About the Authors

Paul A. Mann

☯ These authors contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Anna Müller

☯ These authors contributed equally to this work.

Affiliations Institute for Pharmaceutical Microbiology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany, German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), partner site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany

Kerstin A. Wolff

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Thierry Fischmann

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Hao Wang

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Patricia Reed

Affiliation Laboratory of Bacterial Cell Biology, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal

Yan Hou

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Wenjin Li

Affiliation PharmaCenter Bonn, Pharmaceutical Institute, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Christa E. Müller

Affiliation PharmaCenter Bonn, Pharmaceutical Institute, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Jianying Xiao

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Nicholas Murgolo

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Xinwei Sher

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Todd Mayhood

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Payal R. Sheth

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Asra Mirza

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Marc Labroli

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Li Xiao

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Mark McCoy

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Charles J. Gill

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Mariana G. Pinho

Affiliation Laboratory of Bacterial Cell Biology, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal

Tanja Schneider

Affiliations Institute for Pharmaceutical Microbiology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany, German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), partner site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany

Terry Roemer

terry_roemer@merck.com

Affiliation Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth New Jersey, United States of America

Competing Interests

PAM, KAW, TF, HW, YH, JX, NM, XS, TM, PRS, AM, ML, LX, MM, CJG and TR are current or past employees of Merck as stated in the affiliations and potentially own stock and/or hold stock options in the company. Other authors have no competing interests. This does not alter our adherence to all PLOS policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: TR PAM HW YH KAW TF AMü. Performed the experiments: PAM KAW TF AMi HW YH JX NM ML AMü PR WL CJG. Analyzed the data: TR PAM KAW TF AM HW YH NM XS LX CJG CEM TS MGP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AMi TS ML MM PR MGP PRS TM. Wrote the paper: TR KAW TF PAM MGP TS.