Structure-based drug design studies of UDP- N -acetylglucosamine pyrophosphosrylase, a key enzyme for the control of witches’ broom disease

摘要

Background The witches鈥?broom disease is a plague caused by Moniliophthora perniciosa in the Theobroma cacao, which has been reducing the cocoa production since 1989. This issue motivated a genome project that has showing several new molecular targets, which can be developed inhibitors in order to control the plague. Among the molecular targets obtained, the UDP-N-acetylglucosamine pyrophosphorylase (UNAcP) is a key enzyme to construct the fungal cell wall. The inhibition of this enzyme results in the fungal cell death.