Identification and structural investigation of potential novel drug candidates against lethal human pathogen

Abstract

Neisseria meningtidis is responsible for causing meningococcal meningitis along with acute septicaemia in human beings. Functional genomics strategies proved cruciality of certain genes/proteins in Neisseria meningitidis pathogenesis. During the present studies, three important Neisseria meningitidis proteins i.e., Dead box RNA-Helicase, Polyribonucleotide nucleotidyl-transferase PNPase and Ribonuclease-III were targeted for homology modeling and protein-ligand docking studies not only to determine their three dimensional architectures but also to identify their potential novel inhibitors. The Biscoumarin, malonitrile and indole derivatives showed the best inhibitory mode against all of the three enzymes. Since, these enzymes are assembled in Gram-negative bacteria to form RNA degradosome assembly therefore their inhibition will definitely shut off the degradosome assembly and ultimately the decay of RNA, which is an essential life process. This is the first ever structural investigation of these drug targets along with identification of potential novel drug candidates. We believe that these small chemical compounds will be proved as better drugs and will provide an excellent barrier towards Neisseria meningitidis pathogenesis.