Abstract

  'The search for novel drugs to prevent or treat infections in Mycobacterium is gaining importance due to the emergence of drug resistance. In the present work, we have analyzed the complete genome of Mycobacterium leprae coding for 1605 proteins to identify some novel drug targets using computational methods. The enzymes were screened on the basis of their essentiality in the pathogen as well as on the basis of having least or negligible similarity for that enzyme in the host, Homo sapiens. These possible drug targets were identified for their role in the metabolic pathway of the pathogen. The results were then screened manually and further comparison of those targets against Tropical Disease Research (TDR) database selecting M. tuberculosis as a species of interest was carried out. This comparison against TDR database identified Mur A as a single outcome. Further, molecular modeling and docking was carried out for this enzyme with its natural substrate UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UNAG) and a known inhibitor T6362 to understand the key residues that could be targeted for building broad spectrum antibiotics. 

Keywords: Drug Targets; Homology Modeling; Leprosy; Mura; Mycobacterium Leprae

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Citation

Citation: Aditya Dev., et al. “In Silico Based Approach to Identify Mura as A Potential Drug Target for Leprosy". Acta Scientific Microbiology 3.3 (2020): 01-07.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Aditya Dev., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.