{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T18:31:29Z","timestamp":1787077889167,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"American Chemical Society (ACS)","issue":"27","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,2]],"date-time":"2025-07-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1751414400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001411","name":"Indian Council of Medical Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2021-14272"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021-14272"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001411","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,15]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>During the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, mucormycosis cases surged, particularly among individuals with diabetes, causing significant healthcare strain. The high mortality rate is largely due to the severity of the disease and the toxicity of current treatments, which often involve invasive surgery and antifungal therapy. This study focuses on mucoricin, a key virulence factor of Rhizopus delemar, the primary agent of mucormycosis. Mucoricin, a toxin similar to ricin, plays a critical role in disease progression by damaging tissues and evading immune responses. We conducted high-throughput screening of a library of more than a hundred thousand compounds, including known ricin inhibitors, and identified four promising candidates: E860\u20132820, SB73\u20130290, N099\u20130012, and pteroic acid (PTA). PTA showed the most favorable binding free energy (\u22126.253 kcal\/mol) in virtual screening and strong interactions with mucoricin\u2019s active site residues, confirmed by surface plasmon resonance. Molecular dynamics simulations validated the stability of the PTA\u2013mucoricin complex. PTA inhibited recombinant mucoricin with an IC50 of 12.11 \u03bcM and protected cells from mucoricin-induced cytotoxicity. These findings highlight PTA as a promising candidate for targeted therapies against mucormycosis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1021\/acsomega.5c01999","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,2]],"date-time":"2025-07-02T19:35:32Z","timestamp":1751484932000},"page":"29224-29240","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Targeting Mucoricin: A Novel Approach for Combating\nMucormycosis"],"prefix":"10.1021","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Mansi","family":"Tanwar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"All India Institute of Medical Sciences , , ,","place":["New Delhi, India, 110029"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anamika","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"All India Institute of Medical Sciences , , ,","place":["New Delhi, India, 110029"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meetu","family":"Rathee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"All India Institute of Medical Sciences , , ,","place":["New Delhi, India, 110029"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chandra","family":"Prakash Prasad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"All India Institute of Medical Sciences , , ,","place":["New Delhi, India, 110029"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tej Pal","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"All India Institute of Medical Sciences , , ,","place":["New Delhi, India, 110029"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sujata","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"All India Institute of Medical Sciences , , ,","place":["New Delhi, India, 110029"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3826-8064","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Pradeep","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"All India Institute of Medical Sciences , , ,","place":["New Delhi, India, 110029"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"316","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,2]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"2026081812114285600_cit1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.15190\/d.2021.5","article-title":"High mortality\nco-infections of COVID-19\npatients: mucormycosis and other fungal infections","volume":"9","author":"Bhatt","year":"2021","journal-title":"Discoveries"},{"issue":"9","key":"2026081812114285600_cit2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jdiacomp.2022.108284","article-title":"COVID-19-associated Mucormycosis:\nA clinico-epidemiological study","volume":"36","author":"Chakravarty","year":"2022","journal-title":"Journal of\nDiabetes and Its Complications"},{"issue":"5","key":"2026081812114285600_cit3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"445","DOI":"10.3390\/jof8050445","article-title":"Mucormycosis\nand COVID-19-Associated Mucormycosis:\nInsights of a Deadly but neglected mycosis","volume":"8","author":"Garci\u0301a-Carnero","year":"2022","journal-title":"Journal of Fungi"},{"key":"2026081812114285600_cit4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.hsr.2021.100005","article-title":"Mucormycosis: A triple\nburden in patients with diabetes during COVID-19 Pandemic","volume":"1","author":"Fathima","year":"2021","journal-title":"Health Sciences Review"},{"issue":"1","key":"2026081812114285600_cit5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"856","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-022-07844-y","article-title":"A case control investigation\nof COVID-19 associated mucormycosis in India","volume":"22","author":"Kumar","year":"2022","journal-title":"BMC Infect. 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