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Azevedo LG, Sosa E, de Queiroz ATL, Barral A, Wheeler RJ, Nicolás MF, Farias LP, Do Porto DF, Ramos PIP. High-throughput prioritization of target proteins for development of new antileishmanial compounds. Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist 2024; 25:100538. [PMID: 38669848 PMCID: PMC11068527 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpddr.2024.100538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Leishmaniasis, a vector-borne disease, is caused by the infection of Leishmania spp., obligate intracellular protozoan parasites. Presently, human vaccines are unavailable, and the primary treatment relies heavily on systemic drugs, often presenting with suboptimal formulations and substantial toxicity, making new drugs a high priority for LMIC countries burdened by the disease, but a low priority in the agenda of most pharmaceutical companies due to unattractive profit margins. New ways to accelerate the discovery of new, or the repositioning of existing drugs, are needed. To address this challenge, our study aimed to identify potential protein targets shared among clinically-relevant Leishmania species. We employed a subtractive proteomics and comparative genomics approach, integrating high-throughput multi-omics data to classify these targets based on different druggability metrics. This effort resulted in the ranking of 6502 ortholog groups of protein targets across 14 pathogenic Leishmania species. Among the top 20 highly ranked groups, metabolic processes known to be attractive drug targets, including the ubiquitination pathway, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, and purine synthesis, were rediscovered. Additionally, we unveiled novel promising targets such as the nicotinate phosphoribosyltransferase enzyme and dihydrolipoamide succinyltransferases. These groups exhibited appealing druggability features, including less than 40% sequence identity to the human host proteome, predicted essentiality, structural classification as highly druggable or druggable, and expression levels above the 50th percentile in the amastigote form. The resources presented in this work also represent a comprehensive collection of integrated data regarding trypanosomatid biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas G Azevedo
- Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz Bahia), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; Post-graduate Program in Biotechnology and Investigative Medicine, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
| | - Ezequiel Sosa
- Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Artur T L de Queiroz
- Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz Bahia), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; Post-graduate Program in Biotechnology and Investigative Medicine, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
| | - Aldina Barral
- Laboratório de Medicina e Saúde Pública de Precisão (MeSP2), Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz Bahia), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
| | - Richard J Wheeler
- Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
| | - Marisa F Nicolás
- Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
| | - Leonardo P Farias
- Post-graduate Program in Biotechnology and Investigative Medicine, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; Laboratório de Medicina e Saúde Pública de Precisão (MeSP2), Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz Bahia), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
| | | | - Pablo Ivan P Ramos
- Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz Bahia), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; Post-graduate Program in Biotechnology and Investigative Medicine, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
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2
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Pranavathiyani G, Pan A. Prediction of Essential Proteins of Klebsiella pneumoniae using Integrative Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Approach: Unveiling New Avenues for Drug Discovery. OMICS : A JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY 2024; 28:138-147. [PMID: 38478777 DOI: 10.1089/omi.2024.0001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/27/2024]
Abstract
Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogen responsible for various health care-associated infections. The prediction of proteins that are essential for the survival of bacterial pathogens can greatly facilitate the drug development and discovery pipeline toward target identification. To this end, the present study reports a comprehensive computational approach integrating bioinformatics and systems biology-based methods to identify essential proteins of K. pneumoniae involved in vital processes. From the proteome of this pathogen, we predicted a total of 854 essential proteins based on sequence, protein-protein interaction (PPI) and genome-scale metabolic model methods. These predicted essential proteins are involved in vital processes for cellular regulation such as translation, metabolism, and biosynthesis of essential factors, among others. Cluster analysis of the PPI network revealed the highly connected modules involved in the basic functionality of the organism. Further, the predicted consensus set of essential proteins of K. pneumoniae was evaluated by comparing them with existing resources (NetGenes and PATHOgenex) and literature. The findings of this study offer guidance toward understanding cell functionality, thereby facilitating the understanding of pathogen systems and providing a way forward to shortlist potential therapeutic candidates for developing novel antimicrobial agents against K. pneumoniae. In addition, the research strategy presented herein is a fusion of sequence and systems biology-based approaches that offers prospects as a model to predict essential proteins for other pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gnanasekar Pranavathiyani
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry, India
| | - Archana Pan
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry, India
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3
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Schottlender G, Prieto JM, Clemente C, Schuster CD, Dumas V, Fernández Do Porto D, Martí MA. Bacterial cytochrome P450s: a bioinformatics odyssey of substrate discovery. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1343029. [PMID: 38384262 PMCID: PMC10879549 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1343029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Bacterial P450 cytochromes (BacCYPs) are versatile heme-containing proteins responsible for oxidation reactions on a wide range of substrates, contributing to the production of valuable natural products with limitless biotechnological potential. While the sequencing of microbial genomes has provided a wealth of BacCYP sequences, functional characterization lags behind, hindering our understanding of their roles. This study employs a comprehensive approach to predict BacCYP substrate specificity, bridging the gap between sequence and function. We employed an integrated approach combining sequence and functional data analysis, genomic context exploration, 3D structural modeling with molecular docking, and phylogenetic clustering. The research begins with an in-depth analysis of BacCYP sequence diversity and structural characteristics, revealing conserved motifs and recurrent residues in the active site. Phylogenetic analysis identifies distinct groups within the BacCYP family based on sequence similarity. However, our study reveals that sequence alone does not consistently predict substrate specificity, necessitating additional perspectives. The study delves into the genetic context of BacCYPs, utilizing neighboring gene information to infer potential substrates, a method proven very effective in many cases. Molecular docking is employed to assess BacCYP-substrate interactions, confirming potential substrates and providing insights into selectivity. Finally, a comprehensive strategy is proposed for predicting BacCYP substrates, involving all the evaluated approaches. The effectiveness of this strategy is demonstrated with two case studies, highlighting its potential for substrate discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo Schottlender
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Instituto de Cálculo, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Juan Manuel Prieto
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Camila Clemente
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Claudio David Schuster
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Victoria Dumas
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (FCEyN-UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Darío Fernández Do Porto
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Instituto de Cálculo, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (FCEyN-UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Marcelo Adrian Martí
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (FCEyN-UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
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4
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Cooper HB, Vezina B, Hawkey J, Passet V, López-Fernández S, Monk JM, Brisse S, Holt KE, Wyres KL. A validated pangenome-scale metabolic model for the Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex. Microb Genom 2024; 10:001206. [PMID: 38376382 PMCID: PMC10926698 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.001206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/21/2024] Open
Abstract
The Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex (KpSC) is a major source of nosocomial infections globally with high rates of resistance to antimicrobials. Consequently, there is growing interest in understanding virulence factors and their association with cellular metabolic processes for developing novel anti-KpSC therapeutics. Phenotypic assays have revealed metabolic diversity within the KpSC, but metabolism research has been neglected due to experiments being difficult and cost-intensive. Genome-scale metabolic models (GSMMs) represent a rapid and scalable in silico approach for exploring metabolic diversity, which compile genomic and biochemical data to reconstruct the metabolic network of an organism. Here we use a diverse collection of 507 KpSC isolates, including representatives of globally distributed clinically relevant lineages, to construct the most comprehensive KpSC pan-metabolic model to date, KpSC pan v2. Candidate metabolic reactions were identified using gene orthology to known metabolic genes, prior to manual curation via extensive literature and database searches. The final model comprised a total of 3550 reactions, 2403 genes and can simulate growth on 360 unique substrates. We used KpSC pan v2 as a reference to derive strain-specific GSMMs for all 507 KpSC isolates, and compared these to GSMMs generated using a prior KpSC pan-reference (KpSC pan v1) and two single-strain references. We show that KpSC pan v2 includes a greater proportion of accessory reactions (8.8 %) than KpSC pan v1 (2.5 %). GSMMs derived from KpSC pan v2 also generate more accurate growth predictions, with high median accuracies of 95.4 % (aerobic, n=37 isolates) and 78.8 % (anaerobic, n=36 isolates) for 124 matched carbon substrates. KpSC pan v2 is freely available at https://github.com/kelwyres/KpSC-pan-metabolic-model, representing a valuable resource for the scientific community, both as a source of curated metabolic information and as a reference to derive accurate strain-specific GSMMs. The latter can be used to investigate the relationship between KpSC metabolism and traits of interest, such as reservoirs, epidemiology, drug resistance or virulence, and ultimately to inform novel KpSC control strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helena B. Cooper
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
- Centre to Impact AMR, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Ben Vezina
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
- Centre to Impact AMR, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
| | - Jane Hawkey
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
| | - Virginie Passet
- Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris, Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Sebastián López-Fernández
- Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris, Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Jonathan M. Monk
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, California 92093, USA
| | - Sylvain Brisse
- Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris, Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Kathryn E. Holt
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
- Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Kelly L. Wyres
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
- Centre to Impact AMR, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
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5
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Theuretzbacher U, Blasco B, Duffey M, Piddock LJV. Unrealized targets in the discovery of antibiotics for Gram-negative bacterial infections. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2023; 22:957-975. [PMID: 37833553 DOI: 10.1038/s41573-023-00791-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
Advances in areas that include genomics, systems biology, protein structure determination and artificial intelligence provide new opportunities for target-based antibacterial drug discovery. The selection of a 'good' new target for direct-acting antibacterial compounds is the first decision, for which multiple criteria must be explored, integrated and re-evaluated as drug discovery programmes progress. Criteria include essentiality of the target for bacterial survival, its conservation across different strains of the same species, bacterial species and growth conditions (which determines the spectrum of activity of a potential antibiotic) and the level of homology with human genes (which influences the potential for selective inhibition). Additionally, a bacterial target should have the potential to bind to drug-like molecules, and its subcellular location will govern the need for inhibitors to penetrate one or two bacterial membranes, which is a key challenge in targeting Gram-negative bacteria. The risk of the emergence of target-based drug resistance for drugs with single targets also requires consideration. This Review describes promising but as-yet-unrealized targets for antibacterial drugs against Gram-negative bacteria and examples of cognate inhibitors, and highlights lessons learned from past drug discovery programmes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Benjamin Blasco
- Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Maëlle Duffey
- Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Laura J V Piddock
- Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), Geneva, Switzerland.
