Identification of Family Specific Fingerprints in β-Lactamase Families

Beta-lactamases are a superfamily of enzymes which degrade the β-lactam class of antibiotics. They are produced endogenously by the bacterial cells, which when exposed to the β-lactam class of antibiotics inactivate them by cleaving the β-lactam ring. Based on the presence or absence of metallic lig...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abhishikha Srivastava, Neelja Singhal, Manisha Goel, Jugsharan Singh Virdi, Manish Kumar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2014-01-01
Series:The Scientific World Journal
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/980572
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Beta-lactamases are a superfamily of enzymes which degrade the β-lactam class of antibiotics. They are produced endogenously by the bacterial cells, which when exposed to the β-lactam class of antibiotics inactivate them by cleaving the β-lactam ring. Based on the presence or absence of metallic ligand, β-lactamases have been divided into two broad functional classes. β-Lactamases are a constitutively evolving and expanding superfamily of enzymes, which could be further subdivided on the basis of presence/absence of conserved motifs. In the present study we have used the MEME/MAST suit to identify the patterns/motifs which are specific to a particular family or subfamily of β-lactamases. The family specific patterns/motifs can be also useful in recognizing and assigning newly discovered β-lactamases to one or the other family or subfamily. Cross-validation showed that the proposed method is highly sensitive and specific. We have also designed a webserver, LactFP, for this purpose.
ISSN:2356-6140
1537-744X