%0 Generic
%A Alvarado Valverde, Jesús
%C Heidelberg
%D 2023
%F heidok:33081
%R 10.11588/heidok.00033081
%T Computational prediction of Short Linear Motif candidates in the proteome of the Apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii
%U https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/33081/
%X Toxoplasma gondii is a unicellular parasite of the Apicomplexan family with the unique ability to infect a wide spectrum of warm-blooded animals, including mammals and birds. Host infection is established by distinct secreted proteins that interact with the cellular machinery and signaling networks of the host cells, hijacking their immune response and subverting cellular processes to their advantage. Short linear motifs (SLiMs) are small functional modules within protein sequences known to mediate protein-protein interaction between parasite and host proteins. By integrating SLiM information with sequences, structural, and experimental data I developed a computational pipeline to identify motif candidates relevant for T. gondii infection. Among these candidates, I identified motifs in microneme, rhoptry, and dense granule proteins that potentially link them to processes like cell attachment, nuclear targeting and cytoskeleton rearrangements. As a proof of concept, the protein-protein interaction of a group of motif candidates related to the innate immune response were tested experimentally in collaboration with the EMBL Protein expression and purification facility. This provided proof of binding and affinity measurements for some of them, and showed that the pipeline is able to identify true binding motifs. Taken together, I developed a computational pipeline that can potentially predict motif candidates relevant for T. gondii infection and provide a resource for further experimental validation and understanding of parasite infection.