Natural Compounds as Inhibitors of Plasmodium Falciparum Enoyl-acyl Carrier Protein Reductase (PfENR): An In silico Study

Demand for a new anti-malarial drug has been dramatically increasing in the recent years. Plasmodium falciparum enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (PfENR) plays a vital role in fatty acid elongation process, which now emerged as a new important target for the development of anti-microbial and anti-parasitic molecules. In the present study, 19 compounds namely alginic acid, atropine, chlorogenic acid, chrotacumine A & B, coenzyme $Q_1$, 4-coumaric acid, curcumin, ellagic acid, embelin, 5-O-methyl embelin, eugenyl glucoside, glabridin, hyoscyamine, nordihydroguaiaretic acid, rohitukine, scopolamine, tlatlancuayin and ursolic acid were evaluated on their docking behaviour on P. falciparum enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (PfENR) using Auto dock 4.2. The docking studies and binding free energy calculations exhibited that glabridin gave the highest binding energy (-8.07 kcal/mol) and 4-coumaric acid in contrast showed the least binding energy (-4.83 kcal/mol). All ligands except alginic acid, ellagic acid, hyoscyamine and glabridin interacted with Gln409 amino acid residue. Interestingly four ligands namely coenzyme $Q_1$, 4-coumaric acid, embelin and 5-O-methyl embelin interacted with Gln409 amino acid residue present in both chains (A & B) of PfENR protein. Thus, the results of this present study exhibited the potential of these 19 ligands as P. falciparum enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (PfENR) inhibitory agents and also as anti-malarial agents.