Bioinformatics investigation of the effect of volatile and non-volatile compounds of rhizobacteria in inhibiting late embryogenesis abundant protein that induces drought tolerance

Abstract

Drought is a major problem worldwide for agriculture, horticulture, and forestry. In many cases, major physiological and biochemical changes occur due to drought stress. The plant’s response to drought stress includes a set of systems for intracellular regulation of gene expression and inter-tissue and inter-organ signaling, which ultimately leads to increased stress tolerance. Meanwhile, the role of plant growth-promoting bacteria in improving many harmful consequences of drought stress has been discussed. One of the new ways to increase tolerance to drought stress in plants is drug design using methods based on computer analysis, bioinformatics, pharmacokinetics, and molecular docking. The present study aimed to identify volatile and non-volatile compounds involved in drought tolerance using molecular docking methods. In this research, among the volatile and non-volatile compounds effective in increasing growth and inducing drought tolerance, compounds that have a high affinity for interacting with the active site of late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) protein were identified through molecular docking methods, and it was presented as a suitable inhibitor for this protein. Based on the docking results, the inhibition potentials of the studied compounds differed, and the most vital interaction in the case of LEA 3 protein was related to the gibberellic acid compound, whose energy is equivalent to −7.78 kcal/mol. Due to the basic understanding of many mechanisms operating in the interactions of plants and bacteria, it is expected that the practical use of these compounds will grow significantly in the coming years, relying on pharmacokinetic methods and molecular docking.