Proteome Exploration of <i>Legionella pneumophila</i> To Identify Novel Therapeutics: a Hierarchical Subtractive Genomics and Reverse Vaccinology Approach
Tahsin Khan, Araf Mahmud, Mahmudul Hasan, Kazi Faizul Azim, Musammat Kulsuma Begum, Mohimenul Haque Rolin, Arzuba Akter, Shakhinur Islam Mondal
Abstract
Legionella pneumophila is a human pathogen distributed worldwide, causing Legionnaires' disease (LD), a severe form of pneumonia and respiratory tract infection. L. pneumophila is emerging as an antibiotic-resistant strain, and controlling LD is now difficult. Hence, developing novel drugs and vaccines against L. pneumophila is a major research priority. Here, the complete proteome of L. pneumophila was considered for subtractive genomics approaches to address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance. Our subtractive proteomics approach identified three potential drug targets that are promising for future application. Furthermore, a possible vaccine candidate, "outer membrane protein TolB," was proposed using reverse vaccinology analysis. The constructed vaccine candidate showed higher binding interaction with MHC molecules and human immune TLR-2 receptors at the molecular level. Overall, the present study aids in developing novel therapeutics and vaccine candidates for efficient treatment of the infections caused by L. pneumophila.