Using immunoinformatic and reverse vaccinology approach epitope-based Vaccine design for three Vibrio sp

Abstract

Abstract Aquaculture is a rapidly growing industry both in India and globally. After Carps, Tilapia is the most cultured fish in the industry. Due to stress and overexploitation of the aquatic ecosystem, there has been rise and propagation of variety of diseases which is a major bottleneck for the industry. Bacterial diseases particularly Vibriosis caused by V. vulnificus, V. harveyi and V. alginolyticus is of great concern as it causes severe illness in humans along with the aquatic organisms. Using reverse vaccinology technique, arranging the epitopes present in OMPs of V. vulnificus, V. harveyi and V. alginolyticus with respect to MHC-I, MHC-II, T-cell and B-cell with the help of advanced bio-computational techniques, it is predicted that YTSTDNFAV, QSIQGNTMN and SQLCIAISL might be potential vaccine candidates elucidating both humoral and cell-mediated immune response. A multi-epitope vaccine is also designed to target the three microbes together by linking the peptide sequences using amino acid linker GPGPG. The cholera toxin B subunit was added in the adjuvant in the N-terminal side using EAAAK linker. Analysis of the multi-epitope vaccine candidate showed that it has all the properties of a potential robust vaccine including antigenic, immunogenic, soluble and thermostable.