New molecular target insights about protein kinases of the Plasmodium falciparum. Using molecular docking and DFT-based reactivity descriptors

Abstract

Currently, there is increasing interest in the potential of malaria inhibitors in Plasmodium falciparum activity. In this work, is propose a possible alternative to classifying 154 antimalarials, with P. falciparum activity. These antimalarials were synthesized by the Chibale’s group ( http://www.kellychibaleresearch.uct.ac.za/ ), with the goal of finding new insights on the binding pocket of the protein kinase PfPK5, PfPK7, PfCDPK1, PfCDPK4, PfMAP1, and PfPK6 of the malaria parasite. However, there is only information about crystallography of PfPK5 and PfPK7. The protein kinases PfCDPK1, PfCDPK4, PfMAP1, and PfPK6 were modeled using molecular homology. The validation used shows that our homology models can be an alternative for the protein kinases from P. falciparum, unknown today. The antimalarials were classified by taking into account the interactions in the hinge zone. These ligands bind to the kinase through the formation of one of two hydrogen bonds, with the backbone residues of the hinge region connecting the kinase N- and C-terminal loops. These interactions were supported by a reactivity chemistry analysis, using global chemical reactivity descriptors such as chemical potential, hardness, softness, electrophilicity, and the Fukui functions as local reactivity descriptors, within the Density Functional Theory (DFT) context.