Yasmeen Rashid

University of Karachi

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

H-Index

i-10 index

Research Trends

Author Order

Document Type

Co-Authors

Muhammad Aurongzeb

University of Karachi

Mehwish Hamid

University of Karachi

Sana Aurangzeb

University of Karachi

Tariq Aziz

University of Ioannina

Hafiz Muhammad Talha Malik

Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination

Shahid Bashir

King Fahad Specialist Hospital

Syed Shah Hassan

University of Karachi

Khalid Mohammed Khan

International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences

Metab Alharbi

King Saud University

M. Kamran Azim

Mohammad Ali Jinnah University

Cooperative Institutions

University of Karachi

International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences

University of Lahore

Dow University of Health Sciences

Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine

University of Balochistan

COMSATS University Islamabad

Case Western Reserve University

King Saud University

King Fahd Medical City

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

H-Index

i-10 index

Research Field

Naegleria fowleri from Pakistan Has Type-2 Genotype

Iranian Journal of Parasitology (2022)

Muhammad Aurongzeb Yasmeen Rashid Syed Habib Ahmed Naqvi Ambrina Khatoon Sadia Abdul Haq

Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) is an acute and fulminant CNS infection caused by Naegleria fowleri. Recreational activities and ritual ablution with contaminated warm fresh water are the main reason of PAM. Pakistan ranked the second most affected country, where most of the PAM incidences were reported from Karachi, Pakistan.In May, 2019, a 28-yr-old suspected PAM patient came to the Imam Zain-Ul-Abdin Hospital, Karachi. Biochemical and cytological investigations of patient's CSF were carried out at Karachi Diagnostic Center and Molecular Biology Lab. Sequencing of Naegleria sp. specific (ITS) primer-based amplicons was performed from both patient's CSF and water samples followed by multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic studies.Biochemical and cytological investigations of patient's CSF showed 5 mg/dl glucose, 240 mg/dl total protein and 2260/mm3 TLC suggesting acute meningoencephalitis. PCR-based analyses of patient's CSF and his residential tap water samples using Naegleria sp. specific (ITS) and N. fowleri specific primers revealed the presence of N. fowleri DNA. Nucleotide sequences of ITS primer-based amplicons from both patient's CSF and water samples were submitted in GenBank under the accession numbers MT726981.1 and MT726226.1, respectively. According to phylogenetic analysis, N. fowleri isolate from Pakistan has shown the least node age of seven.Here, for the very first time in Pakistan, N. fowleri genotype has been identified as type-2. Phylogenetic analysis showed that N. fowleri isolate from Pakistan is among the latest descendants, i.e., evolved later in life.

Naegleria fowleri

Naegleria

10.18502/ijpa.v17i1.9015

Cite

Citations (8)

Homology modeling-based structure prediction of pathogenic factors of Neisseria meningitidis

PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (2019)

Maira Ahrar Yasmeen Rashid

Pathogenic bacteria Neisseria meningitidis cause serious infection i.e. meningitis (infection of the brain) worldwide. Among five pathogenic serogroups, serogroups B causes life threatening illness as there is no effective vaccine available due to its poor immunogenicity. N. meningitidis genome contains73 genes which have been reported to be essential for meningococcal pathogenicity and are considered as crucial drug targets. During the present study, proteins involved in transport and binding mechanisms of the pathogen, i.e.NMB1240, NMB1612, NMB2044 and NMB2045 were targeted for homology-based three dimensional structure determinations. Homology modeling of all the target proteins by MODELLER and model evaluation by PROSA and PROCHECK were carried out. The overall three dimensional folds of the models were consistent with the folds of their respective templates including the active/binding site residues. Here, it is concluded that based on high similarities between targets’ and templates’ three dimensional architectures as well as good evaluation scores, the proposed models are much authentic and can be used in drug designing studies against N. meningitidis.

