Computational Approach for Structure and Functionality Search for Hypothetical Proteins in Mycobacterium Leprae

Mycobacterium leprae Br4923 the causative agent of leprosy is one of the most puzzling and complex microorganism due to its gene decaying property and presence of large number of pseudogenes. The proper treatment of leprosy is not yet possible due to its drug resistance mechanism and uncultivable nature on culture media. The present work deals with the prediction of structure and function of hypothetical proteins in M. Leprae by the use of computational methods and bioinformatics. The prediction of orthologous sequence in biological sequence databases, assist in classification of 180 hypothetical protein sequences in their respective protein family by the use of web tools (CDD-BLAST, INTERPROSCAN, PFAM and COGs). The 3-D structures of the 160 functionally resolved hypothetical proteins were constructed using PS2 server (Protein structure prediction server). The generated data can prove useful in the prediction of evolutionary relationship of Mycobacterium leprae with those of other related Mycobacterium species. It may also assist in the designing of novel drug to treat leprosy.