Identification of probable drug targets at the outer membrane of Yersinia enterocolitica

Yersinia enterocolitica is a food-borne bacterium related to a disease called yersiniosis (gastroenteritis) in animals and humans. It is widely distributed in nature and is controlled with various antibiotics, such as second- and third-generation cephalosporins, gentamicin and fluoroquinolones and ciprofloxacin. In addition to antibiotic resistance, these antibiotics have side effects in the host because of drug-host interaction. To overcome these problems, this study focused on finding putative drug targets in the pathogen Y. enterocolitica and identifying novel molecules to tackle the function of this pathogen. In the present study, two new drug targets were found in Y. enterocolitica. Apart from using antibiotics, chlorogenic acid, hesperidin, neohesperidin, and naringin had indicated good binding affinity with the recognized targets through molecular docking experiments. Accordingly, this investigation suggests that the newly-found drug targets may be a fertile field in the pharmaceutical community for finding inhibitors similar to chlorogenic acid, hesperidin, neohesperidin, and naringin, as well as designing new drug molecule formulations to tackle the foodborne illness caused by pathogen Y. enterocolitica.