Use of gyrase resistance mutants to guide selection of 8-methoxy-quinazoline-2,4-diones.

A series of 1-cyclopropyl-8-methoxy-quinazoline-2,4-diones was synthesized and evaluated for lowering the ratio of the antimicrobial MIC in gyrase resistance mutants to that in the gyr(+) (wild type) using isogenic strains of Escherichia coli. Dione features that lowered this ratio were a 3-amino group and C-7 ring structure (3-aminomethyl pyrrolidinyl < 3-aminopyrrolidinyl < diazobicyclo < 2-ethyl piperazinyl). The wild-type MIC was also lowered. With the most active derivative tested, many gyrA resistance mutant types were as susceptible as, or more susceptible than, wild-type cells. The most active 2,4-dione derivatives were also more active with two quinolone-resistant gyrB mutants than with wild-type cells. With respect to lethality, the most bacteriostatic 2,4-dione killed E. coli at a rate that was affected little by a gyrA resistance mutation, and it exhibited a rate of killing similar to its cognate fluoroquinolone at 10x the MIC. Population analysis with wild-type E. coli applied to agar showed that the mutant selection window for the most active 2,4-dione was narrower than that for the cognate fluoroquinolone or for ciprofloxacin. These data illustrate a new approach to guide early-stage antimicrobial selection. Use of antimutant activity (i.e., ratio of the antimicrobial MIC in a mutant strain to the antimicrobial MIC in a wild-type strain) as a structure-function selection criterion can be combined with traditional efforts aimed at lowering antimicrobial MICs against wild-type organisms to more effectively afford lead molecules with activity against both wild-type and mutant cells.