Title:How Computational Studies of Mosquito Repellents Contribute to the Control of Vector Borne Diseases
Volume: 9
Issue: 3
Author(s): Przemyslaw Miszta, Subhash C. Basak, Ramanathan Natarajan and Wieslaw Nowak
Affiliation:
Keywords:
AgOR1, DEET, GPCR, malaria, mosquito repellents, VBD.
Abstract: Vector Borne Diseases (VBD) present a serious threat to millions of people. In this paper various
computational approaches towards new drugs design against some of them are reviewed. Malaria attracts particular
attention of computational medicinal chemists. A promising strategy of the fight with VBD is usage of insect repellents.
N,N-Diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) has been the mostly used mosquito repellent for over five decades. Its mode of action
is still a matter of intensive studies and debate. A possible mechanism of DEET activity is inactivation of odorant receptor
proteins expressed in female mosquitoes, and being critical for finding a prey. In order to check possible interactions of
DEET with such a transmembrane protein and to indicate a plausible biophore, we have constructed a hybrid "ab initio"
model of Anopheles gambiae Odorant Receptor Protein 1 (AgOR1). The transmembrane regions of AgOR1 were
predicted using 10 different bioinformatics algorithms and a consensus approach. A full torsional potential energy surface
of DEET was determined using the AM1 method and low energy conformers were further optimized using the HF/6-31G
method. DEET and a series of diastereomers of alternative repellent cyclohex-3-enyl 2-methylpiperidin-1-yl ketone (220)
was docked to the AgOR1 model using the AutoDock 3.0.5 code, and possible interactions sites inside this GPCR AgOR1
were identified.
