X-ray crystallographic fragment screening reveals novel and conformationally dynamic ligand-binding sites in Mycobacterium tuberculosis FtsZ
- 1Brookhaven National Laboratory
Abstract
Tuberculosis is a leading cause of death globally due to an infectious agent. There is ongoing need for novel mechanisms to inhibit M. tuberculosis (Mtb) growth and infection to improve patient outcomes. FtsZ, a GTPase that assembles into protofilaments at the division site of a replicating cell to produce two individual cells, is an attractive target as an essential protein in bacterial cell division. Here we describe a crystallographic fragment screening campaign of MtbFtsZ. 1,070 crystals were soaked with fragments and 714 datasets were used for downstream PanDDA analysis. 149 datasets exhibited PanDDA-generated event map density to support modeling of fragment binding. 15 novel sites are described. Both the ON and the OFF conformations of FtsZ are found in the asymmetric unit. Asymmetric binding of fragments to each chain in the model is observed. These crystallographic fragment screening results additionally provide opportunities for fragment growing and merging to develop FtsZ binders into drug-like molecules or conformation specific chemical probes.
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BibTeX
@misc{meeks2026xray,
title = {{X-ray crystallographic fragment screening reveals novel and conformationally dynamic ligand-binding sites in Mycobacterium tuberculosis FtsZ}},
author = {K. R. Meeks and E. O. Lazo and D. F. Kreitler},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.01.748605},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748605v1},
note = {CC0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - X-ray crystallographic fragment screening reveals novel and conformationally dynamic ligand-binding sites in Mycobacterium tuberculosis FtsZ
AU - K. R. Meeks
AU - E. O. Lazo
AU - D. F. Kreitler
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.01.748605
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748605v1
AB - Tuberculosis is a leading cause of death globally due to an infectious agent. There is ongoing need for novel mechanisms to inhibit M. tuberculosis (Mtb) growth and infection to improve patient outcomes. FtsZ, a GTPase that assembles into protofilaments at the division site of a replicating cell to produce two individual cells, is an attractive target as an essential protein in bacterial cell division. Here we describe a crystallographic fragment screening campaign of MtbFtsZ. 1,070 crystals were soaked with fragments and 714 datasets were used for downstream PanDDA analysis. 149 datasets exhibited PanDDA-generated event map density to support modeling of fragment binding. 15 novel sites are described. Both the ON and the OFF conformations of FtsZ are found in the asymmetric unit. Asymmetric binding of fragments to each chain in the model is observed. These crystallographic fragment screening results additionally provide opportunities for fragment growing and merging to develop FtsZ binders into drug-like molecules or conformation specific chemical probes.
ER -