Bioinformatics Analysis Suggests That SE_1780 protein from Staphylococcus epidermidis may be a member of the Fph Family of Lipases

The Protein Databank entry for protein SE_1780 from Staphylococcus epidermidis lists the function as unknown. We leveraged the framework outlined in the Biochemistry Authentic Scientific Inquiry Laboratory and used bioinformatics tools to ascertain the function of the protein. Based on our analysis we posit that SE_1780 is a lipase of the /{beta} hydrolase family with a proposed active site catalytic triad composed of Ser144, Asp235, and His269. Further we identified the lipase FphD as having significant sequence identity to protein SE 1780, and suggest that the protein is a member of the Fph family of lipases from S. epidermidis.