RESISTANCE PATHOGENS Group

Dept. Chemistry of Biomacromolecules, IQ-UNAM

The principal aim in our research group is the identification of new targets and the antibiotic design through of structural, biophysics and biochemistry studies of proteins participant in key bacterial processes using as a principal model the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Research topics

Structural Biology, X-ray diffraction, Biophysical techniques, Mechanisms of virulence and antibiotics resistance, Biotechnological modification of enzymes, Crystallography of proteins, Molecular biology, Biochemistry, Purification and expression of recombinant proteins.

Publications

Siseth Martínez-Caballero, Kiran V. Mahasenan, Choon Kim, et al. Integrative Structural Biology of the Penicillin-Binding Protein-1 from Staphylococcus aureus, an Essential Component of the Divisome Machinery. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. 2021. doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2021.09.018. IF: 7.271
Prieto-Castañeda A, Martínez-Caballero S*, Agarrabeitia AR, et al. First Lanthanide Complex for De Novo Phasing in Native Protein Crystallography at 1 Å Radiation. ACS Appl. Bio Mater. 2021. doi.org/10.1021/acsabm.1c00305.
Flydal MI, Alcorlo-Pagés M, Johannessen FG, Martínez-Caballero S, et al. Structure of full-length human phenylalanine hydroxylase in complex with tetrahydrobiopterin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116(23):11229–11234. doi:10.1073/pnas.1902639116.
Bernardo-García N, Sánchez-Murcia PA, Espaillat A, Martínez-Caballero S, et al. Cold-induced aldimine bond cleavage by Tris in Bacillus subtilis alanine racemase. Org Biomol Chem. 2019;17(17):4350–4358. doi:10.1039/c9ob00223e.
Janardhanan J, Bouley R, Martínez-Caballero S, et al. The Quinazolinone Allosteric Inhibitor of PBP2a Synergizes with Piperacillin and Tazobactam against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2019;63(5):e02637-18. Published 2019 Apr 25. doi:10.1128/AAC.02637-18.
Rued BE, Alcorlo M, Edmonds KA, Martínez-Caballero S, et al. Structure of the Large Extracellular Loop of FtsX and Its Interaction with the Essential Peptidoglycan Hydrolase PcsB in Streptococcus pneumoniae. mBio. 2019;10(1):e02622-18. Published 2019 Jan 29. doi:10.1128/mBio.02622-18.
Bartual SG, Alcorlo M, Martínez-Caballero S, Molina R, Hermoso JA. Three-dimensional structures of Lipoproteins from Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. Int J Med Microbiol. 2018; 308(6):692–704. doi:10.1016/j.ijmm.2017.10.003.
Alcorlo M, Martínez-Caballero S*, Molina R, Hermoso JA. Carbohydrate recognition and lysis by bacterial peptidoglycan hydrolases. Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2017;44:87–100. doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2017.01.001
Mares-Mejía I, Martínez-Caballero S, Garay-Canales C, et al. Structural insights into the IgE mediated responses induced by the allergens Hev b8 and Zea m12 in their dimeric forms. Sci Rep. 2016;6:32552. Published 2016 Sep 2. doi:10.1038/srep32552.
Martínez-Caballero S, Cuéllar-Cruz M, Demitri N, et al. Glucose Isomerase Polymorphs obtained using an Ad Hoc protein crystallization temperature device and a growth cell applying an electric field. Cryst. Growth Des. 2016;16,1679-1686. doi:10.1021/acs.cgd.5b01755.
Martínez-Caballero S, Cano-Sánchez P, Mares-Mejía I, et al. Comparative study of two GH19 chitinase-like proteins from Hevea brasiliensis, one exhibiting a novel carbohydrate-binding domain. FEBS J. 2014;281(19):4535–4554. doi:10.1111/febs.12962.
Lee M, Artola-Recolons C, Carrasco-López C, Martínez-Caballero S, et al. Cell-wall remodeling by the zinc-protease AmpDh3 from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J Am Chem Soc. 2013;135(34):12604–12607. doi:10.1021/ja407445x.
Martínez-Caballero S, Lee M, Artola-Recolons C, et al. Reaction products and the X-ray structure of AmpDh2, a virulence determinant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J Am Chem Soc. 2013;135(28):10318–10321. doi:10.1021/ja405464b.