SIDE BY SIDE
Rifamycin SV (yellow stick structure) and GE23077 (blue stick structure) bind to adjacent sites on RNA polymerase (red and green). Mesh indicates electron density; purple ball is active site’s magnesium ion.
Antibiotic May Sidestep Resistance
Drug Discovery: Bacteria may find agent’s mechanism hard to circumvent.
Researchers finally know exactly how the promising antibiotic GE23077 (GE) inhibits an essential bacterial enzyme. They predict that GE’s ability to hit this enzyme in its active site could make it difficult for bacteria to develop resistance to the agent. The study also shows how GE might be conjugated with another antibiotic to make a combination drug the scientists believe might be unusually resistance-proof.
http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i18/Antibiotic-Sidestep-Resistance.html
