AtTRB1–3 Mediates Structural Changes in AtPOT1b to Hold ssDNA

POT from Arabidopsis thaliana is a member of shelterin complex and belongs to Telo_bind protein family. Three homologs are reported, namely, AtPOT1a, AtPOT1b, and AtPOT1c, where AtPOT1b is involved in genomic stability and chromosome end protection by providing necessary grip to G-rich region of telomeric DNA for telomerase assembly. Telomeric binding factors (TRB1–3) physically interact with POT with no known functionality. In this work attempt has been made to elucidate the reason behind the interaction by analyzing molecular docking interaction between AtPOT1b and AtTRB1–3, which yielded potential residues, which could play essential role in structural modification. 3 ns molecular simulation helped to look into structural stability and conformational dynamics portraying domain movements. AtTRB’s interaction with AtPOT1b provoked structural changes in AtPOT1b, thereby increasing the affinity for single strand DNA (ssDNA) as compared to double strand DNA (dsDNA). Although the obtained results require experimental evidence they can act as a guide in tracing the functions in other organisms. The information provided in this paper would be helpful in understanding functions of TRB1–3 with respect to genomic stability.

2D-QSAR, Docking Studies, and In Silico ADMET Prediction of Polyphenolic Acetates as Substrates for Protein Acetyltransferase Function of Glutamine Synthetase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

A novel transacetylase (TAase) function of glutamine synthetase (GS) in bacterial species such as Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv was established by us, termed as mycobacterial TAase (MTAase). Several polyphenolic acetates (PAs) were found to be substrates for MTAase by inhibiting certain receptor proteins such as glutathione S-transferase by way of acetylation. The present work describes the descriptor-based 2D-QSAR studies developed for a series of PA synthesized by us and evaluated for MTAase and antimycobacterial activity using stepwise multiple linear regression method with the kinetic constants and the minimum inhibitory constant (MIC) as the dependent variables, to address the fact that TAase activity was leading to the antimycobacterial activity. Further, blind docking methods using AutoDock were carried out to study the interaction of potent PA with the crystal structure of M. tuberculosis GS. PAs were predicted to bind M. tuberculosis GS on the protein surface away from the known active site of GS. Subsequent focussed/refined docking of potent PA with GS showed that the ε-amino group of Lys4 of GS formed a cation-π interaction with the benzene ring of PA. Also, ADMET-related descriptors were calculated to predict the pharmacokinetic properties for the selection of the effective and bioavailable compounds.