Molecular Biology Commons^™

Acetobixan, An Inhibitor Of Cellulose Synthesis Identified By Microbial Bioprospecting, Ye Xia, Lei Lei, Chad Brabham, Jozsef Stork, James R. Strickland, Adam Ladak, Ying Gu, Ian Wallace, Seth Debolt

Horticulture Faculty Publications

In plants, cellulose biosynthesis is an essential process for anisotropic growth and therefore is an ideal target for inhibition. Based on the documented utility of small-molecule inhibitors to dissect complex cellular processes we identified a cellulose biosynthesis inhibitor (CBI), named acetobixan, by bio-prospecting among compounds secreted by endophytic microorganisms. Acetobixan was identified using a drug-gene interaction screen to sift through hundreds of endophytic microbial secretions for one that caused synergistic reduction in root expansion of the leaky AtcesA6prc1-1 mutant. We then mined this microbial secretion for compounds that were differentially abundant compared with Bacilli that failed to mimic CBI action …