Abstract
Omptins represent a family of proteases commonly found in various Gram-negative pathogens. These proteins play an important role in host–pathogen interaction and have been recognized as key virulence factors, highlighting the possibility of developing an omptin-based broad-spectrum vaccine. The prototypical omptin, His-tagged recombinant Pla, was used as a model target antigen. In total, 46 linear and 24 conformational epitopes for the omptin family were predicted by the use of ElliPro service. Among these we selected highly conserved, antigenic, non-allergenic, and immunogenic B-cell epitopes. Five epitopes (2, 6, 8, 10, and 11 corresponding to Pla regions 52–60, 146–150, 231–234, 286–295, and 306–311, respectively) could be the first choice for the development of the new generation of target-peptide-based vaccine against plague. The partial residues of omptin epitopes 6, 8, and 10 (regions 136–145, 227–230, and 274–285) could be promising targets for the multi-pathogen vaccine against a group of enterobacterial infections. The comparative analysis and 3D modeling of amino acid sequences of several omptin family proteases, such as Pla (Yersinia pestis), PgtE (Salmonella enterica), SopA (Shigella flexneri), OmpT, and OmpP (Escherichia coli), confirmed their high cross-homology with respect to the identified epitope clusters and possible involvement of individual epitopes in host–pathogen interaction.
Highlights
Infectious diseases (IDs) are responsible for about 30% of global human mortality per year [1,2]
The subsequent comparative analysis of the sequences of the pro-omptin Pla with other omptin family proteases, such as PgtE (Salmonella enterica), SopA (Shigella flexneri), and OmpT and OmpP (E. coli) revealed the location of predicted linear B-cell epitopes in either identical positions or in a very close proximity to all nine Pla epitopes predicted by ElliPro and identified serologically using human anti-Pla antisera [30]
The omptin conformational epitopes were formed by the residues of all the relevant predicted linear epitopes for each of the omptins
Summary
Infectious diseases (IDs) are responsible for about 30% of global human mortality per year [1,2]. They are recognized as a significant burden on the public health and economic stability of societies all over the world [3]. Emerging and neglected IDs affect more than one billion people in more than 149 countries, including chronically infected individuals [5,6]. Diarrheal IDs are the second leading cause of death in children under five years old, and are responsible for killing around 525,000 children every year. There are nearly 1.7 billion cases of childhood diarrheal
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