Identification of Novel Inhibitors of Type-I Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Fatty Acid Synthase Using Docking-Based Virtual Screening and Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Mycobacterial fatty acid synthase type-I (FAS-I) has an important role in the de novo synthesis of fatty acids, which constitute a major component of the cell wall. The essentiality of FAS-I in the survival and growth of mycobacterium makes it an attractive drug target. However, targeted inhibitors against Mycobacterial FAS-I have not been reported yet. Recently, the structure of FAS-I from Mycobacterium tuberculosis was solved. Therefore, in a quest to find potential inhibitors against FAS-I, molecular docking-based virtual screening and molecular dynamics simulation were done. Subsequently, molecular dynamic simulations based on binding free energy calculations were done to gain insight into the predicted binding mode of putative hits. The detailed analysis resulted in the selection of four putative inhibitors. For compounds BTB14738, RH00608, SPB02705, and CD01000, binding free energy was calculated as −72.27 ± 12.63, −68.06 ± 11.80, −63.57 ± 12.22, and −51.28 ± 13.74 KJ/mol, respectively. These compounds are proposed to be promising pioneer hits.