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Vezina B, Watts SC, Hawkey J, Cooper HB, Judd LM, Jenney AWJ, Monk JM, Holt KE, Wyres KL. Bactabolize is a tool for high-throughput generation of bacterial strain-specific metabolic models. eLife 2023; 12:RP87406. [PMID: 37815531 PMCID: PMC10564454 DOI: 10.7554/elife.87406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Metabolic capacity can vary substantially within a bacterial species, leading to ecological niche separation, as well as differences in virulence and antimicrobial susceptibility. Genome-scale metabolic models are useful tools for studying the metabolic potential of individuals, and with the rapid expansion of genomic sequencing there is a wealth of data that can be leveraged for comparative analysis. However, there exist few tools to construct strain-specific metabolic models at scale. Here, we describe Bactabolize, a reference-based tool which rapidly produces strain-specific metabolic models and growth phenotype predictions. We describe a pan reference model for the priority antimicrobial-resistant pathogen, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and a quality control framework for using draft genome assemblies as input for Bactabolize. The Bactabolize-derived model for K. pneumoniae reference strain KPPR1 performed comparatively or better than currently available automated approaches CarveMe and gapseq across 507 substrate and 2317 knockout mutant growth predictions. Novel draft genomes passing our systematically defined quality control criteria resulted in models with a high degree of completeness (≥99% genes and reactions captured compared to models derived from matched complete genomes) and high accuracy (mean 0.97, n=10). We anticipate the tools and framework described herein will facilitate large-scale metabolic modelling analyses that broaden our understanding of diversity within bacterial species and inform novel control strategies for priority pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben Vezina
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash UniversityMelbourneAustralia
| | - Stephen C Watts
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash UniversityMelbourneAustralia
| | - Jane Hawkey
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash UniversityMelbourneAustralia
| | - Helena B Cooper
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash UniversityMelbourneAustralia
| | - Louise M Judd
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash UniversityMelbourneAustralia
| | | | - Jonathan M Monk
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San DiegoSan DiegoUnited States
| | - Kathryn E Holt
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash UniversityMelbourneAustralia
- Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Kelly L Wyres
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash UniversityMelbourneAustralia
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Dey J, Mahapatra SR, Raj TK, Misra N, Suar M. Identification of potential flavonoid compounds as antibacterial therapeutics against Klebsiella pneumoniae infection using structure-based virtual screening and molecular dynamics simulation. Mol Divers 2023:10.1007/s11030-023-10738-z. [PMID: 37801217 DOI: 10.1007/s11030-023-10738-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023]
Abstract
Klebsiella pneumoniae, which is among the top three pathogens on WHO's priority list, is one of the gram-negative bacteria that doctors and researchers around the world have fought for decades. Capsular polysaccharide (CPS) protein is extensively recognized as an important K. pneumoniae virulence factor. Thus, CPS has become the most characterized target for the discovery of novel drug candidates. The ineffectiveness of currently existing antibiotics urges the search for potent antimicrobial compounds. Flavonoids are a group of plant metabolites that have antibacterial potential and can enhance the present medications to elicit improved results against diverse diseases without adverse reactions. Henceforth, the present study aims to illustrate the inhibitory potential of flavonoids with varying pharmacological properties, targeting the CPS protein of K. pneumoniae by in silico approaches. The flavonoid compounds (n = 169) were retrieved from the PubChem database and screened using the structure-based virtual screening approach. Compounds with the highest binding score were estimated through their pharmacokinetic effects by ADMET descriptors. Finally, four potential inhibitors with PubChem CID: (4301534, 5213, 5481948, and 637080) were selected after molecular docking and drug-likeness analysis. All four lead compounds were employed for the MDS analysis of a 100 ns time period. Various studies were undertaken to assess the stability of the protein-ligand complexes. The binding free energy was computed using MM-PBSA, and the outcomes indicated that the molecules are having stable interactions with the binding site of the target protein. The results revealed that all four compounds can be employed as potential therapeutics against K. pneumoniae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jyotirmayee Dey
- School of Biotechnology, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, 751024, India
| | - Soumya Ranjan Mahapatra
- School of Biotechnology, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, 751024, India
| | - T Kiran Raj
- Department of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research, Mysore, India
| | - Namrata Misra
- School of Biotechnology, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, 751024, India.
- KIIT-Technology Business Incubator (KIIT-TBI), Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, 751024, India.
| | - Mrutyunjay Suar
- School of Biotechnology, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, 751024, India.
- KIIT-Technology Business Incubator (KIIT-TBI), Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, 751024, India.
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Rivara-Espasandín M, Palumbo MC, Sosa EJ, Radío S, Turjanski AG, Sotelo-Silveira J, Fernandez Do Porto D, Smircich P. Omics data integration facilitates target selection for new antiparasitic drugs against TriTryp infections. Front Pharmacol 2023; 14:1136321. [PMID: 37089958 PMCID: PMC10115950 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1136321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction:Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei, and Leishmania spp., commonly referred to as TriTryps, are a group of protozoan parasites that cause important human diseases affecting millions of people belonging to the most vulnerable populations worldwide. Current treatments have limited efficiencies and can cause serious side effects, so there is an urgent need to develop new control strategies. Presently, the identification and prioritization of appropriate targets can be aided by integrative genomic and computational approaches.Methods: In this work, we conducted a genome-wide multidimensional data integration strategy to prioritize drug targets. We included genomic, transcriptomic, metabolic, and protein structural data sources, to delineate candidate proteins with relevant features for target selection in drug development.Results and Discussion: Our final ranked list includes proteins shared by TriTryps and covers a range of biological functions including essential proteins for parasite survival or growth, oxidative stress-related enzymes, virulence factors, and proteins that are exclusive to these parasites. Our strategy found previously described candidates, which validates our approach as well as new proteins that can be attractive targets to consider during the initial steps of drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Rivara-Espasandín
- Departamento de Genómica, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Miranda Clara Palumbo
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Ezequiel J. Sosa
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Santiago Radío
- Departamento de Genómica, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Adrián G. Turjanski
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - José Sotelo-Silveira
- Departamento de Genómica, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Dario Fernandez Do Porto
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- *Correspondence: Dario Fernandez Do Porto, ; Pablo Smircich,
| | - Pablo Smircich
- Departamento de Genómica, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
- *Correspondence: Dario Fernandez Do Porto, ; Pablo Smircich,
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Oarga A, Bannerman BP, Júlvez J. CONTRABASS: exploiting flux constraints in genome-scale models for the detection of vulnerabilities. Bioinformatics 2023; 39:7000333. [PMID: 36692133 PMCID: PMC9907045 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btad053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 11/16/2022] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION Despite the fact that antimicrobial resistance is an increasing health concern, the pace of production of new drugs is slow due to the high cost and uncertain success of the process. The development of high-throughput technologies has allowed the integration of biological data into detailed genome-scale models of multiple organisms. Such models can be exploited by means of computational methods to identify system vulnerabilities such as chokepoint reactions and essential reactions. These vulnerabilities are appealing drug targets that can lead to novel drug developments. However, the current approach to compute these vulnerabilities is only based on topological data and ignores the dynamic information of the model. This can lead to misidentified drug targets. RESULTS This work computes flux constraints that are consistent with a certain growth rate of the modelled organism, and integrates the computed flux constraints into the model to improve the detection of vulnerabilities. By exploiting these flux constraints, we are able to obtain a directionality of the reactions of metabolism consistent with a given growth rate of the model, and consequently, a more realistic detection of vulnerabilities can be performed. Several sets of reactions that are system vulnerabilities are defined and the relationships among them are studied. The approach for the detection of these vulnerabilities has been implemented in the Python tool CONTRABASS. Such tool, for which an online web server has also been implemented, computes flux constraints and generates a report with the detected vulnerabilities. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION CONTRABASS is available as an open source Python package at https://github.com/openCONTRABASS/CONTRABASS under GPL-3.0 License. An online web server is available at http://contrabass.unizar.es. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION A glossary of terms are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandru Oarga
- Department of Computer Science and Systems Engineering, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50018, Spain
| | - Bridget P Bannerman
- Lucy Cavendish College, Biological Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0BU, UK.,Science Resources Foundation, Health Unit, London EC1V 2NX, UK
| | - Jorge Júlvez
- Department of Computer Science and Systems Engineering, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50018, Spain
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10
