Issue 6, 2019

A network-based approach reveals novel invasion and Maurer's clefts-related proteins in Plasmodium falciparum

Abstract

Malaria continues to be a major concern in developing countries despite continuous efforts to find a cure for the disease. Understanding the pathogenesis mechanism is necessary to identify more effective drug targets against malaria. Many years of experimental research have generated a large amount of data for the malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. These data are useful to understand the importance of certain parasite proteins, but it often remains unclear how these proteins come together, interact with other proteins and carry out their function. Identification of all proteins involved in pathogenesis is an important step towards understanding the molecular mechanism of pathogenesis. In this study, dynamic stage-specific protein–protein interaction networks were created based on gene expression data during the parasite's intra-erythrocytic stages and static protein–protein interaction data. Using previously known proteins of a biological event as seed proteins, the random walk with restart (RWR) method was used on the dynamic protein–protein interaction networks to identify novel proteins related to that event. Two screening procedures namely, permutation test and GO enrichment test were performed to increase the reliability of the RWR predictions. The proposed method was first validated on Plasmodium falciparum proteins related to invasion, where it could reproduce the existing knowledge from a small set of seed proteins. It was then used to identify novel Maurer's clefts resident proteins, where it could identify 152 parasite proteins. We show that the current approach can annotate conserved proteins with unknown function. The predicted proteins can help build a mechanistic model for disease pathogenesis, which will be useful in identifying new drug targets.

Graphical abstract: A network-based approach reveals novel invasion and Maurer's clefts-related proteins in Plasmodium falciparum

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
31 Jul 2019
Accepted
10 Oct 2019
First published
10 Oct 2019

Mol. Omics, 2019,15, 431-441

A network-based approach reveals novel invasion and Maurer's clefts-related proteins in Plasmodium falciparum

D. Das, S. R. Krishnan, A. Roy and G. Bulusu, Mol. Omics, 2019, 15, 431 DOI: 10.1039/C9MO00124G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements