Abstract 1948 Chasing a Substrate Complex Model of NIS Synthetase DesD

NIS synthetases are promising drug targets due to their role in siderophore synthesis and their increasing association with virulence in bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus anthraxis. However, structure-based drug design has been hampered by statistical disorder in the oligomeric crystal structures, resulting in key interactions remaining unclear and limiting inhibitor design. Streptomyces coelicolor, a soil organism producing NIS siderophores, contains model NIS synthetase DesD, a key enzyme in this pathway, but its full structural interaction with substrates is incompletely described.