Immunoinformatics and Reverse Vaccinology Approach for the Identification of Potential Vaccine Candidates against <i>Vandammella animalimors</i>

Abstract

Vandammella animalimorsus is a Gram-negative and non-motile bacterium typically transmitted to humans through direct contact with the saliva of infected animals, primarily through biting, scratches, or licks on fractured skin. The absence of a confirmed post-exposure treatment of V. animalimorsus bacterium highlights the imperative for developing an effective vaccine. We intended to determine potential vaccine candidates and paradigm a chimeric vaccine against V. animalimorsus by accessible public data analysis of the strain by utilizing reverse vaccinology. By subtractive genomics, five outer membranes were prioritized as potential vaccine candidates out of 2590 proteins. Based on the instability index and transmembrane helices, a multidrug transporter protein with locus ID A0A2A2AHJ4 was designated as a potential candidate for vaccine construct. Sixteen immunodominant epitopes were retrieved by utilizing the Immune Epitope Database. The epitope encodes the strong binding affinity, nonallergenic properties, non-toxicity, high antigenicity scores, and high solubility revealing the more appropriate vaccine construct. By utilizing appropriate linkers and adjuvants alongside a suitable adjuvant molecule, the epitopes were integrated into a chimeric vaccine to enhance immunogenicity, successfully eliciting both adaptive and innate immune responses. Moreover, the promising physicochemical features, the binding confirmation of the vaccine to the major innate immune receptor TLR-4, and molecular dynamics simulations of the designed vaccine have revealed the promising potential of the selected candidate. The integration of computational methods and omics data has demonstrated significant advantages in discovering novel vaccine targets and mitigating vaccine failure rates during clinical trials in recent years.

Keywords

• <i>V. animalimorsus</i>
• reverse vaccinology
• subtractive genomics
• drug targets
• MHC-I
• MHC-II T-cell