Hi-Jack

Hi-Jack infers pathway-level metabolite-hijacking interactions between hosts and obligate intracellular pathogens to identify host metabolic reactions and metabolites exploited by pathogens.

Key Features:

• Metabolite Hijacking Concept: Encodes the concept that pathogens hijack host metabolic pathways to redirect resources toward pathogen proliferation, particularly protein production.
• Comprehensive Metabolic Network Analysis: Searches host and pathogen metabolic network data to identify candidate reactions where hijacking may occur.
• Novel Scoring Function: Applies a scoring function to rank candidate hijacked reactions and to prioritize frequently implicated metabolites.
• Pathway Interaction Identification: Maps interconnections between host and pathogen metabolic pathways to reveal specific biochemical interactions.

Scientific Applications:

• Analysis of obligate intracellular pathogens (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mtb): Applied to Mtb to identify host metabolic targets and to reveal potential metabolic strategies used during infection.
• Identification of hijacked host pathways: Identifies human pathways likely targeted for hijacking, including carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, and amino acid metabolism.
• Mapping cross-species pathway linkages: Reveals specific interconnections such as human fatty acid biosynthesis linked to Mtb biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids and the human pentose phosphate pathway linked to Mtb lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis.

Methodology:

Integrates host and pathogen metabolic network data and applies a scoring function to rank candidate hijacked reactions, identify implicated pathways, and highlight frequently hijacked metabolites.