Subtractive genomics profiling for potential drug targets identification against Moraxella catarrhalis

Moraxella catarrhalis (M. catarrhalis) is a gram-negative bacterium, responsible for major respiratory tract and middle ear infection in infants and adults. The recent emergence of the antibiotic resistance M. catarrhalis demands the prioritization of an effective drug target as a top priority. Fortunately, the failure of new drugs and host toxicity associated with traditional drug development approaches can be avoided by using an in silico subtractive genomics approach. In the current study, the advanced in silico genome subtraction approach was applied to identify potential and pathogen-specific drug targets against M. catarrhalis. We applied a series of subtraction methods from the whole genome of pathogen based on certain steps i.e. paralogous protein that have extensive homology with humans, essential, drug like, non-virulent, and resistant proteins. Only 38 potent drug targets were identified in this study. Eventually, one protein was identified as a potential new drug target and forwarded to the structure-based studies i.e. histidine kinase (UniProt ID: D5VAF6). Furthermore, virtual screening of 2000 compounds from the ZINC database was performed against the histidine kinase that resulted in the shortlisting of three compounds as the potential therapeutic candidates based on their binding energies and the properties exhibited using ADMET analysis. The identified protein gives a platform for the discovery of a lead drug candidate that may inhibit it and may help to eradicate the otitis media caused by drug-resistant M. catarrhalis. Nevertheless, the current study helped in creating a pipeline for drug target identification that may assist wet-lab research in the future.