@article {2017|2039, title = {A Computational Methodology to Overcome the Challenges Associated With the Search for Specific Enzyme Targets to Develop Drugs Against.}, journal = {Bioinform Biol Insights}, volume = {11}, year = {2017}, month = {2017}, pages = {1177932217712471}, abstract = {

We present an approach for detecting enzymes that are specific ofcompared withand provide targets that may assist research in drug development. This approach is based on traditional techniques of sequence homology comparison by similarity search and Markov modeling; it integrates the characterization of enzymatic functionality, secondary and tertiary protein structures, protein domain architecture, and metabolic environment. From 67 enzymes represented by 42 enzymatic activities classified by AnEnPi (Analogous Enzymes Pipeline) as specific forcompared with, only 40 (23 Enzyme Commission [EC] numbers) could actually be considered as strictly specific ofand 27 enzymes (19 EC numbers) were disregarded for having ambiguous homologies or analogies with. Among the 40 strictly specific enzymes, we identified sterol 24-C-methyltransferase, pyruvate phosphate dikinase, trypanothione synthetase, and RNA-editing ligase as 4 essential enzymes forthat may serve as targets for drug development.

}, issn = {1177-9322}, doi = {10.1177/1177932217712471}, author = {Catharina, Larissa and Lima, Carlyle Ribeiro and Franca, Alexander and Guimar{\~a}es, Ana Carolina Ramos and Alves-Ferreira, Marcelo and Tuffery, Pierre and Philippe Derreumaux and Carels, Nicolas} } @article {2016|1711, title = {In silico structural characterization of protein targets for drug development against Trypanosoma cruzi}, journal = {J. Mol. Model.}, volume = {22}, number = {10}, year = {2016}, month = {oct}, abstract = {Trypanosoma cruzi is the protozoan pathogen responsible for Chagas disease, which is a major public health problem in tropical and subtropical regions of developing countries and particularly in Brazil. Despite many studies, there is no efficient treatment against Chagas disease, and the search for new therapeutic targets specific to T. cruzi is critical for drug development. Here, we have revisited 41 protein sequences proposed by the analogous enzyme pipeline, and found that it is possible to provide structures for T. cruzi sequences with clear homologs or analogs in H. sapiens and likely associated with trypanothione reductase, cysteine synthase, and ATPase functions, and structures for sequences specific to T. cruzi and absent in H. sapiens associated with 2,4-dienoyl-CoA reductase, and leishmanolysin activities. The implications of our structures refined by atomistic molecular dynamics (monomer or dimer states) in their in vitro environments (aqueous solution or membrane bilayers) are discussed for drug development and suggest that all protein targets, except cysteine synthase, merit further investigation.}, issn = {1610-2940}, doi = {10.1007/s00894-016-3115-9}, author = {Lima, Carlyle Ribeiro and Carels, Nicolas and Ramos Guimaraes, Ana Carolina and Pierre Tuffery and Philippe Derreumaux} }