Title: Prediction of the post-translational modification sites on dengue virus E protein and deciphering their role in pathogenesis

Authors: M. Ruhul Amin, A.H.M. Mahbub, Abdur R. Sikder, M. Manjurul Karim

Addresses: Department of Microbiology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. ' Department of Microbiology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. ' School of Information Technologies, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. ' Department of Microbiology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

Abstract: Dengue virus, a member of the flavivirus family, is a mosquito-borne viral pathogen for which any specific treatment or control of infection by vaccination is yet to be conclusive. The envelope glycoprotein, E, mediates viral entry by membrane fusion. Elucidation of post-translational modification sites in E protein followed by sequence alignment produced stretches of residues which are conserved in most of the members of flaviviruses. Presence of protein kinase A (PKA) and protein kinase G (PKG) phosphorylation sites predicts that E protein may activate PKA and PKG through phosphorylation which is responsible for inhibition of platelet activation, and thereby causing thrombocytopenia. Here, we attempt to decipher the novel role of Dengue virus E protein in pathogenesis.

Keywords: post-translational modification; dengue virus; E protein; pathogenesis; membrane fusion; sequence alignment; bioinformatics; phosphorylation; PKA; PKG; platelet activation; thrombocytopenia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBRA.2010.037989

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, 2010 Vol.6 No.5, pp.508 - 521

Received: 18 Aug 2009
Accepted: 10 May 2010

Published online: 07 Jan 2011 *

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