RESUMEN
Acinetobacter baumannii [A. baumannii] is a Gram-negative, non-motile aerobic bacterium which is known as a nosocomial pathogen that is often resistant to a broad range of antibiotics. The pathogen is a serious agent of mortality and morbidity in hospitals, particularly among immunocompromised patients. Treatment and control of its infections is complicated owing to its high antibiotic resistance, survival in various environmental conditions and utilization of wide range of nutrient sources. Early detection of the pathogen in established infections is pivotal for infection control. Culture and biochemical tests are current methods for detection of the bacterium, which take approximately 2-5 days. Hence, a new, rapid, specific and affordable diagnostic test is needed. Development of such test depends on a suitable biomarker that lacks crossreactivity with other bacteria. This study intends to unveil a 34.4 kDa outer membrane protein [OMP] introduced by Islam et al. in A. baumannii ATCC19606. We harnessed various bioinformatic servers to screen the entire proteome of this bacterium. Properties critical to the screening included molecular weight, localization, topology, homology, antigenicity and allergenicity of proteins. Three proteins were found as suitable candidate molecular weights as well as localization points of view. BLAST searches, antigen probability predictions and other analyses led to the selection of one protein as the best specific antigen of A. baumannii. The in silico analyses unveiled the best candidate protein vide accession number ZP_05827218.1