Coumarin Antifungal Lead Compounds from Millettia thonningii and Their Predicted Mechanism of Action.

ABSTRACT: Fungal pathogens continue to pose challenges to humans and plants despite efforts to control them. Two coumarins, robustic acid and thonningine-C isolated from Millettia thonningii, show promising activity against the fungus Candida albicans with minimum fungicidal concentration of 1.0 and 0.5 mg/mL, respectively. Molecular modelling against the putative bio-molecular target, lanosterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51), revealed a plausible binding mode for the active compounds, in which the hydroxyl group binds with a methionine backbone carboxylic group blocking access to the iron catalytic site. This binding disrupts the synthesis of several important sterols for the survival of fungi.

SUBMITTER: Ayine-Tora DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6274499 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature