Plasmepsin II inhibitory potential of phytochemicals isolated from African antimalarial plants: a computational approach.

Plamepsin II has been identified as a therapeutic target in the Plasmodium falciparum's life cycle and may lead to a drastic reduction in deaths caused by malaria worldwide. Africa flora is rich in medicinal qualities and possesses both simple and complex bioactive phytochemicals. This study utilized computational approaches like molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, quantum chemical calculations and ADMET to evaluate the plasmepsin II inhibitory properties of phytochemicals isolated from African antimalarial plants. Molecular docking was carried out to estimate the binding affinity of 229 phytochemicals whereby ekeberin A, dichamanetin, 10-hydroxyusambaresine, chamuvaritin and diuvaretin were selected. Further, RMSD and RMSF plots from the 100 ns simulation results showed that the screened phytochemicals were stable in the enzyme's binding pocket. The quantum chemical calculation revealed that all the phytochemicals are strong electrophiles, while ekeberin A was identified as the most stable and dichamanetin as the most reactive. Also, ADMET studies established the drug candidacy of the phytochemicals. Thus, these phytochemicals could act as good antimalarial agents after extensive in vitro and in vivo studies.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.