RESUMO
Bacterial resistance is responsible for a wide variety of health problems, both in children and adults. The persistence of symptoms and infections are mainly treated with ß-lactam antibiotics. The increasing resistance to those antibiotics by bacterial pathogens generated the emergence of extended-spectrum ß-lactamases (ESBLs), an actual public health problem. This is due to rapid mutations of bacteria when exposed to antibiotics. In this case, ß-lactamases are enzymes used by bacteria to hydrolyze the beta-lactam rings present in the antibiotics. Therefore, it was necessary to explore novel molecules as potential ß-lactamases inhibitors to find antibacterial compounds against infection caused by ESBLs. A computational methodology based on molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations was used to find new microalgae metabolites inhibitors of ß-lactamase. Six 3D ß-lactamase proteins were selected, and the molecular docking revealed that the metabolites belonging to the same structural families, such as phenylacridine (4-Ph), quercetin (Qn), and cryptophycin (Cryp), exhibit a better binding score and binding energy than commercial clinical medicine ß-lactamase inhibitors, such as clavulanic acid, sulbactam, and tazobactam. These results indicate that 4-Ph, Qn, and Cryp molecules, homologous from microalgae metabolites, could be used, likely as novel ß-lactamase inhibitors or as structural templates for new in-silico pharmaceutical designs, with the possibility of combatting ß-lactam resistance.