Designing a novel Scaffold-Based Multi-Epitope Vaccine to Combat Melioidosis Caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei: AnIn-silicoand Immunoinformatics approach

Abstract

Burkholderia pseudomallei, the gram-negative bacteria causing melioidosis, is becoming a serious threat to healthcare settings. In recent years,B. pseudomalleihas been identified as an emerging and significant etiological agent responsible for localized pyogenic infections primarily observed in India and South Asia. At present, no vaccine against melioidosis is available in the treatment system. This study has undertaken anin-silicoreverse vaccinology approach to design a novel multi-epitope vaccine for treatingB. pseudomallei-mediated infections. B-cell and T-cell epitopes have been predicted and stitched to develop a multi-epitope vaccine. The predicted vaccine is found to be non-toxic, non-allergic, and immunogenic in nature. Immune simulation results indicate that the designed vaccine can generate an immune response resembling a real-life scenario. The 610 amino-acid long vaccine construct has been codon-optimized and could be cloned in the E. coli K12 system. These findings from this immunoinformatics study offer a foundation for developing a tailored, safe, and potent vaccine targetingB. pseudomallei.