Targeting acetate kinase: inhibitors as potential bacteriostatics.

Despite the importance of acetate kinase in the metabolism of bacteria, limited structural studies have been carried out on this enzyme. In this study, a three-dimensional structure of the Escherichia coli acetate kinase was constructed by use of molecular modeling methods. In the next stage, by considering the structure of the catalytic intermediate, trifluoroethanol (TFE) and trifluoroethyl butyrate were proposed as potential inhibitors of the enzyme. The putative binding mode of these compounds was studied with the use of a docking program, which revealed that they can fit well into the enzyme. To study the role of these potential enzyme inhibitors in the metabolic pathway of E. coli, their effects on the growth of this bacterium were studied. The results showed that growth was considerably reduced in the presence of these inhibitors. Changes in the profile of the metabolic products were studied by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Remarkable changes were observed in the quantity of acetate, but other products were less altered. In this study, inhibition of growth by the two inhibitors as reflected by a change in the metabolism of E. coli suggests the potential use of these compounds (particularly TFE) as bacteriostatic agents.