Background
TSST-1 is a secretory and pyrogenic superantigen that is being responsible for staphylococcal mediated food poisoning and associated clinical manifestations. It is one of the main targets for the construction of vaccine candidates against Staphylococcus aureus. Most of the vaccines have met failure due to adverse reactions and toxicity reported during late clinical studies. To overcome this, an immunoinformatics approach is being used in the present study for the design of a multi-epitope vaccine to circumvent the problems related to toxicity and allergenicity.
Results
In this study, a multi-epitope vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus targeting TSST-1 was designed through an immunoinformatics approach. B cell and T cell epitopes were predicted in silico and mapped with linkers to avoid junctional immunogenicity and to ensure the efficient presentation of exposed epitopes through HLA. β-defensin and PADRE were adjusted at the N-terminal end of the final vaccine as adjuvants. Physiochemical parameters, antigenicity, and allergenicity of the vaccine construct were determined with the help of online servers. The three-dimensional structure of the vaccine protein was predicted and validated with various tools. The affinity of the vaccine with TLR-3 was studied through molecular docking studies and the interactions of two proteins were visualized using LigPlot+. The vaccine was successfully cloned in silico into pET-28a (+) for efficient expression in E. coli K12 system. Population coverage analysis had shown that the vaccine construct can cover 83.15% of the global population. Immune simulation studies showed an increase in the antibody levels, IL-2, IFN-γ, TGF-β, B cell, and T cell populations and induced primary, secondary, and tertiary immune responses.
Conclusion
Multi-epitope vaccine designed through a computational approach is a non-allergic and non-toxic antigen. Preliminary in silico reports have shown that this vaccine could elicit both B cell and T cell responses in the host as desired.
Achatina fulica (Lissachatina fulica) is one of the most invasive species found across the globe causing a significant damage to crops, vegetables, and horticultural plants. This terrestrial snail is native to east Africa and spread to different parts of the world by introductions. India, a hot spot for biodiversity of several endemic gastropods, has witnessed an outburst of this snail population in several parts of the country posing a serious threat to crop loss and also to human health. With an objective to evaluate the genetic diversity of this snail, we have sampled this snail from different parts of India and analyzed its haplotype diversity by means of 16S rDNA sequence information. Apart from this, we have studied the phylogenetic relationships of the isolates sequenced in the present study in relation with other global populations by Bayesian and Maximum-likelihood approaches. Of the isolates sequenced, haplotype 'C' is the predominant one. A new haplotype 'S' from the state of Odisha was observed. The isolates sequenced in the present study clustered with its conspecifics from the Indian sub-continent. Haplotype network analyses were also carried out for studying the evolution of different haplotypes. It was observed that haplotype 'S' was associated with a Mauritius haplotype 'H', indicating the possibility of multiple introductions of A. fulica to India.
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