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Acinetobacter baumannii is an extremely dangerous multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-negative pathogen which poses a serious life-threatening risk in immunocompromised patients. Phosphopantothenoyl cysteine synthetase (PPCS) catalyzes the formation of an amide bond between L-cysteine and phosphopantothenic acid (PPA) to form 4′- Phosphopantothenoylcysteine during Coenzyme A (CoA) biosynthesis. CoA is a crucial cofactor for cellular survival and inhibiting its synthesis will result in cell death. Bacterial PPCS differs from eukaryotic PPCS in a number of ways like it exists as a C-terminal domain of a PPCDC/PPCS fusion protein whereas eukaryotic PPCS exists as an independent protein. This difference makes it an attractive drug target. For which a conventional iterative approach of SBDD (structure-based drug design) was used, which began with three-dimensional structure prediction of AbPPCS using PHYRE 2.0. A database of FDA-approved compounds (Drug Bank) was then screened against the target of interest by means of docking score and glide energy, leading to the identification of 6 prominent drug candidates. The shortlisted 6 molecules were further subjected to all-atom MD simulation studies in explicit-solvent conditions (using AMBER force field). The MD simulation studies revealed that the ligands DB65103, DB449108 and DB443210, maintained several H-bonds with intense van der Waals contacts at the active site of the protein with high binding free energies: −11.42 kcal/mol, −10.49 kcal/mol and −10.98 kcal/mol, respectively, calculated via MM-PBSA method. Overall, binding of these compounds at the active site was found to be the most stable and robust highlighting the potential of these compounds to serve as antibacterials. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

The recent pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has led the world to a standstill, causing a medical and economic crisis worldwide. This crisis has triggered an urgent need to discover a possible treatment strategy against this novel virus using already-approved drugs. The main protease (Mpro) of this virus plays a critical role in cleaving the translated polypeptides that makes it a potential drug target against COVID-19. Taking advantage of the recently discovered three-dimensional structure of Mpro, we screened approved drugs from the Drug Bank to find a possible inhibitor against Mpro using computational methods and further validating them with biochemical studies. The docking and molecular dynamics study revealed that DB04983 (denufosol) showed the best glide docking score,-11.884 kcal/mol, and MM-PBSA binding free energy,-10.96 kcal/mol. Cobicistat, cangrelor (previous computational studies in our lab), and denufosol (current study) were tested for the in vitro inhibitory effects on Mpro. The IC50 values of these drugs were â 6.7 μM, 0.9 mM, and 1.3 mM, respectively, while the values of dissociation constants calculated using surface plasmon resonance were â 2.1 μM, 0.7 mM, and 1.4 mM, respectively. We found that cobicistat is the most efficient inhibitor of Mpro both in silico and in vitro. In conclusion, cobicistat, which is already an FDA-approved drug being used against HIV, may serve as a good inhibitor against the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 that, in turn, can help in combating COVID-19, and these results can also form the basis for the rational structure-based drug design against COVID-19. CA extern