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Singh A, Ambaru B, Bandsode V, Ahmed N. Panomics to decode virulence and fitness in Gram-negative bacteria. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2022; 12:1061596. [PMID: 36478674 PMCID: PMC9719987 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.1061596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
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11
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Jenior ML, Dickenson ME, Papin JA. Genome-scale metabolic modeling reveals increased reliance on valine catabolism in clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae. NPJ Syst Biol Appl 2022; 8:41. [PMID: 36307414 PMCID: PMC9616910 DOI: 10.1038/s41540-022-00252-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Infections due to carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae have recently emerged as one of the most urgent threats to hospitalized patients within the United States and Europe. By far the most common etiological agent of these infections is Klebsiella pneumoniae, frequently manifesting in hospital-acquired pneumonia with a mortality rate of ~50% even with antimicrobial intervention. We performed transcriptomic analysis of data collected previously from in vitro characterization of both laboratory and clinical isolates which revealed shifts in expression of multiple master metabolic regulators across isolate types. Metabolism has been previously shown to be an effective target for antibacterial therapy, and genome-scale metabolic network reconstructions (GENREs) have provided a powerful means to accelerate identification of potential targets in silico. Combining these techniques with the transcriptome meta-analysis, we generated context-specific models of metabolism utilizing a well-curated GENRE of K. pneumoniae (iYL1228) to identify novel therapeutic targets. Functional metabolic analyses revealed that both composition and metabolic activity of clinical isolate-associated context-specific models significantly differs from laboratory isolate-associated models of the bacterium. Additionally, we identified increased catabolism of L-valine in clinical isolate-specific growth simulations. These findings warrant future studies for potential efficacy of valine transaminase inhibition as a target against K. pneumoniae infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew L Jenior
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
| | - Mary E Dickenson
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Jason A Papin
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA. .,Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases & International Health, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA. .,Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
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12
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Salman M, Sharma P, Kumar M, Ethayathulla AS, Kaur P. Targeting novel sites in DNA gyrase for development of anti-microbials. Brief Funct Genomics 2022; 22:180-194. [PMID: 36064602 DOI: 10.1093/bfgp/elac029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2022] [Revised: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance in bacteria poses major challenges in selection of the therapeutic regime for managing the infectious disease. There is currently an upsurge in the appearance of multiple drug resistance in bacterial pathogens and a decline in the discovery of novel antibiotics. DNA gyrase is an attractive target used for antibiotic discovery due to its vital role in bacterial DNA replication and segregation in addition to its absence in mammalian organisms. Despite the presence of successful antibiotics targeting this enzyme, there is a need to bypass the resistance against this validated drug target. Hence, drug development in DNA gyrase is a highly active research area. In addition to the conventional binding sites for the novobiocin and fluoroquinolone antibiotics, several novel sites are being exploited for drug discovery. The binding sites for novel bacterial type II topoisomerase inhibitor (NBTI), simocyclinone, YacG, Thiophene and CcdB are structurally and biochemically validated active sites, which inhibit the supercoiling activity of topoisomerases. The novel chemical moieties with varied scaffolds have been identified to target DNA gyrase. Amongst them, the NBTI constitutes the most advanced DNA gyrase inhibitor which are in phase III trial of drug development. The present review aims to classify the novel binding sites other than the conventional novobiocin and quinolone binding pocket to bypass the resistance due to mutations in the DNA gyrase enzyme. These sites can be exploited for the identification of new scaffolds for the development of novel antibacterial compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohd Salman
- Department of Biophysics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India
| | - Priyanka Sharma
- Department of Biophysics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India
| | - Mukesh Kumar
- Department of Biophysics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India
| | - A S Ethayathulla
- Department of Biophysics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India
| | - Punit Kaur
- Department of Biophysics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India
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13
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Hawkey J, Vezina B, Monk JM, Judd LM, Harshegyi T, López-Fernández S, Rodrigues C, Brisse S, Holt KE, Wyres KL. A curated collection of Klebsiella metabolic models reveals variable substrate usage and gene essentiality. Genome Res 2022; 32:1004-1014. [PMID: 35277433 PMCID: PMC9104693 DOI: 10.1101/gr.276289.121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex (KpSC) is a set of seven Klebsiella taxa that are found in a variety of niches and are an important cause of opportunistic health care-associated infections in humans. Because of increasing rates of multi-drug resistance within the KpSC, there is a growing interest in better understanding the biology and metabolism of these organisms to inform novel control strategies. We collated 37 sequenced KpSC isolates isolated from a variety of niches, representing all seven taxa. We generated strain-specific genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) for all 37 isolates and simulated growth phenotypes on 511 distinct carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus substrates. Models were curated and their accuracy was assessed using matched phenotypic growth data for 94 substrates (median accuracy of 96%). We explored species-specific growth capabilities and examined the impact of all possible single gene deletions using growth simulations in 145 core carbon substrates. These analyses revealed multiple strain-specific differences, within and between species, and highlight the importance of selecting a diverse range of strains when exploring KpSC metabolism. This diverse set of highly accurate GEMs could be used to inform novel drug design, enhance genomic analyses, and identify novel virulence and resistance determinants. We envisage that these 37 curated strain-specific GEMs, covering all seven taxa of the KpSC, provide a valuable resource to the Klebsiella research community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jane Hawkey
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
| | - Ben Vezina
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
| | - Jonathan M Monk
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, California 92093, USA
| | - Louise M Judd
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
| | - Taylor Harshegyi
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
| | - Sebastián López-Fernández
- Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris, Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Carla Rodrigues
- Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris, Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Sylvain Brisse
- Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris, Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Kathryn E Holt
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
- Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom
| | - Kelly L Wyres
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia
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14
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Interrogation of Essentiality in the Reconstructed Haemophilus influenzae Metabolic Network Identifies Lipid Metabolism Antimicrobial Targets: Preclinical Evaluation of a FabH β-Ketoacyl-ACP Synthase Inhibitor. mSystems 2022; 7:e0145921. [PMID: 35293791 PMCID: PMC9040583 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.01459-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Expediting drug discovery to fight antibacterial resistance requires holistic approaches at system levels. In this study, we focused on the human-adapted pathogen Haemophilus influenzae, and by constructing a high-quality genome-scale metabolic model, we rationally identified new metabolic drug targets in this organism. Contextualization of available gene essentiality data within in silico predictions identified most genes involved in lipid metabolism as promising targets. We focused on the β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III FabH, responsible for catalyzing the first step in the FASII fatty acid synthesis pathway and feedback inhibition. Docking studies provided a plausible three-dimensional model of FabH in complex with the synthetic inhibitor 1-(5-(2-fluoro-5-(hydroxymethyl)phenyl)pyridin-2-yl)piperidine-4-acetic acid (FabHi). Validating our in silico predictions, FabHi reduced H. influenzae viability in a dose- and strain-dependent manner, and this inhibitory effect was independent of fabH gene expression levels. fabH allelic variation was observed among H. influenzae clinical isolates. Many of these polymorphisms, relevant for stabilization of the dimeric active form of FabH and/or activity, may modulate the inhibitory effect as part of a complex multifactorial process with the overall metabolic context emerging as a key factor tuning FabHi activity. Synergies with antibiotics were not observed and bacteria were not prone to develop resistance. Inhibitor administration during H. influenzae infection on a zebrafish septicemia infection model cleared bacteria without signs of host toxicity. Overall, we highlight the potential of H. influenzae metabolism as a source of drug targets, metabolic models as target-screening tools, and FASII targeting suitability to counteract this bacterial infection. IMPORTANCE Antimicrobial resistance drives the need of synergistically combined powerful computational tools and experimental work to accelerate target identification and drug development. Here, we present a high-quality metabolic model of H. influenzae and show its usefulness both as a computational framework for large experimental data set contextualization and as a tool to discover condition-independent drug targets. We focus on β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III FabH chemical inhibition by using a synthetic molecule with good synthetic and antimicrobial profiles that specifically binds to the active site. The mechanistic complexity of FabH inhibition may go beyond allelic variation, and the strain-dependent effect of the inhibitor tested supports the impact of metabolic context as a key factor driving bacterial cell behavior. Therefore, this study highlights the systematic metabolic evaluation of individual strains through computational frameworks to identify secondary metabolic hubs modulating drug response, which will facilitate establishing synergistic and/or more precise and robust antibacterial treatments.
