Investigation of Small Molecule Inhibitors of DsbA Enzymes in Pathogens: A computational study of novel compounds for antivirulence drug development
2024 (English) Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis Alternative title
Undersökning av småmolekylsinhibitorer för DsbA-enzymer i patogener : En databaserad studie av nya ämnen för utveckling av antivirulens-läkemedel (Swedish)
Abstract [en]
DsbA enzymes catalyze oxidative folding of multiple classes of virulence factors in Gram-negative bacteria. The development of antivirulence drugs, which block virulence factors in pathogens instead of killing or inhibiting the growth of pathogens, is a possible solution to the global threat of antimicrobial resistance, making DsbA an attractive antibacterial drug target. In this study, 34 small molecule DsbA inhibitors, found in literature, were analyzed and evaluated, using a computational approach. Molecular docking of the inhibitors to EcDsbA (Escherichia coli DsbA), VcDsbA (Vibrio cholerae DsbA) and SeDsbA (Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium DsbA) was performed and two inhibitors demonstrated significantly higher overall binding affinity. Investigation of these two inhibitors showed that the stability of the DsbA-inhibitor complexes could be further increased, by modifying the inhibitors. One modified inhibitor gave rise to higher binding energy as compared to its precursor inhibitor for all three DsbA proteins. This is a promising result, indicating that non-specific pathogen DsbA inhibitors can be developed, despite the structural differences in active sites between EcDsbA, VcDsbA and SeDsbA. This work highlights the capacity of in silico methods to identify and optimize novel compounds which could serve as a starting point for the development of antivirulence drugs.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages 2024. , p. 44
Keywords [en]
DsbA, Gram-negative, molecular docking, small molecule inhibitor, antivirulence, antimicrobial resistance
National Category
Chemical Sciences Biochemistry Molecular Biology
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-99321 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kau-99321 DiVA, id: diva2:1855512
Subject / course Chemistry
Educational program Drug Analysis - Bachelor Programme in Chemistry (180 ECTS)
Supervisors
Examiners
2024-05-032024-05-012025-02-20 Bibliographically approved