title: Evaluation of CAAX prenyl protease II of Leishmania donovani as potential drug target: Infectivity and growth of the parasite is significantly lowered after the gene knockout.
abstract: Prenylation pathway is responsible for post translational modification of various signal proteins, including proteins of Ras superfamily. CAAX prenyl proteases are known to be key players in prenylation pathway. In the current study, we have evaluated CAAX prenyl protease II as a possible drug target against Leishmania donovani parasite, the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis. Gene knockout strategy was employed to target CAAX prenyl protease II and subsequent effects were studied. CAAX prenyl protease II knockout resulted in significant decrease in growth and infectivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
authors.forename: Ruchika
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bhardwaj
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
authors.forename: Mousumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
authors.forename: Shalini
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
authors.forename: Adarsh Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Chiranjivi
authors.affiliation: Computer Aided Drug Designing and Molecular Modeling Laboratory, Department of Bioinformatics, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu 630 004, India.
authors.forename: Sitraraau Vijaya
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Prabhu
authors.affiliation: Computer Aided Drug Designing and Molecular Modeling Laboratory, Department of Bioinformatics, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu 630 004, India.
authors.forename: Sanjeev Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam 781039, India. Electronic address: vdubey@iitg.ernet.in.
authors.forename: Vikash Kumar
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Dubey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000188:drug therapy; D008264:Macrophages / Q000469:parasitology*; D051379:Mice; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics*; D017368:Protein Prenylation; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases; D018631:ras Proteins
keywords: CAAX prenyl protease II; Gene knockout; Leishmania; Ras protein; Target identification