A Computational Study of B-Cell Epitopes of Macadamia (Macadamia Integrifolia) Allergens and Identification of its IgE Binding Residues

In contemporary research, biological computational tools have emerged to play a pivotal role in facilitating both cost and time-efficient research. One such domain is addressing the prevailing food allergy issues, where these computational tools have been proven of vital importance. The present study is done as part of an internship at Jozbiz technologies. In the present study, we discuss the identification of IgE(Immunoglobulin E) binding allergy-causing B-Cell epitopes of macadamia ( Macadamia integrifolia ) allergens, namely AMP23_MACIN, AMP1_MACIN, AMP21_MACIN, MATK_MACIN and 11S1_MACIN. Using seven web servers (ABCPred, ElliPro, BepiPred 1.0b, BcePred, BCPred, CBTOPE and Disco Tope 2.0) twenty-one epitopes and seventeen conformational epitopes were predicted in the present study. The predicted epitopes are analysed in terms of residues having hydrophilicity, polar nature and having exposed surfaces. The unavailable 3-d structure of proteins was developed by homology modelling. Cross-reactivity of Macadamia integrifolia with other food items has also been listed.