Benzothiazinone analogs as Anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis DprE1 irreversible inhibitors: Covalent docking, validation, and molecular dynamics simulations

PLoS One. 2024 Nov 25;19(11):e0314422. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0314422. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a lethal human pathogen, with the key flavoenzyme for catalyzing bacterial cell-wall biosynthesis, decaprenylphosphoryl-D-ribose oxidase (DprE1), considered an Achilles heal for tuberculosis (TB) progression. Inhibition of DprE1 blocks cell wall biosynthesis and is a highly promising antitubercular target. Macozinone (PBTZ169, a benzothiazinone (BTZ) derivative) is an irreversible DprE1 inhibitor that has attracted considerable attention because it exhibits an additive activity when combined with other anti-TB drugs. Herein, 754 BTZ analogs were assembled in a virtual library and evaluated against the DprE1 target using a covalent docking approach. After validation of the employed covalent docking approach, BTZ analogs were screened. Analogs with a docking score less than -9.0 kcal/mol were advanced for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, followed by binding energy evaluations utilizing the MM-GBSA approach. Three BTZ analogs-namely, PubChem-155-924-621, PubChem-127-032-794, and PubChem-155-923-972- exhibited higher binding affinities against DprE1 compared to PBTZ169 with ΔGbinding values of -77.2, -74.3, and -65.4 kcal/mol, versus -49.8 kcal/mol, respectively. Structural and energetical analyses were performed for the identified analogs against DprE1 throughout the 100 ns MD simulations, and the results demonstrated the great stability of the identified BTZ analogs. Physicochemical and ADMET characteristics indicated the oral bioavailability of the identified BTZ analogs. The obtained in-silico results provide promising anti-TB inhibitors that are worth being subjected to in-vitro and in-vivo investigations.

MeSH terms

  • Alcohol Oxidoreductases* / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Alcohol Oxidoreductases* / chemistry
  • Alcohol Oxidoreductases* / metabolism
  • Antitubercular Agents* / chemistry
  • Antitubercular Agents* / pharmacology
  • Bacterial Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Bacterial Proteins / chemistry
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / chemistry
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • Molecular Docking Simulation*
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation*
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis* / drug effects
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis* / enzymology
  • Piperazines
  • Thiazines* / chemistry
  • Thiazines* / pharmacology

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents
  • DprE1 protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis
  • Alcohol Oxidoreductases
  • Thiazines
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • macozinone
  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Piperazines

Grants and funding

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.