BackgroundProtein-protein interactions are important for several cellular processes. Understanding the mechanism of protein-protein recognition and predicting the binding sites in protein-protein complexes are long standing goals in molecular and computational biology.MethodsWe have developed an energy based approach for identifying the binding site residues in protein–protein complexes. The binding site residues have been analyzed with sequence and structure based parameters such as binding propensity, neighboring residues in the vicinity of binding sites, conservation score and conformational switching.ResultsWe observed that the binding propensities of amino acid residues are specific for protein-protein complexes. Further, typical dipeptides and tripeptides showed high preference for binding, which is unique to protein-protein complexes. Most of the binding site residues are highly conserved among homologous sequences. Our analysis showed that 7% of residues changed their conformations upon protein-protein complex formation and it is 9.2% and 6.6% in the binding and non-binding sites, respectively. Specifically, the residues Glu, Lys, Leu and Ser changed their conformation from coil to helix/strand and from helix to coil/strand. Leu, Ser, Thr and Val prefer to change their conformation from strand to coil/helix.ConclusionsThe results obtained in this study will be helpful for understanding and predicting the binding sites in protein-protein complexes.

Protein folding is a natural phenomenon by which a sequence of amino acids folds into a unique functional three-dimensional structure. Although the sequence code that governs folding remains a mystery, one can identify key inter-residue contacts responsible for a given topology. In nature, there are many pairs of proteins of a given length that share little or no sequence identity. Similarly, there are many proteins that share a common topology but lack significant evidence of homology. In order to tackle this problem, protein engineering studies have been used to determine the minimal number of amino acid residues that codes for a particular fold. In recent years, the coupling of theoretical models and experiments in the study of protein folding has resulted in providing some fruitful clues. He et al. have designed two proteins with 88% sequence identity, which adopt different folds and functions. In this work, we have systematically analysed these two proteins by performing pentapeptide search, secondary structure predictions, variation in inter-residue interactions and residue-residue pair preferences, surrounding hydrophobicity computations, conformational switching and energy computations. We conclude that the local secondary structural preference of the two designed proteins at the Nand C-terminal ends to adopt either coil or strand conformation may be a crucial factor in adopting the different folds. Early on during the process of folding, both proteins may choose different energetically favourable pathways to attain the different folds.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) declared as a pandemic by WHO that has affected more than 40 lakh peoples and caused death of more than 2 lakh individuals across the globe. Limited availability of genomic information of SARS-CoV-2 and non-availability of vaccines and effective drugs are major problems responsible for the ineffective control and management of this pandemic. Several attempts have been made to explore repurposing existing drugs known for their anti-viral activities, and test the traditional herbal medicines known for their health benefiting and immune boosting activity against SARS-CoV-2.In this study, efforts were made to examine the potential of 721 phytochemicals of 37 plant species in inhibiting major protein targets namely, spike glycoprotein, main protease (MPro), NSP3, NSP9, NSP15, NSP10-NSP16 and RNA dependent RNA polymerase of SARS-CoV-2 through virtual screening approach. Results of our experiments revealed that SARS-CoV-2 MPro shared significant dissimilarities against SARS-CoVMPro and MERS-CoVMPro indicating the need for discovering novel drugs. This study has identified the phytochemical cyanin (Zingiber officinale) exhibiting broad spectrum inhibitory activity against main proteases of all the three Coronaviruses. Amentoflavone, agathisflavone, catechin-7-o-gallate and chlorogeninwere shown to exhibit multi target inhibitory activity. This study has identified Mangifera indica, Anacardium occidentale, Vitex negundo, Solanum nigrum, Pedalium murex, Terminalia chebula, Azadirachta indica, Cissus quadrangularis, Clerodendrum serratum and Ocimum basilicum as potential sources of phytochemicals combating nCOVID-19. More interestingly, this study has generated evidences for the anti-viral properties of the traditional herbal formulation “Kabasura kudineer” recommended by AYUSH, a unit of Government of India. Testing of short listed phytochemicals through clinical trials will help in developing effective formulation for management of this pandemic disease. Genomic analysis of identified herbal plants will help in unravelling molecular complexity of therapeutic and anti-viral properties and will pave way for designing synthetic drugs.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) being a causative agent for global pandemic disease nCOVID’19, has acquired much scientific attention for the development of effective vaccines and drugs. Several attempts have been made to explore repurposing existing drugs known for their anti-viral activities, and test the traditional herbal medicines known for their health benefiting and immune-boosting activity against SARS-CoV-2. In this study, efforts were made to examine the potential of 605 phytochemicals from 37 plant species (of which 14 plants were endemic to India) and 139 antiviral molecules (Pubchem and Drug bank) in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 multiple protein targets through a virtual screening approach. Results of our experiments revealed that SARS-CoV-2 MPro shared significant disimilarities against SARS-CoV MPro and MERS-CoV MPro indicating the need for discovering novel drugs. This study has screened the phytochemical cyanin (Zingiber officinale) which may exhibit broad-spectrum inhibitory activity against main proteases of SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV with binding energies of (−) 8.3 kcal/mol (−) 8.2 kcal/mol and (−) 7.7 kcal/mol respectively. Amentoflavone, agathisflavone, catechin-7-o-gallate and chlorogenin were shown to exhibit multi-target inhibitory activity. Further, Mangifera indica, Anacardium occidentale, Vitex negundo, Solanum nigrum, Pedalium murex, Terminalia chebula, Azadirachta indica, Cissus quadrangularis, Clerodendrum serratum and Ocimum basilicumaree reported as potential sources of phytochemicals for combating nCOVID’19. More interestingly, this study has highlighted the anti-viral properties of the traditional herbal formulation “Kabasura kudineer” recommended by AYUSH, a unit of Government of India. Short listed phytochemicals could be used as leads for future drug design and development. Genomic analysis of identified herbal plants will help in unraveling molecular complexity of therapeutic and anti-viral properties which proffer lot of chance in the pharmaceutical field for researchers to scout new drugs in drug discovery.

