An in silico reverse vaccinology study of Brachyspira pilosicoli, the causative organism of intestinal spirochaetosis, to identify putative vaccine candidates. (November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Christodoulides, Myron; de Oliveira, Daysiane; Cleary, David W.; Humbert, Maria Victoria; Machado-de-Ávila, Ricardo A.; La Ragione, Roberto M.
• Is Part Of: Process biochemistry. Volume 122(2022)Supplement Part 1
• Page Start: 128
• Page End: 148
• Publication Date: 2022-11
• Subjects: Brachyspira pilosicoli -- Vaccine -- Reverse vaccinology -- in silico -- B-cell chimera; Biochemical engineering -- Periodicals; Biotechnology -- Periodicals; Biochemistry -- periodicals; Biotechnology -- periodicals; Chemical Engineering -- periodicals; Génie biochimique -- Périodiques; Biotechnologie -- Périodiques; Biochemical engineering; Biotechnology; Periodicals; 660.63
• DOI: 10.1016/j.procbio.2022.08.014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-5113

Abstract

Abstract: Brachyspira pilosicoli is a zoonotic bacterium that can cause intestinal spirochaetosis (IS) in avian species (AIS), pigs (PIS) and humans (HIS). In the absence of vaccines to prevent infections, we used genome-based reverse vaccinology (RV) to identify putative B. pilosicoli vaccine candidates. Genome sequence of B. pilosicoli strain B2904, an AIS isolate, was analysed with PSORTb3, CELLO, SOSUIGramN, LipoP, SignalP-5.0, TMHMM, BLAST 2.12.0 + , PDB database, SEED Viewer, eggNOG-mapper, UniProt, VaxiJen and Vaxign2, and Tblastn to generate a RV list of putative vaccine candidates. We also generated a linear B-cell chimera antigen using Blast-p, Emini Surface Accessibility Prediction, ABCpred, Expasy ProtParam and PepCalc programs. RV defined a list of 162 proteins containing 48 Outer Membrane (OM), 27 OM/Extracellular, 27 Extracellular, 4 Periplasm, 2 Surface, 2 Cytoplasm and 52 Unknown proteins. The list was characterised by an abundance of SPII lipoproteins. We found that genes encoding amino acid sequences of 146/162 (90%) proteins were present in 19 other B. pilosicoli genomes. A linear B-cell chimera antigen was generated from the amino acid sequences of 18 OM and Extracellular proteins. Our contemporary RV study represents a starting point for a comprehensive vaccine development strategy for preventing intestinal spirochaetosis. Graphical Abstract: Brachyspira pilosicoli reverse vaccinology ga1 Highlights: No vaccines are licensed for preventing intestinal spirochaetosis caused by Brachyspira pilosicoli. We identified candidate vaccine antigens using in silico reverse vaccinology. We developed a B-cell chimera antigen from linear epitopes of 18 outer membrane and extracellular proteins.