Comparative study of binding affinity of short chain fatty acids on free fatty acid receptors-A computational approach

Free fatty acid receptors are a class of G-protein coupled receptors, that are mainly involved in binding of free fatty acids obtained by breakdown of dietary sources. Short chain fatty acids are a class of free fatty acids that are saturated aliphatic organic compounds consisting of 1-6 carbon atoms. The most known SCFAs are acetate, butyrate and propionate. To understand the binding affinity of short chain fatty acid to the free fatty acid receptors, molecular docking was performed.Upon performing docking it was found that butyrate had the lowest binding energy for all the four free fatty acid receptors (FFAR1, FFAR2, FFAR3, FFAR4). This shows that butyrate is the best ligand for the four fatty acid receptors than acetate and propionate.