Disrupting the characteristic twist motion; tailored in silico approach towards the design of plasmepsin inhibitors

The effort to eradicate malaria has not yet been achieved, and the parasitic infection remains a global challenge. The burden stems from the worldwide dissemination of parasites resistant to commonly used chemotherapeutics and the scarcity of the malaria vaccine, Mosquirix. In the quest to augment m...

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Main Authors: Ransford Oduro Kumi, Elliasu Salifu Yakubu, Clement Agoni, Akawa Oluwole Bidemi, Mahmoud E.S. Soliman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-01-01
Series:Informatics in Medicine Unlocked
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352914822002295
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author Ransford Oduro Kumi
Elliasu Salifu Yakubu
Clement Agoni
Akawa Oluwole Bidemi
Mahmoud E.S. Soliman
author_facet Ransford Oduro Kumi
Elliasu Salifu Yakubu
Clement Agoni
Akawa Oluwole Bidemi
Mahmoud E.S. Soliman
author_sort Ransford Oduro Kumi
collection DOAJ
description The effort to eradicate malaria has not yet been achieved, and the parasitic infection remains a global challenge. The burden stems from the worldwide dissemination of parasites resistant to commonly used chemotherapeutics and the scarcity of the malaria vaccine, Mosquirix. In the quest to augment malaria treatment, current focus has been geared towards plasmepsin (P). These classes of aspartic acid proteases are expressed at multiple stages of the parasite's life cycle and are implicated in host haemoglobin degradation and parasite dissemination in vivo; elaborating their essentiality as therapeutic targets. Our earlier research examined the structural dynamics of WM382, a novel antimalarial compound, in relation to its enzyme inhibitory mechanism on plasmepsin IX (PMIX) and plasmepsin X (PMX). WM382 inflicts structural compactness on both proteases. The pharmacophoric moieties of WM382 were used in the present study to search the Zinc database for WM382 derivatives. The leads, ZINC06868602, ZINC09431717 and ZINC13367223 formed strong intermolecular bonds with the catalytic dyad Asp32 and Asp281. The flap regions generally move away from the binding pocket, divulging the active site to the inhibitor and keeping it near to the catalytic dyad. However, upon binding of the leads, the flap residues wrapped inward to surround the inhibitors, further restricting the characteristic twist motion of these proteases for enzyme activity. Likewise, for the experimental drug candidate WM382, the identified leads displayed high affinity for PMIX, with total binding free energies of leads estimated to be −33.45 kcal/mol, −30.33 kcal/mol and −29.67 kcal/mol, respectively. Evaluation of per residue energy composition indicated the catalytic dyad contributes immensely towards ligand binding. Results from our study suggest these compounds have better inhibitory prowess against PMIX. The potency of these chemicals should further be tested in the experimental laboratory to evaluate their usefulness.
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spelling doaj.art-2cbd7bccf5a54421bae206b33e2f8acb2022-12-22T02:23:36ZengElsevierInformatics in Medicine Unlocked2352-91482022-01-0133101093Disrupting the characteristic twist motion; tailored in silico approach towards the design of plasmepsin inhibitorsRansford Oduro Kumi0Elliasu Salifu Yakubu1Clement Agoni2Akawa Oluwole Bidemi3Mahmoud E.S. Soliman4Molecular Bio-computation and Drug Design Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban, 4001, South Africa; Takoradi Technical University, Department of Industrial and Health Sciences, Main Campus, Takoradi, GhanaMolecular Bio-computation and Drug Design Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban, 4001, South AfricaMolecular Bio-computation and Drug Design Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban, 4001, South AfricaMolecular Bio-computation and Drug Design Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban, 4001, South AfricaMolecular Bio-computation and Drug Design Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban, 4001, South Africa; Corresponding author.The effort to eradicate malaria has not yet been achieved, and the parasitic infection remains a global challenge. The burden stems from the worldwide dissemination of parasites resistant to commonly used chemotherapeutics and the scarcity of the malaria vaccine, Mosquirix. In the quest to augment malaria treatment, current focus has been geared towards plasmepsin (P). These classes of aspartic acid proteases are expressed at multiple stages of the parasite's life cycle and are implicated in host haemoglobin degradation and parasite dissemination in vivo; elaborating their essentiality as therapeutic targets. Our earlier research examined the structural dynamics of WM382, a novel antimalarial compound, in relation to its enzyme inhibitory mechanism on plasmepsin IX (PMIX) and plasmepsin X (PMX). WM382 inflicts structural compactness on both proteases. The pharmacophoric moieties of WM382 were used in the present study to search the Zinc database for WM382 derivatives. The leads, ZINC06868602, ZINC09431717 and ZINC13367223 formed strong intermolecular bonds with the catalytic dyad Asp32 and Asp281. The flap regions generally move away from the binding pocket, divulging the active site to the inhibitor and keeping it near to the catalytic dyad. However, upon binding of the leads, the flap residues wrapped inward to surround the inhibitors, further restricting the characteristic twist motion of these proteases for enzyme activity. Likewise, for the experimental drug candidate WM382, the identified leads displayed high affinity for PMIX, with total binding free energies of leads estimated to be −33.45 kcal/mol, −30.33 kcal/mol and −29.67 kcal/mol, respectively. Evaluation of per residue energy composition indicated the catalytic dyad contributes immensely towards ligand binding. Results from our study suggest these compounds have better inhibitory prowess against PMIX. The potency of these chemicals should further be tested in the experimental laboratory to evaluate their usefulness.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352914822002295MalariaPlasmepsinWM382Pharmacophore modelVirtual screening
spellingShingle Ransford Oduro Kumi
Elliasu Salifu Yakubu
Clement Agoni
Akawa Oluwole Bidemi
Mahmoud E.S. Soliman
Disrupting the characteristic twist motion; tailored in silico approach towards the design of plasmepsin inhibitors
Informatics in Medicine Unlocked
Malaria
Plasmepsin
WM382
Pharmacophore model
Virtual screening
title Disrupting the characteristic twist motion; tailored in silico approach towards the design of plasmepsin inhibitors
title_full Disrupting the characteristic twist motion; tailored in silico approach towards the design of plasmepsin inhibitors
title_fullStr Disrupting the characteristic twist motion; tailored in silico approach towards the design of plasmepsin inhibitors
title_full_unstemmed Disrupting the characteristic twist motion; tailored in silico approach towards the design of plasmepsin inhibitors
title_short Disrupting the characteristic twist motion; tailored in silico approach towards the design of plasmepsin inhibitors
title_sort disrupting the characteristic twist motion tailored in silico approach towards the design of plasmepsin inhibitors
topic Malaria
Plasmepsin
WM382
Pharmacophore model
Virtual screening
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352914822002295
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