Drug targeting of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases in Anopheles species and Aedes aegypti that cause malaria and dengue

• Published in: Parasites & vectors 2021-12, Vol.14 (1), p.605-11, Article 605
• Main Authors: Chakraborti, Soumyananda, Chhibber-Goel, Jyoti, Sharma, Amit
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adenosine; Aedes; Aedes - drug effects; Aedes - enzymology; Aedes - genetics; Aedes aegypti; Aedes albopictus; Aedes spp; Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases - antagonists & inhibitors; Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases - chemistry; Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases - genetics; Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases; Animals; Anopheles; Anopheles - drug effects; Anopheles - enzymology; Anopheles - genetics; Anopheles spp; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Antimalarial agents; Aquatic insects; Binding sites; Chemical properties; Computer applications; Culicidae; Cytoplasm; Dengue; Dengue - transmission; Dengue fever; Disease transmission; Drug Delivery Systems; Drug Discovery; Drug targeting; Drug therapy; Drugs; Editing; Enzyme inhibitors; Enzymes; Genomes; Genomics; Human diseases; Humans; Insecticide Resistance; Insecticides; Insecticides - pharmacology; Localization; Malaria; Malaria - transmission; Mitochondria; Models, Structural; Mosquito Vectors - drug effects; Mosquito Vectors - enzymology; Mosquito Vectors - genetics; Mosquitoes; Peptides; Pesticide resistance; Pharmaceutical research; Physiological aspects; Protein biosynthesis; Protein synthesis; Proteins; Sequence Alignment; Sequencing; Short Report; Species; Structural analysis; Structural models; Structure-Activity Relationship; Structure-activity relationships (Biochemistry); Structure-function relationships; Therapeutic targets; Transfer RNA; tRNA; Tropical diseases; Vector-borne diseases; Vectors; West Nile virus; Yellow fever; Zika virus
• ISSN: 1756-3305; 1756-3305
• DOI: 10.1186/s13071-021-05106-5

Mosquito-borne diseases have a devastating impact on human civilization. A few species of Anopheles mosquitoes are responsible for malaria transmission, and while there has been a reduction in malaria-related deaths worldwide, growing insecticide resistance is a cause for concern. Aedes mosquitoes are known vectors of viral infections, including dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are key players in protein synthesis and are potent anti-infective drug targets. The structure-function activity relationship of aaRSs in mosquitoes (in particular, Anopheles and Aedes spp.) remains unexplored. We employed computational techniques to identify aaRSs from five different mosquito species (Anopheles culicifacies, Anopheles stephensi, Anopheles gambiae, Anopheles minimus, and Aedes aegypti). The VectorBase database ( https://vectorbase.org/vectorbase/app ) and web-based tools were utilized to predict the subcellular localizations (TargetP-2.0, UniProt, DeepLoc-1.0), physicochemical characteristics (ProtParam), and domain arrangements (PfAM, InterPro) of the aaRSs. Structural models for prolyl (PRS)-, and phenylalanyl (FRS)-tRNA synthetases-were generated using the I-TASSER and Phyre protein modeling servers. Among the vector species, a total of 37 (An. gambiae), 37 (An. culicifacies), 37 (An. stephensi), 37 (An. minimus), and 35 (Ae. aegypti) different aaRSs were characterized within their respective mosquito genomes. Sequence identity amongst the aaRSs from the four Anopheles spp. was > 80% and in Ae. aegypti was > 50%. Structural analysis of two important aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases [prolyl (PRS) and phenylanalyl (FRS)] of Anopheles spp. suggests structural and sequence similarity with potential antimalarial inhibitor [halofuginone (HF) and bicyclic azetidine (BRD1369)] binding sites. This suggests the potential for repurposing of these inhibitors against the studied Anopheles spp. and Ae. aegypti.