Proteome Mining for the Identification of Putative Drug Targets For Human Pathogen Clostridium tetani

Background: Clostridium tetani are rod-like, anaerobic types of pathogenic bacteria of the genus Clostridium. It is Gram-positive in nature and appears as a tennis racket or drumsticks on staining with the dye. Tetanus is a neuromuscular disease wherein the Clostridium tetani exotoxin produces muscle fits in the host. Tetanus is the second leading cause of worldwide deaths occurring from the family of immunization-preventable diseases. Methods: In this research, subtractive proteome analysis of C. tetani was performed to identify putative drug targets. The proteins were subjected to blast analysis against Homo sapiens to exclude homologous proteins. The database of Essential Genes was used to determine the essential proteins of the pathogen. These basic proteins were additionally analyzed to anticipate the corresponding metabolic pathways. Results: Cellular localization analysis was carried out to determine the possibility of the protein presence in the outer membrane. The study has recognized 29 essential genes and 20 unique pathways of 2314 proteins as potential drug targets. There are 29 essential proteins, out of which, 3 membrane proteins were also identified as putative drug targets. Conclusion: Virtual screening in contrast to these proteins can be valuable in the identification of novel clinical compounds for the C. tetani infections in Homo sapiens.