Immunoinformatics approaches in developing a novel multi-epitope chimeric vaccine protective against Saprolegnia parasitica

Saprolegnia parasitica is responsible for devastating infections in fish and poses a tremendous threat to the global aquaculture industry. Presently, no safe and effective control measures are available, on the contrary, use of banned toxic compounds against the pathogen is affecting humans via biomagnification routes. This pioneering study aims to design an effective multi-epitope multi-target vaccine candidate against S. parasitica by targeting key proteins involved in the infection process. The proteins were analyzed and linear B-cell epitopes, MHC class I, and class II epitopes were predicted. Subsequently, highly antigenic epitopes were selected and fused to a highly immunogenic adjuvant, 50S ribosomal protein L7/L12, to design a multi-epitope chimeric vaccine construct. The structure of the vaccine was generated and validated for its stereochemical quality, physicochemical properties, antigenicity, allergenicity, and virulence traits. Molecular docking analyses demonstrated strong binding interactions between the vaccine and piscine immune receptors (TLR5, MHC I, MHC II). Molecular dynamics simulations and binding energy calculations of the complexes, further, reflected the stability and favorable interactions of the vaccine and predicted its cytosolic stability. Immune simulations predicted robust and consistent kinetics of the immune response elicited by the vaccine. The study posits the vaccine as a promising solution to combat saprolegniasis in the aquaculture industry.