Methionyl adenylate analogues as inhibitors of methionyl-tRNA synthetase

Four stable analogues of methionyl adenylate (3–6) were designed as inhibitors of methionyl-tRNA synthetase and synthesized from 2′, 3′-isopropylideneadenosine. They strongly inhibited aminoacylation activity of methionyl-tRNA synthetases isolated from Escherichi coli, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and human. Among the microorganisms tested, however, these chemicals showed the growth inhibition effect only on E.coli.