Design of a specific peptide against phenolic glycolipid-1 from Mycobacterium leprae and its implications in leprosy bacilli entry.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of Hansen's disease, causes neural damage through the specific interaction between the external phenolic glycolipid-1 (PGL-1) and laminin subunit alpha-2 (LAMA2) from Schwann cells.

Objective

To design a LAMA2-based peptide that targets PGL-1 from M. leprae.

Methods

We retrieved the protein sequence of human LAMA2 and designed a specific peptide using the Antimicrobial Peptide Database and physicochemical parameters for antimycobacterial peptide-lipid interactions. We used the AlphaFold2 server to predict its three-dimensional structure, AUTODOCK-VINA for docking, and GROMACS programs for molecular dynamics simulations.

Findings

We analysed 52 candidate peptides from LAMA2, and subsequent screening resulted i

SUBMITTER: Arenas NE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9296141 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature