In silico Defining the Repeat-containing Proteins in the Acinetobacter baumannii Proteome, a Great Reservoir of Templates for Synthetic Biology

Background: Acinetobacter baumannii is an important nosocomial pathogen with great ability to resist antibiotics. Tandem repeat proteins, abundant in prokaryotic proteomes, attract attention due to their role in virulence and various biological processes. Defining repeat- containing proteins may pave the way to find novel therapeutic targets as well as vaccine candidate and give pieces of evidence of mechanisms of evolution and adaptation of organisms to various environmental conditions. Objective: In the present study, we employed bioinformatics tools to define repeatcontaining proteins within A. baumannii proteome for emphasizing the existence of natural sources for synthesizing novel therapeutic and diagnosis material. Results: We defined various kinds of repeat modules in a number of proteins and compared the abundance of these proteins in some closely related species. No significant difference was observed in the count of repeat-containing proteins in different species. But the existence of some important virulence factors is mentionable in our screening. Conclusion: Repeat containing proteins are important biological determinants of A. baumannii and are well worth researching for finding drug targets and vaccine candidates. These proteins can be served as a template for designing and synthesizing peptides for therapeutic and diagnostic approaches.