Glycyl tRNA synthetases (GlyRSs) are prospective drug targets for combating Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and cancer in humans. These synthetases are of the α2-subtype, with the ortholog in humans being dual targeted to the cytosol and mitochondria. Whereas the human enzyme has been structurally characterized previously in several liganded states, no structures of MtbGlyRS have thus far been reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFare pathogenic bacteria responsible for a worldwide zoonosis called brucellosis. In this study, we exploit the d-mannose central metabolism for the selective labeling of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a key virulence factor in Gram-negative bacteria. Our approach provides chemical tools to allow selective derivatization of bacterial membranes in vivo and a handle for imaging studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
May 2025
The aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (AaRSs) are an ancient family of structurally diverse enzymes that are divided into two major classes. The functionalities of most AaRSs are inextricably linked to their oligomeric states. While GluRSs were previously classified as monomers, the current investigation reveals that the form expressed in is a rotationally pseudosymmetrical homodimer featuring intersubunit tRNA binding sites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
June 2025
Entamoeba histolytica causes amebiasis, a neglected disease that kills ∼100 000 people globally each year. Due to emerging drug resistance, E. histolytica is one of the target organisms for structure-based drug discovery by the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
January 2025
Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
January 2025
Plasmodium vivax, a significant contributor to global malaria cases, poses an escalating health burden on a substantial portion of the world's population. The increasing spread of P. vivax because of climate change underscores the development of new and rational drug-discovery approaches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGriselimycin, a cyclic depsidecapeptide produced by Streptomyces griseus, is a promising lead inhibitor of the sliding clamp component of bacterial DNA polymerases (β-subunit of Escherichia coli DNA pol III). It was previously shown to inhibit the Mycobacterium tuberculosis β-clamp with remarkably high affinity and selectivity - the peptide lacks any interaction with the human sliding clamp. Here, we used a structural genomics approach to address the prospect of broader-spectrum inhibition, in particular of β-clamps from Gram-negative bacterial targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
December 2024
Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
December 2024
Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
December 2024
Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
October 2024
Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
September 2024
Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
August 2024
Contemp Clin Trials Commun
June 2023
In the summer of 2020, multiple efforts were undertaken to establish safe and effective vaccines to combat the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In the United States (U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
August 2022
Elizabethkingia bacteria are globally emerging pathogens that cause opportunistic and nosocomial infections, with up to 40% mortality among the immunocompromised. Elizabethkingia species are in the pipeline of organisms for high-throughput structural analysis at the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID). These efforts include the structure-function analysis of potential therapeutic targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
March 2022
The name of one of the authors in Beard et al. [(2022), Acta Cryst. F78, 59-65] is corrected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
March 2022
Chlamydia trachomatis is the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted infections globally and is one of the most commonly reported infections in the United States. There is a need to develop new therapeutics due to drug resistance and the failure of current treatments to clear persistent infections. Structures of potential C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
February 2022
Burkholderia phymatum is an important symbiotic nitrogen-fixing betaproteobacterium. B. phymatum is beneficial, unlike other Burkholderia species, which cause disease or are potential bioagents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
February 2022
Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
January 2022
Members of the bacterial genus Brucella cause brucellosis, a zoonotic disease that affects both livestock and wildlife. Brucella are category B infectious agents that can be aerosolized for biological warfare. As part of the structural genomics studies at the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), FolM alternative dihydrofolate reductases 1 from Brucella suis and Brucella canis were produced and their structures are reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
January 2022
Paraburkholderia xenovorans degrades organic wastes, including polychlorinated biphenyls. The atomic structure of a putative dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) from P. xenovorans (PxSDR) was determined in space group P2 at a resolution of 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNaegleria fowleri is a pathogenic, thermophilic, free-living amoeba which causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). Penetrating the olfactory mucosa, the brain-eating amoeba travels along the olfactory nerves, burrowing through the cribriform plate to its destination: the brain's frontal lobes. The amoeba thrives in warm, freshwater environments, with peak infection rates in the summer months and has a mortality rate of approximately 97%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRapid generation of diagnostics is paramount to understand epidemiology and to control the spread of emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Computational methods to predict serodiagnostic epitopes that are specific for the pathogen could help accelerate the development of new diagnostics. A systematic survey of 27 SARS-CoV-2 proteins was conducted to assess whether existing B-cell epitope prediction methods, combined with comprehensive mining of sequence databases and structural data, could predict whether a particular protein would be suitable for serodiagnosis.
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