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Title

Computer Aided Screening of Phytochemicals from Garcinia against the Dengue NS2B/NS3 Protease

 

Authors

Tahir ul Qamar*, Arooj Mumtaz, Usman Ali Ashfaq*, Samia Azhar, Tabeer Fatima, Muhammad Hassan, Syed Sajid Hussain, Waheed Akram & Sobia Idrees

 

Affiliation

Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF), 38000, Pakistan

 

Email

tahir_ul_qamar@ovi.com, usmancemb@gmail.com; *Corresponding author

 

Article Type

Hypothesis

 

Date

Received December 31, 2013; Revised January 30, 2014; Accepted January 31, 2014; Published March 19, 2014

 

Abstract

Dengue virus NS2/NS3 protease because of its ability to cleave viral proteins is considered as an attractive target to screen antiviral agents. Medicinal plants contain a variety of phytochemicals that can be used as drug against different diseases and infections. Therefore, this study was designed to uncover possible phytochemical of different classes (Aromatic, Carbohydrates, Lignin, Saponins, Steroids, Tannins, Terpenoids, Xanthones) that could be used as inhibitors against the NS2B/NS3 protease of DENV. With the help of molecular docking, Garcinia phytochemicals found to be bound deeply inside the active site of DENV NS2B/NS3 protease among all tested phytochemicals and had interactions with catalytic triad (His51, Asp75, Ser135). Thus, it can be concluded from the study that these Gracinia phytochemicals could serve as important inhibitors to inhibit the viral replication inside the host cell. Further in-vitro investigations require confirming their efficacy. 

 

Keywords

Dengue virus (DENV), NS2/NS3 Protease, Medicinal Plants, Phytochemicals, Inhibitors, Molecular docking, Catalytic traid

 

Citation

Qamar et al.   Bioinformation 10(3): 115-118 (2014)
 

Edited by

P Kangueane

 

ISSN

0973-2063

 

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

 

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.