Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) plays an essential role in bacterial growth and resistance to antibiotics, and LTA synthetase (LtaS) was considered as an attractive target for combating Gram-positive infections. Azalomycin F, a natural guanidyl-containing polyhydroxy macrolide, can target the LTA of Staphylococcus aureus. Using various technologies including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, transmission electron microscope, proteomics, and parallel reaction monitoring, here, the experimental results indicated that azalomycin F can accelerate the LTA release and disrupt the cell envelope, which would also lead to the feedback upregulation on the expressions of LtaS and other related enzymes. Simultaneously, the reconstituted enzyme activity evaluations showed that azalomycin F can significantly inhibit the extracellular catalytic domain of LtaS (eLtaS), while this was vague for LtaS embedded in the liposomes. Subsequently, the fluorescence analyses for five incubation systems containing azalomycin F and eLtaS or the LtaS-embedded liposome indicated that azalomcyin F can spontaneously bind to the active center of LtaS. Combining the mass spectroscopy analyses and the molecular dockings, the results further indicated that this interaction involves the binding sites of substrates and the LTA prolongation, especially the residues Lys299, Phe353, Trp354 and His416. All these suggested that azalomycin F has multiple antibacterial mechanisms against S. aureus. It can not only inhibit LTA biosynthesis through the interactions of its guanidyl side chain with the active center of LtaS but also disrupt the cell envelope through the synergistic effect of accelerating the LTA release, damaging the cell membrane, and electrostatically interacting with LTA. Simultaneously, these antibacterial mechanisms exhibit a synergistic inhibition effect on S. aureus cells, which would eventually cause the cellular autolysis.
Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus; azalomycin F; fluorescence; lipoteichoic acid; molecular dock; proteomics; virulence factor.