In-silico computing of the most deleterious nsSNPs in HBA1 gene

Abstract

Background: α-Thalassemia (α-thal) is a genetic disorder caused by the substitution of single amino acid or large deletions in the HBA1 and/or HBA2 genes. Method: Using modern bioinformatics tools as a systematic in-silico approach to predict the deleterious SNPs in the HBA1 gene and its significant pathogenic impact on the functions and structure of HBA1 protein was predicted. Results and Discussion A total of 389 SNPs in HBA1 were retrieved from dbSNP database, which includes: 201 non-coding synonymous (nsSNPs), 43 human active SNPs, 16 intronic SNPs, 11 mRNA 30 UTR SNPs, 9 coding synonymous SNPs, 9 50 UTR SNPs and other types. Structural homology- based method (PolyPhen) and sequence homology-based tool (SIFT), SNPs&Go, PROVEAN and PANTHER revealed that 2.4% of the nsSNPs are pathogenic. Conclusions: A total of 5 nsSNPs (G60V, K17M, K17T, L92F and W15R) were predicted to be responsible for the structural and functional modifications of HBA1 protein. It is evident from the deep comprehensive in-silico analysis that, two nsSNPs such as G60Vand W15R in HBA1 are highly deleterious. These "2 pathogenic nsSNPs" can be considered for wet-lab confirmatory analysis.