@article {70184, title = {Chemical modulation of gut bacterial metabolism induces colanic acid and extends the lifespan of nematode and mammalian hosts.}, journal = {PLoS Biol}, volume = {23}, year = {2025}, month = {2025 Nov 11}, pages = {e3002749}, abstract = {

Microbiota-derived metabolites have emerged as key regulators of longevity. The metabolic activity of the gut microbiota, influenced by dietary components and ingested chemical compounds, profoundly impacts host fitness. While the benefits of dietary prebiotics are well-known, chemically targeting the gut microbiota to enhance host fitness remains largely unexplored. Here, we report a novel chemical approach to induce a pro-longevity bacterial metabolite in the host gut. We discovered that wild-type Escherichia coli strains overproduce colanic acids (CAs) when exposed to a low dose of cephaloridine, leading to an increased life span in the host organism Caenorhabditis elegans. In the mouse gut, oral administration of low-dose cephaloridine induced transcription of the capsular polysaccharide synthesis (cps) operon responsible for CA biosynthesis in commensal E. coli at 37 {\textdegree}C, and attenuated age-related metabolic changes. We also found that low-dose cephaloridine overcomes the temperature-dependent inhibition of CA biosynthesis and promotes its induction through a mechanism mediated by the membrane-bound histidine kinase ZraS, independently of cephaloridine{\textquoteright}s known antibiotic properties. Our work lays a foundation for microbiota-based therapeutics through chemical modulation of bacterial metabolism and highlights the promising potential of leveraging bacteria-targeting drugs in promoting host longevity.

}, keywords = {Animals, Caenorhabditis elegans, Escherichia coli, Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Longevity, Mice, Polysaccharides}, issn = {1545-7885}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3002749}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002749}, author = {Hu, Guo and Savini, Marzia and Cooke, Matthew Brandon and Wei, Xin and Deng, Dinghuan and Gao, Shihong M and Xia, Ruyue Alps and Guan, Youchen and Wen, Alice X and Yu, Xin and Wang, Jin and Jiang, Chao and Herman, Christophe and Li, Jiefu and Wang, Meng C} } @article {70134, title = {COOKIE-Pro: covalent inhibitor binding kinetics profiling on the proteome scale.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {16}, year = {2025}, month = {2025 Sep 30}, pages = {8373}, abstract = {

Covalent inhibitors are an emerging class of therapeutics, but methods to comprehensively profile their binding kinetics and selectivity across the proteome have been limited. Here we introduce COOKIE-Pro (COvalent Occupancy KInetic Enrichment via Proteomics), an unbiased method for quantifying irreversible covalent inhibitor binding kinetics on a proteome-wide scale. COOKIE-Pro uses a two-step incubation process with mass spectrometry-based proteomics to determine k and K values for covalent inhibitors against both on-target and off-target proteins. We validated COOKIE-Pro using BTK inhibitors spebrutinib and ibrutinib, accurately reproducing known kinetic parameters and identifying both expected and unreported off-targets. The method revealed that spebrutinib has over 10-fold higher potency for TEC kinase compared to its intended target BTK. To demonstrate the method{\textquoteright}s utility for high-throughput screening, we applied a streamlined two-point strategy to a library of 16 covalent fragments. This approach successfully generated thousands of kinetic profiles, enabling the quantitative decoupling of intrinsic chemical reactivity from binding affinity at scale and validating the method{\textquoteright}s broad applicability. By providing a comprehensive view of covalent inhibitor binding across the proteome, COOKIE-Pro represents a powerful tool for optimizing the potency and selectivity of covalent drugs during preclinical development.

bioRxiv preprint: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.19.660637

}, keywords = {Adenine, Agammaglobulinaemia Tyrosine Kinase, High-Throughput Screening Assays, Humans, Kinetics, Mass Spectrometry, Piperidines, Protein Binding, Protein Kinase Inhibitors, Proteome, Proteomics, Pyrazoles, Pyrimidines}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-025-63491-2}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63491-2}, author = {Lin, Hanfeng and Yang, Bin and Ding, Lang and Yang, Yen-Yu and Holt, Matthew V and Jung, Sung Yun and Zhang, Bing and Wang, Meng C and Wang, Jin} } @article {69546, title = {Chemical Induction of Longevity-Promoting Colanic Acid in the Host{\textquoteright}s Microbiota}, journal = {bioRxiv}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 Jul 23}, abstract = {

Microbiota-derived metabolites have emerged as key regulators of longevity. The metabolic activity of the gut microbiota, influenced by dietary components and ingested chemical compounds, profoundly impacts host fitness. While the benefits of dietary prebiotics are well-known, chemically targeting the gut microbiota to enhance host fitness remains largely unexplored. Here, we report a novel chemical approach to induce a pro-longevity bacterial metabolite in the host gut. We discovered that specific Escherichia coli strains overproduce colanic acids (CAs) when exposed to a low dose of cephaloridine, leading to an increased lifespan in host Caenorhabditis elegans. In the mouse gut, oral administration of low-dose cephaloridine induces the transcription of the capsular biosynthesis operon responsible for CA biosynthesis in commensal E. coli, which overcomes the inhibition of CA biosynthesis above 30 degrees C and enables its induction directly from the microbiota. Importantly, low-dose cephaloridine induces CA independently of its antibiotic properties through a previously unknown mechanism mediated by the membrane-bound histidine kinase ZraS. Our work lays the foundation for microbiota-based therapeutics through the chemical modulation of bacterial metabolism and reveals the promising potential of bacteria-targeting drugs in promoting host longevity.

}, doi = {10.1101/2024.07.23.604802}, url = {https://www.doi.org/10.1101/2024.07.23.604802}, author = {Hu, Guo and Cooke, Matthew Brandon and Wen, Alice X and Yu, Xin and Wang, Jin and Herman, Christophe and Wang, Meng Carla} }