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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, June 2009, p. 2589-2598, Vol. 53, No. 6
0066-4804/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.01648-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Topoisomerase I Gene Mutations at F270 in the Large Subunit and N184 in the Small Subunit Contribute to the Resistance Mechanism of the Unicellular Parasite Leishmania donovani towards 3,3'-Diindolylmethane{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Amit Roy,1 Somdeb BoseDasgupta,1 Agneyo Ganguly,2 Parasuraman Jaisankar,3 and Hemanta K. Majumder1*

Molecular Parasitology Laboratory,1 Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S.C. Mullick Road, Kolkata-700032, India,3 Biophysical Chemistry, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 50/70, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland2

Received 16 December 2008/ Returned for modification 8 January 2009/ Accepted 25 March 2009

3,3'-Diindolylmethane (DIM), a novel poison targeting Leishmania donovani topoisomerase I (LdTOP1LS), induces programmed cell death in Leishmania parasites. The development of resistant parasites by adaptation with increasing concentrations of DIM generates random mutations in LdTOP1LS. Single-nucleotide mutations result in the amino acid substitutions F270L and K430N in the large subunit and N184S in the small subunit of the enzyme. DIM failed to inhibit the catalytic activity of the recombinant mutant enzyme (LdTOP1DRLS). Transfection studies of the mutant genes showed that the mutated topoisomerase I confers DIM resistance on wild-type Leishmania parasites. Site-directed mutagenesis studies revealed that a substantial level of resistance is conferred by the F270L mutation alone; however, all three mutations (F270L, K430N, and N184S) together are required to reach a higher-resistance phenotype. DIM fails to stabilize the topoisomerase I-DNA covalent complexes in the F270 mutant. Moreover, DIM cannot interfere with the religation step in the catalytic cycle of the recombinant F270L mutant enzyme. Taken together, these findings identify novel mutations in topoisomerase I that hinder its interaction with DNA, thereby modulating enzyme catalysis and conferring resistance to DIM. These studies advance our understanding of the mechanism of cell poisoning by DIM and suggest a specific modification of the drug that may improve its efficacy.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Molecular Parasitology Laboratory, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4, Raja S.C. Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata-700032, India. Phone: 91-33-2412 3207. Fax: 91-33-2473 5197. E-mail: hkmajumder{at}iicb.res.in

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 30 March 2009.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aac.asm.org/.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, June 2009, p. 2589-2598, Vol. 53, No. 6
0066-4804/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.01648-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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