Giardia lamblia´s Protein-Protein Interaction Network

ZAMPONI NAHUEL; CRISTINA MARINO BUSLJE; TOUZ CAROLINA

Rosario

Congreso; 4to. Congreso Argentino de Bioinformática y Biología Computacional (4CAB2C) y 4ta. Conferencia Internacional de la Sociedad Iberoamericana de Bioinformática (SolBio); 2013

Asociación Argentina de Bioinformática y Biología Computacional (A2B2C) and Sociedad Iberoamericana de Bioinformática (SolBio)

BackgroundGiardia is a genus of anaerobic flagellated protozoan parasites of the phylumDiplomonada, in the supergroup "Excavata", that parasitizes the intestine ofvertebrates, being one of the most common causes of human diarrheal diseaseworldwide. During its life cycle, Giardia alternates between the disease-causingtrophozoite and the hardy dormant cyst, that contaminates water or food the infectivecysts.Giardia comprises a group of true eukaryotic organisms, since they have two nuclei, avery developed endomembranous system and a complex cytoskeleton. However, thisgroup also possess several prokaryotic features, including reduced metabolicpathways and the lack of organelles typical of more derived eukaryotes, such asmitochondria, peroxisomes, and a Golgi apparatus.An essential part in the understanding of any organism?s cellular biology is related tothe description of its protein-protein interaction network (PIN). We have taken acomputational approach to construct the PINs of the three known Giardia lambliaisolates (A, B, E).ResultsIn this work, the Interolog Mapping method was used. Specifically on this approach, itassumes that if two proteins have a great sequence similarity against two proteins froma public database, and these latter ones interact, then the former ones interact as well.Using this methodology, we predicted the PINs for isolates A, B and E of Giardialamblia. These networks comprise more than 1500 nodes, and about 30000interactions each. On these networks, we perform topological, biological processenrichment,and metabolic pathway description and analysis.Analyzing the network with topological indexes such as degree and centrality, wedetected proteins that are potentially crucial for Giardia?s encystation and survival.ConclusionWe have constructed the first PIN of Giardia lamblia by using a computationalapproach. The topological and functional analysis of the resulting PIN enabled us todescribe aspects of the biology of these organisms from a previously unexplored pointof view.