A Bioinformatics approach to designing a Zika virus vaccine.
The Zika virus infections have reached epidemic proportions in the Latin American countries causing severe birth defects and neurological disorders. While several organizations have begun research into design of prophylactic vaccines and therapeutic drugs, computer assisted methods with adequate data resources can be expected to assist in these measures to reduce lead times through bioinformatics approaches. Using 60 sequences of the Zika virus envelope protein available in the GenBank database, our analysis with numerical characterization techniques and several web based bioinformatics servers identified four peptide stretches on the Zika virus envelope protein that are well conserved and surface exposed and are predicted to have reasonable epitope binding efficiency. These peptides can be expected to form the basis for a nascent peptide vaccine which, enhanced by incorporation of suitable adjuvants, can elicit immune response against the Zika virus infections.
Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Education, 404 B Jodhpur Park, Kolkata 700068, India; Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032, India.
Sumanta
S
Dey
Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Education, 404 B Jodhpur Park, Kolkata 700068, India. Electronic address: anandy43@yahoo.com.
Ashesh
A
Nandy
University of Minnesota Duluth-Natural Resources Research Institute and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Minnesota Duluth,5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN 55811, USA.
Subhash C
SC
Basak
Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Education, 404 B Jodhpur Park, Kolkata 700068, India.
Papiya
P
Nandy
Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Education, 404 B Jodhpur Park, Kolkata 700068, India; Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032, India.
Sukhen
S
Das
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D019295:Computational Biology; D015195:Drug Design; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D000071244:Zika Virus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000071243:Zika Virus Infection / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000939:Epitopes; D010455:Peptides; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines
2D graphical representation; Alignment-free models; Epitope regions; Zika vaccine; Zika virus