In Silico Characterization of Epitopes from Human Rotavirus VP7 Genotype G9 Design for Vaccine Development

Acute gastroenteritis caused by Rotavirus remains the leading cause of child mortality worldwide. Rotavirus genotype G9 circulates in humans throughout the world. Antibodies against the outer glycoproteins VP7 and VP4 Rotavirus capsid are the main neutralization antibodies in the vaccine assessment. This study aimed to select an epitope to evoke T and B cells' response, as a favorable candidate for vaccine development using in Silico evaluation. In the present study, Rotavirus genotypes were determined in 100 stools specimens collected from children with acute diarrhea. The results showed predominant G genotype, G9 (38.5%) followed by G2 (22.9%), G1 (16.5%), G12 (11.4%), G4 (6.4%), and G3 (4.3%). The G9 was dominant in this study and other regions of Iran; thus, this study was conducted to select an epitope from Rotavirus genotype G9 as a promising epitope candidate for future vaccine development. For this reason, several works including a complete sequence of VP7 G9, phylogenetic analysis, Prediction of Protein Structure, Physicochemical Properties of Protein and Epitope prediction were carried out. The outcomes of this study revealed that the complete sequence of VP7 (G9) was comprised of 1062 nt with 326 amino acids (accession number MH824633). The selected epitope contained amino acid sequence of STLCLYYPTEASTQIGDTEWKN with the best score for T and B cells response. Based on data of computational biology, the selected epitope can optimistically have considered as an epitope candidate for rotavirus vaccine development.