In silico screening for Plasmodium falciparum enoyl-ACP reductase inhibitors

J Comput Aided Mol Des. 2015 Jan;29(1):79-87. doi: 10.1007/s10822-014-9806-3. Epub 2014 Oct 25.

Abstract

The need for novel therapeutics against Plasmodium falciparum is urgent due to recent emergence of multi-drug resistant malaria parasites. Since fatty acids are essential for both the liver and blood stages of the malarial parasite, targeting fatty acid biosynthesis is a promising strategy for combatting P. falciparum. We present a combined computational and experimental study to identify novel inhibitors of enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (PfENR) in the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway. A small-molecule database from ChemBridge was docked into three distinct PfENR crystal structures that provide multiple receptor conformations. Two different docking algorithms were used to generate a consensus score in order to rank possible small molecule hits. Our studies led to the identification of five low-micromolar pyrimidine dione inhibitors of PfENR.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Antimalarials / chemistry
  • Antimalarials / pharmacology*
  • Area Under Curve
  • Computer Simulation
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / methods*
  • Enoyl-(Acyl-Carrier-Protein) Reductase (NADH) / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Enoyl-(Acyl-Carrier-Protein) Reductase (NADH) / chemistry
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / chemistry
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Inhibitory Concentration 50
  • Molecular Docking Simulation / methods
  • Plasmodium falciparum / enzymology*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Small Molecule Libraries / chemistry
  • Small Molecule Libraries / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Antimalarials
  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Small Molecule Libraries
  • Enoyl-(Acyl-Carrier-Protein) Reductase (NADH)