Prediction of protein-protein interactions between Ralstonia solanacearum and Arabidopsis thaliana

Amino Acids. 2012 Jun;42(6):2363-71. doi: 10.1007/s00726-011-0978-z. Epub 2011 Jul 24.

Abstract

Ralstonia solanacearum is a devastating bacterial pathogen that has an unusually wide host range. R. solanacearum, together with Arabidopsis thaliana, has become a model system for studying the molecular basis of plant-pathogen interactions. Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) play a critical role in the infection process, and some PPIs can initiate a plant defense response. However, experimental investigations have rarely addressed such PPIs. Using two computational methods, the interolog and the domain-based methods, we predicted 3,074 potential PPIs between 119 R. solanacearum and 1,442 A. thaliana proteins. Interestingly, we found that the potential pathogen-targeted proteins are more important in the A. thaliana PPI network. To facilitate further studies, all predicted PPI data were compiled into a database server called PPIRA (http://protein.cau.edu.cn/ppira/). We hope that our work will provide new insights for future research addressing the pathogenesis of R. solanacearum.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis / metabolism*
  • Arabidopsis / microbiology
  • Computational Biology / methods*
  • Databases, Factual
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions*
  • Internet
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology
  • Protein Interaction Mapping
  • Ralstonia solanacearum / metabolism*
  • Ralstonia solanacearum / pathogenicity