Title

Identification and characterization of sodium and chloride-dependent gamma-aminobutyric acid
(GABA) transporters from eukaryotic pathogens as a potential drug target

Authors

Benson Otarigho^1,3*, Mofolusho O. Falade²

Affiliation

¹Department of Biological Science, Edo University, Iyamho, Edo State,

²Nigeria Cellular Parasitology Programme, Cell Biology and Genetics Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria;

³Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA;

Email

otarigho.benson@edouniversity.edu.ng; otarighobenson152799@gmail.com; Otarigho@ohsu.edu;

Article Type

Hypothesis

Date

Received December 3, 2017; Revised December 10, 2017; Accepted December 10, 2017; Published January 31, 2018

We explored 285 completed eukaryotic pathogen genomes for GABA transporter proteins as effective chemotherapy targets. We identified 8 GABA proteins that spread across 4 phyla with 5 different pathogen species; Eimeria mitis Houghton, Neospora caninum Liverpool, S. mansoni, S. haematobium and Trichinella spiralis. Sub-cellular localization prediction revealed that these proteins are integral membrane and are mostly insoluble. It is found that about 81% of these proteins are non-crystallizable and 15% are crystallizable. Transmembrane helices predictions show that the GABA transporters have 10, 11, 12 and 14 TMHs with 15, 23, 31 and 11%, respectively. It is further observed that most of these GABA transporters are from several parasites`genomes.

Keywords

GABA transporters, eukaryotic pathogens, chemotherapy targets, parasites genomes

Citation

Otarigho & Falade. Bioinformation 14(1): 021-030 (2018)

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.