Immunoinformatics Approach for Epitope Mapping of Immunogenic Regions (N, F and H Gene) of Small Ruminant Morbillivirus and Its Comparative Analysis with Standard Vaccinal Strains for Effective Vaccine Development

• Published in: Vaccines (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 12; p. 2179
• Main Authors: Aziz, Muhammad Hasaan, Shabbir, Muhammad Zubair, Ali, Muhammad Muddassir, Asif, Zian, Ijaz, Muhammad Usman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-12-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Animal diseases; Bioinformatics; C-Terminus; Care and treatment; Comparative analysis; Disease; Diseases; Epitope mapping; fusion; Fusion protein; Gene mapping; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genomes; H gene; H protein; hemagglutinin; Hemagglutinins; Immunogenicity; Ligands; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Nigeria 75/1; nucleocapsid; Peptides; Prevention; Proteins; Ruminants; small ruminant morbillivirus; Structure-function relationships; Sungri 96; Vaccine development; Vaccines; Viral vaccines; Virus diseases; Viruses; Pakistan; North Carolina; Lahore Pakistan; Nigeria; Bulgaria; United States > US; fusion; nucleocapsid; Sungri 96; small ruminant morbillivirus; hemagglutinin; Nigeria 75/1
• ISSN: 2076-393X; 2076-393X
• DOI: 10.3390/vaccines10122179

Outbreaks of small ruminant morbillivirus (SRMV) are regularly occurring in Pakistan despite vaccine availability. This study was designed to identify substitutions within the immunogenic structural and functional regions of the nucleocapsid, fusion, and hemagglutinin genes of SRMV and their comparison with vaccinal strains of Nigerian and Indian origin.
Swabs and tissue samples were collected from diseased animals. RT-PCR was used to characterize selected genes encoded by viral RNA. The study's N, F, and H protein sequences and vaccinal strains were analyzed for B and T cell epitope prediction using ABCpred, Bipred, and IEDB, respectively.
Significant substitutions were found on the C terminus of the nucleocapsid, within the fusion motif region of the fusion gene and in the immunoreactive region of the hemagglutinin gene.
Our results emphasize the need for the development of effective vaccines that match the existing variants of SRMV strains circulating in Pakistan.