Title:Characterization of Human-malarial Parasite Species based on DHFR and
GST Targets Resulting in Changes in Anti-malarial Drug Binding
Conformations
Volume: 15
Issue: 1
Author(s): Shrutika Sakpal*, Shanker Lal Kothari and Virupaksha Bastikar
Affiliation:
- Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Rajasthan 303002, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
- Department of Biotechnology,
Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, The Institute of Science, Fort 400032, Mumbai, India
Keywords:
Antimalarial drugs, structural biology, phylogenetic analysis, molecular docking, DHFR, GST.
Abstract:
Background: In this study, we focused primarily on three anti-malarial drugs, namely
chloroquine, mefloquine, and proguanil, and these were tested against two malarial targets DHFR
and GST. The species Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium
vivax were used for the study.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the sequence and structural similarity of the
proteins DHFR and GST among four Plasmodium species as well as to discover the in silico interactions
with the aforementioned drug candidates.
Methods: Bioinformatics databases, such as PDB, UniProt, DrugBank, PubChem, and tools, and
software like Phyre 2.0, Clustal O (1.2.4), AutoDock 4, AutoDock Vina, and Discovery Studio
Visualizer were used to determine the evolutionary significance of the Plasmodium species.
Result: The variations showed a difference in the binding patterns of drugs with our target proteins.
Our finding reveals the Plasmodium spp divergence or convergence as well as the structural
and sequential similarity or dissimilarity features.
Conclusion: Our result suggests that due to the deviation in the sequences and structures, variations
in protein-drug binding patterns have emerged.
