Moringa oleifera DERIVED PHYTOCHEMICALS AGAINST MALARIA: AN In silico ANALYSIS

Phytochemicals are plant derived biomolecules which are believed to protect cells from damage. It has been reported that Moringa oleifera L. (Moringaceae) is n economically important plant, distributed across tropics and subtropics whose extract is used to cure malaria. The plant extract contains different phytochemicals. Malaria is caused by Protozoan Parasite Plasmodium. L-Lactate dehydrogenase is one of its vital enzymes. In silico approach using Biovia’s Discovery Studio was used to see the molecular docking between phytochemicals derived from Moringa oleifera L. and the enzyme of interest. -CDOCKER energy and –CDOCKER interaction energy represents the strength of the interaction. Particularly, the phytochemicals hexadecanoic acid and anthraquinone can effectively deactivate the L-Lactate dehydrogenase enzyme and thus can interfere with the life cycle of Plasmodium.