Discovering new inhibitors of bacterial glucosamine-6P synthase (GlmS) by docking simulations

Results of an in silico screening of a freely accessible database encompassing 50,000 commercial compounds on bacterial glucosamine-6P synthase (Glms) are described. Each product was docked with the GOLD software in a region of 20 Å surrounding the sugar binding site and ranked according to its score. Among the 14 best-scored molecules, three molecules exhibited good experimental inhibition properties (IC50 = 70 μM) giving a high hit rate (H.R.: 0.23). Interestingly, these molecules are predicted to interact with a protein region that forms a pocket at the interface between the two enzyme monomers, opening the route to dimerization inhibitors.