Identification of novel open reading frames in the intergenic regions of Mycobacterium leprae genome and detection of transcript by qRT-PCR. (November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sharma, Mukul; Das, Madhusmita; Diana, D.; Wedderburn, Anna; Anindya, Roy
• Is Part Of: Microbial pathogenesis. Volume 124(2018)
• Page Start: 316
• Page End: 321
• Publication Date: 2018-11
• Subjects: Mycobacterium leprae -- Pseudogenes -- Leprosy -- Small ORFs -- Intergenic region -- qRT-PCR; Pathogenic microorganisms -- Periodicals; Pathology, Molecular -- Periodicals; Communicable Diseases -- microbiology -- Periodicals; Communicable Diseases -- parasitology -- Periodicals; Micro-organismes pathogènes -- Périodiques; Pathologie moléculaire -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 616.9041
• DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2018.08.062
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0882-4010

Abstract

Abstract: Mycobacterium leprae is an unculturable obligate pathogen and causative agent for debilitating human disease leprosy. Due to reductive genome evolution M leprae genome harbours large number of pseudogenes and small number of genes (∼1600 genes and ∼1300 pseudogenes). How M leprae remained a successful human parasite with small set of genes remains poorly understood and provided us the impetus to investigate the intergenic regions of M leprae genome for the presence of possible open reading frames (ORFs). In this work, we have manually scanned all the intergenic regions of M leprae genome and identified 106 potential ORFs. Among these, 12 are large ORFs: encoding hypothetical proteins (HP) of more than 100 amino acids. We have also found 67 ORFs encoding 50–100 amino acids proteins and another 27 ORFs for 30–50 amino acids peptides. We have validated the presence of transcripts for large HPs by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR). Our results suggest that some of the M leprae large HPs are indeed expressed at low level in leprosy patients. The present results will shed light on the intergenic ORFs of M leprae and further our understanding of the pathogenesis of leprosy. Highlights: Intergenic regions of Mycobacterium leprae genome were scanned for potential hypothetical proteins. A total of 106 hypothetical proteins were identified from the intergenic regions. Presence of the transcripts confirmed for 12 hypothetical proteins encoding >100 amino acids proteins.