Development of inhibitors for a novel interaction site between translocase MraY and the lysis protein E from bacteriophage X174

The project will investigate a protein-protein interaction site between translocase MraY and antibacterial protein E from bacteriophage phiX174. Novel peptide inhibitors will be synthesised for this interaction site, based an an Arg-Trp-x-x-Trp sequence motif identified previously. Peptidomimetic analogues of this motif will be synthesised later in the project. The synthetic compounds will be assyed as inhibitors of translocase MraY using a fluorescence assay, and the compounds will be tested for antibacterial activity against a panel of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.