210 Zahra M. Al-Khafaji. et al. / International Journal of Biological & Pharmaceutical Research. 2014; 5(3): 210-216. e- ISSN 0976 - 3651 Print ISSN 2229 - 7480 International Journal of Biological & Pharmaceutical Research Journal homepage: www.ijbpr.com IN SILICO STUDY OF MYCOPLASMA PNEUMONIAE M129 HYPOTHETICAL PROTEINS Zahra M. Al-Khafaji*, Zeynap H. Al-Rikabi, Ali Imad Mohammad Moner Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology for Postgraduate Studies / University of Baghdad, IRAQ. ABSTRACT Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a human pathogen , lack cell wall , therefore it obligates for parasitic lifestyle . The genome was annotated and got about 252 (36.63%) hypothetical proteins (M. pneumoniae M129) according to NCBI/GenBank database. This study was an attempt to characterize these proteins using Bioinformatics tools available on the websites. It has been found that there are many lipoproteins belong to different families. There were 11 (4.36%) proteins involved in regulation and 16 (6.35 %) as transporters. Most of hypothetical proteins undergo phosphorylation at different residues (Threonine, Tyrosine and Serine). The bacteria get transmembrane proteins with different number of segments. Large number of proteins interacts with many of other proteins, few of them performed no interactions using STRING database, in addition large number of proteins are not included in the STRING database and these need to wait or they are artifacts resulted during sequencing. Key Words: Mycoplasma pneumoniae M129, Hypothetical proteins, Phosphoproteome, Lipoproteins, Transmembrane proteins. INTRODUCTION Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a human pathogen that causes different types of infections such as atypical pneumonia, however, the infections may be sever in children and elderly (Waites and Talkington, 2004; Schmidl et al., 2010). A part from respiratory tract infections, it has been found that M. pneumoniae is involved in many extrapulmonary complications. This organism is also responsible for producing a wide spectrum of non-pulmonary manifestations including neurological, hepatic, cardiac disease, hemolytic anemia, polyarthritis, erythema multiforme, and pediatric encephalitis. Among human Mycoplasmas, M. pneumoniae is by far the best known and most carefully studied (Waites and Talkington, 2004; Atkinson et al., 2008). Mycoplasmas have never been found as freely living organisms. They depend on the host organisms as Corresponding Author Zahra M. Al-Khafaji Email: zaheanasserk@gmail.com they are parasites in different vertebrates (Himmelreich et al., 1996). M. pneumoniae is primarily mucosal pathogen, living in a parasitic existence in close association with the epithelial cells of a host, usually in the respiratory tract. Mycoplasmas belong to class Mollicutes, they have no ability to synthesize peptidoglycan cell walls, since the genes responsible for these processess are not found in the genome (Waites and Talkington, 2004; Himmelreich et al., 1996). In addition M. pneumoniae possess very limited metabolic and biosynthetic activities for proteins, carbohydrates and lipids in comparison to conventional bacteria and apparently do not synthesizes purines and pyrimidines de novo (Dandekar et al., 2000). M. pneumoniae is an extracellular pathogen and the lack of a cell wall most probably facilities the close contact between M. pneumoniae and its host cell and guarantees the exchange of compounds which support the growth of bacteria (Himmelreich et al., 1996; Waites and Talkington, 2004) . It damages the host cells due to production of hydrogen peroxide a well known virulence factor and rendering the host more susceptible to oxidative damage (Somerson et al., 1965). IJBPR