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Diverse endophytes with multiple functions exist in different banana cultivars. However, the diversity of cultivable bacterial endophytome that contributes to antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) in resistant and susceptible banana cultivars is mostly unknown. In the present study, we isolated bacterial endophytes from resistant Yengambi KM5 (AAA) and susceptible banana cultivar Ney Poovan (AB) to determine the diversity of cultivable bacterial endophytes. Our study revealed the presence of 56 cultivable bacterial endophytes and 6 nectar-associated bacteria in YKM5 and 31 cultivable bacterial endophytes in Ney Poovan. The identified cultivable bacterial genera in YKM5 included

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Chemical pesticides have an immense role in curbing the infection of plant viruses and soil-borne pathogens of high valued crops. However, the usage of chemical pesticides also contributes to the development of resistance among pathogens. Hence, attempts were made in this study to identify a suitable bacterial antagonist for managing viral and fungal pathogens infecting crop plants. Based on our earlier investigations, we identified Bacillus amyloliquefaciens VB7 as a potential antagonist for managing Sclerotinia sclerotiorum infecting carnation, tobacco streak virus infecting cotton and groundnut bud necrosis infecting tomato. Considering the multifaceted action of B. amyloliquefaciens VB7, attempts were made for whole-genome sequencing to assess the antiviral activity against tomato spotted wilt virus infecting chrysanthemum and antifungal action against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc). Genome annotation of the isolate B. amyloliquefaciens VB7 was confirmed as B. velezensis VB7 with accession number CP047587. Genome analysis revealed the presence of 9,231,928 reads with an average read length of 149 bp. Assembled genome had 1 contig, with a total length of 3,021,183 bp and an average G+C content of 46.79%. The protein-coding sequences (CDS) in the genome was 3090, transfer RNA (tRNA) genes were 85 with 29 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and 21 repeat regions. The genome of B. velezensis VB7 had 506 hypothetical proteins and 2584 proteins with functional assignments. VB7 genome had the presence of flagellin protein FlaA with 987 nucleotides and translation elongation factor TU (Ef-Tu) with 1191 nucleotides. The identified ORFs were 3911 with 47.22% GC content. Non ribosomal pepide synthetase cluster (NRPS) gene clusters in the genome of VB7, coded for the anti-microbial peptides surfactin, butirosin A/butirosin B, fengycin, difficidin, bacillibactin, bacilysin, and mersacidin the Ripp lanthipeptide. Antiviral action of VB7 was confirmed by suppression of local lesion formation of TSWV in the local lesion host cowpea (Co-7). Moreover, combined application of B. velezensis VB7 with phyto-antiviral principles M. Jalapa and H. cupanioides increased shoot length, shoot diameter, number of flower buds per plant, flower diameter, and fresh weight of chrysanthemum. Further, screening for antifungal action of VB7 expressed antifungal action against Foc in vitro by producing VOC/NVOC compounds, including hexadecanoic acid, linoelaidic acid, octadecanoic acid, clindamycin, formic acid, succinamide, furanone, 4H-pyran, nonanol and oleic acid, contributing to the total suppression of Foc apart from the presence of NRPS gene clusters. Thus, our study confirmed the scope for exploring B. velezensis VB7 on a commercial scale to manage tomato spotted wilt virus, groundnut bud necrosis virus, tobacco streak virus, S. sclerotiorum, and Foc causing panama wilt of banana.