Dihydropteroate synthase inhibitor

A dihydropteroate synthase inhibitor is a drug that inhibits the action of dihydropteroate synthase. Most are sulfonamides.

Tetrahydrofolate synthesis pathway

In bacteria, antibacterial sulfonamides act as competitive inhibitors of the enzyme dihydropteroate synthase, DHPS. DHPS catalyses the conversion of PABA (para-aminobenzoate) to dihydropteroate, a key step in folate synthesis.[1] Folate is necessary for the cell to synthesize nucleic acids (nucleic acids are essential building blocks of DNA and RNA), and in its absence cells will be unable to divide. Hence the sulfonamide antibacterials exhibit a bacteriostatic rather than bactericidal effect.[2]

Uses

Folate is not synthesized in mammalian cells, but is instead a dietary requirement. This explains the selective toxicity to bacterial cells of these drugs.[1] These antibiotics are used to treat Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and shigellosis.

gollark: This is yet another vaguely ridiculous assumption.
gollark: Why would god send humans and not just write "HEY, I AM GOD" in giant letters of fire in the sky?
gollark: Why would god care about humans so much?
gollark: What? That adds more complexity for no gain. It's a worse model.
gollark: It is entirely valid to say "we don't know". It's not valid to say "we don't know, so let's just postulate yet ANOTHER step in this process with no evidence".

References
  1. Bauman, Robert W. (2015). Microbiology: With Diseases by Body System (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson. p. 296. ISBN 9780321918550.
  2. "Sulfonamides and Sulfonamide Combinations". Merck Veterinary Manual. Retrieved 2017-06-18.

Big text

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.