Molecular Docking approach on the effect of Site- Selective and Site-Specific Drugs on the Molecular Interactions of Human Serum Albumin (HSA) -Acridinedione dye complex

Molecular Docking (Mol.dock) of resorcinol based acridinedione dyes (ADR1 and ADR2) with a globular protein, Human Serum Albumin (HSA) were carried out. Docking studies reveal that ADR2 dye binding with HSA is energetically more stable and feasible than ADR1 dye. ADR1 dye predominantly resides in site I and III of HSA rather than binding site II wherein, ADR1 dye acts as hydrogen bonding (HB) acceptor through its carbonyl oxygen. On the contrary, ADR2 dye resides in all the binding sites of HSA such that the dye acts as the HB donor through the NH hydrogen atom and the carbonyl oxygen of the amino acid acts as the HB acceptor. The stability of dye-protein complex in the presence of several non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) was carried out by employing specific site selective drugs (Sudlow binding site drugs). The energetics and the bimolecular interactions of various drugs with ADR1-HSA and ADR2-HSA were generated to ascertain the influence of drug and its governance on the binding affinity of dye-protein complex. Sudlow site I binding drugs were effective in decreasing the energetics of ADR1 dye-HSA complex whereas site II binding drugs predominantly decreases the affinity of ADR2 dye with HSA. However, the dyes efficiently displaces the site specific drugs from their specific binding sites of HSA which was not observed in the case of drugs on the displacing ability over dyes situated in different domains of protein. Mol.dock studies are employed as an authentic, reliable and most effective tool to ascertain the binding stability of host–guest complex as well as to ascertain the most probable location of several competing ligands in various domains of HSA.     

A Case Study on the Use of Binding Free Energies to Screen Inhibitors of Human Carbonic Anhydrase II

We present in this article a case study on the thermodynamics of binding to human carbonic anhydrase II (HCA II) by three well-known inhibitors, viz. (a) acetazolamide (AZM) that directly binds to the catalytic Zn(II) ion at the active site, (b) non-zinc binding 6-hydroxy-2-thioxocoumarin (FC5) (c) 2-[(S)-benzylsulfinyl]benzoic acid (3G1). In each case, the crystal structure or its analogue of inhibitor-bound HCA II has been used to perform classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulation in water till . AZM and FC5 are found to undergo repeated binding and unbinding with markedly different dynamics from the partially buried, substrate-binding hydrophobic pocket near the active site. 3G1, on the other hand, is found to remain mostly at its crystallographic binding site occluded from the active site of HCA II. The associated binding free energies ( ) have been computed using the known MM/GBSA method and compared to the available experimental data. Our results show that encounters several issues including limited sampling of multiple binding sites and incorrect prediction of the affinity of the chosen ligands. Possible use of the simulation results in further construction of Markov state models is also discussed.     

Synthesis of novel 5-HT1A arylpiperazine ligands: Binding data and computer-aided analysis of pharmacological potency

Serotonin receptors modulate numerous behavioral and neuropsychological processes. Therefore, they are the target for the action of many drugs, such as antipsychotics, antidepressants, antiemetics, migraine remedies, and many others. The 5-HT1A receptors have been involved in the pathogenesis and treatment of anxiety and depression and represent a promising target for new drugs with reduced extrapyramidal side effects. In most antidepressants, a piperazine-based structural motif can be identified as a common moiety. Here we describe the synthesis, pharmacological, and in silico characterization of a novel arylpiperazines series with excellent 5-HT1A affinity. The final compounds, 4a, 8a, and 8b, were selected according to predictions of in silico pharmacokinetics, docking analysis, and molecular dynamics in conjunction with physical properties, and metabolic stability. The accentuated molecules could serve as a lead compound for developing 5-HT1A drug-like molecules for depression treatment.     

Stabilization of Guest Molecules inside Cation-Lidded Cucurbiturils Reveals that Hydration of Receptor Sites Can Impede Binding

Docking of alkali metal ions to water-soluble macrocyclic receptors generally reduces the affinity of guest molecules due to competitive binding. The idea that solvation water molecules could display a larger steric hindrance towards guest binding than cations has not been considered to date. We show that the docking of large cations to cucurbit[5]uril (CB5) unexpectedly increases (by a factor of 5–8) the binding of hydrophobic guests, methane and ethane. This is due to the removal of water molecules from the carbonyl portals of CB5 during cation binding, which frees up space for hydrophobe encapsulation. In contrast, smaller cations like sodium protrude deeply into the cavity of CB5 and cause the expected decrease in binding, such that the rational selection of alkali cations allows for a variation of up to a factor of 20 in binding of methane and ethane. The statistical analysis of crystallographic data shows that the cavity volume of CB5 can be enlarged by placing large alkali ions (Rb⁺ and Cs⁺) centro-symmetrically at the portals. The results reveal a hitherto elusive steric hindrance of solvation water molecules near receptor binding sites, which is pertinent for the design of supramolecular catalysts and the understanding of biological receptors.     

