Identification of Novel Inhibitors of a Plant Group A Protein Phosphatase Type 2C Using a Combined In Silico and Biochemical Approach
Type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs) of group A play a significant role in the regulation of various processes in plants including growth, development, ion transport, and stress acclimation. In this study, we selected potential PP2C group A inhibitors using a structure-based virtual screening method...
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Published in | Frontiers in plant science Vol. 11; p. 526460 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Frontiers Media S.A
16.09.2020
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs) of group A play a significant role in the regulation of various processes in plants including growth, development, ion transport, and stress acclimation. In this study, we selected potential PP2C group A inhibitors using a structure-based virtual screening method followed by biochemical and
in vitro
validation. Over twenty million chemical compounds from the ZINC database were used for docking studies. The precision of the calculations was increased by an induced-fit docking protocol and the molecular mechanics/generalized Born surface area (MM/GBSA) method, which yielded approximate values for the binding energy of the protein-ligand complex. After clustering and ranking their activity, the top-ranking compounds were tested against PP2C group A members
in vitro
and their
in vivo
activity was also explored. Phosphatase activity assays identified two compounds with significant inhibitory activity against ABI1 protein ranging from around 57 to 91% at a concentration of 100 μM. Importantly, this
in vitro
activity correlated well with
in vivo
inhibition of seed germination, as expected for PP2C inhibitors. The results should promote the design of novel inhibitors with improved potency against ABI1-like and other PP2Cs that might be used in agriculture for the protection of crops against stress. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Reviewed by: Jorge Lozano-Juste, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain; Erwin Grill, Technical University of Munich, Germany; Aditya S. Vaidya, University of California, Riverside, United States Edited by: Goetz Hensel, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany This article was submitted to Plant Biotechnology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Plant Science |
ISSN: | 1664-462X 1664-462X |
DOI: | 10.3389/fpls.2020.526460 |