine Enzyme
Researchers report a convenient synthesis of carboxypolyamine substrates and hydroxylamine-containing analogs designed to selectively inhibit carboxyspermidine decarboxylase in bacterial polyamine biosynthesis. Biogenic polyamines such as spermidine and spermine are small organic polycations that are vitally important across all domains of life Recent studies have shown that polyamine biosynthesis has undergone convergent evolution, and that some bacteria rely on biosynthetic routes in which aspartate, rather than decarboxylated S-adenosylmethionine, supplies the three-carbon moiety needed to build these molecules Carboxypolyamines are key intermediates in these aspartate-dependent pathways, and at the final step a specific PLP-dependent enzyme, carboxyspermidine decarboxylase (CASDC), converts carboxypolyamines into the corresponding polyamines.A new open-access study published in the…