In silico analysis of Moringaceae derived potential drug-like compounds against Newcastle disease virus

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) classified in the Avian avulavirus 1 [genus Orthoavulavirus, subfamily Avulavirinae, family Paramyxoviridae] constitutes a serious financial risk to the global poultry market. Available vaccines do not show good results in catering to the virus. Currently there is no FDA-approved drug to treat the disease. Nucleoprotein (NP) is a structural protein playing that constitutes a serious financial risk to the global poultry market.a valuable role in the virus replication process and encapsidation. This study is an effort to screen phytochemicals, from the plant family Moringaceae, as potential inhibitors of the N protein. ADMET (adsorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity) analysis was performed to screen potential phytochemicals with drug likeliness. Molecular Docking was performed for the binding affinities. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS) and Density Function Theory (DFT) were performed to evaluate the phytochemicals bioavailability and reactivity, respectively. The stability of protein–ligand complexes was examined by 50 ns MD simulations and MM/PBSA values were calculated. Out of 128 phytochemicals, 22 phytochemicals were selected following ADMET screening. Based on the binding energies and the number of H bonding the following 10 phytochemicals were suggested as potential inhibitors to N protein of NDV – cis-11,14-eicosadienoic acid methyl ester, aurantiamide acetate, α-tocopherol, 4,8,12,16-tetramethylheptadecan-4-olide, 3,7,11,15-tetramethyl-2-hexadecen-1-ol, β-amyrin, β-sitosterol-3-O-β-d-galactopyranoside, α-amyrin, pterygospermin and sitogluside. Furthermore, DFT results showed that the 4 pytochemicals – Cis-11,14-eicosadienoic acid methyl ester, aurantiamide acetate, α-tocopherol, and 3,7,11,15-tetramethyl-2-hexadecen-1-ol were most reactive and thus could be used as potential inhibitors of NDV N protein. Further studies are required to validate the selected four phytochemicals as drug candidates against NDV.