Biomolecular function discovery through computational protein sequence analysis.

Abstract

MJ1157 and Zadh2 are 2 proteins of unknown functions. Sequence alignment analysis showed that the former is possibly involved in the thiolation of uridine of tRNA while the latter is possibly involved in countering oxidative stress in cells via its oxidoreductase domain. To this latter protein, experiments were done to verify this possible function. The protein was overexpressed in 293T cells and they were found, via the XTT cell viability assay, to counter H2O2-induced oxidative stress. The XTT assay showed that cells with overexpressed Zadh2 were more viable than normal cells even after the addition of the peroxide, thus showing that this protein might be used by the peroxisome to counter oxidative stress that the cell suffers.