Property and structure of elongation factor 1 in Echinococcus granulous,a bioinformatics analysis

Objective To analyze the property and structure of elongation factor 1 (EF-1) in Echinococcus granulous with bioinformatics technology and to explore its value in diagnosis of echinococcosis.Methods Physicochemical property of EF-1 was predicted using Expasy system.Hydrophiloity plot,flexible regions,antigenic index,and surface accessibility were analyzed with DNAStar software.B cell linear antigen epitopes were forecasted with ABCpred and IEDB software.T cell antigen epitopes were forecasted with DNAStar software.The secondary and three-dimensional structure of EF-1 were determined using SOPMA software and SWISS-MODEL website separately.The phylogenetic tree for amino acid sequences of EF-1 was built with neighbor joining method of MEGA software.Results The whole gene of EF-1 was 1 412 bp in length,containing two introns.The high score areas of hydrophiloity plot were 35-45,52-70,126-140,158-183,301-322,357-380,and 424-448.The flexible regions were 26-45,54-71,162-176,300-318,357-381,and 432-448.The regions with high score of antigenic index were similar to the flexible regions.There were a few regions with the high score of surface accessibility,mainly locating at 39-54,62-76,128-132,161-170,220-234,315-329,354-372,and 424-448.The potential amino acids sequences of B cell linear epitopes were 120-130,286-295,306-320,and 365-378.The potential advantaged T cell epitope areas were 34-48,164-177,222-244,280-290,321-330,and 396-407.The proportions of secondary structure of EF-1 were 32.81% for α-helix,22.54% for β-sheet,accounted 10.94% for β-corner,and 33.71% for random coil,respectively.The constructed phylogenetic tree of EF-1 demonstrates a branch of Echinococcus multilocularis had its own branch and another branch with many internal dentate branches.Conclusion Four B cell epitopes and six advanted T cell epiopes of EF-1 were identified with the bioinformatics analysis and phylogenetic tree reveals that EF-1 is high conservative.These findings suggest that the epitopes of EF-1 in Echinococcus granulous could be adopted as targets for immunological diagnosis and drug treatment of echinococcosis.