In Silico Identification of Potential Biomarker-Binding Proteins for Noninvasive Diagnosis of Buruli Ulcer Disease

Buruli ulcer (BU) is a necrotizing skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans that produces a virulent lipid toxin, mycolactone, which is detectable in urine. Current diagnostics are time-consuming and require specialized expertise, often leading to delayed diagnosis. This makes it difficult to understand the disease’s spread and plan effective interventions. To facilitate early diagnostic biomarker identification, we used computational methods to identify proteins to the antigen lactone, a product of mycolactone hydrolysis, that could be used to develop rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). Using AutoDock Vina, we performed a virtual screening of 6 proteins against lactone. Four proteins – N-Acyl homoserine lactonases (4G5X), hyperthermophilic Sulfolobus islandicus PLL SisLac (4G2D), phosphotriesterase (2VC5) and quorum-quenching lactonase (6N9I) – showed strong interactions with lactone, with binding energies ranging from −8.9 to −6.0 kcal/mol. Molecular dynamic simulations used to assess the stability of these protein-lactone complexes showed that natural lactonase and promiscuous phosphotriesterase activities (2VC5) and quorum-quenching lactonase GcL (6N9I) were the most stable. In addition, 2VC5 and 4G5X demonstrated the most flexibility. Overall, the proteins 2VC5, 4G2D and 4G5X showed a strong binding affinity, good stability and favourable interactions with lactone. These findings suggest that these proteins could serve as the basis for developing rapid, noninvasive RDTs for BU disease.