Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel inhibitors against 1,3,8-trihydroxynaphthalene reductase from Magnaporthe grisea

1,3,8-Trihydroxynaphthalene reductase (3HNR) is an essential enzymes that is involved in fungal melanin biosynthesis. Based on the structural informations of active site of 3HNR, a series of β-nitrostyrene compounds were rationally designed and synthesized. The enzymatic activities of these compounds showed that most of them exhibited high inhibitory activities (<5.0 μM) against 3HNR; compound 3-2 exhibit the highest inhibitory activity (IC50 = 0.29 μM). In particular, some of these compounds had moderate fungicidal activity against Magnaporthe grisea. Compound 3-4 showed high in vivo activities against M. grisea (EC50 = 9.5 ppm). Furthermore, compound 3-2 was selected as a representative molecule, and the probable binding mode of this compound and the surrounding residues in the active site of 3HNR was elucidated by using molecular dock. The positive results suggest that β-nitrostyrene derivatives are most likely to be promising leads toward the discovery of novel agent of rice blast.

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