Organic-Platinum Hybrids for Covalent Binding of G-Quadruplexes: Structural Basis and Application to Cancer Immunotherapy

G-quadruplexes (G4s) have been revived as promising therapeutic targets with the development of immunotherapy, but the G4-mediated immune response remains unclear. We designed a novel class of G4-binding organic-platinum hybrids, L¹-cispt and L¹-transpt , with spatial matching for G4 binding and G4 DNA reactivity for binding site locking. The solution structure of L¹-transpt -MYT1L G4 demonstrated the effectiveness of the covalent binding and revealed the covalent binding-guided dynamic balance, accompanied by the destruction of the A5-T17 base pairs to achieve the covalent binding of the platinum unit to N7 of the G6 residue. Furthermore, L¹-cispt- and L¹-transpt- mediated genomic dysfunction could activate the retinoic acid-induced gene I (RIG-I) pathway and induce immunogenic cell death (ICD). The use of L¹-cispt/L¹-transpt- treated dying cells as therapeutic vaccines stimulated a robust immune response and effectively inhibited tumor growth in vivo. Our findings highlight the importance of the rational combination of specific spatial recognition and covalent locking in G4-trageting drug design and their potential in immunotherapy.     

Realizing Abundant Chirality Inversion of Supramolecular Nanohelices by Multiply Manipulating the Binding Sites in Molecular Blocks

The induction of diverse chirality regulation in nature by multiple binding sites of biomolecules is ubiquitous and plays an essential role in determining the biofunction of biosystems. However, mimicking this biological phenomenon and understanding at a molecular level its mechanism with the multiple binding sites by establishing an artificial system still remains a challenge. Herein, abundant chirality inversion is achieved by precisely and multiply manipulating the co-assembled binding sites of phenylalanine derivatives (D/LPPF) with different naphthalene derivatives (NA, NC, NP, NF). The amide and hydroxy group of naphthalene derivatives prefer to bind with the carboxy group of LPPF, while carboxylic groups and fluoride atoms tend to bind with the amide moiety of LPPF. All these diverse interaction modes can precisely trigger helicity inversion of LPPF nanofibers. In addition, synergistically manipulating the carboxy and amide binding sites from a single LPPF molecule to simultaneously interact with different naphthalene derivatives leads to chirality regulation. Typically, varying the solvent may switch the interaction modes and the switched new interaction modes can be employed to further regulate the chirality of the LPPF nanofibers. This study may provide a novel approach to explore chirality diversity in artificial systems by regulating the intermolecular binding sites.     

Recent studies on advance spectroscopic techniques for the identification of microorganisms: A review

The continuous development of resistance to antibiotic drugs by microorganisms causes high mortality and morbidity. Pathogens with distinct features and biochemical abilities make them destructive to human health. Therefore, early identification of the pathogen is of substantial importance for quick ailments and healthcare outcomes. Several phenotype methods are used for the identification and resistance determination but most of the conventional procedures are time-consuming, costly, and give qualitative results. Recently, great focus has been made on the utilization of advanced techniques for microbial identification. This review is focused on the research studies performed in the last five years for the identification of microorganisms particularly, bacteria using advanced spectroscopic techniques including mass spectrometry (MS), infrared (IR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy (RS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Among all the techniques, MS techniques, particularly MALDI-TOF/MS have been widely utilized for microbial identification. A total of 44 bacteria i.e., 6 Staphylococcus spp., 3 Enterococcus spp., 6 Bacillus spp., 4 Streptococcus spp., 6 Salmonella spp., and one from each genus including Escherichia, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Proteus, Clostridioides, Candida, Brucella, Burkholderia, Francisella, Yersinia, Moraxella, Vibrio, Shigella, Serratia, Citrobacter, and Haemophilus (spp.) were discussed in the review for their identification using the above-mentioned techniques. Among all the identified microorganisms, 21% of studies have been conducted for the identification of E. coli, 14% for S. aureus followed by 37% for other microorganisms.