Identificação proteômica de alterações metabólicas em Paracoccidioides brasiliensis induzidas por derivado de chalcona

• Autor(a) principal: Carvalho Júnior, Marcos Antonio Batista de
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFG
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tede/11754
• topic: Chalcona; Antifungo; Paracoccidioides brasiliensis; Proteômica; Ancoragem molecular; Chalcone; Antifungal; Paracoccidioides brasiliensis; Proteomic; Molecular docking; CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::GENETICA

Paracoccidioidomycosis is one of the most important systemic mycoses in Latin America. The infection occurs through the inhalation of fungal propagules belonging to Paracoccidioides genus that are present in soils, being largely associated with the contamination of rural workers, who are constantly exposed to this potentially contaminated material. Even more than a century after its discovery, the treatment of this infection with the currently available antifungal arsenal still represents a challenge, due to the long treatment time required, as well as the high toxicity of the drugs used. These questions highlight the need for research to develop and characterize new compounds with the potential to inhibit the growth of these microorganisms. In this sense, a class of molecules called chalcones has shown great versatility for demonstrating broad biological properties, including antifungal activity among them. Through a virtual screening methodology, a chalcone derivative named compound 3 was identified by our group as a promising inhibitor of Paracoccidioides spp. Thus, in order to understand the mode of action of compound 3, we applied a proteomic approach to identify the induced and repressed proteins of P. brasiliensis in the presence of compound 3. In addition, validation assays were performed on the results found. The analysis indicated that the compound can cause an imbalance in the fungal energy homeostasis by reducing the activity of the glycolytic pathway, beta-oxidation and citric acid cycle. In vitro validations also demonstrated that reactive oxygen species accumulate within the cells during exposure to compound 3, which can destabilize cellular components such as the plasma membrane. The molecular docking assay between compound 3 and the enzyme dihydropteroate synthase, which had its expression induced after the treatment, suggest that compound 3 may act as an inhibitor of this protein, impairing the folate biosynthesis that participates as a cofactor in synthesis of nucleotides and some amino acids. Therefore, these data support the efficiency of compound 3 in producing imbalances in key pathways for the P. brasiliensis' metabolic maintenance, contributing to its antifungal role.