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Antigenic heterogeneity of capsid protein VP1 in foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype Asia1

Authors Alam SSM, Amin R, Rahman MZ, Hossain MA, Sultana M

Received 7 June 2013

Accepted for publication 5 July 2013

Published 13 August 2013 Volume 2013:6 Pages 37—46

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/AABC.S49587

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 2



SM Sabbir Alam,1 Ruhul Amin,1 Mohammed Ziaur Rahman,2 M Anwar Hossain,1 Munawar Sultana1

1Department of Microbiology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 2International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract: Foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV), with its seven serotypes, is a highly contagious virus infecting mainly cloven-hoofed animals. The serotype Asia1 occurs mainly in Asian regions. An in-silico approach was taken to reveal the antigenic heterogeneities within the capsid protein VP1 of Asia1. A total of 47 VP1 sequences of Asia1 isolates from different countries of South Asian regions were selected, retrieved from database, and were aligned. The structure of VP1 protein was modeled using a homology modeling approach. Several antigenic sites were identified and mapped onto the three-dimensional protein structure. Variations at these antigenic sites were analyzed by calculating the protein variability index and finding mutation combinations. The data suggested that vaccine escape mutants have derived from only few mutations at several antigenic sites. Five antigenic peptides have been identified as the least variable epitopes, with just fewer amino acid substitutions. Only a limited number of serotype Asia1 antigenic variants were found to be circulated within the South Asian region. This emphasizes a possibility of formulating synthetic vaccines for controlling foot-and-mouth disease by Asia1 serotypes.

Keywords: protein modeling, antigenic sites, sequence variation

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