TITLE:
Analysis of Proteotranscriptomics Landscape Reveals Differentially Regulated Pathways in Toxoplasma gondii Infected Mouse Liver
AUTHORS:
Tanzina Tarannum, Md. Saruar Alam, Atiqur Rahman, Sajib Chakraborty, Hossain Uddin Shekhar, Taibur Rahman
KEYWORDS:
Toxoplasma gondii, Transcriptome, Proteome, Mouse Liver, Differentially Expressed Genes and Proteins, Gene Ontology Analysis, Protein-Protein Interaction, Hub-Proteins, Homology Modeling, Effector Molecules
JOURNAL NAME:
Computational Molecular Bioscience,
Vol.12 No.1,
March
10,
2022
ABSTRACT: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) an intracellular protozoan parasite, infects mammals including human population world-wide. Upon primary infection, the parasite contributes to mild flu like symptoms in immune competent host, but life threatening complication is seen in immune compromised patients and in pregnant women. Understanding the host-parasite interaction is critical for understanding the pathogenesis and biology parasite reactivation in the host. In this study, we used proteotrasncriptomics analyses by integrating the transcriptomics and proteomics data of T. gondii infected mouse liver to uncover the effector molecules responsible for disease pathogenesis that can be used as candidate markers for diagnosis and drug target. With this aim, we systematically integrated transcriptomicand proteomic data, representing the parasite infected mouse liver. Out of 2758 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 301 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), 159 overlapping genes were identified. Among them, 86 genes were upregulated and 72 were downregulated in their respective mRNA and protein levels in the infected condition. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed that the upregulated genes were mostly associated with immune system processes whereas the downregulated genes were involved in oxidation-reduction process and metabolism of lipid, and fatty acids. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis uncovered an interaction-hub including, Psmb8, Psmb9 and Tap1 for upregulated proteins and Cyp1A2, Cyp4A10 and Cyp3A11 for down-regulated proteins. Further studies are needed to validating these effector molecules. These molecules are likely to play a vital role in disease pathogenesis, as well as can be used as potential diagnostic marker and drug target candidates.