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Updated: May 30, 2026

System for Efficacy and Cytotoxicity Screening of Inhibitors Targeting Intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Published on: April 5, 2017
Molecular basis for the selectivity of antituberculosis compounds capreomycin and viomycin
Rashid Akbergenov1, Dmitri Shcherbakov, Tanja Matt
1Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Universität Zürich, Gloriastrasse 30/32, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Capreomycin and the structurally similar compound viomycin are cyclic peptide antibiotics which are particularly active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, including multidrug resistant strains. Both antibiotics bind across the ribosomal interface involving 23S rRNA helix 69 (H69) and 16S rRNA helix 44 (h44). The binding site of tuberactinomycins in h44 partially overlaps with that of aminoglycosides, and they share with these drugs the side effect of irreversible hearing loss. Here we studied the drug target interaction on ribosomes modified by site-directed mutagenesis. We identified rRNA residues in h44 as the main determinants of phylogenetic selectivity, predict compensatory evolution to impact future resistance development, and propose mechanisms involved in tuberactinomycin ototoxicity, which may enable the development of improved, less-toxic derivatives.
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