Abstract

IN SILICO STUDIES FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF NOVEL REPELLENT COMPOUNDS IN TAGETES ERECTA AGAINST THE ODORANT BINDING PROTEIN OF CULEX QUINQUEFASCIATUS

Dhivya R* and Manimegalai K

Abstract

Mosquito borne diseases are the major sources for death in developing countries. Control of mosquitoes is important in the present day with increase in number of mosquito borne illnesses. DEET is the active ingredient in insect repellent products and has been found to inhibit the activity of a central nervous system, enzyme acetylcholinesterase, in both insects and mammals and is therefore harmful. The use of botanical derivatives in mosquito control as an alternative to synthetic insecticides is more eco-friendly. Therefore, the present study was carried out to determine the potential ability of the four selected repellent compounds, viz., Cis-ocimene, Lutein, Beta carophyllene and Piperitone of Tagetes erecta against the Odorant Binding Protein (PDB id 2L2C) of Culex quinquefasciatus. The results revealed that, Cis-ocimene showed good docking scores against the Odorant Binding Protein 2L2C and molecular dynamics confirmed the stability of the protein-ligand bonding. Further research is needed to develop new repellents from substance of natural origin that can offer effective mosquito management to reduce the indiscriminate use of harmful chemical insecticide.

Keywords: Tagetes erecta, Culex quinquefasciatus, Odorant binding protein, Molecular docking, Molecular dynamics.