Binding properties of the anti-TB drugs bedaquiline and TBAJ-876 to a mycobacterial F-ATP synthase

Tuberculosis (TB), the deadly disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), kills more people worldwide than any other bacterial infectious disease. There has been a recent resurgence of TB drug discovery activities, resulting in the identification of a number of novel enzyme inhibitors. Many of these inhibitors target the electron transport chain complexes and the F₁F_O-ATP synthase; these enzymes represent new target spaces for drug discovery, since the generation of ATP is essential for the bacterial pathogen's physiology, persistence, and pathogenicity. The anti-TB drug bedaquiline (BDQ) targets the Mtb F-ATP synthase and is used as salvage therapy against this disease. Medicinal chemistry efforts to improve the physio-chemical properties of BDQ resulted in the discovery of 3,5-dialkoxypyridine (DARQ) analogs to which TBAJ-876 belongs. TBAJ-876, a clinical development candidate, shows attractive in vitro and in vivo antitubercular activity. Both BDQ and TBAJ-876 inhibit the mycobacterial F₁F_O-ATP synthase by stopping rotation of the c-ring turbine within the F_O domain, thereby preventing proton translocation and ATP synthesis to occur. While structural data for the BDQ bound state are available, no structural information about TBAJ-876 binding have been described. In this study, we show how TBAJ-876 binds to the F_O domain of the M. smegmatis F₁F_O-ATP synthase. We further calculate the binding free energy of both drugs bound to their target and predict an increased affinity of TBAJ-876 for the F_O domain. This approach will be useful in future efforts to design new and highly potent DARQ analogs targeting F-ATP synthases of Mtb, nontuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM) as well as the M. leprosis complex.