Branimir Bertoša, a researcher from the Chemistry Department, and Ana Petek, a recent student from the Chemistry Department, in collaboration with researchers from the Ruđer Bošković Institute (Ante Bubić, Zoran Štefanić, Marija Luić, Ivana Leščić Ašler), the University of Warsaw (Marta Ilona Wojtyś, Weronika Maksymiuk, Beata Wielgus-Kutrowska, Maria Winiewska-Szajewska, Agnieszka Bzowska) and the University of Graz (Tea Pavkov-Keller) have published the scientific publication: The pursuit of new alternative ways to eradicate Helicobacter pylori continues: detailed characterization of interactions in the adenylosuccinate synthetase active site. The paper was published in the prestigious journal International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (IF = 8,025).
It is estimated that over 50% of the world’s population is infected with Helicobacter pylori, a pathogen that can cause different stomach diseases. Since the number of H. pylori strains resistant to currently used antibiotics is rising, it is of vital importance to find new pathways for attacking this dangerous pathogen. In this pursuit, the focus of the presented paper is on adenylosuccinate synthetase (AdSS), one of the key enzymes of purine nucleotide synthesis through the salvage pathway in H. pylori. Combination of computational and experimental methods was applied to provide detailed characterisation of the H. pylori AdSS. Special attention was given to the analyses of interactions between the enzyme active site and the ligands since these interactions could be crucial for the design of new AdSS inhibitors as potential drugs against H. pylori.
The results presented in the paper are obtained in the frame of doctoral thesis of Ante Bubić which was supervised by Ivana Leščić Ašler and Branimir Bertoša.
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