ImitateDB

ImitateDB catalogs Domain Mimicry Pairs (DMPs) and Motif Mimicry Pairs (MLPs) derived from experimentally validated host–pathogen protein–protein interactions to support analysis of molecular mimicry and pathogen-mediated hijacking of host pathways.

Key Features:

• Data content: Domain Mimicry Pairs (DMPs) and Motif Mimicry Pairs (MLPs) derived from experimentally validated unique host–pathogen PPIs.
• PPI sources: Collates experimental host–pathogen (HP) and host–host (HH) protein–protein interactions.
• Annotation methods: Uses CD Search and ScanProsite to annotate protein domains and sequence linear motifs.
• Linear pair identification: Identifies Domain Linear Pairs (DLPs) and Motif Linear Pairs (MLPs) as host and pathogen proteins that share a common host interactor and exhibit global structural domain similarity (DLP) or local sequence motif similarity (MLP).
• Statistical coverage: Contains 206,449 DLPs and 3,845,643 MLPs across 50,812 experimental HP-PPIs.
• Biological inference: Observed domain and motif similarities are interpreted as suggesting a high probability of co-expression and co-localization relevant to molecular mimicry.
• Frequent domains and motifs: Reports frequent DLP domains Kinase, UL36, Smc, DEXDc and common MLP motifs Protein Kinase C, Casein Kinase 2, glycosylation sites, and myristoylation sites.
• Proposed novel mimicry elements: Proposes novel DLP domains SANT, Tudor, PhoX and novel MLP motifs Microbodies C-terminal targeting signal, Ubiquitin-interacting motif, and Lipocalin signature.

Scientific Applications:

• Molecular mimicry analysis: Identification and prioritization of domain- and motif-level mimicry candidates for experimental validation.
• Host–pathogen interaction studies: Examination of pathogen strategies to mimic host proteins and hijack host pathways.
• Infectious disease research: Provision of large-scale datasets for mechanistic studies in infectious diseases and microbiology.
• PPI-based hypothesis generation: Generation of hypotheses about co-expression, co-localization, and functional mimicry between host and pathogen proteins.

Methodology:

Data were collated from experimental HP and HH PPIs; domains and sequence linear motifs were annotated using CD Search and ScanProsite; Domain Mimicry Pairs (DMPs) and Motif Mimicry Pairs (MLPs) were derived from experimentally validated unique HP-PPIs and organized into Domain Linear Pairs (DLPs) and Motif Linear Pairs (MLPs) based on a shared host interactor and global structural domain or local sequence motif similarity.