In silico study on the apicoplast L4 ribosomal protein and three domains from 23S rRNA from „Plasmodium falciparum“ and comparison with the existing cocrystal structures

Abstract

We performed preliminary computational studies on the construction of a segment of ribosomal protein L4 from the apicoplast ribosome of Plasmodium falciparum. With a Z-score of -3.404, it is arguably the best constructed model of this drug target so far. Three domains from 23S rRNA were made from scratch using the software RNA2D3D: domain II, IV and V. They were not validated but show reasonable similarity with bacterial 23S rRNA. This model has technical limitations but is a starting point; refined models are expected to find use in antimalarial drug design.