Emprego de ferramentas bioinformáticas no estudo de vias metabólicas e de funções ecológicas da acetilactobacillus jinshanensis e da bacillus cereus, encontradas no alimento larval de interações proteína-proteína

Abstract

Bioinformatics tools can investigate species' metabolic pathways and ecological functions to establish their roles in the environment in which they are found. Studying the interactome involves obtaining and studying a species' protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks. The larval food of stingless bees (AL) is an important medium to study with rich microbiota, with significant biotechnological potential. The bacteria Acetylactobacillus jinshanensis and Bacillus cereus were found in AL (the first by metagenomics, the second by isolated colony) and are also known for their presence in the fermentation of Zhenjiang aromatic vinegar. Understanding the biological processes of these species using bioinformatics tools is an important step towards advancing AL studies and their applications. This work used GenPPI, an in silico PPI predictor, to construct networks from the complete genomes of the two species, assembled bioinformatically. We sought to understand the bioenergetic processes and relevant metabolic pathways, especially in A. jinshanensis, using BLAST to identify key genes and the PPI network to infer the occurrence and dynamics of the processes. The results showed that A. jinshanensis does not have enzymes for acetic and alcoholic fermentation. Still, it has enzymes for heterolactic fermentation and part of the Embden-Meyerhof (EMP) pathway enzymes. B. cereus, on the other hand, has genes for the enzymes of alcoholic fermentation and the EMP pathway, but does not have genes for acetic and heterolactic fermentation, nor for the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway. The interactome studied confirmed the dual glucose oxidation pathway in A. jinshanensis. In addition, the assembled interactome of the species and the screening of bridging proteins are promising for future work. These results corroborate previous studies, suggesting distinct roles in Chinese vinegar: A. jinshanensis in heterolactic fermentation and B. cereus in alcoholic fermentation, which may contribute to the optimization of this process. The study of the metabolic pathways of A. jinshanensis opens up new avenues for understanding its role in LA and deepens studies for industrial applications. The GenPPI-based methodology was validated as an effective tool for functional genomics studies. These findings establish a solid foundation for future studies on metabolic pathways with biotechnological relevance in the two species studied