Bactericidal and Anti-Biofilm Activity of the FtsZ Inhibitor C109 against Acinetobacter baumannii .

In the last few years, has ranked as a number one priority due to its Multi Drug Resistant phenotype. The different metabolic states, such as the one adopted when growing as biofilm, help the bacterium to resist a wide variety of compounds, placing the discovery of new molecules able to counteract this pathogen as a topic of utmost importance. In this context, bacterial cell division machinery and the conserved protein FtsZ are considered very interesting cellular targets. The benzothiadiazole compound C109 is able to inhibit bacterial growth and to block FtsZ GTPase and polymerization activities in , , and . In this work, the activity of C109 was tested against a panel of antibiotic sensitive and resistant strains. Its ability to inhibit biofilm formation was explored, together with its activity against the FtsZ purified protein. Our results indicated that C109 has good MIC values against clinical isolates. Moreover, its antibiofilm activity makes it an interesting alternative treatment, effective against diverse metabolic states. Finally, its activity was confirmed against FtsZ.