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15
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Serral F, Pardo AM, Sosa E, Palomino MM, Nicolás MF, Turjanski AG, Ramos PIP, Fernández Do Porto D. Pathway Driven Target Selection in Klebsiella pneumoniae: Insights Into Carbapenem Exposure. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2022; 12:773405. [PMID: 35174104 PMCID: PMC8841789 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.773405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2021] [Accepted: 01/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-KP) represents an emerging threat to public health. CR-KP infections result in elevated morbidity and mortality. This fact, coupled with their global dissemination and increasingly limited number of therapeutic options, highlights the urgency of novel antimicrobials. Innovative strategies linking genome-wide interrogation with multi-layered metabolic data integration can accelerate the early steps of drug development, particularly target selection. Using the BioCyc ontology, we generated and manually refined a metabolic network for a CR-KP, K. pneumoniae Kp13. Converted into a reaction graph, we conducted topological-based analyses in this network to prioritize pathways exhibiting druggable features and fragile metabolic points likely exploitable to develop novel antimicrobials. Our results point to the aptness of previously recognized pathways, such as lipopolysaccharide and peptidoglycan synthesis, and casts light on the possibility of targeting less explored cellular functions. These functions include the production of lipoate, trehalose, glycine betaine, and flavin, as well as the salvaging of methionine. Energy metabolism pathways emerged as attractive targets in the context of carbapenem exposure, targeted either alone or in conjunction with current therapeutic options. These results prompt further experimental investigation aimed at controlling this highly relevant pathogen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Serral
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Agustin M. Pardo
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Ezequiel Sosa
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN), CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - María Mercedes Palomino
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN), CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Cdad. Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Marisa F. Nicolás
- Laboratório de Bioinformática (LABINFO), Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica (LNCC), Petrópolis, Brazil
| | - Adrian G. Turjanski
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN), CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Cdad. Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Pablo Ivan P. Ramos
- Centro de Integração de Dados e Conhecimentos para a Saúde (CIDACS), Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz - Bahia), Salvador, Brazil
- *Correspondence: Darío Fernández Do Porto, ; Pablo Ivan P. Ramos,
| | - Darío Fernández Do Porto
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Cdad. Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- *Correspondence: Darío Fernández Do Porto, ; Pablo Ivan P. Ramos,
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16
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Medeiros Filho F, do Nascimento APB, Costa MDOCE, Merigueti TC, de Menezes MA, Nicolás MF, Dos Santos MT, Carvalho-Assef APD, da Silva FAB. A Systematic Strategy to Find Potential Therapeutic Targets for Pseudomonas aeruginosa Using Integrated Computational Models. Front Mol Biosci 2021; 8:728129. [PMID: 34616771 PMCID: PMC8488468 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.728129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic human pathogen that has been a constant global health problem due to its ability to cause infection at different body sites and its resistance to a broad spectrum of clinically available antibiotics. The World Health Organization classified multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa among the top-ranked organisms that require urgent research and development of effective therapeutic options. Several approaches have been taken to achieve these goals, but they all depend on discovering potential drug targets. The large amount of data obtained from sequencing technologies has been used to create computational models of organisms, which provide a powerful tool for better understanding their biological behavior. In the present work, we applied a method to integrate transcriptome data with genome-scale metabolic networks of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We submitted both metabolic and integrated models to dynamic simulations and compared their performance with published in vitro growth curves. In addition, we used these models to identify potential therapeutic targets and compared the results to analyze the assumption that computational models enriched with biological measurements can provide more selective and (or) specific predictions. Our results demonstrate that dynamic simulations from integrated models result in more accurate growth curves and flux distribution more coherent with biological observations. Moreover, identifying drug targets from integrated models is more selective as the predicted genes were a subset of those found in the metabolic models. Our analysis resulted in the identification of 26 non-host homologous targets. Among them, we highlighted five top-ranked genes based on lesser conservation with the human microbiome. Overall, some of the genes identified in this work have already been proposed by different approaches and (or) are already investigated as targets to antimicrobial compounds, reinforcing the benefit of using integrated models as a starting point to selecting biologically relevant therapeutic targets.
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17
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Ali S, Alam M, Hasan GM, Hassan MI. Potential therapeutic targets of Klebsiella pneumoniae: a multi-omics review perspective. Brief Funct Genomics 2021; 21:63-77. [PMID: 34448478 DOI: 10.1093/bfgp/elab038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Revised: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 08/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The multidrug resistance developed in many organisms due to the prolonged use of antibiotics has been an increasing global health crisis. Klebsiella pneumoniae is a causal organism for various infections, including respiratory, urinary tract and biliary diseases. Initially, immunocompromised individuals are primarily affected by K. pneumoniae. Due to the emergence of hypervirulent strains recently, both healthy and immunocompetent individuals are equally susceptible to K. pneumoniae infections. The infections caused by multidrug-resistant and hypervirulent K. pneumoniae strains are complicated to treat, illustrating an urgent need to develop novel and more practical approaches to combat the pathogen. We focused on the previously performed high-throughput analyses by other groups to discover several novel enzymes that may be considered attractive drug targets of K. pneumoniae. These targets qualify most of the selection criteria for drug targeting, including an absence of its homolog's gene in the host. The capsule, lipopolysaccharide, fimbriae, siderophores and essential virulence factors facilitate the pathogen entry, infection and survival inside the host. This review discusses K. pneumoniae pathophysiology, including its virulence determinants and further the potential drug targets that might facilitate the discovery of novel drugs and effective treatment regimens shortly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabeeha Ali
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar New Delhi 110025, India
| | - Manzar Alam
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar New Delhi 110025, India
| | - Gulam Mustafa Hasan
- Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia
| | - Md Imtaiyaz Hassan
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar New Delhi 110025, India
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18
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Ochoa R, Ortega-Pajares A, Castello FA, Serral F, Fernández Do Porto D, Villa-Pulgarin JA, Varela-M RE, Muskus C. Identification of Potential Kinase Inhibitors within the PI3K/AKT Pathway of Leishmania Species. Biomolecules 2021; 11:biom11071037. [PMID: 34356660 PMCID: PMC8301987 DOI: 10.3390/biom11071037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 06/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Leishmaniasis is a public health disease that requires the development of more effective treatments and the identification of novel molecular targets. Since blocking the PI3K/AKT pathway has been successfully studied as an effective anticancer strategy for decades, we examined whether the same approach would also be feasible in Leishmania due to their high amount and diverse set of annotated proteins. Here, we used a best reciprocal hits protocol to identify potential protein kinase homologues in an annotated human PI3K/AKT pathway. We calculated their ligandibility based on available bioactivity data of the reported homologues and modelled their 3D structures to estimate the druggability of their binding pockets. The models were used to run a virtual screening method with molecular docking. We found and studied five protein kinases in five different Leishmania species, which are AKT, CDK, AMPK, mTOR and GSK3 homologues from the studied pathways. The compounds found for different enzymes and species were analysed and suggested as starting point scaffolds for the design of inhibitors. We studied the kinases’ participation in protein–protein interaction networks, and the potential deleterious effects, if inhibited, were supported with the literature. In the case of Leishmania GSK3, an inhibitor of its human counterpart, prioritized by our method, was validated in vitro to test its anti-Leishmania activity and indirectly infer the presence of the enzyme in the parasite. The analysis contributes to improving the knowledge about the presence of similar signalling pathways in Leishmania, as well as the discovery of compounds acting against any of these kinases as potential molecular targets in the parasite.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Ochoa
- Programa de Estudio y Control de Enfermedades Tropicales PECET, Faculty of Medicine, University of Antioquia, Medellín 050010, Colombia;
- Biophysics of Tropical Diseases Max Planck Tandem Group, University of Antioquia, Medellín 050010, Colombia
- Correspondence: (R.O.); (R.E.V.-M.)
| | - Amaya Ortega-Pajares
- Department of Medicine, The Peter Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia;
| | - Florencia A. Castello
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN), IC-CONICET Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellon 2, Ciudad de Buenos Aires C1428EHA, Argentina; (F.A.C.); (F.S.); (D.F.D.P.)
| | - Federico Serral
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN), IC-CONICET Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellon 2, Ciudad de Buenos Aires C1428EHA, Argentina; (F.A.C.); (F.S.); (D.F.D.P.)
| | - Darío Fernández Do Porto
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN), IC-CONICET Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellon 2, Ciudad de Buenos Aires C1428EHA, Argentina; (F.A.C.); (F.S.); (D.F.D.P.)
