Bioinformatics Analysis of the Ribosomal Proteins,RPL27, RPL37a and RPL41: 3-D Protein Modeling and Protein-protein Interaction Prediction

Ribosomal proteins (RPs) are constituents ofribosome important for protein biosynthesis but likely to haveextraribosomal functions. Many RPs are associated with variousdiseases and cancers. A previous study reported RPL27,RPL37a and RPL41 gene to be downregulated innasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) derived cell lines compared totheir normal counterpart. However, their actual physiologicalroles in organogenesis or tumorigenesis have not been properlydefined. In this paper, we report on the findings of structuralprediction of these three genes and infer their interactions withother proteins using structural neighbor prediction andmolecular docking strategies. Our results revealed that RPL27interact with SYNJ2 and UBC9. RPL27 is predicted to mediateRNA binding protein and deregulate sumolyation. RPL37a issuggested to interact with CTNNB1, SCMH1 and ATBF1. It ispredicted to deregulate Wnt degradation pathway, inhibitβ-catenin migration and regulate homeotic transcription. Ourstudies on RPL41 did not allow logical inference on possibleinteracting factors. Nevertheless, results on RPL27 and RPL37aprovide rational data for the elucidation of their molecularactivities