Designing a multi-epitope candidate vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 through in silico approach for producing in plant systems

Multi-epitope vaccine designing for SARS-CoV2

Authors

  • Fatemeh Goudarziasl Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Science, University of Mazandaran, Mazandaran, Iran
  • Fatemeh Kheiri Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
  • Azam Rahbar Amino Techno Gene Private Virtual Lab (NGO),Tehran, Iran
  • Reza Mohammadhassan Animo Techno Gene Private Lab. ✉Corresponding author, E-mail: rezarmhreza22@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0509-4187
  • Javad Mohammadi-Asl Noorgene Genetic & Clinical Laboratory, Molecular Research Center, Ahvaz, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1750-0541
  • Arsalan Jalili Department of Stem Cells and Developmental Biology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, ACER, Tehran, Iran; Parvaz Research Ideas Supporter Institute, Tehran, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2810-8406
  • Melika Hajkazemian Department of Molecular Biosciences, Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2810-8406

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbbiol.2024.1.01

Keywords:

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, in silico, Multi-epitope candidate vaccine, immunoinformatics

Abstract

The COVID-19 is considered as a type of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2). The current pandemic causes a vital destruction in international social and economic systems. Current available vaccines involve entire viruses; however, peptide-based vaccines could be also beneficial. In the present study, a computationally candidate vaccine was designed against SARS-CoV-2. Surface glycoproteins (E, M, and S proteins) and N protein amino acid sequences were analyzed to predict high score of the B and T cell epitopes as antigenic proteins of the virus. High score epitopes, and the B subunit of Vibrio cholerae toxin, as an adjuvant put together by appropriate linkers to construct a multi-epitope candidate vaccine. Bioinformatics tools were used to predict the secondary, tertiary structure and physicochemical properties, such as aliphatic index, theoretical pH, molecular weight, and estimated half-life of the multi-epitope candidate vaccine. The interaction of candidate vaccine with TLR2 and TLR4 was computationally evaluated by molecular docking. Finally, the codon optimization and the secondary structure of mRNA were calculated, and in silico cloning was performed into plant expression vector by SnapGENE. This designed candidate vaccine along with the computational results requires laboratory evaluations to be confirmed as a candidate vaccine against SARS-COV-2 infection.

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2024-06-27

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