The recent outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus leading to the disease COVID 19 has become a global pandemic that is spreading rapidly and has caused a global health emergency. Hence, there is an urgent need of the hour to discover effective drugs to control the pandemic caused by this virus. Under such conditions, it would be imperative to repurpose already known drugs which could be a quick and effective alternative to discovering new drugs. The main protease (Mpro) of SARS-COV-2 is an attractive drug target because of its essential role in the processing of the majority of the non-structural proteins which are translated from viral RNA. Herein, we report the high-throughput virtual screening and molecular docking studies to search for the best potential inhibitors against Mpro from FDA approved drugs available in the ZINC database as well as the natural compounds from the Specs database. Our studies have identified six potential inhibitors of Mpro enzyme, out of which four are commercially available FDA approved drugs (Cobicistat, Iopromide, Cangrelor, and Fortovase) and two are from Specs database of natural compounds (Hopeaphenol and Cyclosieversiodide-A). While Cobicistat and Fortovase are known as HIV drugs, Iopromide is a contrast agent and Cangrelor is an anti-platelet drug. Furthermore, molecular dynamic (MD) simulations using GROMACS were performed to calculate the stability of the top-ranked compounds in the active site of Mpro. After extensive computational studies, we propose that Cobicistat and Hopeaphenol show potential to be excellent drugs that can form the basis of treating COVID-19 disease. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Retinoblastoma (RB) is initiated by mutation in both alleles of RB1 gene. However, few cases may occur even in the absence of RB1 mutation suggesting the role of genes other than RB1. The current study was planned to utilize targeted exome sequencing in Indian RB patients affected with unilateral non-familial RB. 75 unilateral RB patients below 5 years of age were enrolled. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood and tumor tissue. From peripheral blood DNA, all coding and exon/intron regions were amplified using PCR and direct sequencing. Cases which did not harbor pathogenic variants in peripheral blood DNA were further screened for mutations in their tumor tissue DNA using targeted exome sequencing. Three pathogenicity prediction tools (Mutation Taster, SIFT, and PolyPhen-2) were used to determine the pathogenicity of non-synonymous variations. An in-house bioinformatics pipeline was devised for the mutation screening by targeted exome sequencing. Protein modeling studies were also done to predict the effect of the mutations on the protein structure and function. Using the mentioned approach, we found two novel variants (g.69673_69674insT and g.48373314C>A) in RB1 gene in peripheral blood DNA. We also found novel variants in eight genes (RB1, ACAD11, GPR151, KCNA1, OTOR, SOX30, ARL11, and MYCT1) that may be associated with RB pathogenesis. The present study expands our current knowledge regarding the genomic landscape of RB and also highlights the importance of NGS technologies to detect genes and novel variants that may play an important role in cancer initiation, progression, and prognosis.

A novel method for the synthesis of 2-imino-2 H -benzo[ h ]chromenes via the sequential addition of N -chlorosuccinimide and triethylamine to 2-amino-4 H -benzo[ h ]chromenes has been established. This reaction protocol represents an efficient synthetic strategy to form iminochromene derivatives under mild reaction conditions, which utilizes readily accessible aminochromenes as starting materials and tolerates a wide range of substrates.

2-amino-5-nitropyridine 4-chlorobenzoic acid (1:1) (2A5NP4CBA), a potentially useful organic adduct compound has been synthesized and grown as optically transparent single crystals by conventional slow evaporation solution technique (SEST) for the first time in the literature. The formation of the new crystalline material was confirmed by the single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SXRD) analysis and the crystal structure of the grown crystal was found to be monoclinic. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum has been recorded by the KBr pellet technique to determine the various vibrational functional groups in the title material. The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) analyses have been carried out and the obtained results reveal that the grown crystal has a single-phase and is free from structural grain boundaries. The obtained less value (32 arc-s) of full width at half maximum (FWHM) for (001) plane indicates the excellent crystalline quality of the title 2A5NP4CBA single crystal. The linear optical properties were evaluated by the UV-vis-NIR absorption and transmittance analyses and the obtained results reveal that the grown crystal possesses more than 70% of optical transmittance window with the cut-off edge at 419 nm. The thermal analysis discloses that the grown crystal possesses good thermal stability of about 187°C. To determine the appropriateness of the grown crystal for the high-power laser application, laser damage threshold (LDT) analysis has been carried out by Nd: YAG laser of a wavelength of 1064 nm. The third-order nonlinear optical coefficients such as nonlinear absorption (β), nonlinear refraction (n 2 ) and nonlinear susceptibility (χ (3) ) have been evaluated by utilizing the single beam Z-scan technique using a solid-state laser of wavelength 532 nm. The calculated ꭓ (3) value is found to be reasonably good compared to other organic single crystals which are reported in the literature. The optical limiting (OL) behavior of the title crystal was evaluated using a solid-state laser at 532 nm and the limiting threshold was found to be 7.8 mW/cm 2 .

