The Research of New Inhibitors of Bacterial Methionine Aminopeptidase by Structure Based Virtual Screening Approach of ZINC DATABASE and In Vitro Validation

Artificial intelligence and machine-learning approaches in structure and ligand-based discovery of drugs affecting central nervous system

CNS disorders are indications with a very high unmet medical needs, relatively smaller number of available drugs, and a subpar satisfaction level among patients and caregiver. Discovery of CNS drugs is extremely expensive affair with its own unique challenges leading to extremely high attrition rates and low efficiency. With explosion of data in information age, there is hardly any aspect of life that has not been touched by data driven technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Drug discovery is no exception, emergence of big data via genomic, proteomic, biological, and chemical technologies has driven pharmaceutical giants to collaborate with AI oriented companies to revolutionise drug discovery, with the goal of increasing the efficiency of the process. In recent years many examples of innovative applications of AI and ML techniques in CNS drug discovery has been reported. Research on therapeutics for diseases such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and Parkinsonism has been provided with a new direction and thrust from these developments. AI and ML has been applied to both ligand-based and structure-based drug discovery and design of CNS therapeutics. In this review, we have summarised the general aspects of AI and ML from the perspective of drug discovery followed by a comprehensive coverage of the recent developments in the applications of AI/ML techniques in CNS drug discovery.

Targeting the C-Terminal Domain Small Phosphatase 1

The human C-terminal domain small phosphatase 1 (CTDSP1/SCP1) is a protein phosphatase with a conserved catalytic site of DXDXT/V. CTDSP1’s major activity has been identified as dephosphorylation of the 5th Ser residue of the tandem heptad repeat of the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain (RNAP II CTD). It is also implicated in various pivotal biological activities, such as acting as a driving factor in repressor element 1 (RE-1)-silencing transcription factor (REST) complex, which silences the neuronal genes in non-neuronal cells, G1/S phase transition, and osteoblast differentiation. Recent findings have denoted that negative regulation of CTDSP1 results in suppression of cancer invasion in neuroglioma cells. Several researchers have focused on the development of regulating materials of CTDSP1, due to the significant roles it has in various biological activities. In this review, we focused on this emerging target and explored the biological significance, challenges, and opportunities in targeting CTDSP1 from a drug designing perspective.

TgMAP1c is involved in apicoplast biogenesis in Toxoplasma gondii

Methionine aminopeptidases (MAPs), which remove the N-terminal methionine from newly synthesised proteins, are present in all life forms. Three type I MAPs and one type II MAP are encoded in the genome of Toxoplasma gondii. In this study, we found that the inducible knockdown of each type I TgMAP (TgMAP1a-c) reduced the growth and proliferation of the parasite significantly. Among them, TgMAP1c was found to be localised to the apicoplast of the parasite. Inducible knockdown of TgMAP1c led to a defect in the abundance of apicoplast-encoded transcripts, and a later reduction in the apicoplast genome copy number and loss of the apicoplast structure. This finding indicates that transcription of the apicoplast genome was impaired upon knockdown of TgMAP1c. We also found that the function of TgMAP1c in apicoplast biogenesis depends on its enzymatic domain. Expression of a recombinant protein in which the active domain of TgMAP1c was replaced with that of TgMAP1a or TgMAP1b could not restore the defective growth and replication phenotype caused by knockdown of TgMAP1c, indicating that these three enzymes have distinct substrate preferences. An in vitro analysis also revealed that TgMAP1c is an active enzyme that acts specifically on the substrate H-Met-p-NA. In addition, inducible knockdown of TgMAP1c reduced the virulence of T. gondii in mice. Taken together, these results demonstrate that TgMAP1c plays a key role in the biogenesis and maintenance of the T. gondii apicoplast.