Publications by authors named "Mohammed Hakmi"

Introduction: Morocco is home to a remarkable diversity of flora, including several species from the Artemisia genus. This study aims to thoroughly examine the chemical composition of essential oils derived from Artemisia species and assess their antibacterial and antioxidant properties through in vitro experiments and in silico simulations.

Methods: Samples of Artemisia herba-alba Asso.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Scorpion envenomation, a grave public health concern, is primarily driven by the potent neurotoxins chlorotoxin and leiurotoxin present in Leiurus species venom. Developing effective treatments is crucial to mitigate its impact. Utilizing a drug-repositioning bioinformatics-based approach, potential inhibitors of these neurotoxins were identified from Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) plays a critical role in breast cancer (BC) progression, with endocrine therapy being a key treatment for ERα + BC. However, resistance often arises due to somatic mutations in the ERα ligand-binding domain (LBD). Lasofoxifene, a third-generation selective estrogen receptor modulator, has shown promise against Y537S and D538G mutations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The advent of COVID-19 has brought the use of computer tools to the fore in health research. In recent years, computational methods have proven to be highly effective in a variety of areas, including genomic surveillance, host range prediction, drug target identification, and vaccine development. They were also instrumental in identifying new antiviral compounds and repurposing existing therapeutics to treat COVID-19.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

is a major cause of nosocomial infections and is often associated with biofilm-mediated antibiotic resistance. The LasR protein is a key component of the quorum system in , allowing it to regulate its biofilm-induced pathogenicity. When the bacterial population reaches a sufficient density, the accumulation of N-(3-oxododecanoyl) acyl homoserine lactone (3O-C12-HSL) leads to the activation of the LasR receptor, which then acts as a transcriptional activator of target genes involved in biofilm formation and virulence, thereby increasing the bacteria's antibiotic resistance and enhancing its virulence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Autosomal dominant hyper-IgE syndrome (AD-HIES) is linked to dominant negative mutations of the STAT3 protein whose molecular basis for dysfunction is unclear and presenting with a variety of clinical manifestations with only supportive treatment. To establish the relationship between the impact of STAT3 mutations in different domains and the severity of the clinical manifestations, 105 STAT3 mutations were analyzed for their impact on protein stability, flexibility, function, and binding affinity using in Silico approaches. Our results showed that 73% of the studied mutations have an impact on the physicochemical properties of the protein, altering the stability, flexibility and function to varying degrees.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Microorganisms in hot deserts, like Paenibacillus sp. MDMC362 from the Merzouga desert, develop unique survival traits due to extreme environmental conditions such as heat, UV radiation, and lack of nutrients, which can be useful in biotechnology.
  • The genome of Paenibacillus sp. MDMC362 was sequenced, revealing genes that help the bacteria cope with temperature stress, UV damage, and desiccation, including mechanisms for DNA repair and sporulation.
  • Research on the catalase enzyme from this bacterium confirmed that it remains stable at high temperatures, suggesting its potential for use in applications requiring heat-resistant proteins, with implications for closely related strains from similar harsh environments.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The leukotoxin (LtxA) of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (A. actinomycetemcomitans) is a protein exotoxin belonging to the repeat-in-toxin family (RTX). Numerous studies have demonstrated that LtxA may play a critical role in the pathogenicity of A.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Ending the COVID-19 pandemic requires a collaborative approach to understand the mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, especially as new variants continuously emerge.
  • The International Database of SARS-CoV-2 Variations (IDbSV) has been developed to provide comprehensive insights into the virus's genetic variations and is designed to aid both scientific researchers and public health officials.
  • IDbSV features user-friendly visualizations and maintains a robust repository of over 60,000 annotated variations from more than 1.8 million genomes, utilizing a four-step process to ensure data accuracy and relevance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Estrogen receptor α (ERα) plays a critical role in breast cancer (BC) development. The standard therapeutic strategies for ERα- positive (ERα+) BC consist of impairing ERα signalling pathway by either estrogen competitors blocking its interaction with the ligand binding domain (LBD) or agents inhibiting the production of estrogen. These strategies are limited by many factors that lead to constitutive activation of ERα and consequently, resistance to treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious and rapidly spreading infection caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In some cases, the disease can be fatal which resulted in more than one million deaths worldwide according the WHO. Currently, there is no effective vaccine or treatment for COVID-19, however many small-molecule inhibitors have shown potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 and some of them are now under clinical trials.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In late December 2019, an emerging viral infection COVID-19 was identified in Wuhan, China, and became a global pandemic. Characterization of the genetic variants of SARS-CoV-2 is crucial in following and evaluating it spread across countries. In this study, we collected and analyzed 3,067 SARS-CoV-2 genomes isolated from 55 countries during the first three months after the onset of this virus.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The global burden of infections and the rapid spread of viral diseases show the need for new approaches in the prevention and development of effective therapies. To this end, we aimed to explore novel inhibitor compounds that can stop replication or decrease the viral load of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), for which there is currently no approved treatment. Besides using the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2) receptor as a main gate, the CoV-2 can bind to the glucose-regulating protein 78 (GRP78) receptor to get into the cells to start an infection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

SARS-CoV-2, which causes severe pneumonia epidemics, probably originated from Chinese horseshoe bats, but the intermediate and host range is still unknown. ACE2 is the entry receptor for SARS-CoV-2. The binding capacity of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to ACE2 is the critical determinant of viral host range and cross-species infection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * An analysis of 30,983 complete SARS-CoV-2 genomes from 79 countries revealed 3,206 variant sites, with only a small number of mutations (5.27%) showing prevalence over 1% across genomes.
  • * The overall low mutation rate of SARS-CoV-2 compared to viruses like influenza or HIV suggests a better likelihood for developing an effective global vaccine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has infected more than 10 million people and caused more than 502,539 deaths worldwide as of June 2020. The explosive spread of the virus and the rapid increase in the number of cases require the immediate development of effective therapies and vaccines as well as accurate diagnosis tools. The pathogenesis of the disease is triggered by the entry of SARS-CoV-2 via its spike protein into ACE2-bearing host cells, particularly pneumocytes, resulting in overactivation of the immune system, which attacks the infected cells and damages the lung tissue.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak that affected more than 190 countries worldwide with more than 292,000 confirmed cases and over 12,700 deaths. There is at the moment no vaccine or effective treatment for this disease which constitutes a serious global health problem. It is of interest to use a structure based virtual screening approach for the identification of potential inhibitors of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 (M) from antiviral drugs used to treat other viral disease such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF