In silico approach revealed the membrane receptor PHO36 as a new target for synthetic anticandidal peptides.

Aim: Synthetic antimicrobial peptides (SAMPs) present the potential to fight systemic fungal infections. Here, the PHO36 receptor from Candida albicans was analyzed by in silico tools as a possible target for three anticandidal SAMPs: RcAlb-PepIII, PepGAT and PepKAA.Materials & methods: Molecular docking, dynamics and quantum biochemistry were employed to understand the individual contribution of amino acid residues in the interaction region.

Results

The results revealed that SAMPs strongly interact with the PHO36 by multiple high-energy interactions. This is the first study to employ quantum biochemistry to describe the interactions between SAMPs and the PHO36 receptor.

Conclusion

This work contributes to understanding and identifying new molecular targets with medical importance that could be used to discover new drugs against systemic fungal infections.