Function prediction of Rv0079, a hypothetical Mycobacterium tuberculosis DosR regulon protein.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the pathogen causing tuberculosis, continues to elude a cure. Latent Mtb forms are present in human population for extended periods and have the potential to be re-activated into an active form. The prophylactic vaccine, live-attenuated Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus-Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is not effective in preventing latent infection. The failure of BCG in prevention/protection against latent forms of Mtb calls for efforts to curb latent Mtb infection. The inclusion of latency/dormancy antigens in the classical antigen preparation is surmised as a strategy. DosR (Dormancy Survival Regulator, Rv3133c) regulon genes are expressed under the conditions of latency/dormancy. Previous bioinformatics analyses have pointed towards their role as probable vaccine candidates. Since nearly 60% of DosR regulon genes are unannotated, efforts towards elucidating their functional role will prove valuable. The study presented here provides an in-depth in silico 3D-structure prediction and functional analyses of the first member of the DosR regulon group, the hypothetical protein, Rv0079. A combination of approaches such as: homology modeling and threading using SWISS-MODEL workspace, Phyre and BioInfo bank Metaserver; protein localization predictions using PSORTb, LOCtree, TMHMM and TMpred; function prediction using ProFunc, epitope prediction using NetCTL and others was implemented. Evidence gathered from a combination of bioinformatics tools supports the hypothesis that Mtb Rv0079 protein is a likely cytoplasmic translation factor. Experimental validation will help provide more insight into its actual function.
National Institute of Biologicals, A-32 Sector-62, Noida, U.P. India. seema_nib@yahoo.com
Seema
S
Mishra
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D019295:Computational Biology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D018085:Regulon
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C542863:DosR protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; D011494:Protein Kinases