|
Keywords
|
Acinetobacter baumannii, antibiotics, microbial drug resistance, vaccines, virulence
|
|
Abstract
|
Acinetobacter baumannii is known as a Gram-negative bacterium that has become one of the most important
health problems due to antibiotic resistance. Today, numerous efforts are being made to find new antibiotics
against this nosocomial pathogen. As an alternative solution, finding bacterial target(s), necessary for survival
and spread of most resistant strains, can be a benefit exploited in drug and vaccine design. In this study, a list of
extensive drug-resistant and carbapenem-resistant (multidrug resistant) A. bumannii strains with complete sequencing
of genome were prepared and common hypothetical proteins (HPs) composed of more than 200 amino
acids were selected. Then, a number of bioinformatics tools were combined for functional assignments of HPs
using their sequence. Overall, among 18 in silico investigated proteins, the results showed that 7 proteins implicated
in transcriptional regulation, pilus assembly, protein catabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, adhesion, urea
catalysis, and hydrolysis of phosphate monoesters have theoretical potential of involvement in successful survival
and pathogenesis of A. baumannii. In addition, immunological analyses with prediction softwares indicated
4 HPs to be probable vaccine candidates. The outcome of this work will be helpful to find novel vaccine
design candidates and therapeutic targets for A. baumannii through experimental investigations.
|