Predictive sequence analysis of the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus proteome

PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e41071. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041071. Epub 2012 Jul 18.

Abstract

Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (Ca. L. asiaticus) is a parasitic gram-negative bacterium that is closely associated with Huanglongbing (HLB), a worldwide citrus disease. Given the difficulty in culturing the bacterium and thus in its experimental characterization, computational analyses of the whole Ca. L. asiaticus proteome can provide much needed insights into the mechanisms of the disease and guide the development of treatment strategies. In this study, we applied state-of-the-art sequence analysis tools to every Ca. L. asiaticus protein. Our results are available as a public website at http://prodata.swmed.edu/liberibacter_asiaticus/. In particular, we manually curated the results to predict the subcellular localization, spatial structure and function of all Ca. L. asiaticus proteins (http://prodata.swmed.edu/liberibacter_asiaticus/curated/). This extensive information should facilitate the study of Ca. L. asiaticus proteome function and its relationship to disease. Pilot studies based on the information from our website have revealed several potential virulence factors, discussed herein.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alphaproteobacteria / genetics*
  • Alphaproteobacteria / metabolism*
  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Databases, Factual
  • Genome, Bacterial
  • Gram-Negative Bacteria / genetics*
  • Gram-Negative Bacteria / metabolism*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Pilot Projects
  • Plants / microbiology
  • Protein Conformation
  • Proteome
  • Proteomics / methods*
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Virulence Factors / chemistry

Substances

  • Proteome
  • Virulence Factors