An interactomic approach for identification of putative drug targets in Listeria monocytogenes

A wide variety of human population is infected with Listeria monocytogenes, which causes listeriosis, a deadly disease with mortality rate of about 30%. The major hindrance to cure listeriosis is the unavailability of specific or selectable drug targets. At present, antibiotics used to cure the disease are not specific and insufficient to manage the disease efficiently. Therefore, in order to search specific drugs, here, we used interactome analysis to search specific drug targets which may provide novel templates for drug designing having better efficacy without any potential adverse effects. The complete genome of L. monocytogenes having 2846 proteins has been analysed. We found 11 proteins as putative drug targets. The sequence and interactome analyses revealed that 11 proteins are non-homologous to human, but essential for pathogen and hence may be considered as potential therapeutic targets.