Discovery of Schaeffer's acid analogues as lead structures of mycobacterium tuberculosis type II dehydroquinase using a rational drug design approach.

Rational ligand design: Schaeffer's acid analogues were identified as novel inhibitors of M. tuberculosis type II dehydroquinase, a key enzyme of the shikimate pathway. Their likely binding mode was predicted using a combination of ensemble docking and flexible active site residues. Potentially, this scaffold could provide a good starting point for the design of antitubercular agents.