QSAR, Docking and Molecular Dynamic Simulation studies of Leishmanial
Inhibitors using bioinformatics approach
Abstract
Leishmaniasis is a neglected disease caused by protozoa belonging
to the Leishmania genus. The search for effective
anti-Leishmanial compounds is challenging due to high costs, time
requirements, and long-term treatment. However, today, with the help of
computational approaches, we can undertake projects with lower costs and
shorter timelines. The objective of this study was to discover novel and
potent anti-Leishmanial compounds and establish the real
relationship between the structure of these compounds and their
biological activity. To achieve this goal, a total of 26 chemical
compounds underwent QSAR analysis. After data preprocessing, a suitable
set of molecular descriptors was calculated, and significant descriptors
were selected. The Stepwise-MLR model identified nine important
descriptors that influenced the activity of the chemical compounds: ”
EEig01x,” ” IVDE,” ” G2m,” ” Mor16m,” ”
JGI5,” ” E2e,” ” H0e,” ” G1p,” and ”
RDF030m.” The developed model was evaluated based on the
correlation between observed and predicted values (R=0.97), the
correlation coefficient (R 2=0.94), and the root mean
square error (RMSE=0.211). Additionally, molecular docking using
AutoDock Vina was employed to explore the binding modes of 26 compounds
with Leishmania major N-myristoyltransferase. The binding energy
fit score of the best inhibitor, inhibitor 8, was –9.6 kcal/mol. For
further investigation, the docked structure obtained from the AutoDock
results underwent a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for 100 ns.
Analysis of the trajectory file confirmed the efficacy of the final
compound against Leishmania. This study marks a significant step in the
development of drug candidates against Leishmaniasis.