2 research outputs found
Development of Solvent-Dispersible Coordination Polymer Nanocrystals and Application as Efficient Heterogeneous Catalysts
Nonporous
coordination polymers (CPs) constructed from flexible
bridging ligands have seldom been utilized in practical applications,
owing to limited solubility and/or stability in most solvents. Here
we have produced nanocrystal coordination polymers (NCPs) with identical
crystalline structure to their macroscale counterparts, high solvent
dispersibility, and large effective surface area for catalytic application.
A microemulsion system has been developed for the mild synthesis of
the Zn<sup>II</sup>- and Cu<sup>II</sup>-NCPs, resulting in control
over the size, morphology, and reactivity. Both Zn<sup>II</sup>- and
Cu<sup>II</sup>-NCPs demonstrated high catalytic activity in a ring
opening reaction of cyclohexene oxide with aniline; furthermore, reduced
Cu-NCPs were employed as efficient, reusable catalysts for an azide–alkyne
cycloaddition “click” reaction in the nonpolar solvent
heptane. In contrast, all macroscale CP equivalents, prepared by conventional
methods, were catalytically inactive
Biochemical and Cellular Characterization of the Function of Fluorophosphonate-Binding Hydrolase H (FphH) in <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> Support a Role in Bacterial Stress Response
The development of
new treatment options for bacterial
infections
requires access to new targets for antibiotics and antivirulence strategies.
Chemoproteomic approaches are powerful tools for profiling and identifying
novel druggable target candidates, but their functions often remain
uncharacterized. Previously, we used activity-based protein profiling
in the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus to identify active serine hydrolases termed fluorophosphonate-binding
hydrolases (Fph). Here, we provide the first characterization of S. aureus FphH, a conserved, putative carboxylesterase (referred
to as yvaK in Bacillus subtilis)
at the molecular and cellular level. First, phenotypic characterization
of fphH-deficient transposon mutants revealed phenotypes
during growth under nutrient deprivation, biofilm formation, and intracellular
survival. Biochemical and structural investigations revealed that
FphH acts as an esterase and lipase based on a fold well suited to
act on a small to long hydrophobic unbranched lipid group within its
substrate and can be inhibited by active site-targeting oxadiazoles.
Prompted by a previous observation that fphH expression
was upregulated in response to fusidic acid, we found that FphH can
deacetylate this ribosome-targeting antibiotic, but the lack of FphH
function did not infer major changes in antibiotic susceptibility.
In conclusion, our results indicate a functional role of this hydrolase
in S. aureus stress responses, and hypothetical functions
connecting FphH with components of the ribosome rescue system that
are conserved in the same gene cluster across Bacillales are discussed. Our atomic characterization of FphH will facilitate
the development of specific FphH inhibitors and probes to elucidate
its physiological role and validity as a drug target