Predicció d'interaccions proteïna-proteïnaun model integrat

Abstract

The use and misuse of antibiotics against pathogenic bacteria is accelerating the appearance of multi-drug resistant bacteria and it is becoming a serious concern in public health worldwide. In order to fight antibacterial resistance, it is crucial to get a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying infection, which occur to a great extent due to the interaction between host and pathogen proteins. In this sense, it is necessary to improve the functional annotation and characterization of these proteins and their interactions. With this aim, we have created two databases, BacFITBase and DualSeqDB, which gather information on the importance of bacterial genes and the gene expression changes that occur both in the pathogen and in the host during the infection process, respectively. Similarly, we have developed HPIPred, a host-pathogen protein-protein interaction prediction system, based on the numerical encoding of physicochemical properties of amino acids, capable of integrating phenotypic information to guide the prediction process. The combination of these tools could be useful as a guidance in the development of new drugs against antibacterial resistance.