Bioinformatics analysis of the main characteristics and epitopes of the gene encoding glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Babesia microti

ObjectiveTo analyze the main characteristics and epitopes of the gene encoding GAPDH protein from Babesia microti (BmGAPDH). MethodsThe open reading frame, physic-chemical properties, signal peptide, cross membrane area, solubility, post-translational modification site, hydrophilicity, surface accessibility, flexibility, secondary structure and antigenic epitope of BmGAPDH protein were analyzed and predicted using bioinformatics analysis programs including ORF Finder, PROSITE, ProtParam, SignalP, TMHMM Server, SOSUI, MotifScan, Bcepred, HNN as well as DNAStar Protean. In addition, three dimensional structure of the protein was predicted by DNAStar and SWISS-MODEL. ResultsBmGAPDH is consisted of 357 amino acids encoded by 1 074 nucleotides. Its signature motif is located at 170-177 amino acids. Its molecular mass is 3.833 309×104, with a molecular formula of C1700H2723N457O514S17, and a theoretical isoelectric point of 6.98. Furthermore, there are 6 zones with ≥ 1.9 hydrophilicity, 3 zones with ≥ 2.0 flexibility, and 10 zones with ≥ 1.9 surface accessibility in BmGAPDH. Moreover, There are 8 zones with potential B cell antigenic epitopes, 19 zones with potential T cell antigenic epitopes, and 23 post-translational modification sites. The sequences of BmGAPDH and homo sapiens GAPDH protein have a query cover of 56% and identity of 70%. ConclusionsBmGAPDH protein has multiple antigenic epitopes, which can be used as a potential vaccine candidate for babesiosis.