Multiple flavonoid docking studies for checking the anti-diabetic activity of Annona species

Diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is one of the world’s most prevalent metabolic disorders with a huge demand for both affordable and effective drugs. Apart from conventional drugs a large number of plant products and their secondary metabolites have been found to possess anti-diabetic properties; among these flavonoids have been reported by recent scientific studies to be one of the main functional compounds against T2DM. Hence our main area of interest was exploring the anti-diabetic potential of various flavonoids present in Annona species using multiple flavonoid docking. Flavonoids predominant in the plant were chosen as the ligands to be docked with the receptors (T2DM targets) that were identified to have major influence on the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The interactions between the flavonoids and the targets were studied using PyRx, a virtual screening software for computational drug discovery. The results were compared with that of a commonly used anti-diabetic drug- glibenclamide to prove that these flavonoids have better interactions with the targets and hence, more efficient than the conventional drug. This was achieved by analogizing the binding energies of the flavonoid dockings to that of the drug with the respective targets. The flavonoids chosen would produce minimal side effects to that of conventional drugs and can act as potential substitutes for T2DM treatment.