The problem of antibiotic resistance has prompted researchers around the globe to search for new antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobial proteins and peptides are naturally secreted by almost all the living organisms to fight infections and can be safer alternatives to chemical antibiotics. Lactoferrin (LF) is a known antimicrobial protein present in all body secretions. In this study, LF was digested by trypsin, and the resulting hydrolysates were studied with respect to their antimicrobial properties. Among the hydrolysates, a 21-kDa basic fragment of LF (termed lactosmart) showed promise as a new potent antimicrobial agent. The antimicrobial studies were performed on various microorganisms including Shigella flexneri, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli as well as fungal pathogens such as Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, and Candida glabrata. In addition, the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-binding properties of lactosmart were studied using surface plasmon resonance technique in vitro, along with docking of LPS and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies. The results showed that lactosmart had better inhibitory effects against pathogenic microorganisms compared to LF. The results of docking and MD simulation studies further validated the tighter binding of LPS to lactosmart compared to LF. The two LPS-binding sites have been characterized structurally in detail. Through these studies, it has been demonstrated that in native LF, only one LPS-binding site remains exposed due to its location being on the surface of the molecule. However, due to the generation of the lactosmart molecule, the second LPS-binding site gets exposed too. Since LPS is an essential and conserved part of the bacterial cell wall, the pro-inflammatory response in the human body caused by LPS can be targeted using the newly identified lactosmart. These findings highlight the immense potential of lactosmart in comparison to native LF in antimicrobial defense. We propose that lactosmart can be further developed as an antibacterial, antifungal, and antibiofilm agent.

The recent outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus leading to the disease COVID 19, a global pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented loss of life and economy worldwide. Hence, there is an urgent need to discover effective drugs to control this pandemic. NSP16 is a methyltransferase that methylates the ribose 2'-O position of the viral nucleotide. Taking advantage of the recently solved structure of NSP16 with its inhibitor, S-Adenosylmethionine, we have virtually screened FDA approved drugs, drug candidates and natural compounds. The compounds with the best docking scores were subjected to molecular dynamics simulations followed by binding free energy calculations using the MM-PBSA method. The known drugs which were identified as potential inhibitors of NSP16 from SARS-CoV-2 included DB02498, DB03909, DB03186, Galuteolin, ZINC000029416466, ZINC000026985532, and ZINC000085537017. DB02498 (Carba-nicotinamide-adenine-dinucleotide) is an approved drug which has been used since the late 1960s in intravenous form to significantly lessen withdrawal symptoms from a variety of drugs and alcohol addicts and it has the best MM-PBSA binding free energy of-12.83 ± 0.52 kcal/mol. The second best inhibitor, Galuteolin is a natural compound that inhibits tyrosinase enzyme with MM-PBSA binding free energy value of -11.21 ± 0.47 kcal/mol. Detailed ligand and protein interactions were analyzed and common residues across SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and MERS-CoV were identified. We propose Carba-nicotinamide-adenine-dinucleotide and Galuteolin as the potential inhibitors of NSP16. The results in this study can be used for the treatment of COVID-19 and can also form the basis of rational drug design against NSP16 of SARS-CoV-2.

Schiff’s base of isonicotinyl hydrazide with 2’,4’-dihydroxy acetophenone (INH-RA) has been designed and synthesized as a part of library enumeration targeting the NS2B-NS3 protease of Dengue virus. Slow evaporation from methanol results in the formation of monoclinic crystals C2/c space group with eight molecules in the unit cell (a=20.0165(3) Å, b=7.7594(10) Å, c=19.4809(3) Å, α=90 °, β=111.368(1) °, γ=90 ° and Z=8).Three dimensional X-ray crystallographic structure of the compound has been determined and refined using SHELXS-97 and SHELXL-2014, respectively to a final R-value of 4.64%

