Molecular phylogenetics and comparative modeling of MnSOD, an enzyme involved during environmental stress conditions in Oryza sativa.

Superoxide dismutases are a class of enzymes that catalyze the dismutation of superoxide into oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. As such, they are an important antioxidant defense in nearly all cells exposed to oxygen. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) acts as first line of defense against oxidative and genetic stress. Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), found in mitochondria or peroxisomes, contains Mn (III) at the active site. The three dimensional structure of MnSOD of Oryza sativa is not yet available in protein data bank so we have predicted the structure model of O. sativa MnSOD using homology modeling. The predicted model can further be explored for identification of ligand binding sites which may be useful for understanding specific role in functional site residues during catalysis. This study also demonstrated that the phylogenetic analysis of O. sativa MnSOD protein with distinct dicot and monocot plant species. The MnSOD protein of O. sativa has shown similarity with both monocot and as well as dicot plant species.