Immune Epitope Map of the Reported Protein Sequences of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Abstract Identifying immunogenic sequences of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) proteins is important in developing epitope-based vaccine and diagnostics. This step is critical in designing potent vaccines and highly specific diagnostic tools which can help prevent the spread of this disease. In this study, we identified, using in silico analysis tools, immunogenic epitopes of the reported sequences of SARS-CoV-2 proteins and determined similar sequences with known viral proteins. The amino acid sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins were acquired from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. B-cell epitope prediction was done using in silico analysis tools available at the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resources (IEDB). Blastp was performed on the identified immunogenic sequences to determine similarities with known viral proteins and deduce possible locations in the coronavirus. We were able to identify B-cell epitopes of the SARS-CoV-2 polyprotein, surface glycoprotein, envelop, membrane glycoprotein, nucleocapsid phosphoprotein, orf3, orf7a and orf8. No epitope was identified in orf6 and orf10. High similarities of the predicted immunogenic epitopes of the SARS-CoV-2 were observed with the 2003 SARS-CoV. However, unique epitopes were identified in non-structural proteins (NSP) 1 and 3 and surface glycoprotein of the SARS-CoV-2.