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellon 2, Ciudad de Buenos Aires C1428EHA, Argentina
| | - Janny A. Villa-Pulgarin
- Grupo de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Corporación Universitaria Remington, Medellín 050034, Colombia;
| | - Rubén E. Varela-M
- Grupo de Investigación en Química y Biotecnología (QUIBIO), Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Santiago de Cali, Cali 760035, Colombia
- Correspondence: (R.O.); (R.E.V.-M.)
| | - Carlos Muskus
- Programa de Estudio y Control de Enfermedades Tropicales PECET, Faculty of Medicine, University of Antioquia, Medellín 050010, Colombia;
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19
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Solanki V, Tiwari M, Tiwari V. Subtractive proteomic analysis of antigenic extracellular proteins and design a multi-epitope vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus. Microbiol Immunol 2021; 65:302-316. [PMID: 33368661 DOI: 10.1111/1348-0421.12870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Revised: 12/08/2020] [Accepted: 12/21/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is a versatile Gram's positive bacterium that can reside as an asymptomatic colonizer, which can cause a wide range of skin, soft-tissue, and nosocomial infections. A vaccine against multi-drug resistant S. aureus, therefore, is urgently needed. Subtractive proteomics and reverse vaccinology are newly emerging techniques to design multiepitope-based vaccines. The analysis of 7290 proteomes (sensitive and resistant strains), five potent nonhuman homologous vaccine targets [(UNIPORT ID Q2FZL3 (Staphopain B), Q2G2R8 (Staphopain A), Q2FWP0 (uncharacterized leukocidin-like protein 1), Q2G1S6 (uncharacterized protein), and Q2FWV3 (Staphylokinase, putative)] were selected. These proteins were absent in the gut microbiome, which further enhances the significance of these proteins in vaccine design. These five virulence-associated proteins mainly have a role in the invasion mechanism in the host phagocyte cells. MHC I, MHC II, and B cell epitopes were identified in these five proteins. Finalized epitopes were examined by different online servers to screen suitable epitopes for multi-epitope based vaccine design. Shortlisted antigenic and nonallergenic associated epitopes were joined with linkers to design 30 variants (VSA1-VSA30) of multi-epitope vaccine conjugates. The antigenicity and allergenicity of all the 30 vaccine constructs were identified, and VSA30 was found to have the highest antigenicity and lowest allergenicity, and hence was selected for further study. Accordingly, VSA30 was docked with different HLA allelic variants, and the best-docked complex (VSA30-1SYS) was further analyzed by molecular dynamics simulation (MDS). The MDS result confirms the interaction of VSA30 with MHC (HLA-allelic variant). Thus, the final vaccine construct was in silico cloned in the pET28a vector for suitable expression in a heterologous system. Therefore, the designed vaccine construct VSA-30 can be developed as an appropriate vaccine to target S. aureus infection. VSA-30 still needs experimental validation to assure the antigenic and immunogenic properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vandana Solanki
- Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, India
| | - Monalisa Tiwari
- Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, India
| | - Vishvanath Tiwari
- Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, India
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20
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Serral F, Castello FA, Sosa EJ, Pardo AM, Palumbo MC, Modenutti C, Palomino MM, Lazarowski A, Auzmendi J, Ramos PIP, Nicolás MF, Turjanski AG, Martí MA, Fernández Do Porto D. From Genome to Drugs: New Approaches in Antimicrobial Discovery. Front Pharmacol 2021; 12:647060. [PMID: 34177572 PMCID: PMC8219968 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2021.647060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2020] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Decades of successful use of antibiotics is currently challenged by the emergence of increasingly resistant bacterial strains. Novel drugs are urgently required but, in a scenario where private investment in the development of new antimicrobials is declining, efforts to combat drug-resistant infections become a worldwide public health problem. Reasons behind unsuccessful new antimicrobial development projects range from inadequate selection of the molecular targets to a lack of innovation. In this context, increasingly available omics data for multiple pathogens has created new drug discovery and development opportunities to fight infectious diseases. Identification of an appropriate molecular target is currently accepted as a critical step of the drug discovery process. Here, we review how diverse layers of multi-omics data in conjunction with structural/functional analysis and systems biology can be used to prioritize the best candidate proteins. Once the target is selected, virtual screening can be used as a robust methodology to explore molecular scaffolds that could act as inhibitors, guiding the development of new drug lead compounds. This review focuses on how the advent of omics and the development and application of bioinformatics strategies conduct a "big-data era" that improves target selection and lead compound identification in a cost-effective and shortened timeline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Serral
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Florencia A Castello
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Ezequiel J Sosa
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Agustín M Pardo
- Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Miranda Clara Palumbo
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carlos Modenutti
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - María Mercedes Palomino
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Alberto Lazarowski
- Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica, Instituto de Investigaciones en Fisiopatología y Bioquímica Clínica (INFIBIOC), Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jerónimo Auzmendi
- Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica, Instituto de Investigaciones en Fisiopatología y Bioquímica Clínica (INFIBIOC), Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Pablo Ivan P Ramos
- Centro de Integração de Dados e Conhecimentos para Saúde (CIDACS), Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Salvador, Brazil
| | - Marisa F Nicolás
- Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica (LNCC), Petrópolis, Brazil
| | - Adrián G Turjanski
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Marcelo A Martí
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Darío Fernández Do Porto
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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21
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Azevedo NF, Allkja J, Goeres DM. Biofilms vs. cities and humans vs. aliens - a tale of reproducibility in biofilms. Trends Microbiol 2021; 29:1062-1071. [PMID: 34088548 DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2021.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2020] [Revised: 05/05/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Biofilms are complex and dynamic structures that include many more components than just viable cells. Therefore, the apparently simple goal of growing reproducible biofilms is often elusive. One of the challenges in defining reproducibility for biofilm research is that different research fields use a spectrum of parameters to define reproducibility for their particular application. For instance, is the researcher interested in achieving a similar population density, height of biofilm structures, or function of the biofilm in a certain ecosystem/industrial context? Within this article we categorize reproducibility into four different levels: level 1, no reproducibility; level 2, standard reproducibility; level 3, potential standard reproducibility; and level 4, total reproducibility. To better understand the need for these different levels of reproducibility, we expand on the 'cities of microbes' analogy for biofilms by imagining that a new civilization has reached the Earth's outskirts and starts studying the Earth's cities. This will provide a better sense of scale and illustrate how small details can impact profoundly on the growth and behavior of a biofilm and our understanding of reproducibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nuno F Azevedo
- LEPABE - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology, and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Jontana Allkja
- LEPABE - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology, and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
| | - Darla M Goeres
- Montana State University, Center for Biofilm Engineering, 366 Barnard Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
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22
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In Silico Prediction and Prioritization of Novel Selective Antimicrobial Drug Targets in Escherichia coli. Antibiotics (Basel) 2021; 10:antibiotics10060632. [PMID: 34070637 PMCID: PMC8229198 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics10060632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 05/08/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Novel antimicrobials interfering with pathogen-specific targets can minimize the risk of perturbations of the gut microbiota (dysbiosis) during therapy. We employed an in silico approach to identify essential proteins in Escherichia coli that are either absent or have low sequence identity in seven beneficial taxa of the gut microbiota: Faecalibacterium, Prevotella, Ruminococcus, Bacteroides, Lactobacillus, Lachnospiraceae and Bifidobacterium. We identified 36 essential proteins that are present in hyper-virulent E. coli ST131 and have low similarity (bitscore < 50 or identity < 30% and alignment length < 25%) to proteins in mammalian hosts and beneficial taxa. Of these, 35 are also present in Klebsiella pneumoniae. None of the proteins are targets of clinically used antibiotics, and 3D structure is available for 23 of them. Four proteins (LptD, LptE, LolB and BamD) are easily accessible as drug targets due to their location in the outer membrane, especially LptD, which contains extracellular domains. Our results indicate that it may be possible to selectively interfere with essential biological processes in Enterobacteriaceae that are absent or mediated by unrelated proteins in beneficial taxa residing in the gut. The identified targets can be used to discover antimicrobial drugs effective against these opportunistic pathogens with a decreased risk of causing dysbiosis.
