A Rapid Phenotypic Whole Cell Screening Approach for the Identification of Small Molecule Inhibitors that Counter Beta-lactamase Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

摘要

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic human pathogen which is prevalent in hospitals and continues to develop resistance to multiple classes of antibiotics. Historically, β-lactam antibiotics have been the first line of therapeutic defense. However, the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of P. aeruginosa, such as AmpC β-lactamase overproducing mutants, limits the effectiveness of current antibiotics. Among AmpC hyper producing clinical isolates, inactivation of AmpG, which is essential for the expression of AmpC, increases bacterial sensitivity to β-lactam antibiotics. We hypothesize that inhibition of AmpG activity will enhance the efficacy of β-lactams against P. aeruginosa. Here, using a highly drug resistant AmpC inducible laboratory strain PAO1, we describe an ultra-high throughput whole cell turbidity assay designed to identify small molecule inhibitors of the AmpG. We screened 645K compounds to identify compounds with the ability to inhibit bacterial growth in the presence of Cefoxitin; an AmpC inducer, and identified 2,663 inhibitors which were also tested in the absence of Cefoxitin to determine AmpG specificity. The Z′ and S:B were robust at 0.87 ± 0.05 and 2.2 ± 0.2, respectively. Through a series of secondary and tertiary studies, including a novel luciferase based counterscreen, we ultimately identified 8 potential AmpG specific inhibitors.