Sansanmycin natural product analogues as potent and selective anti-mycobacterials that inhibit lipid I biosynthesis

Tuberculosis (TB) is responsible for enormous global morbidity and mortality, and current treatment regimens rely on the use of drugs that have been in use for more than 40 years. Owing to widespread resistance to these therapies, new drugs are desperately needed to control the TB disease burden. Herein, we describe the rapid synthesis of analogues of the sansanmycin uridylpeptide natural products that represent promising new TB drug leads. The compounds exhibit potent and selective inhibition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis , the etiological agent of TB, both in vitro and intracellularly. The natural product analogues are nanomolar inhibitors of Mtb phospho-MurNAc-pentapeptide translocase, the enzyme responsible for the synthesis of lipid I in mycobacteria. This work lays the foundation for the development of uridylpeptide natural product analogues as new TB drug candidates that operate through the inhibition of peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) infections are emerging at a high rate, with only few therapeutic options currently available. Here, the authors report synthetic analogues of the natural product sansanmycin that target mycobacterial cell wall biosynthesis and represent potent leads for improved anti-TB treatments.