Expanding the Chemical Space of Reverse Fosmidomycin Analogs

Multidrug-resistant pathogens pose a major threat to human health, necessitating the identification of new drug targets and lead compounds that are not susceptible to cross-resistance. This study demonstrates that novel reverse thia analogs of the phosphonohydroxamic acid antibiotic fosmidomycin inhibit 1-deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate reductoisomerase (DXR), an essential enzyme for Plasmodium falciparum, Escherichia coli, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis that is absent in humans. Some novel analogs with large α-phenyl substituents exhibited strong inhibition across these three DXR orthologues, surpassing the inhibitory activity of fosmidomycin. Despite nanomolar target inhibition, the new DXR inhibitors demonstrated mainly weak or no in vitro growth inhibition of the pathogens. Crystallographic studies revealed that compounds 12a and 12b induce an open PfDXR conformation and that the enzyme selectively binds the S-enantiomers. The study underscores the difficulties of achieving potent cellular activity despite strong DXR inhibition and emphasizes the need for novel structural optimization strategies and comprehensive pharmacokinetic studies.