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Marriam S, Afghan MS, Nadeem M, Sajid M, Ahsan M, Basit A, Wajid M, Sabri S, Sajid M, Zafar I, Rashid S, Sehgal SA, Alkhalifah DHM, Hozzein WN, Chen KT, Sharma R. Elucidation of novel compounds and epitope-based peptide vaccine design against C30 endopeptidase regions of SARS-CoV-2 using immunoinformatics approaches. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2023; 13:1134802. [PMID: 37293206 PMCID: PMC10244718 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1134802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023] Open
Abstract
There has been progressive improvement in immunoinformatics approaches for epitope-based peptide design. Computational-based immune-informatics approaches were applied to identify the epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 to develop vaccines. The accessibility of the SARS-CoV-2 protein surface was analyzed, and hexa-peptide sequences (KTPKYK) were observed having a maximum score of 8.254, located between amino acids 97 and 102, whereas the FSVLAC at amino acids 112 to 117 showed the lowest score of 0.114. The surface flexibility of the target protein ranged from 0.864 to 1.099 having amino acid ranges of 159 to 165 and 118 to 124, respectively, harboring the FCYMHHM and YNGSPSG hepta-peptide sequences. The surface flexibility was predicted, and a 0.864 score was observed from amino acids 159 to 165 with the hepta-peptide (FCYMHHM) sequence. Moreover, the highest score of 1.099 was observed between amino acids 118 and 124 against YNGSPSG. B-cell epitopes and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes were also identified against SARS-CoV-2. In molecular docking analyses, -0.54 to -26.21 kcal/mol global energy was observed against the selected CTL epitopes, exhibiting binding solid energies of -3.33 to -26.36 kcal/mol. Based on optimization, eight epitopes (SEDMLNPNY, GSVGFNIDY, LLEDEFTPF, DYDCVSFCY, GTDLEGNFY, QTFSVLACY, TVNVLAWLY, and TANPKTPKY) showed reliable findings. The study calculated the associated HLA alleles with MHC-I and MHC-II and found that MHC-I epitopes had higher population coverage (0.9019% and 0.5639%) than MHC-II epitopes, which ranged from 58.49% to 34.71% in Italy and China, respectively. The CTL epitopes were docked with antigenic sites and analyzed with MHC-I HLA protein. In addition, virtual screening was conducted using the ZINC database library, which contained 3,447 compounds. The 10 top-ranked scrutinized molecules (ZINC222731806, ZINC077293241, ZINC014880001, ZINC003830427, ZINC030731133, ZINC003932831, ZINC003816514, ZINC004245650, ZINC000057255, and ZINC011592639) exhibited the least binding energy (-8.8 to -7.5 kcal/mol). The molecular dynamics (MD) and immune simulation data suggest that these epitopes could be used to design an effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in the form of a peptide-based vaccine. Our identified CTL epitopes have the potential to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saigha Marriam
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Sher Afghan
- Department of Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT), District Headquarter (DHQ) Teaching Hospital Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan
| | - Mazhar Nadeem
- Department of Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT), District Headquarter (DHQ) Teaching Hospital Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Sajid
- Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Ahsan
- Institute of Environmental and Agricultural Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan
| | - Abdul Basit
- Department of Microbiology, University of Jhang, Jhang, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Wajid
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan
| | - Sabeen Sabri
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Sajid
- Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan
| | - Imran Zafar
- Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Virtual University, Punjab, Pakistan
| | - Summya Rashid
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia
| | - Sheikh Arslan Sehgal
- Department of Bioinformatics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan
- Department of Bioinformatics, Institute of Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
| | - Dalal Hussien M Alkhalifah
- Department of Biology, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Wael N Hozzein
- Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt
| | - Kow-Tong Chen
- Department of Occupational Medicine, Tainan Municipal Hospital (managed by ShowChwan Medical Care Corporation), Tainan, Taiwan
- Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Rohit Sharma
- Department of Rasa Shastra and Bhaishajya Kalpana, Faculty of Ayurveda, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
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