Structure based design of novel inhibitors for histidinol dehydrogenase from Geotrichum candidum

Histidinol dehydrogenase, the product of the HisD gene, mediates the final step in the histidine biosynthetic pathway. This enzyme has captured attention for drug discovery studies in past few years. Recently, our group cloned and expressed Geotrichum candidum histidinol dehydrogenase and successful screening of substrate analog inhibitors of histidinol dehydrogenase led to some antifungal compounds with IC(50) values in micromolar range. In this study, we have done docking analysis of these antifungal agents in G. candidum. Two new compounds were designed based on the docking results and these compounds turned out to be potent inhibitors of G. candidum histidinol dehydrogenase, showing IC(50) values as low as 3.17 microM.