Prediction and Identification of Linear B-cell Epitopes in gB Glycoprotein of Equine Herpesvirus Type 1

The study was aimed to predict B cell epitopes in gB glycoprotein of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) with bioinformatics, and select epitopes which had potential diagnostic value. The DNA fragments of gB glycoprotein were predicted by protean of DNAStar software. Screening potential B cell epitopes after parameter comparison, the target B cell epitopes were selected, cloned and expressed. The expressed fusion proteins serviced as an antigen were used to react with equine herpesvirus positive serum to screen and identify antigenic epitopes. The results showed that according to predictive and analysis, the areas of amino acid from 6 to 10, 23 to 32, 53 to 65, 72 to 98, 111 to 120, 152 to 166, 173 to 180 might be gB glycoprotein B cell epitopes. Seven epitopes were successfully cloned into a prokaryotic expression vector, and confirmed by DNA sequencing. After expression and purification, Western blotting was performed to detect the antigen, which could be recognized by equine herpesvirus positive sera. Bioinformatics technology and molecular biology techniques were used to successfully screen five potential B cell epitopes, which provided the foundation for the diagnosis of EHV-1 and design of the epitope vaccine.