Masoud Foroutan1, Shahrzad Soltani1, Ali Taghipour2, Ali Dalir Ghaffari3, Hamidreza Majidiani4, Mohamad Sabaghan5. 1. USERN Office, Abadan Faculty of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran. 2. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, P. O. Box 14115-111, Tehran, Iran. 3. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, P. O. Box 14115-111, Tehran, Iran. Ali.dalirghafari@yahoo.com. 4. Zoonotic Diseases Research Center, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran. hamidreza.majidiani@gmail.com. 5. Behbahan Faculty of Medical Sciences, Behbahan, Iran.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), an obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasite, could affect numerous warm-blooded animals, such as humans. Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) are essential Ca2+ signaling mediators and participate in parasite host cell egress, outer membrane motility, invasion, and cell division. RESULTS: Several bioinformatics online servers were employed to analyze and predict the important properties of CDPK4 protein. The findings revealed that CDPK4 peptide has 1158 amino acid residues with average molecular weight (MW) of 126.331 KDa. The aliphatic index and GRAVY for this protein were estimated at 66.82 and - 0.650, respectively. The findings revealed that the CDPK4 protein comprised 30.14% and 34.97% alpha-helix, 59.84% and 53.54% random coils, and 10.02% and 11.49% extended strand with SOPMA and GOR4 tools, respectively. Ramachandran plot output showed 87.87%, 8.40%, and 3.73% of amino acid residues in the favored, allowed, and outlier regions, respectively. Also, several potential B and T-cell epitopes were predicted for CDPK4 protein through different bioinformatics tools. Also, antigenicity and allergenicity evaluation demonstrated that this protein has immunogenic and non-allergenic nature. This paper presents a basis for further studies, thereby provides a fundamental basis for the development of an effective vaccine against T. gondii infection.
OBJECTIVES:Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), an obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasite, could affect numerous warm-blooded animals, such as humans. Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) are essential Ca2+ signaling mediators and participate in parasite host cell egress, outer membrane motility, invasion, and cell division. RESULTS: Several bioinformatics online servers were employed to analyze and predict the important properties of CDPK4 protein. The findings revealed that CDPK4 peptide has 1158 amino acid residues with average molecular weight (MW) of 126.331 KDa. The aliphatic index and GRAVY for this protein were estimated at 66.82 and - 0.650, respectively. The findings revealed that the CDPK4 protein comprised 30.14% and 34.97% alpha-helix, 59.84% and 53.54% random coils, and 10.02% and 11.49% extended strand with SOPMA and GOR4 tools, respectively. Ramachandran plot output showed 87.87%, 8.40%, and 3.73% of amino acid residues in the favored, allowed, and outlier regions, respectively. Also, several potential B and T-cell epitopes were predicted for CDPK4 protein through different bioinformatics tools. Also, antigenicity and allergenicity evaluation demonstrated that this protein has immunogenic and non-allergenic nature. This paper presents a basis for further studies, thereby provides a fundamental basis for the development of an effective vaccine against T. gondii infection.
Entities:
Keywords:
Bioinformatics analysis; Calcium-dependent protein kinase 4; In silico; Toxoplasma gondii; Vaccine
Authors: Sebastian Lourido; Joel Shuman; Chao Zhang; Kevan M Shokat; Raymond Hui; L David Sibley Journal: Nature Date: 2010-05-20 Impact factor: 49.962