Publications [#359875] of Dewey G. McCafferty

Journal Articles

  1. Dudiak, BM; Nguyen, TM; Needham, D; Outlaw, TC; McCafferty, DG, "Inhibition of the futalosine pathway for menaquinone biosynthesis suppresses Chlamydia trachomatis infection.", FEBS lettersDecember,, 2021, 595(24), 2995-3005 [doi].
    (last updated on 2024/07/16)

    Abstract:
    Chlamydia trachomatis, an obligate intracellular bacterium with limited metabolic capabilities, possesses the futalosine pathway for menaquinone biosynthesis. Futalosine pathway enzymes have promise as narrow-spectrum antibiotic targets, but the activity and essentiality of chlamydial menaquinone biosynthesis have yet to be established. In this work, menaquinone-7 (MK-7) was identified as a C. trachomatis-produced quinone through liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. An immunofluorescence-based assay revealed that treatment of C. trachomatis-infected HeLa cells with the futalosine pathway inhibitor docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) reduced inclusion number, inclusion size, and infectious progeny. Supplementation with MK-7 nanoparticles rescued the effect of DHA on inclusion number, indicating that the futalosine pathway is a target of DHA in this system. These results open the door for menaquinone biosynthesis inhibitors to be pursued in antichlamydial development.