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Solanki V, Tiwari M, Tiwari V. Immunoinformatic approach to design a multiepitope vaccine targeting non-mutational hotspot regions of structural and non-structural proteins of the SARS CoV2. PeerJ 2021; 9:e11126. [PMID: 33828922 PMCID: PMC7996071 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 02/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The rapid Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV2) outbreak caused severe pandemic infection worldwide. The high mortality and morbidity rate of SARS CoV2 is due to the unavailability of vaccination and mutation in this virus. The present article aims to design a potential vaccine construct VTC3 targeting the non-mutational region of structural and non-structural proteins of SARS CoV2. METHODS In this study, vaccines were designed using subtractive proteomics and reverse vaccinology. To target the virus adhesion and evasion, 10 different structural and non-structural proteins have been selected. Shortlisted proteins have been screened for B cell, T cell and IFN gamma interacting epitopes. 3D structure of vaccine construct was modeled and evaluated for its physicochemical properties, immunogenicity, allergenicity, toxicity and antigenicity. The finalized construct was implemented for docking and molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) with different toll-like receptors (TLRs) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA). The binding energy and dissociation construct of the vaccine with HLA and TLR was also calculated. Mutational sensitivity profiling of the designed vaccine was performed, and mutations were reconfirmed from the experimental database. Antibody production, clonal selection, antigen processing, immune response and memory generation in host cells after injection of the vaccine was also monitored using immune simulation. RESULTS Subtractive proteomics identified seven (structural and non-structural) proteins of this virus that have a role in cell adhesion and infection. The different epitopes were predicted, and only extracellular epitopes were selected that do not have similarity and cross-reactivity with the host cell. Finalized epitopes of all proteins with minimum allergenicity and toxicity were joined using linkers to designed different vaccine constructs. Docking different constructs with different TLRs and HLA demonstrated a stable and reliable binding affinity of VTC3 with the TLRs and HLAs. MDS analysis further confirms the interaction of VTC3 with HLA and TLR1/2 complex. The VTC3 has a favorable binding affinity and dissociation constant with HLA and TLR. The VTC3 does not have similarities with the human microbiome, and most of the interacting residues of VTC3 do not have mutations. The immune simulation result showed that VTC3 induces a strong immune response. The present study designs a multiepitope vaccine targeting the non-mutational region of structural and non-structural proteins of the SARS CoV2 using an immunoinformatic approach, which needs to be experimentally validated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vandana Solanki
- Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India
| | - Monalisa Tiwari
- Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India
| | - Vishvanath Tiwari
- Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India
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24
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Jean-Pierre F, Henson MA, O'Toole GA. Metabolic Modeling to Interrogate Microbial Disease: A Tale for Experimentalists. Front Mol Biosci 2021; 8:634479. [PMID: 33681294 PMCID: PMC7930556 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.634479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The explosion of microbiome analyses has helped identify individual microorganisms and microbial communities driving human health and disease, but how these communities function is still an open question. For example, the role for the incredibly complex metabolic interactions among microbial species cannot easily be resolved by current experimental approaches such as 16S rRNA gene sequencing, metagenomics and/or metabolomics. Resolving such metabolic interactions is particularly challenging in the context of polymicrobial communities where metabolite exchange has been reported to impact key bacterial traits such as virulence and antibiotic treatment efficacy. As novel approaches are needed to pinpoint microbial determinants responsible for impacting community function in the context of human health and to facilitate the development of novel anti-infective and antimicrobial drugs, here we review, from the viewpoint of experimentalists, the latest advances in metabolic modeling, a computational method capable of predicting metabolic capabilities and interactions from individual microorganisms to complex ecological systems. We use selected examples from the literature to illustrate how metabolic modeling has been utilized, in combination with experiments, to better understand microbial community function. Finally, we propose how such combined, cross-disciplinary efforts can be utilized to drive laboratory work and drug discovery moving forward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Jean-Pierre
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, United States
| | - Michael A Henson
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute for Applied Life Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, United States
| | - George A O'Toole
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, United States
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25
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Ibrahim KA, Helmy OM, Kashef MT, Elkhamissy TR, Ramadan MA. Identification of Potential Drug Targets in Helicobacter pylori Using In Silico Subtractive Proteomics Approaches and Their Possible Inhibition through Drug Repurposing. Pathogens 2020; 9:E747. [PMID: 32932580 PMCID: PMC7558524 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens9090747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Revised: 09/07/2020] [Accepted: 09/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The class 1 carcinogen, Helicobacter pylori, is one of the World Health Organization's high priority pathogens for antimicrobial development. We used three subtractive proteomics approaches using protein pools retrieved from: chokepoint reactions in the BIOCYC database, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, and the database of essential genes (DEG), to find putative drug targets and their inhibition by drug repurposing. The subtractive channels included non-homology to human proteome, essentiality analysis, sub-cellular localization prediction, conservation, lack of similarity to gut flora, druggability, and broad-spectrum activity. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of three selected ligands was determined to confirm anti-helicobacter activity. Seventeen protein targets were retrieved. They are involved in motility, cell wall biosynthesis, processing of environmental and genetic information, and synthesis and metabolism of secondary metabolites, amino acids, vitamins, and cofactors. The DEG protein pool approach was superior, as it retrieved all drug targets identified by the other two approaches. Binding ligands (n = 42) were mostly small non-antibiotic compounds. Citric, dipicolinic, and pyrophosphoric acid inhibited H. pylori at an MIC of 1.5-2.5 mg/mL. In conclusion, we identified potential drug targets in H. pylori, and repurposed their binding ligands as possible anti-helicobacter agents, saving time and effort required for the development of new antimicrobial compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kareem A. Ibrahim
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Egyptian Russian University, Cairo 11829, Egypt; (K.A.I.); (T.R.E.)
| | - Omneya M. Helmy
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt; (M.T.K.); (M.A.R.)
| | - Mona T. Kashef
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt; (M.T.K.); (M.A.R.)
| | - Tharwat R. Elkhamissy
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Egyptian Russian University, Cairo 11829, Egypt; (K.A.I.); (T.R.E.)
| | - Mohammed A. Ramadan
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt; (M.T.K.); (M.A.R.)
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26
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Chung WY, Zhu Y, Mahamad Maifiah MH, Shivashekaregowda NKH, Wong EH, Abdul Rahim N. Novel antimicrobial development using genome-scale metabolic model of Gram-negative pathogens: a review. J Antibiot (Tokyo) 2020; 74:95-104. [PMID: 32901119 DOI: 10.1038/s41429-020-00366-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2020] [Revised: 08/04/2020] [Accepted: 08/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens the effective prevention and treatment of a wide range of infections. Governments around the world are beginning to devote effort for innovative treatment development to treat these resistant bacteria. Systems biology methods have been applied extensively to provide valuable insights into metabolic processes at system level. Genome-scale metabolic models serve as platforms for constraint-based computational techniques which aid in novel drug discovery. Tools for automated reconstruction of metabolic models have been developed to support system level metabolic analysis. We discuss features of such software platforms for potential users to best fit their purpose of research. In this work, we focus to review the development of genome-scale metabolic models of Gram-negative pathogens and also metabolic network approach for identification of antimicrobial drugs targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wan Yean Chung
- School of Pharmacy, Taylor's University, 47500, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Yan Zhu
- Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Infection and Immunity Program and Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Melbourne, 3800, VIC, Australia
| | - Mohd Hafidz Mahamad Maifiah
- International Institute for Halal Research and Training (INHART), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), 53100, Jalan Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Naveen Kumar Hawala Shivashekaregowda
- Center for Drug Discovery and Molecular Pharmacology (CDDMP), Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor's University, 47500, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Eng Hwa Wong
- School of Medicine, Taylor's University, 47500, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
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27
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Farfán-López M, Espinoza-Culupú A, García-de-la-Guarda R, Serral F, Sosa E, Palomino MM, Fernández Do Porto DA. Prioritisation of potential drug targets against Bartonella bacilliformis by an integrative in-silico approach. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2020; 115:e200184. [PMID: 32785422 PMCID: PMC7416641 DOI: 10.1590/0074-02760200184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Carrion's disease (CD) is a neglected biphasic illness caused by Bartonella bacilliformis, a Gram-negative bacteria found in the Andean valleys. The spread of resistant strains underlines the need for novel antimicrobials against B. bacilliformis and related bacterial pathogens. OBJECTIVE The main aim of this study was to integrate genomic-scale data to shortlist a set of proteins that could serve as attractive targets for new antimicrobial discovery to combat B. bacilliformis. METHODS We performed a multidimensional genomic scale analysis of potential and relevant targets which includes structural druggability, metabolic analysis and essentiality criteria to select proteins with attractive features for drug discovery. FINDINGS We shortlisted seventeen relevant proteins to develop new drugs against the causative agent of Carrion's disease. Particularly, the protein products of fabI, folA, aroA, trmFO, uppP and murE genes, meet an important number of desirable features that make them attractive targets for new drug development. This data compendium is freely available as a web server (http://target.sbg.qb.fcen.uba.ar/). MAIN CONCLUSION This work represents an effort to reduce the costs in the first phases of B. bacilliformis drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariella Farfán-López
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
| | - Abraham Espinoza-Culupú
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
| | - Ruth García-de-la-Guarda
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
| | - Federico Serral
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Ezequiel Sosa
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - María Mercedes Palomino
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Darío A Fernández Do Porto
- Instituto de Cálculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Amera GM, Khan RJ, Jha RK, Pathak A, Muthukumaran J, Singh AK. Prioritization of Mur family drug targets against A. baumannii and identification of their homologous proteins through molecular phylogeny, primary sequence, and structural analysis. J Genet Eng Biotechnol 2020; 18:33. [PMID: 32725318 PMCID: PMC7387395 DOI: 10.1186/s43141-020-00048-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 07/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Background The World Health Organization (WHO) report stated that Acinetobacter baumannii had been classified as one of the most important pathogenic bacteria causing nosocomial infection in hospital patients due to multi-drug resistance (MDR). It is vital to find out new bacterial drug targets and annotated their structure and function for the exploration of new anti-bacterial agents. The present study utilized a systematic route to prioritize the potential drug targets that belong to Mur family of Acinetobacter baumannii and identify their homologous proteins using a computational approach such as sequence similarity search, multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic analysis, protein sequence, and protein structure analysis. Results From the results of protein sequence analysis of eight Mur family proteins, they divided into three main enzymatic classes namely transferases (MurG, MurA and MraY), ligases (MurC, MurD, MurE, and MurF), and oxidoreductase (MurB). Based on the results of intra-comparative protein sequence analysis and enzymatic classification, we have chosen MurB, MurE, and MurG as the prioritized drug targets from A. baumannii and subjected them for further detailed studies of inter-species comparison. This inter-species comparison help us to explore the sequential and structural properties of homologous proteins in other species and hence, opens a gateway for new target identification and using common inhibitor for different bacterial species caused by various diseases. The pairwise sequence alignment results between A. baumannii’s MurB with A. calcoaceticus’s MurB, A. baumannii’s MurE with A. seifertii’s MurE, and A. baumannii’s MurG with A. pittii’s MurG showed that every group of the proteins are highly similar with each other and they showed sequence identity of 95.7% and sequence similarity of 97.2%. Conclusion Together with the results of secondary and three-dimensional structure predictions explained that three selected proteins (MurB, MurE, and MurG) from A. baumannii and their related proteins (AcMurB, AsMurE, and ApMurG) belong to mixed αβ class and they are very similar.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gizachew Muluneh Amera
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Engineering and Technology, Sharda University, Greater Noida, UP, 201310, India
| | - Rameez Jabeer Khan
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Engineering and Technology, Sharda University, Greater Noida, UP, 201310, India
| | - Rajat Kumar Jha
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Engineering and Technology, Sharda University, Greater Noida, UP, 201310, India
| | - Amita Pathak
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India
| | - Jayaraman Muthukumaran
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Engineering and Technology, Sharda University, Greater Noida, UP, 201310, India
| | - Amit Kumar Singh
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Engineering and Technology, Sharda University, Greater Noida, UP, 201310, India.