MODELLER

Homology

Pathogenic bacteria

Source

Cite

Citations (0)

Small molecule activators of proteasome-related HslV peptidase

Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters (2012)

Yasmeen Rashid M. Kamran Azim Zafar Saied Saify Khalid M. Khan Rasool Khan

Dodecameric protein

Chaperone (clinical)

10.1016/j.bmcl.2012.08.033

Cite

Citations (5)

Detection and identification of Naegleria species along with Naegleria fowleri in the tap water samples

BMC Medical Genomics (2025)

Muhammad Aurongzeb Sehrish Fatima Syed Ikhlaq Hussain Yasmeen Rashid Tariq Aziz

Naegleria fowleri, the causative agent of Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), is commonly found in warm freshwater environments and can enter the brain through nasal passages during activities like swimming or ablution. PAM has a high fatality rate, raising concerns about its global health impact. In Pakistan, particularly in Karachi, a significant number of cases have been reported, often with no history of recreational water exposure, but with regular ablution using tap water. This study analyzed the physicochemical parameters, abundance of total and fecal coliforms, and detected N. fowleri and other Naegleria species in tap water samples from Karachi using PCR with ITS- and Naegl-primers. Almost all samples exhibited high temperatures, low chlorine levels, and a high presence of coliforms. N. fowleri and other Naegleria species were detected in 11 out of 39 samples. Sequence analysis identified N. fowleri in tap water from the Golimar and Lyari areas of Karachi, while the other nine samples revealed different Naegleria species. This study suggests that the combination of high temperatures, insufficient chlorination, and the presence of coliforms may create favorable conditions for N. fowleri growth. However, these factors are not exclusive to the Golimar and Lyari areas, indicating that other environmental or infrastructural factors, not detailed in this study, may have contributed to the presence of N. fowleri in that specific location.

Naegleria fowleri

Naegleria

Tap water

10.1186/s12920-024-02068-2

Cite

Citations (0)

Determining the 3-substituted Coumarins inhibitory potential against the HslV protease of E. coli.

PubMed (2023)

Mehwish Hamid U Salar Yasmeen Rashid M K Azim Mohamed Khalid

The growing bacterial resistance towards classical antibiotics demands the development of novel approaches for the effective treatment of potentially fatal bacterial infections in humans. Proteostasis is crucial for the survival of every living cell, as several important physiological functions depend on well-regulated proteostasis. Within bacteria, the regulation of proteostasis relies on AAA+ (Adenosine 5'-triphosphatases associated with diverse cellular activities), ATPases, such as the HslVU complex (heat shock locus gene products U and V), along with other proteases. The HslVU protease/chaperon complex is thought to be the progenitor of the eukaryotic proteasome that regulates proteostasis mostly in prokaryotes. This study aimed to determine the inhibitory potential of 3-substituted coumarin derivatives against Escherichia coli heat shock locus V (HslV) protease.In this study, twenty-three derivatives of 3-substituted coumarin were assessed for their inhibitory potential against E. coli HslV protease using both in-vitro and in-silico techniques.Among all the tested compounds, US-I-64, US-I-66, US-I-67, and US-I-68 displayed notable inhibitory potential against the HslV protease, showing IC50 (half maximal inhibitory concentration) values ranging from 0.2 to 0.73 μM. Additionally, the inhibitory potential of these compounds against the eukaryotic proteasome was also evaluated using a separate in-silico study. It was found that these compounds did not bind with the proteasomal active site, suggesting no apparent side effects of these lead molecules.These identified HslV protease inhibitors can be used for the development of novel and safer anti-bacterial drugs.

Proteostasis

10.26355/eurrev_202310_33945

Cite

Citations (2)

3-substituted coumarin derivatives over-activate the HslV protease: A potential drug target for antibacterial activity.

PubMed (2022)

Sana Aurangzeb Mehwish Hamid Uzma Salar Yasmeen Rashid Khalid Mohammed Khan

The bacterial HslVU complex consists of two different proteins, i.e., the HslV protease and the HslU ATPase. The functional HslVU enzyme complex forms only when the HslU c-terminal helix is inserted into the cavity located between two adjacent HslV monomers in order to allosterically activate the HslV protease. Based on its essential role in maintaining microbial proteostasis as well its absence from human beings, it is considered a promising therapeutic target for designing antibacterial agents. The goal of the present study was to find out potential drug candidates that could over-activate the HslV protease and produce aberrant proteolysis in pathogenic bacteria. Derivatives of 3-substituted coumarin have been identified as potential HslV protease activators based on their highest docking scores, ideal interaction patterns, and significant in-vitro HslV activation potential. Their ED50 values were in the sub-micromolar range, i.e., 0.4-0.48µM. The conformational stability of the contacts between the HslV dimer and the active compounds was further confirmed by molecular dynamics studies. Correspondingly, the ADMET characteristics of these lead molecules considerably demonstrated their significant non-toxic drug-like abilities. This research not only identified small non-peptidic HslV protease activators but also improved the understanding of the mode of action of 3-substituted coumarin derivatives as antibacterials.

