Dihydropteroate synthetase DHPS

Two mechanisms of chromosomal resistance have been identified. A mutation of dihydropteroate synthetase (DHPS) in Strep, pneumoniae produces an altered enzyme with reduced affinity for sulphonamides. Hyperproduction of p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) overcomes the block imposed by inhibition ofDHPS. The specific cause of PABA hyperproduction is unknown, though chromosomal mutation is the probable cause. 

The sulfonamides, or sulfa drugs, date back to the early 1900s but were not systematically studied until the 1930s. Sulfanilamide (A.17), a key reagent in the synthesis of certain dyes, was the first widely marketed sulfonamide (Figure A.5). Sulfonamides are antimetabolites and competitively inhibit a bacterial enzyme, dihydropteroate synthetase (DHPS) (see Chapter 1 and Chapter 6). DHPS plays a role in the synthesis of tetrahydrofolic acid (THF), an important compound in the preparation of thymidine. Because they limit the... 

Plasmid-mediated resistance to sulphonamides results from the duplication of dihydropteroate synthetase (DHPS). The normal DHPS remains sensitive but the plasmid-encoded DHPS, two types (I and II) of which have been found in Gram-negative bacteria, binds considerably less of these drugs [203]. 

Reaction of 1 with ATP in presence of Mg and kinase gives 2-amino-4-hy-droxy-6-hydroxymethyldihydropteridine pyrophosphate (2, DHP pyrophosphate). The latter is converted into 7,8-dihydropteroate (3, DHP) by its reaction with p-ami-nobenzoic acid (PABA) and DHP synthetase. Addition of L-glutamic acid to DHP in the presence of the enzyme dihydrofolate synthetase (DHF synthetase) yields 7,8-di-hydrofolate (4, DHF), which undergoes reduction by the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase to afford 5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofolate (5, THF). DHF may also lose a hydrogen molecule in the presence of DHF dehydrogenase to form folic acid (6). 

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