T. O. Oladele et al. 129 Centrepoint Journal (Science Edition) 2141-3819/2011 $5.00 + 0.00 Volume 17, No. 2 pages 129 – 139 (2011) 2011 University of Ilorin http://www.unilorin.edu.ng/centrepoint CPJ 2011134/17206 In silico characterization of some hypothetical proteins in the proteome of Plasmodium falciparum T. O. Oladele 1 , J. S. Sadiku 1 and C. O. Bewaji* 2 1 Department of Computer Science, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 2 Department of Biochemistry, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria (Received June 20, 2011; Accepted November 5, 2011) ABSTRACT The Plasmodium falciparum genome sequencing project was undertaken between 1996 and 2003. This effort produced a reference genome sequence with the Plasmodium falciparum clone 3D7 of this human pathogen. This reference genome now provides a basis on which to conduct comparative proteomics studies in order to identify new potential drug and vaccine targets and to better understand the biology of the causative organism of human malaria. Large amounts of genomic sequence data from other Plasmodium species (Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium yoelii, Plasmodium berghei, Plasmodium knowlesi and Plasmodium gallinaecium) are also available in various databases, notably the PlasmoDB database (http://plasmodb.org). During the initial annotation of these genomes in 2002, several protein sequences (about 2,800) could not be identified by matching them with known proteins in existing databases. These were subsequently classified as “hypothetical proteins”. We have used available genome tools to study further these hypothetical proteins with the aim of finding out which of them could be useful as drug targets, vaccine candidates or of diagnostic value. Keywords: Malaria; Plasmodium falciparum; Proteomics; Hypothetical proteins; Diagnostic tools. *Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: cobewaji@unilorin.edu.ng. Tel: +2348033576937