Genome-wide identification of molecular mimicry candidates in parasites.

ABSTRACT: Among the many strategies employed by parasites for immune evasion and host manipulation, one of the most fascinating is molecular mimicry. With genome sequences available for host and parasite, mimicry of linear amino acid epitopes can be investigated by comparative genomics. Here we developed an in silico pipeline for genome-wide identification of molecular mimicry candidate proteins or epitopes. The predicted proteome of a given parasite was broken down into overlapping fragments, each of which was screened for close hits in the human proteome. Control searches were carried out against unrelated, free-living eukaryotes to eliminate the generally conserved proteins, and with randomized versions of the parasite proteins to get an estimate of statistical significance. This simple but compu

SUBMITTER: Ludin P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3050887 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature