**Author details**

One of the greatest challenges of the postgenomic era is the amount of data generated through the different approaches, as well as the functional characterization of proteins. In this context, the analysis of protein-protein interaction networks (PPI) has been used for the identification of essential proteins and discovery of new therapeutic targets. This computational method is based on biological data topology information according to known interaction patterns to predict new interactions between molecules, where nodes represent proteins and the edges

The inter-specific PPI networks of *C. pseudotuberculosis* were constructed from proteins conserved in multiple pathogens, such as *M. tuberculosis, Y. pestis, E. coli, C. diphtheriae* and *C. ulcerans*, where the interaction network of the protein acetate kinase (Ack) was indicated as a possible new broad-spectrum therapeutic target [82]. Later, another study involving the interactome of *C. pseudotuberculosis* was developed, where the networks were constructed, revealing nonhomologous proteins to humans, cattle, goats, sheep and horses. The fact that such proteins predicted by the PPI result are essential to the pathogen, but not to the hosts, makes them important candidates for use as targets for the

*Corynebacterium* comprises several Gram-positive species known mainly for their pathogenic and biotechnological potential. Due to the advent of the NGS platforms, several strains of the genus have had their genomes sequenced in recent years, providing significant advances in the understanding of pathogenic mechanisms, metabolism, regulation, adaptation and evolution, among other aspects of these bacteria behaviors. Through genome projects, it was possible to better understand molecular functions and biological processes of several genes, to know the genomic architecture of different isolates, as well as to compare them at a DNA level, making these studies essential for the execution of more complex approaches. Transcriptomics, for example, has been employed in a wide variety of studies in order to fully and clearly understand the modulation of expression of genes of interest to different stimuli. Also, proteomic analyses provide a more complete and advanced knowledge in the study of biological systems. Hence, the field integration of the genomic era has provided valuable insights, aiming at a deeper understanding of various corynebacteria.

We thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—CAPES

(88881.068052/2014-2101) for the financial support on this work.

The authors declare the absence of any conflict of interest.

represent the predicted interactions [81].

70 Basic Biology and Applications of Actinobacteria

synthesis of new drugs [83].

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

**6. Conclusion**

Carlos Leonardo Araújo1 , Jorianne Alves1 , Alyne Lima1 , Larissa Dias1 , Patricia Silva1 , Joana Marques1 , Vasco Azevedo2 , Artur Silva1 and Adriana Folador1 \*

\*Address all correspondence to: carneiroar@gmail.com

1 Laboratory of Genomics and Bioinformatics, Center of Genomics and System Biology, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil

2 Department of General Biology, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