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Bonne Køhler J, Jers C, Senissar M, Shi L, Derouiche A, Mijakovic I. Importance of protein Ser/Thr/Tyr phosphorylation for bacterial pathogenesis. FEBS Lett 2020; 594:2339-2369. [PMID: 32337704 DOI: 10.1002/1873-3468.13797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2020] [Revised: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Protein phosphorylation regulates a large variety of biological processes in all living cells. In pathogenic bacteria, the study of serine, threonine, and tyrosine (Ser/Thr/Tyr) phosphorylation has shed light on the course of infectious diseases, from adherence to host cells to pathogen virulence, replication, and persistence. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based phosphoproteomics has provided global maps of Ser/Thr/Tyr phosphosites in bacterial pathogens. Despite recent developments, a quantitative and dynamic view of phosphorylation events that occur during bacterial pathogenesis is currently lacking. Temporal, spatial, and subpopulation resolution of phosphorylation data is required to identify key regulatory nodes underlying bacterial pathogenesis. Herein, we discuss how technological improvements in sample handling, MS instrumentation, data processing, and machine learning should improve bacterial phosphoproteomic datasets and the information extracted from them. Such information is expected to significantly extend the current knowledge of Ser/Thr/Tyr phosphorylation in pathogenic bacteria and should ultimately contribute to the design of novel strategies to combat bacterial infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Bonne Køhler
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Carsten Jers
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Mériem Senissar
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Lei Shi
- Systems and Synthetic Biology Division, Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Abderahmane Derouiche
- Systems and Synthetic Biology Division, Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Ivan Mijakovic
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark.,Systems and Synthetic Biology Division, Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
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Maghembe R, Damian D, Makaranga A, Nyandoro SS, Lyantagaye SL, Kusari S, Hatti-Kaul R. Omics for Bioprospecting and Drug Discovery from Bacteria and Microalgae. Antibiotics (Basel) 2020; 9:antibiotics9050229. [PMID: 32375367 PMCID: PMC7277505 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics9050229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Revised: 04/10/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
"Omics" represent a combinatorial approach to high-throughput analysis of biological entities for various purposes. It broadly encompasses genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, lipidomics, and metabolomics. Bacteria and microalgae exhibit a wide range of genetic, biochemical and concomitantly, physiological variations owing to their exposure to biotic and abiotic dynamics in their ecosystem conditions. Consequently, optimal conditions for adequate growth and production of useful bacterial or microalgal metabolites are critically unpredictable. Traditional methods employ microbe isolation and 'blind'-culture optimization with numerous chemical analyses making the bioprospecting process laborious, strenuous, and costly. Advances in the next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have offered a platform for the pan-genomic analysis of microbes from community and strain downstream to the gene level. Changing conditions in nature or laboratory accompany epigenetic modulation, variation in gene expression, and subsequent biochemical profiles defining an organism's inherent metabolic repertoire. Proteome and metabolome analysis could further our understanding of the molecular and biochemical attributes of the microbes under research. This review provides an overview of recent studies that have employed omics as a robust, broad-spectrum approach for screening bacteria and microalgae to exploit their potential as sources of drug leads by focusing on their genomes, secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathway genes, transcriptomes, and metabolomes. We also highlight how recent studies have combined molecular biology with analytical chemistry methods, which further underscore the need for advances in bioinformatics and chemoinformatics as vital instruments in the discovery of novel bacterial and microalgal strains as well as new drug leads.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reuben Maghembe
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 25179, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; (R.M.); (D.D.); (S.L.L.)
- Department of Biological and Marine Sciences, Marian University College, P.O. Box 47, Bagamoyo, Tanzania;
- Division of Biotechnology, Department of Chemistry, Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lund University, Box 124, 22100 Lund, Sweden
| | - Donath Damian
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 25179, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; (R.M.); (D.D.); (S.L.L.)
| | - Abdalah Makaranga
- Department of Biological and Marine Sciences, Marian University College, P.O. Box 47, Bagamoyo, Tanzania;
- International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Omics of Algae Group, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India
| | - Stephen Samwel Nyandoro
- Chemistry Department, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35061, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;
| | - Sylvester Leonard Lyantagaye
- Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 25179, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; (R.M.); (D.D.); (S.L.L.)
- Department of Biochemistry, Mbeya College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 608, Mbeya, Tanzania
| | - Souvik Kusari
- Institute of Environmental Research (INFU), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Technische Universität Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Straße 6, 44221 Dortmund, Germany
- Correspondence: (S.K.); (R.H.-K.); Tel.: +49-2317554086 (S.K.); +46-462224840 (R.H.-K.)
| | - Rajni Hatti-Kaul
- Division of Biotechnology, Department of Chemistry, Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lund University, Box 124, 22100 Lund, Sweden
- Correspondence: (S.K.); (R.H.-K.); Tel.: +49-2317554086 (S.K.); +46-462224840 (R.H.-K.)
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Cesur MF, Siraj B, Uddin R, Durmuş S, Çakır T. Network-Based Metabolism-Centered Screening of Potential Drug Targets in Klebsiella pneumoniae at Genome Scale. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020; 9:447. [PMID: 31993376 PMCID: PMC6970976 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2019.00447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2019] [Accepted: 12/12/2019] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen leading to life-threatening nosocomial infections. Emergence of highly resistant strains poses a major challenge in the management of the infections by healthcare-associated K. pneumoniae isolates. Thus, despite intensive efforts, the current treatment strategies remain insufficient to eradicate such infections. Failure of the conventional infection-prevention and treatment efforts explicitly indicates the requirement of new therapeutic approaches. This prompted us to systematically analyze the K. pneumoniae metabolism to investigate drug targets. Genome-scale metabolic networks (GMNs) facilitating the systematic analysis of the metabolism are promising platforms. Thus, we used a GMN of K. pneumoniae MGH 78578 to determine putative targets through gene- and metabolite-centric approaches. To develop more realistic infection models, we performed the bacterial growth simulations within different host-mimicking media, using an improved biomass formation reaction. We selected more suitable targets based on several property-based prioritization procedures. KdsA was identified as the high-ranked putative target satisfying most of the target prioritization criteria specified under the gene-centric approach. Through a structure-based virtual screening protocol, we identified potential KdsA inhibitors. In addition, the metabolite-centric approach extended the drug target list based on synthetic lethality. This revealed the importance of combined metabolic analyses for a better understanding of the metabolism. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive effort on the investigation of the K. pneumoniae metabolism for drug target prediction through the constraint-based analysis of its GMN in conjunction with several bioinformatic approaches. This study can guide the researchers for the future drug designs by providing initial findings regarding crucial components of the Klebsiella metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Müberra Fatma Cesur
- Computational Systems Biology Group, Department of Bioengineering, Gebze Technical University, Gebze, Turkey
| | - Bushra Siraj
- Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
| | - Reaz Uddin
- Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
| | - Saliha Durmuş
- Computational Systems Biology Group, Department of Bioengineering, Gebze Technical University, Gebze, Turkey
| | - Tunahan Çakır
- Computational Systems Biology Group, Department of Bioengineering, Gebze Technical University, Gebze, Turkey
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Paananen J, Fortino V. An omics perspective on drug target discovery platforms. Brief Bioinform 2019; 21:1937-1953. [PMID: 31774113 PMCID: PMC7711264 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbz122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2019] [Revised: 07/23/2019] [Accepted: 07/27/2019] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The drug discovery process starts with identification of a disease-modifying target. This critical step traditionally begins with manual investigation of scientific literature and biomedical databases to gather evidence linking molecular target to disease, and to evaluate the efficacy, safety and commercial potential of the target. The high-throughput and affordability of current omics technologies, allowing quantitative measurements of many putative targets (e.g. DNA, RNA, protein, metabolite), has exponentially increased the volume of scientific data available for this arduous task. Therefore, computational platforms identifying and ranking disease-relevant targets from existing biomedical data sources, including omics databases, are needed. To date, more than 30 drug target discovery (DTD) platforms exist. They provide information-rich databases and graphical user interfaces to help scientists identify putative targets and pre-evaluate their therapeutic efficacy and potential side effects. Here we survey and compare a set of popular DTD platforms that utilize multiple data sources and omics-driven knowledge bases (either directly or indirectly) for identifying drug targets. We also provide a description of omics technologies and related data repositories which are important for DTD tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jussi Paananen
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Eastern Finland, Finland.,Blueprint Genetics Ltd, Finland
| | - Vittorio Fortino
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Eastern Finland, Finland
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Patro LPP, Rathinavelan T. Targeting the Sugary Armor of Klebsiella Species. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2019; 9:367. [PMID: 31781512 PMCID: PMC6856556 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2019.00367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of Gram-negative Klebsiella species is an urgent global threat. The World Health Organization has listed Klebsiella pneumoniae as one of the global priority pathogens in critical need of next-generation antibiotics. Compared to other Gram-negative pathogens, K. pneumoniae accumulates a greater diversity of antimicrobial-resistant genes at a higher frequency. The evolution of a hypervirulent phenotype of K. pneumoniae is yet another concern. It has a broad ecological distribution affecting humans, agricultural animals, plants, and aquatic animals. Extracellular polysaccharides of Klebsiella, such as lipopolysaccharides, capsular polysaccharides, and exopolysaccharides, play crucial roles in conferring resistance against the host immune response, as well as in colonization, surface adhesion, and for protection against antibiotics and bacteriophages. These extracellular polysaccharides are major virulent determinants and are highly divergent with respect to their antigenic properties. Wzx/Wzy-, ABC-, and synthase-dependent proteinaceous nano-machineries are involved in the biosynthesis, transport, and cell surface expression of these sugar molecules. Although the proteins involved in the biosynthesis and surface expression of these sugar molecules represent potential drug targets, variation in the amino acid sequences of some of these proteins, in combination with diversity in their sugar composition, poses a major challenge to the design of a universal drug for Klebsiella infections. This review discusses the challenges in universal Klebsiella vaccine and drug development from the perspective of antigen sugar compositions and the proteins involved in extracellular antigen transport.
