Prediction of 3-Dimensional Structure of Salivary Odorant-Binding
Protein-2 of the Mosquito Culex Quinquefasciatus, the
Vector of Human Lymphatic Filariasis
Affiliations: Centre for Research in Medical Entomology, (Indian
Council of Medical Research), 4, Sarojini Street, Chinna Chokkikulam,
Madurai-625002, Tamil Nadu, India | Department of Bioinformatics, Bharathiar University,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Abstract: Olfaction of insects is currently recognized as the major area of
research for developing novel control strategies to prevent mosquito-borne
infections. A 3-dimensional model (3D) was developed for the salivary gland
odorant-binding protein-2 of the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus, a major
vector of human lymphatic filariasis. A homology modeling method was used for
the prediction of the structure. For the modeling, two template proteins were
obtained by mGenTHERADER, namely the high-resolution X-ray crystallography
structure of a pheromone-binding protein (ASP1) of Apis mellifera L.,
[1R5R:A] and the aristolochene synthase from Penicillium roqueforti
[1DI1:B]. By comparing the template protein a rough model was constructed for
the target protein using MODELLER, a program for comparative modelling. The
structure of OBP of the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus resembles the
structure of pheromone-binding protein ASP1 of Apis mellifera L.,
[1R5R:A]. From Ramachandran plot analysis it was found that the portion of
residues falling into the most favoured regions was 86.0%. The predicted 3-D
model may be further used in characterizing the protein in wet laboratory.