Proteolysis

Source

Cite

Citations (0)

Comparative modeling of potential drug targets of Neisseria meningitidis

Urooj Shakil Sadia Sadia Yasmeen Rashid

Neisseria meningitidi is a gram negative proteobacterium which is the leading cause of sepsis and meningitis. There are five pathogenic serogroups (A, B, C, Y and W135) of N. meningitidis. Effective vaccines are available for all serogroups except serogroup B. Sequencing the genome of serogroup B strain MC58 gives efficient means of characterization of this pathogen. A library was built by in vitro modification of N. meningitidis DNA 73 genes were identified that are involved in pathogenesis out of which detailed structural bioinformatics was conducted on four cell envelope proteins (NMB1279, NMB1797, NMB0825 and NMB0713) using homology modeling studies. Due to high degree of sequence similarity, the three dimensional folds of all the targets were found to be similar with that of their respective templates. Binding sites/active sites residues almost showed strict conservation between target and template structures except for some residues which showed conservative substitution. Therefore, we believe that the overall three dimensional folds are of good quality and can be used for protein-ligand docking studies in order to find out potential lead compounds against N. meningitidis pathogenicity factors.

Docking (animal)

Source

Cite

Citations (0)

Characterization of meningitis-causing bacteria, with focus on genomic and pangenomic study of multi-drug resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae from cerebrospinal fluid

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (2024)

Rehan Ali Kashif Ali Muhammad Aurongzeb Khalid Al-Regaiey Junaid Ahmed Kori

Multilocus sequence typing

10.1007/s10482-024-02016-1

Cite

Citations (0)

Structural investigation of human dectin-1 receptor; A novel gateway in drug discovery.

PubMed (2019)

Talat Roome Yasmeen Rashid Muhammad Aurongzeb Anam Razzak

Stimulation of C-type lectin domain of human dectin-1 receptor by fungal β-glucans causes conformational changes in its cytoplasmic domain which initiates various cellular responses mediated by downstream signaling components. We aimed to build the three-dimensional structures of the cytoplasmic domain as well as C-type lectin domain of human Dectin-1along with their potential ligands through homology modeling.The overall three-dimensional fold of cytoplasmic domain was found to consist of mixed β-sheet whereas,in case of C-type lectin domain antiparallel β-sheets flanked by α-helices were observed. Protein-protein docking strategy was utilized to monitorkey interactions between cytoplasmic domainof dectin-1 receptor and PKCδ, as a prime regulator of Dectin-1 signaling. The interface was observed to have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acid residues maintaining crucial contacts between the two proteins. The given three dimensional structural information can be implicated in structure-based drug designing to discover potential immunomodulators that can interfere with the immune responses and phagocytosis during inflammatory and infectious conditions.

Antiparallel (mathematics)

C-type lectin

Docking (animal)

Source

Cite

Citations (0)

In-silico three dimensional structure prediction of important Neisseria meningitidis proteins.

Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2021)

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Aurongzeb Yasmeen Rashid

Pathogenic bacteria Neisseria meningitidis cause serious infection i.e. meningitis (infection of the brain) worldwide. Among five pathogenic serogroups, serogroup B causes life threatening illness as there is no effective vaccine available due to its poor immunogenicity. A total of 73 genes in N. meningitidis genome have identified that were proved to be essential for meningococcal disease and were considered as crucial drug targets. We targeted five of those proteins, which are known to involve in amino acid biosynthesis, for homology-based three dimensional structure determinations by MODELLER (v9.19) and evaluated the models by PROSA and PROCHECK programs. Detailed structural analyses of NMB0358, NMB0943, NMB1446, NMB1577 and NMB1814 proteins were carried out during the present research. Based on a high degree of sequence conservation between target and template protein sequences, excellent models were built. The overall three dimensional architectures as well as topologies of all the proteins were quite similar with that of the templates. Active site residues of all the homology models were quite conserved with respect to their respective templates indicating similar catalytic mechanisms in these orthologues. Here, we are reporting, for the first time, detailed three dimensional folds of N. meningitidis pathogenic factors involved in a crucial cellular metabolic pathway. Moreover, the three dimensional structural information of these important drug targets would be utilized in computer-aided drug designing in future.

MODELLER

Homology

Pathogenic bacteria

Source

Cite

Citations (0)