ISSN : 0975-9492
CODEN : IJPSQQ





INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMA SCIENCES AND RESEARCH


Open Access

This website is certified by Health On the Net Foundation. Click to verify.

This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information:
verify here.

ABSTRACT

Title : Structural and functional characterization of outer membrane protein N in Edwardsiella ictaluri: A bioinformatic approach
Authors : Mohammed Neema, Iddya Karunasagar, Indrani Karunasagar
Keywords : Edwardsiella ictaluri, Outer membrane protein, Homology modeling, Bioinformatics
Issue Date : January 2011
Abstract :
Outer membrane protein (OMP) N is involved in the translocation of solutes across the outer membrane of Gram negative bacteria. It is also involved in adhesion and invasion that bestow virulence attribute to the bacteria. Edwardsiella ictaluri is a Gram negative bacterium which causes enteric septicemia of catfish. It is a devastating disease causing huge economic loss to fish farmers. Studies are in progress to design suitable vaccine against E. ictaluri. OMP N gene occurs three times in the whole genome sequence of E. ictaluri. Since these proteins occur in the outer surface of bacterium, they are potential vaccine candidates. Towards this, understanding the structure and function of these proteins is highly important. Hence, a bioinformatics based study for characterizing the structure and function of these OMPs are carried out. The physiochemical characteristics of these OMPs were determined. The signal peptide and transmembrane regions of the proteins were identified. A multiple sequence alignment was done to locate the conserved regions in the proteins. The structure was obtained through homology modeling. The structure obtained was validated using different servers. Finally the functions of the OMPs were predicted. The study revealed that OMP N proteins of E. ictaluri are porins and have sixteen transmembrane strands traversing through the inner and outer membrane. The proteins are possibly involved in translocation of sugars, signal transduction, anchoring the flagellum and also in various cellular processes.
Page(s) : 13-26
ISSN : 0975-9492
Source : Vol. 2, No.1