Computational analysis of conserved coil functional residues in the mitochondrial genomic sequences of dermatophytes

Dermatophyte is a group of closely related fungi that have the capacity to invade keratinized tissue of humans and other animals. The infection known as dermatophytosis, caused by members of the genera Microsporum, Trichophyton, and Epidermophyton includes infection to the groin (tinea cruris), beard (tinea barbae), scalp (tinea capitis), feet (tinea pedis), glabrous skin (tinea corporis), nail (tinea unguium), and hand (tinea manuum). The identification of evolutionary relationship between these three genera of dermatophyte is epidemiologically important to understand their pathogenicity. Mitochondrial DNA evolves more rapidly than a nuclear DNA due to higher rate of mutation but is very less affected by genetic recombination, making it an important tool for phylogenetic studies. Thus, here we present a novel scheme to identify the conserved coil functional residues of Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Epidermophyton floccosum and Microsporum canis. Protein coding sequences of the mitochondrial genome were aligned for their similar sequences and homology modelling was performed for structure and pocket identification. The results obtained from comparative analysis of the protein sequences revealed the presence of functionally active sites in all the species of the genera Trichophyton and Microsporum. However in Epidermophyton floccosum it was observed in three protein sequences of the five studied. The absence of these conserved coil functional residues in E. floccusum may be correlated with lesser infectivity of this organism. The functional residues identified in the present study could be responsible for the disease and thus can act as putative target sites for drug designing.