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Rapid One-step Enzymatic Synthesis and All-aqueous Purification of Trehalose Analogues
09:27

Rapid One-step Enzymatic Synthesis and All-aqueous Purification of Trehalose Analogues

Published on: February 17, 2017

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Trehalose pathway as an antifungal target

John R Perfect1, Jennifer L Tenor1, Yi Miao1

  • 1a Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry , Duke University Medical Center , Durham , NC , USA.

Virulence
|June 2, 2016
PubMed

Insights

New antifungal drug discovery is crucial due to rising infections and resistance. Targeting the fungal trehalose pathway offers a promising, broad-spectrum, and potentially non-toxic approach for developing novel antifungal agents.

Area of Science:

  • Mycology
  • Biochemistry
  • Drug Discovery

Background:

  • Increasing immunocompromised populations are susceptible to invasive fungal infections.
  • Current antifungal agents face challenges from widespread use, leading to drug resistance.
  • There is an urgent need for novel antifungal agents and a robust drug discovery pipeline.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize the trehalose metabolic pathway in fungi.
  • To evaluate the trehalose pathway as a potential target for new antifungal agents.
  • To explore the feasibility of developing specific inhibitors for fungal trehalose enzymes.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on fungal trehalose metabolism.
  • Analysis of the trehalose pathway's characteristics for antifungal development.
  • Assessment of the pathway's presence and absence in mammalian systems.

Main Results:

  • The trehalose pathway exhibits fungicidal characteristics.
  • This pathway is broad-spectrum, effective across Ascomycete and Basidiomycete species.
  • The pathway is absent in mammals, suggesting theoretical low toxicity for specific inhibitors.

Conclusions:

  • The trehalose pathway presents a viable target for antifungal drug discovery.
  • Targeting trehalose synthesis could lead to a new class of antifungal drugs.
  • Developing specific inhibitors for fungal trehalose enzymes may offer a safe and effective treatment strategy.
Keywords:
antifungaldrug developmenttrehalose

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