title: Genome analysis of Chlamydia trachomatis for functional characterization of hypothetical proteins to discover novel drug targets.
abstract: C. trachomatis is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes trachoma and sexually transmitted disease (STD) Chlamydia in humans. Chlamydial genital infections are the most frequent among all communicable diseases. The D/UW-3/Cx strain of C. trachomatis contains 935 genes and three pseudogenes. Out of these genes, 887 genes code for proteins while six for rRNA, 37 tRNA, and three genes translate into other RNAs. The proteome of C. trachomatis made of 887 proteins contains 269 Hypothetical proteins (HPs) that are subjected to functional characterization. This study suggests some known methods of functional characterization of such HPs. All of these methods are explicitly used to assign functions to the HPs with the accuracy of more than 90%. After extensive analysis of all the HPs, we have successfully assigned functions to 89 HPs with high precision. In the newly assigned HPs, there are enzymes, transporters, binding proteins, proteins involved in biosynthesis and regulatory processes and proteins with miscellaneous functions. The study suggests that the functionally annotated HPs may play a vital role in the growth and pathogenesis of this organism. Therefore, they can be considered potential drug targets.
authors.affiliation: Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India.
authors.forename: Ahmad Abu
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Turab Naqvi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 712-749, South Korea.
authors.forename: Safikur
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.affiliation: Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India.
authors.lastname: Rubi
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India.
authors.forename: Firdaus
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zeya
authors.affiliation: Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India.
authors.forename: Kundan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Cancer Metabolism and Epigenetic Unit, Faculty of Science, Center of Innovation in Personalized Medicine, Cancer and Mutagenesis Unit, King Fahd Center for Medical Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Hani
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Choudhary
authors.affiliation: King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box: 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohammad Sarwar
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Jamal
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biotechnology, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 712-749, South Korea. Electronic address: kimjihoe@ynu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jihoe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India. Electronic address: mihassan@jmi.ac.in.
authors.forename: Md Imtaiyaz
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Hassan
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D023281:Genomics; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins
keywords: Drug discovery; Hypothetical proteins; Virulence factors