Antivirulence agents inhibit the production of disease-causing virulence factors but are neither bacteriostatic nor bactericidal. Antivirulence agents against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain USA300, the most widespread community-associated MRSA strain in the United States, were discovered by virtual screening against the response regulator AgrA, which acts as a transcription factor for the expression of several of the most prominent S. aureus toxins and virulence factors involved in pathogenesis. Virtual screening was followed by similarity searches in the databases of commercial vendors. The small-molecule compounds discovered inhibit the production of the toxins alpha-hemolysin and phenol-soluble modulin α in a dose-dependent manner without inhibiting bacterial growth. These antivirulence agents are small-molecule biaryl compounds in which the aromatic rings either are fused or are separated by a short linker. One of these compounds is the FDA-approved nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug diflunisal. This represents a new use for an old drug. Antivirulence agents might be useful in prophylaxis and as adjuvants in antibiotic therapy for MRSA infections.

The dwindling repertoire of antibiotics to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) calls for novel treatment options. Quorum-quenching agents offer an alternative or an adjuvant to antibiotic therapy. Three biaryl hydroxyketone compounds discovered previously (F1, F12, and F19; G. Yu, D. Kuo, M. Shoham, and R. Viswanathan, ACS Comb Sci 16:85–91, 2014) were tested for efficacy in MRSA-infected animal models. Topical therapy of compounds F1 and F12 in a MRSA murine wound infection model promotes wound healing compared to the untreated control. Compounds F1, F12, and F19 afford significant survival benefits in a MRSA insect larva model. Combination therapy of these quorum-quenching agents with cephalothin or nafcillin, antibiotics to which MRSA is resistant in monotherapy, revealed additional survival benefits. The quorum-quenching agents sensitize MRSA to the antibiotic by a synergistic mode of action that also is observed in vitro . An adjuvant of 1 μg/ml F1, F12, or F19 reduces the MIC of nafcillin and cephalothin about 50-fold to values comparable to those for vancomycin, the antibiotic often prescribed for MRSA infections. These findings suggest that it is possible to resurrect obsolete antibiotic therapies in combination with these novel quorum-quenching agents.

The V₁ vascular vasopressin receptor (V₁R) is a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) involved in the regulation of body-fluid osmolality, blood volume and blood pressure. Signal transduction is mediated by the third intracellular loop of this seven-transmembrane protein as well as by the C-terminal cytoplasmic segment. A chimera of the maltose-binding protein (MBP) and the C-terminal segment of V₁R has been cloned, expressed, purified and crystallized. The crystals belong to space group P2₁, with unit-cell parameters a = 51.10, b = 66.56, c = 115.72 Å, = 95.99°. The 1.8 Å crystal structure reveals the conformation of MBP and part of the linker region of this chimera, with the C-terminal segment being unstructured. This may reflect a conformational plasticity in the C-­terminal segment that may be necessary for proper function of V₁R.

Signal transduction by G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is mediated by interactions between intracellular proteins and exposed motifs on the cytoplasmic face of these receptors. Arrestins bind to GPCRs and modulate receptor function either by interfering with heterotrimeric G protein signaling or by serving as signaling adaptors themselves. Calmodulin interacts with GPCRs triggering a calcium response. We have studied the interaction of arrestin2 and calmodulin with intracellular elements of the human V1-vascular vasopressin receptor (hV1R). For this purpose, we designed, expressed, and purified soluble fusion proteins with the maltose-binding protein (MBP) from Escherichia coli that mimic the intracellular surface of the hV1R. These MBP fusion proteins bind arrestin2 and calmodulin with affinities in the micromolar range. A different series of soluble receptor analogs, named vasopressin receptor 1 elements on a soluble scaffold (V1ROSS) proteins, consist of the third intracellular loop and/or the C-terminal segment of the hV1R receptor juxtaposed on the surface of the MBP. V1ROSS proteins bind calmodulin and a truncated, phosphorylation-independent form of arrestin2 more tightly than the corresponding linear fusion proteins. Thus, embedding receptor loops within the three-dimensional structure of the MBP yields a better representation of the active conformation of these receptor loops than linear receptor peptides fused onto the C terminus of the MBP. V1ROSS proteins provide a valuable tool to study receptor interactions because they are more amenable to structural analysis than the native membrane receptor. These findings set the stage for the detailed structural analysis of these protein-protein interactions that are important for understanding the mechanism of signaling.