Molecular modelling and Function Prediction of hABH7, human homologue of E. coli ALKB7

Abstract

Human homologues of ALKB protein have shown the prime role in DNA damaging drugs, used for cancer therapy. Little is known about structure and function of hABH7, one of the members of this superfamily. Therefore, in the present study we intend to predict its structure and function using various bioinformatics tools. Modeling was done with modeller 9v7 to predict the 3D structure of the hABH7 protein. The tertiary structure model of hABH7, ALKBH7.B99990002.pdb was predicted and evaluated. Validation results showed 97.8% residues in favored and additional allowed regions of Ramachandran plots. Ligand binding residues prediction showed four ligand clusters, having 25 ligands in cluster 1. Importantly, presence of a Phe120-Gly121-Gly122 conserved pattern in the functional domain was detected. In the predicted structural model of hABH7, amino acid residues, Arginine at 57, 58, 59 and 60 along with tyrosine at 61 were predicted in RNA binding sites of the model. The predicted and validated model of human homologue hABH7 resulting from this study may unveil the mechanism of DNA damage repair in humans and accelerate the research on designing appropriate inhibitors aiding in chemotherapy and cancer related diseases.