IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL ANTIBIOTIC TARGETS IN THE PROTEOME OF MULTI-DRUG RESISTANT EISENBERGIELLA TAYI

Abstract

Eisenbergiella tayi is a pathogen that affects the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract, skin, and vagina, and shows some resistance to existing antibiotics. Identifying new antibiotic targets through computational methods could expedite the process. At the same time, there are numerous opportunities to develop new antibiotics to address infections caused by this pathogen. In this study, the proteome of E. tayi was progressively reduced to pinpoint potential antibiotic targets. The main goals were to identify proteins that are non-redundant, unique to the pathogen, essential, located in the cytoplasm, and associated with virulence and resistance. The druggability of these proteins was assessed using the BLASTp tool from the DrugBank database against FDA-approved drugs. The study found that the core proteome of the pathogen consists of 6,044 proteins. Of these, 2,598 were identified as non-homologous to human proteins, and 1,169 were deemed essential to the pathogen. Sub-cellular localization revealed that 594 proteins are cytoplasmic, with 76 being selected as virulent. Metabolic pathway analysis linked 32 proteins to unique pathogen-specific pathways and identified six as druggable. Further analysis highlighted the “argD” protein as both resistant and a promising target for future drug development. These results could lay the groundwork for creating new antibiotics to combat E. tayi infections.