Title: Homology modelling of pyrophosphosrylase, enzyme involved in chitin pathway of Moniliophthora perniciosa

Authors: Manoelito C. Dos Santos Jr., Alex G. Taranto, Sandra A. De Assis, Aristoteles Goes-Neto

Addresses: PPGBiotec – UEFS/FIOCRUZ – BA, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Av. Transnordestina s/n, Novo Horizonte, Feira de Santana, BA, 44.036-900, Brazil. ' PPGBiotec – UEFS/FIOCRUZ – BA, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Av. Transnordestina s/n, Novo Horizonte, Feira de Santana, BA, 44.036-900, Brazil. ' PPGBiotec – UEFS/FIOCRUZ – BA, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Av. Transnordestina s/n, Novo Horizonte, Feira de Santana, BA, 44.036-900, Brazil. ' PPGBiotec – UEFS/FIOCRUZ – BA, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Av. Transnordestina s/n, Novo Horizonte, Feira de Santana, BA, 44.036-900, Brazil

Abstract: Moniliophthora perniciosa (Sthael) (Singer) Phillips-Mora is the causal agent of witches| broom disease, which can infect Theobroma cacao decreasing the production of cocoa about 60%. M. perniciosa has a set of potential enzymes that can be useful targets for design of new inhibitors. After the release of the aminoacid sequence of pyrophosphorylase of M. perniciosa, a comparative modelling approach was carried out to obtain the 3D structure of this target. This model can be useful to develop new inhibitors against witches| broom disease.

Keywords: comparative modelling; witches broom disease; molecular targets; Moniliophthora perniciosa; molecular dynamics; bioinformatics; homology modelling; pyrophosphosrylase; enzymes; chitin pathway; cocoa production; inhibitors; inhibitor design; amino acid sequences; Theobroma cacao.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBRA.2009.024033

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, 2009 Vol.5 No.2, pp.133 - 153

Published online: 24 Mar 2009 *

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