Proteomic analyses of membrane enriched proteins of Leishmania donovani Indian clinical isolate by mass spectrometry

• Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania donovani parasite is a fatal disease and major health problem in India.
• Novel targets against VL are urgently required due to increasing drug resistance.
• Proteomics seem to be a suitable strategy for novel target identification.
• This study revealed novel proteins by proteomic analysis of L. donovani membrane-enriched protein (MEP) fractions.
• These novel proteins may offer increased hope for promising new drug/vaccine targets.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a major fatal disease prevalent in North-East India, caused by a protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani. The parasite multiplies and thrives inside mammalian macrophages and is transmitted by the bite of the sandfly. Due to the unsatisfactory treatment measures, increasing drug resistance and the advent of HIV-Leishmania co-infection there has been an urgent need to develop novel drug/vaccine targets against VL. Target identification is the key step in drug discovery and proteomics seems to be a suitable strategy for it due to the availability of Leishmania major, Leishmania infantum, Leishmania braziliensis, Leishmania donovani, Leishmania mexicana and Leishmania tarentolae genome sequence. Since, majority of proteome analyses of Leishmania have, so far, been performed on whole-cell extracts; this study is dealing with the sub-proteome analysis of the membrane-enriched protein (MEP) fractions of L. donovani. The analysis of 95 protein spots of the MEPs from two dimensional (2-D) gel image through matrix asserted laser desorption ionization-time of flight/mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS) endorsed the identification of various relevant functional proteins. Out of 95 the MEP spots 72 have been identified and were classified on the basis of their biological function. Several proteins of unknown function that belong to different classes like cell signaling, transmembrane receptors, and transporters have been identified which could be the new potential therapeutic targets against VL in future. The proteome array of the MEPs contributes to further elucidation of the biological system of L. donovani as well as host–parasite relationships which may be further investigated for their crucial biological role in L. donovani for disease management.

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