Fipronil, which targets GABAA receptors (GABAARs), is the first phenylpyrazole insecticide widely used in crop protection and public hygiene. However, its high toxicity on fishes greatly limited its applications. In the present study, a series of computational methods including homology modeling, docking, and molecular dynamics simulation studies were integrated to explore the binding difference of fipronil with GABAARs from fruitfly and zebrafish systems. It was found that, in the zebrafish system, the H-bond between 6'Thr and fipronil exerted key effects on the recognition of fipronil, which was absent in the fruitfly system. On the other hand, in the fruitfly system, strong electrostatic interaction between 2'Ala and fipronil was favorable to the binding of fipronil but detrimental to the binding in the zebrafish system. These findings marked the binding difference of fipronil with different GABAARs, which might be helpful in designing selective insecticides against pests instead of fishes.
Keywords: GABAA receptors; docking; fipronil; homology modeling; molecular dynamics simulation.