Functional Annotation of Pathogenesis Proteins in Shigella flexneri using Comparative Genomics

The Gram-negative bacteria, Shigella species, is a predominant diarrheal pathogen and itself accounts for 15% of the diarrheal episodes occurring globally. Shigella enters the human body through ingestion of contaminated food and water and on reaching the intestine, dismantles the epithelial barrier, generating symptoms varying from mild to severe bloody diarrhea. Widespread diversity of Shigella species and the emergence of multi-drug resistant strains in recent years has made it extremely enigmatic to design a successful drug to combat shigellosis. This work focusses on comparative genomics methods to identify and annotate hypothetical proteins from the Shigella flexneri genome in quest of identifying novel druggable targets.