Abstract
Alternaria blight is an important foliage disease caused by Alternaria solani. The enzyme Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) is a potential drug target because of its role in tricarboxylic acid cycle. Hence targeting Alternaria solani SDH enzyme could be efficient tool to design novel fungicides against A. solani. We employed computational methodologies to design new SDH inhibitors using homology modeling; pharmacophore modeling and structure based virtual screening. The three dimensional SDH model showed good stereo-chemical and structural properties. Based on virtual screening results twelve commercially available compounds were purchased and tested in vitro and in vivo. The compounds were found to inhibit mycelial growth of A. solani. Moreover in vitro trials showed that inhibitory effects were enhanced with increase in concentrations. Similarly increased disease control was observed in pre-treated potato tubers. Hence the applied in silico strategy led us to identify novel fungicides.
Highlights
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a starchy and most widely grown tuberous crop from the Solanaceae family worldwide (Brown, 2005; Khorasani et al, 2008; Zaheer and Akhtar, 2016)
Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) is composed of two hydrophilic proteins: flavoprotein (Fp) and iron- sulfur protein (Ip), and two trans-membrane proteins, i.e., large cytochrome b (CybL) and small cytochrome b (CybS), and prosthetic groups required for electron transfer from succinate to ubiquinone
The 3D model of A. solani SDH was constructed via homology modeling
Summary
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a starchy and most widely grown tuberous crop from the Solanaceae family worldwide (Brown, 2005; Khorasani et al, 2008; Zaheer and Akhtar, 2016). EB of potato is Virtual Screening of Alternaria solani SDHIs the most destructive disease of field crops (Van der Waals et al, 2001), and is significantly common in the USA, Asia and Africa. It develops most rapidly after tuber initiation, it destroy foliage and reduces yield typically by ∼20%. A. solani is considered as “high-risk” pathogen because of pesticides resistance due to its high genetic variability, abundant sporulation, and polycyclic nature (Van der Waals et al, 2003, 2004; Pasche et al, 2004; Rosenzweig et al, 2008). Various fungicides has been developed to control EB, resistance against these fungicides in Alternaria strains (Fairchild et al, 2012) make it an advantageous and interesting task to discover more potent and effective compounds against Alternaria to prevent this disease
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
