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Title

Homology modeling of an antifungal metabolite plipastatin synthase from the bacillus subtilis 168

 

Authors

Maria Batool1, 2, Mohammad Hassan Khalid1, Muhammad Nadeem Hassan1, Fauzia Yusuf Hafeez1*

 

Affiliation

1Department of Biosciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad, Pakistan; 2Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

 

Email

afauzia@comsats.edu.pk; *Corresponding author

 

Article Type

Hypothesis

 

Date

Received December 2, 2011; Accepted December 6, 2011; Published December 21, 2011

 

Abstract

Lipopeptides have a widespread role in different pathways of Bacillus subtilis; they can act as antagonists, spreader and immuno-stimulators. Plipastatin, an antifungal antibiotic, is one of the most important lipopeptide nonribosomly produced by Bacillus subtilis. Plipastatin has strong fungitoxic activity and involve in inhibition of phospholipase A2 and biofilm formation. For better understanding of the molecule and pathway by which lipopeptide plipastatin is synthesized, we present a computationally predicted structure of plipastatin using homology modeling. Primary and secondary structure analysis suggested that ppsD is a hydrophilic protein containing a significant proportion of alpha helices, and subcellular localization predictions suggested it is a cytoplasmic protein. The tertiary structure of protein (plipastatin synthase subunit D) was predicted by homology modeling. The results suggest a flexible structure which is also an important characteristic of active enzymes enabling them to bind various cofactors and substrates for proper functioning. Validation of 3D structure was done using Ramachandran plot ProsA-web and QMEAN score.This predicted information will help in better understanding of mechanisms underlying plipastatin synthase subunit D synthesis. Plipastatin can be used as an inhibitor of various fungal diseases in plants.

 

Keywords

Bacillus subtilis; plipastatin synthase; homology modeling.

 

Citation

Batool et al. Bioinformation 7(8): 384-387 (2011)
 

Edited by

P Kangueane

 

ISSN

0973-2063

 

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

 

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.