In the title 2-[(4,6-di­amino­pyrimidin-2-yl)sulfan­yl]acetamides, both compounds have a folded conformation about the methyl­ene C atom of the thio­acetamide bridge, with the pyrimidine ring being inclined to the benzene ring by 56.18 (6) and 67.84 (6)°. In both mol­ecules, there is an intra­molecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bond stabilizing the folded conformation., The title compounds, C12H12N6O3S·H2O, (I), and C12H12ClN5OS, (II), are 2-[(4,6-di­amino­pyrimidin-2-yl)sulfan­yl]acetamides. Compound (I) crystallized as a monohydrate. In both compounds, the mol­ecules have a folded conformation, with the pyrimidine ring being inclined to the benzene ring by 56.18 (6)° in (I) and by 67.84 (6)° in (II). In both mol­ecules, there is an intra­molecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bond stabilizing the folded conformation. In (I), there is also a C—H⋯O intra­molecular short contact, and in (II) an intra­molecular N—H⋯Cl hydrogen bond is present. In the crystal of (I), mol­ecules are linked by a series of N—H⋯O, O—H⋯O and O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, forming undulating sheets parallel to the (100). The sheets are linked via an N—H⋯Owater hydrogen bond, forming a three-dimensional network. In the crystal of (II), mol­ecules are linked by a series of N—H⋯O, N—H⋯N and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming slabs parallel to (001).

WOS: 000414231000054, PubMed ID: 29089569, Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR gamma) has received significant attention as a key regulator of glucose and lipid homeostasis. In this study, we synthesized and tested a library of novel 5-benzylidene-thiazolidin-2,4-dione (BTZD) derivatives bearing a substituent on nitrogen of TZD nucleus (compounds 1a-1k, 2i-10i, 3a, 6a, and 8a-10a). Three compounds (1a, 1i, and 3a) exhibited selectivity towards PPAR. and were found to be weak to moderate partial agonists. Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) results demonstrated binding affinity of 1a, 1i and 3a towards PPAR gamma. Furthermore, docking experiments revealed that BTZDs interact with PPAR gamma through a distinct binding mode, forming primarily hydrophobic contacts with the ligand-binding pocket (LBD) without direct H-bonding interactions to key residues in H12 that are characteristic of full agonists. In addition, 1a, 1i and 3a significantly improved hyperglycemia and hyperlipidaemia in streptozotocin-nicotinamide (STZ-NA)-induced diabetic rats at a dose of 36 mg/kg/day administered orally for 15 days. Histopathological investigations revealed that microscopic architecture of pancreatic and hepatic cells improved in BTZDs-treated diabetic rats. These findings suggested that 1a, 1i and 3a are very promising pharmacological agents by selectively targeting PPAR. for further development in the clinical treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus., UGC-MANF [MUS-JH-12-13-11472], First author acknowledge UGC-MANF (MUS-JH-12-13-11472) for award of JRF fellowship. We are also thankful to DST-FIST (SR/FST/CSI-242/2012) for NMR facility at Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra and Institute of Life Sciences, Hyderabad, AP, India for providing spectral data.

Chemical investigation of the fruit peel of dietary plant Citrus hystrix offered two new flavones 5,6,4′-trihydroxypyranoflavone I and 5,4′-dimethyl-6-prenylpyranoflavone XIII besides 11 known compounds. The structures of all compounds were elucidated with the aid of suitable analytical methods like 1D, 2D-NMR, mass and single crystal X-ray analysis. An X-ray crystal study of compound II was done for the first time and the compounds I–VI, XI and XII are hitherto not reported from this plant. Biological studies revealed that compound I found to have a good antidiabetic and antiacetylcholinesterase activities meanwhile compounds II, III and V showed a significant free radical scavenging ability as well as antioxidant capacity. In addition, compounds I, IV, V and VI showed cytotoxicity against U87, A549 and MCF-7 cells. Overall, the new compound I showed valuable bioactive properties. Due to insufficient quantity of compound XIII, biological studies were not done.