Prediction of Antigenic Epitopes for Coat Protein of Potato virus Y

Abstract

Potato virus Y (PVY) is one of the most important viruses that infect Solanaceous crops. In the study, the antigenic epitopes were predicted using computer-assisted analysis, and many potential regions of antigenic epitopes were located. Many properties of coat protein, such as the antigenic index, α-helix, β-sheet, β-turn, coil structure, hydrophilicity, surface probability, and flexibility, were analyzed with several algorithms in some softwares. Based on the rules for location the antigenic epitopes in the regions including β-turns and coil structures with the high hydrophilicity and surface probability, the predicted epitopes were located in the region of amino acid position 8-22, 24-38, 45-55, 240-255, respectively. It is helpful to prepare the antiserum of PVY based on the prediction result of antigenic epitope.