In Silico Screening of a Novel Inhibitor of β-Ketoacyl Acyl Carrier Protein Synthase I

[ ${\beta}$ ]Ketoacyl acyl carrier protein synthase I (KAS I) is involved in the elongation of unsaturated fatty acids in bacterial fatty acid synthesis and a therapeutic target of designing novel antibiotics. In this study, we performed receptor-oriented pharmacophore-based in silico screening of E. coli KAS I (ecKAS I) with the aim of identifying novel inhibitors. We determined one pharmacophore map and selected 8 compounds as candidates ecKAS I inhibitors. We discovered one antimicrobial compound, YKAe1008, N-(3-pyridinyl) hexanamide, displaying minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values in the range of 128-256 ${\mu}g/mL$ against MRSA and VREF. YKAe1008 was subsequently assessed for binding to ecKAS I using saturation-transfer difference NMR spectroscopy. Further optimization of this compound will be carried out to improve its antimicrobial activity and membrane permeability against bacterial cell membrane.