In-silico Analysis and Functional Characterization of Rhizoctonia solani Effector Proteins

Abstract

Sheath blight is considered the second most prevalent disease in rice with no proper resistance genes identified for its resistance. Out of the 14 anastomosis groups in R. solani (AG1 to AG13 and AGBI), the AG1 group is mostly responsible for the infection in the rice. There are many effector proteins under this group, function as transcription factors. Many bioinformatics tools are available to determine the interaction between the promoter region and effector proteins. But in an attempt to use these effector proteins for molecular docking and simulation studies, criteria like In-silico analysis and validation of the proteins are to be analyzed. The reactivity and stability of these proteins were evaluated physicochemically, domain prediction, and secondary structure prediction using bioinformatics methods such as Protparam, Pfam, and SOPMA, respectively. These bioinformatics techniques were found to be remarkably suitable for characterizing the protein's function. Robetta an abinitio approach was used to predict the 3D structure, and the models were validated using the SAVESv6.0 (PROCHECK) server. The effector protein functional analysis and 3D structure predictions made using empirical data can shed light on the interaction studies for locating effector binding elements in the promoter regions of host genes.