New compound effectively treats fungal infections

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-Press Release Number: PR-EMBL-07-3

-Source: European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)

-Date issued: June 22, 2007

-Contact: -Lynn Wegener, +49 6221 387 8452, wegener@...

lightsources.org (press release) - Argonne,IL

New compound effectively treats fungal infections

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/?pid=1002199

Researchers unravel how a powerful new compound kills fungi by

blocking protein synthesis

Palo Alto/Grenoble, 22 June 2007 - A new mechanism to attack hard-to-

treat fungal infections has been revealed by scientists from the

biotech company Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., California, and the

European Molecular Biology Laboratory [EMBL] outstation in Grenoble,

France. In the current issue of Science they describe how a new

compound kills fungal pathogens by blocking an enzyme crucial for

their protein synthesis.

The human body is home to many different kinds of fungi. While the

majority normally do not harm us, some fungi can cause unpleasant

infections of skin, nails or lungs.

" We have discovered a new compound that has the potential to treat

common chronic nail infections caused by fungi, " says Dickon Alley,

researcher at Anacor Pharmaceuticals. " The compound, called AN2690,

kills fungi by blocking their ability to make proteins. It has been

very successful in clinical trials. " AN2690 interferes with an

enzyme called leucyl-tRNA synthetase, which is involved in

translation, one of the last steps in the process of turning a

gene's DNA code into a protein. The process begins when the cell

makes an RNA version of the gene's code, called messenger RNA.

Ribosomes, the cell's protein synthesis machinery, then translate

the messenger RNA into protein by stitching together the amino acids

in the order specified by the message. This requires the help of

molecules called tRNAs, which link the code of the messenger RNA to

the correct amino acid.

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Image 1. Crystal structure of the leucyl-tRNA synthetase bound to a

tRNA and the compound AN2690. (Courtesy: EMBL)

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Leucyl-tRNA synthetase is one of a group of enzymes called aminoacyl-

tRNA synthetases that attach the correct amino acid to each tRNA.

Some of these enzymes