Yining Liu1,2, Scott F. Cummins2 and Min Zhao2
1The School of Public Health, Institute for Chemical Carcinogenesis, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510180, China;
2Seaweed Research Group, School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, Queensland, 4558, Australia.;
Seaweeds are multicellular marine macroalgae with natural compounds that have potential anti-cancer activity. To date, the identification of those compounds has relied on purification and assay, and still few have been documented. This study aimed to integrate new seaweed genomic resources with established cancer bioinformatics pipelines to help identify potential seaweed proteins that could help mitigate the development of cancer. To achieve this, we used 12 publicly available edible seaweed genomes (8 species, 268,071 proteins), for putative interactome analysis with human proteins derived from tumor suppressor genes, oncogenes and those with dual roles. We present 7892 protein domains that were predicted to associate with cancer proteins based on protein domain-domain interaction. In total, we identified 3,881,014 interactions, among which 269,172 interactions were initiated by dual-role cancer proteins. The most enriched protein family consisted of those associated with protein phosphorylation and insulin signaling, both of which are recognized to be crucial molecular components for patient survival in various cancers. In addition, we found 6692 seaweed proteins that could interact with over 100 tumor suppressor proteins, of which 147 are predicted to be secreted proteins. In conclusion, our bioinformatic prediction may not only be helpful in evaluating potential anti-cancer seaweed proteins but may also provide a new avenue to explore the molecular mechanisms for seaweed-associated inhibition of human cancer development.