The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria causes an urgent need for new generation of antibiotics, which may have a different mechanism of inhibition or killing action from the existing. Targeting at the inhibition of bacterial cell division via the control of FtsZ function is one of the effective and promising approaches. Some natural extracts from plants such as sanguinarine and berberine (analogs of pyridinium compounds) are known to alter FtsZ function. In this study, a series of novel quaternary pyridinium compounds was constructed based on the N-methylbenzofuro[3,2-b]quinoline and N-methylbenzoindolo[3,2-b]-quinoline derivatives and their antibacterial activity against nine significant pathogens was investigated using broth microdilution method. In the in vitro assay, the compounds showed strong antibacterial activities against various testing strains, which include some drug-resistant strains such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus and vancomycin-resistant E. faecium. Our results of morphology change of B. subtilis cells and molecular docking proved that the compounds functioned as an effective inhibitor to suppress FtsZ polymerization and FtsZ GTPase activity and thus the compound stops cell division and cause cell death through interacting with C-terminal interdomain cleft of FtsZ.

中文翻译：

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N-甲基苯并呋喃[3,2-b]喹啉和N-甲基苯并吲哚[3,2-b]-喹啉衍生物的抗菌活性及其作用方式的研究。

多药耐药细菌的出现引起了对新一代抗生素的迫切需求，新一代抗生素可能具有与现有不同的抑制或杀灭作用机制。通过控制FtsZ功能靶向抑制细菌细胞分裂是一种有效而有前途的方法。已知一些来自植物的天然提取物，例如血红素和小ber碱（吡啶类化合物的类似物）会改变FtsZ的功能。在这项研究中，基于N-甲基苯并呋喃[3,2-b]喹啉和N-甲基苯并吲哚[3,2-b]-喹啉衍生物构建了一系列新颖的季吡啶化合物，它们对九种重要病原体的抗菌活性为：使用肉汤微稀释法进行研究。在体外测定中 该化合物对多种测试菌株显示出强大的抗菌活性，其中包括一些耐药菌株，例如耐甲氧西林的金黄色葡萄球菌和耐万古霉素的粪便。我们的枯草芽孢杆菌细胞形态变化和分子对接的结果证明，该化合物具有抑制FtsZ聚合和FtsZ GTPase活性的有效抑制剂的作用，因此该化合物通过与C.末端域间裂隙相互作用而停止细胞分裂并引起细胞死亡。 FtsZ。