FtsZ itself is a homolog of eukyaryotic tubulin and shows GTPase
activity involved in assembly of the divisome components.211 A
molecule known as PC19073212 (Figure 15) has been reported to be
an FtsZ inibitor by polymerization assays213 and X-ray
crystallography.214 However, more recently, Shaw and coworkers215
failed to detect inhibition of GTPase activity. They also noted that
many structures cited in preliminary reports as FtsZ inhibitors are
either aggregators and/or nonspecific GTPase inhibitors. They
pointed out zantrin Z3 (Figure 15) as a bona fide, specific albeit
weak (IC50¼ 20 mM) starting lead for future SAR work.215