<i>In silico</i> approach revealed the membrane receptor PHO36 as a new target for synthetic anticandidal peptides
<b>Aim:</b> Synthetic antimicrobial peptides (SAMPs) present the potential to fight systemic fungal infections. Here, the PHO36 receptor from <i>Candida albicans</i> was analyzed by <i>in silico</i> tools as a possible target for three anticandidal SAMPs: <i>Rc</i>Alb-PepIII, PepGAT and PepKAA.<b>Materials & methods:</b> Molecular docking, dynamics and quantum biochemistry were employed to understand the individual contribution of amino acid residues in the interaction region.<b>Results:</b> The results revealed that SAMPs strongly interact with the PHO36 by multiple high-energy interactions. This is the first study to employ quantum biochemistry to describe the interactions between SAMPs and the PHO36 receptor.<b>Conclusion:</b> This work contributes to understanding and identifying new molecular targets with medical importance that could be used to discover new drugs against systemic fungal infections.
Authors
- V. N. Freire (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7867-3908)
- Jackson L. Amaral (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8745-1247)
- Raquel Carvalho Montenegro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3861-293X)
- Felipe Pantoja Mesquita (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6576-0161)
- Daiane Maria da Silva Brito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0560-4239)
- Rossana de Aguiar Cordeiro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8386-2180)
- Pedro Filho Noronha Souza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2524-4434)
- José H. A. Filho
- Francisco ES Lopes
Institutions
- Universidade Federal do Ceará (BR)
- Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (BR)
- Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte (BR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Future Microbiology
- Published
- 2024-09-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/17460913.2024.2398904
- Primary Topic
- Antimicrobial Peptides and Activities
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico