Immunogenic epitopes of Hantaviruses' N protein are restricted to conserved regions.
The Bunyaviridae virus family is composed by five genera, of which the Hantavirus genus is one of the most important representatives. Occasionally, these viruses can be transmitted to humans, giving rise to severe diseases that present high mortality rates. We analyzed the amino acid sequences of the nucleocapsid (N) proteins of 34 different hantaviruses to investigate the potential mechanisms involved in immunogenicity against hantaviruses. Immunogenic epitopes described in the literature through experimental analyses for Sin Nombre (SNV), Puumala (PUUV), and Hantaan (HTNV) viruses' species were retrieved. We identified and characterized the regions believed to be responsible for the induction of immune response in hosts. We found that N protein epitopes described in the literature for PUUV, SNV and HTNV viruses are all located in highly conserved regions of the protein. The high conservation of these regions suggests that a cross-reactive immune response among different hantaviruses can be induced.
Nucleo de Bioinformatica do Laboratorio de Imunogenetica, Departamento de Genetica, Instituto de Biociencias, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Goncalves, 9500 - Predio 43323, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
Mauricio Menegatti
MM
Rigo
Dinler Amaral
DA
Antunes
Samuel Paulo
SP
Cibulski
Marialva
M
Sinigaglia
Jose Artur Bogo
JA
Chies
Gustavo Fioravanti
GF
Vieira
D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014758:Viral Core Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*
D036022:Capsid Proteins; D000939:Epitopes; D014758:Viral Core Proteins; C111782:nucleocapsid protein, Hantaan virus