Prioritization of potential drug targets against Bartonella bacilliformis by an integrative in-silico approach.

MARIELLA FARFÁN-LÓPEZ; ABRAHAM ESPINOZA-CULUPÚ ; RUTH GARCÍA-DE-LA-GUARDA ; FEDERICO SERRAL ; EZEQUIEL SOSA; MARÍA MERCEDES PALOMINO ; DARÍO A. FERNÁNDEZ DO PORTO

MEMóRIAS DO INSTITUTO OSWALDO CRUZ.

FUNDACO OSWALDO CRUZ

Lugar: Rio de Janeiro; Año: 2020

0074-0276

BackgroundCarrion´s disease (CD) is a neglected biphasic illness caused by Bartonella bacilliformis, a Gram-negative bacteria found in the Andean valleys. The spread of resistant strains underline the need for novel antimicrobials against Bartonella bacilliformis and related bacterial pathogens.ObjectiveThe main objective of this study was to integrate genomic-scale data in order to shortlist a set of proteins that could serve as attractive targets for new antimicrobial discovery to combat B. bacilliformis.MethodsWe performed a multidimensional genomic scale analysis of potential and relevant targets which includes structural druggability, metabolic analysis and essentiality criteria in order to select proteins with attractive features for drug discovery.FindingsSeventeen attractive proteins for the development of new drugs aimed at controlling the pathogen causing Carrion?s disease were shortlisted. The protein product of fabI, folA, aroA, trmFO, uppP and murE genes, meet an important number of desirable features that make them attractive targets for the development of new drugs. This data compendium is freely available as a web server (http://target.sbg.qb.fcen.uba.ar/).Main ConclusionThis work represents an effort to reduce the costs of the initial bioprospecting phases in B. bacilliformis drug discovery.