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Paranjpe MD, Taubes A, Sirota M. Insights into Computational Drug Repurposing for Neurodegenerative Disease. Trends Pharmacol Sci 2019; 40:565-576. [PMID: 31326236 PMCID: PMC6771436 DOI: 10.1016/j.tips.2019.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Revised: 04/26/2019] [Accepted: 06/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Computational drug repurposing has the ability to remarkably reduce drug development time and cost in an era where these factors are prohibitively high. Several examples of successful repurposed drugs exist in fields such as oncology, diabetes, leprosy, inflammatory bowel disease, among others, however computational drug repurposing in neurodegenerative disease has presented several unique challenges stemming from the lack of validation methods and difficulty in studying heterogenous diseases of aging. Here, we examine existing approaches to computational drug repurposing, including molecular, clinical, and biophysical methods, and propose data sources and methods to advance computational drug repurposing in neurodegenerative disease using Alzheimer's disease as an example.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manish D Paranjpe
- Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
| | - Alice Taubes
- Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Marina Sirota
- Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.
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Merigueti TC, Carneiro MW, Carvalho-Assef APD, Silva-Jr FP, da Silva FAB. FindTargetsWEB: A User-Friendly Tool for Identification of Potential Therapeutic Targets in Metabolic Networks of Bacteria. Front Genet 2019; 10:633. [PMID: 31333719 PMCID: PMC6620235 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2019.00633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2019] [Accepted: 06/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a serious public health problem. They can be associated with morbidity and mortality and are responsible for the increase in patient hospitalization. Antimicrobial resistance among pathogens causing HAI has increased at alarming levels. In this paper, a robust method for analyzing genome-scale metabolic networks of bacteria is proposed in order to identify potential therapeutic targets, along with its corresponding web implementation, dubbed FindTargetsWEB. The proposed method assumes that every metabolic network presents fragile genes whose blockade will impair one or more metabolic functions, such as biomass accumulation. FindTargetsWEB automates the process of identification of such fragile genes using flux balance analysis (FBA), flux variability analysis (FVA), extended Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML) file parsing, and queries to three public repositories, i.e., KEGG, UniProt, and DrugBank. The web application was developed in Python using COBRApy and Django. Results: The proposed method was demonstrated to be robust enough to process even non-curated, incomplete, or imprecise metabolic networks, in addition to integrated host-pathogen models. A list of potential therapeutic targets and their putative inhibitors was generated as a result of the analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa metabolic networks available in the literature and a curated version of the metabolic network of a multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa strain belonging to a clone endemic in Brazil (P. aeruginosa ST277). Genome-scale metabolic networks of other gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae, were also analyzed using FindTargetsWEB. Multiple potential targets have been found using the proposed method in all metabolic networks, including some overlapping between two or more pathogens. Among the potential targets, several have been previously reported in the literature as targets for antimicrobial development, and many targets have approved drugs. Despite similarities in the metabolic network structure for closely related bacteria, we show that the method is able to selectively identify targets in pathogenic versus non-pathogenic organisms. Conclusions: This new computational system can give insights into the identification of new candidate therapeutic targets for pathogenic bacteria and discovery of new antimicrobial drugs through genome-scale metabolic network analysis and heterogeneous data integration, even for non-curated or incomplete networks.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marcia Weber Carneiro
- Graduate Program in Biotechnology for Health and Investigative Medicine-Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Bahia, Brazil
| | - Ana Paula D'A Carvalho-Assef
- Research Laboratory in Hospital Infection (LAPIH), Oswaldo Cruz Institute-Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Floriano Paes Silva-Jr
- Laboratory of Experimental and Computational Biochemistry of Drugs (LaBECFar), Oswaldo Cruz Institute-Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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36
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Tribelli PM, Lujan AM, Pardo A, Ibarra JG, Fernández Do Porto D, Smania A, López NI. Core regulon of the global anaerobic regulator Anr targets central metabolism functions in Pseudomonas species. Sci Rep 2019; 9:9065. [PMID: 31227753 PMCID: PMC6588701 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-45541-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2019] [Accepted: 06/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
A comparative genome analysis of the global anaerobic regulator Anr regulon in five species of Pseudomonas with different life style was performed. Expression of this regulator was detected in all analyzed Pseudomonas. The predicted Anr regulon (pan-regulon) consisted of 253 genes. However, only 11 Anr-boxes located upstream of qor/hemF, hemN, cioA/PA3931, azu, rpsL, gltP, orthologous to PA2867, cspD, tyrZ, slyD and oprG, were common to all species. Whole genome in silico prediction of metabolic pathways identified genes belonging to heme biosynthesis, cytochromes and Entner-Doudoroff pathway as members of Anr regulon in all strains. Extending genome analysis to 28 Pseudomonas spp. spanning all phylogenetic groups showed Anr-boxes conservation in genes related to these functions. When present, genes related to anaerobic metabolism were predicted to hold Anr-boxes. Focused on the genomes of eight P. aeruginosa isolates of diverse origins, we observed a conserved regulon, sharing nearly 80% of the genes, indicating its key role in this opportunistic pathogen. The results suggest that the core Anr regulon comprises genes involved in central metabolism and aerobic electron transport chain, whereas those genes related to anaerobic metabolism and other functions constitute the accessory Anr-regulon, thereby differentially contributing to the ecological fitness of each Pseudomonas species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula M Tribelli
- IQUIBICEN, CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Adela M Lujan
- Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Departamento de Química Biológica Ranwel Caputto, Córdoba, Argentina.,CONICET, Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba (CIQUIBIC), Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Agustín Pardo
- IQUIBICEN, CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - José G Ibarra
- IQUIBICEN, CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | | | - Andrea Smania
- Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Departamento de Química Biológica Ranwel Caputto, Córdoba, Argentina.,CONICET, Centro de Investigaciones en Química Biológica de Córdoba (CIQUIBIC), Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Nancy I López
- IQUIBICEN, CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. .,Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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37
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Chernov VM, Chernova OA, Mouzykantov AA, Lopukhov LL, Aminov RI. Omics of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance. Expert Opin Drug Discov 2019; 14:455-468. [DOI: 10.1080/17460441.2019.1588880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Vladislav M. Chernov
- Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, FRC Kazan Scientific Center of RAS, Kazan, Russian Federation
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan (Volga region) Federal University, Kazan, Russian Federation
| | - Olga A. Chernova
- Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, FRC Kazan Scientific Center of RAS, Kazan, Russian Federation
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan (Volga region) Federal University, Kazan, Russian Federation
| | - Alexey A. Mouzykantov
- Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, FRC Kazan Scientific Center of RAS, Kazan, Russian Federation
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan (Volga region) Federal University, Kazan, Russian Federation
| | - Leonid L. Lopukhov
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan (Volga region) Federal University, Kazan, Russian Federation
| | - Rustam I. Aminov
- Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan (Volga region) Federal University, Kazan, Russian Federation
- Applied Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
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