title: Effect of linker length and residues on the structure and stability of a fusion protein with malaria vaccine application.
abstract: Recombinant protein technology has revolutionized the world of biology and medicine. Following this progress, fusion protein technology, as a novel innovation, has opened new horizons for the development of proteins that do not naturally exist. Fusion proteins are generated via genetically fusing two or more genes coding for separate proteins, thus the product is a single protein having functional properties of both proteins. As an indispensable element in fusion protein construction, linkers are used to separate the functional domains in order to improve their expression, folding and stability.
  
  
  
  We computationally fused an antigen and an adjuvant together using different linkers to obtain a two-domain fusion construct which can potentially act as an oral vaccine candidate against malaria. We then predicted the structures computationally to find out the probable folding of each domain in the designed construct.
  
  
  
  One of the fusion constructs was selected based on the highest value for C-score. Ramchandran Plot analysis represented that most residues were fallen in favorable regions.
  
  
  
  Our in silico analysis showed that (GGGGS)3 linker confers the best structure and stability for our target fusion protein.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology, P.O. BOX: 3353-51111, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: Shamriz.sh@irost.ir.
authors.forename: Shabnam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shamriz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology, P.O. BOX: 3353-51111, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: Ofoghi@irost.ir.
authors.forename: Hamideh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ofoghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology, P.O. BOX: 3353-51111, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: moazami@irost.ir.
authors.forename: Nasrin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Moazami
mesh_terms: D017780:Malaria Vaccines / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017780:Malaria Vaccines; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic
keywords: Fusion protein; Linker; Malaria vaccine candidate