Subtractive genomics approach to identify putative drug targets and identification of drug-like molecules for beta subunit of DNA polymerase III in Streptococcus species.

The prolonged use of the antibiotics over the years has transformed many organisms resistant to multiple drugs. This has made the field of drug discovery of vital importance in curing various infections and diseases. The drugs act by binding to a specific target protein of prime importance for the cell's survival. Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Streptococcus pyogenes are the few gram positive organisms that have developed resistance to drugs. It causes pneumonia, meningitis, pharyngitis, otitis media, sinusitis, bacteremia, pericarditis, and arthritis infections. The present study was carried out to identify potential drug targets and inhibitors for beta subunit of DNA polymerase III in these three Streptococcus species that might facilitate the discovery of novel drugs in near future. Various steps were adopted to find out novel drug targets. And finally 3D structure of DNA polymerase III subunit beta was modeled. The ligand library was generated from various databases to find the most suitable ligands. All the ligands were docked using Molegro Virtual Docker and the lead molecules were investigated for ADME and toxicity.