Beyond the genome--SMi Conference 27-28 January 2003, London, UK.

Over a decade of astonishing developments, genomics and proteomics have promised a fundamentally new approach to drug discovery. Although there has been an undeniable increase in the range of potential targets available, this has not led to an increased output of the drug discovery pipeline into the clinic. With tighter markets and increasing competition, the major pharmaceutical companies are under intense pressure to achieve rapid, concrete delivery of those early promises, but there remain acute problems in the genes-to-drugs pipeline. This meeting showcased a range of novel approaches from proteomics and bioinformatics to address these problems. A common theme in the range of proteomics offerings was the prioritization of potential novel targets on the basis of their accessibility to drugs and their functional link to disease phenotypes. Informatics and in silico offerings also concentrated on fast, accurate, drug-focused workflows built on large integrative databases and novel data-mined algorithms.

Use of bioinformatics to predict a function for the GS element in Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis.

Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis (MAP) is a member of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) and causes the inflammatory bowel disease, Johne's disease, in livestock. MAP has also been implicated as the causative agent of a similar disease, Crohn's disease, in humans. One of three major genetic differences between MAP and non-pathogenic MAC is the 6496-bp GS element. Based on the output from freely available protein sequence and structural bioinformatics tools, and the close homology of GS genes with the SER2 region of the closely related Mycobacterium avium subsp. Avium (MAA), we predict that GS encoded enzymes are involved in the biosynthesis of GDP-fucose, and the addition to, and modification of fucose on, the oligosaccharide moiety of GPL. GPL is a major constituent of the cell wall of the MAC and has immunomodulatory properties. Therefore, the enzymes involved in its synthesis may provide novel drug targets against MAP and other pathogenic MAC members.