Reverse vaccinology and subtractive genomics reveal new therapeutic targets against<i>Mycoplasma pneumoniae</i>: a causative agent of pneumonia

Abstract

Pneumonia is an infectious disease caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi that results in millions of deaths globally. Despite the existence of prophylactic methods against some of the major pathogens of the disease, there is no efficient prophylaxis against atypical agents such as <i>Mycoplasma pneumoniae</i>, a bacterium associated with cases of community-acquired pneumonia. Because of the morphological peculiarity of <i>M. pneumoniae</i>, which leads to an increased resistance to antibiotics, studies that prospectively investigate the development of vaccines and drug targets appear to be one of the best ways forward. Hence, in this paper, bioinformatics tools were used for vaccine and pharmacological prediction. We conducted comparative genomic analysis on the genomes of 88 <i>M. pneumoniae</i> strains, as opposed to a reverse vaccinology analysis, in relation to the capacity of <i>M. pneumoniae</i> proteins to bind to the major histocompatibility complex, revealing seven targets with immunogenic potential. Predictive cytoplasmic proteins were tested as potential drug targets by studying their structures in relation to other proteins, metabolic pathways and molecular anchorage, which identified five possible drug targets. These findings are a valuable addition to the development of vaccines and the selection of new <i>in vivo</i> drug targets that may contribute to further elucidating the molecular basis of <i>M. pneumoniae</i>-host interactions.