title: Comparative analysis of organophosphate degrading enzymes from diverse species.
abstract: Different types of organophosphorous compounds constitute most potent pesticides. These chemicals attack the nervous system of living organisms causing death. Different organisms produce enzymes to degrade these chemicals. These enzymes are present in simple microorganisms from archaea, bacteria to complex eukaryotes like humans. A comparison of representative eight shortlisted enzymes involved in the degradation and inactivation of organophosphates from a wide range of organisms was performed to infer the basis of their common functionality. There is little sequence homology in these enzymes which results in divergent tertiary structures. The only feature that these enzymes seem to share is their amino acid composition. However, structural analysis has shown no significant similarities among this functionally similar group of organophosphate degrading enzymes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Park Road, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Amna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salman
authors.forename: Atefeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taherian Fard
authors.forename: Arshan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nasir
authors.forename: Habib
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bokhari