Computational Characterization of Marker Enzymes and Proteins Involved in Banana Ripening

Musa accuminata belonging to the family Musaceae is a seedless fruit being consumed all over the world in large quantities. In general, it is being harvested in its early stage to slow down its ripening process. Ripening is a natural, multi step phenomenon involving number of complex enzymes. Present work is aimed at computational characterization of marker enzymes and proteins involved in banana ripening. To recognize the domain of the enzymes involved in ripening, a computational tool CDART has been used for domain identification followed by execution of Modelling/Docking/Simulation, involving Modeller 9v7 for predicting 3D structure of relevant enzymes. These 3D structures helped in spotting the sites susceptible to ligand binding accomplished via Q Site Finder. Molegro Virtual Docker helped in modelling of the ligand via stating its 3D structure available in PDB. Using ARGUS LAB, a computational tool based on molecular docking, the technique was employed to predict whether one protein molecule binds to another. The data obtained from the present study provides new insight for the molecular mechanism of ripening and food technological applications for delayed ripening in fruits based on proteins.