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Many essential enzymes in bacteria remain promising potential targets of antibacterial agents. In this study, we discovered that dequalinium, a topical antibacterial agent, is an inhibitor of Staphylococcus aureus primase DnaG (SaDnaG) with low-micromolar minimum inhibitory concentrations against several S. aureus strains, including methicillin-resistant bacteria. Mechanistic studies of dequalinium and a series of nine of its synthesized analogues revealed that these compounds are single-stranded DNA bisintercalators that penetrate a bacterium by compromising its membrane. The best compound of this series likely interacts with DnaG directly, inhibits both staphylococcal cell growth and biofilm formation, and displays no significant hemolytic activity or toxicity to mammalian cells. This compound is an excellent lead for further development of a novel anti-staphylococcal therapeutic.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.202100001 | DOI Listing |
Nucleic Acids Res
September 2025
Expression génétique microbienne, UMR8261 CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris 75005, France.
Targeted gene editing can be achieved using CRISPR-Cas9-assisted recombineering. However, high-efficiency editing requires careful optimization for each locus to be modified, which can be tedious and time-consuming. In this work, we developed a simple, fast and cheap method: Engineered Assembly of SYnthetic operons for targeted editing (EASY-edit) in Escherichia coli.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
September 2025
Cancer Research Center of Marseille: Team DNA Damage and Genome Instability|CNRS, Inserm, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille 13009, France.
Following encounter with an unrepaired DNA lesion, replication is halted and can restart downstream of the lesion leading to the formation of a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) gap. To complete replication, this ssDNA gap is filled in by one of the two lesion tolerance pathways: the error-prone Translesion Synthesis (TLS) or the error-free Homology Directed Gap Repair (HDGR). In the present work, we evidence a role for the RecBC complex distinct from its canonical function in homologous recombination at DNA double strand breaks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Drug Deliv Rev
September 2025
Biochemistry, CUNY Graduate Center, The City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States; Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, CUNY Graduate Center, The City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States; Chemistry, CUNY Gradua
Targeted drug delivery significantly enhances therapeutic efficacy across various diseases, particularly in cancer treatments, where conventional approaches such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy often cause severe side effects. In this context, nucleic acid aptamers-short, single-stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides capable of binding specific targets with high affinity-have emerged as promising tools for precision drug delivery and therapy. Aptamers can be selected against whole, living cells using SELEX and chemically modified for diverse applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnal Chem
September 2025
State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Energy, Discipline of Intelligent Instrument and Equipment, State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361
Rolling circle amplification (RCA) has revolutionized nucleic acid detection owing to its isothermal simplicity. However, over two decades of clinical application have been hampered by off-target amplification and incompatibility with double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). Herein, a strategy, specifically cleavage of rationally designed DNA/RNA chimeric hairpin preprimer by dsDNA-targeted CRISPR/Cas12a to rlease ssRNA for initiating RCA (SCOPE-RCA), is proposed for nucleic acid identification of African swine fever virus (ASFV).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnal Chem
September 2025
Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
DNA-encoded libraries have become widely used in drug discovery, and several different setups to link chemical compounds to DNA have been employed in the field, including single-stranded and double-stranded DNA tags as well as a variety of linker chemistries. In our previous study, we observed distinct differences in binding affinities between ligands coupled either to single-stranded or double-stranded DNA; however, the molecular basis for these differences remained unclear. Here, we present a native ion mobility mass spectrometry approach that incorporates gas- and solution-phase activation techniques to systematically investigate these differences, specifically the impact of DNA tags on binding performance in protein-ligand interactions.
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