Computer-based comparison of structural features of envelope protein of Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus with the homologous proteins of two closest viruses.

The aim of this study was prediction of epitopes and medically important structural properties of protein E of Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus (AHFV) and comparing these features with two closely relates viruses, i.e. Kyasanur Forest disease virus (KFDV) and Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) by bioinformatics tools. Prediction of evolutionary distance, localization, sequence of signal peptides, C, N O glycosylation sites, transmembrane helices (TMHs), cysteine bond positions and B cell and T cell epitopes of E proteins were performed. 2D-MH, Virus-PLoc, Signal-CF, EnsembleGly, MemBrain, DiANNA, BCPREDS and MHCPred servers were applied for the prediction. According to the results, the evolutionary distance of E protein of AHFV and two other viruses was almost equal. In all three proteins of study, residues 1-35 were predicted as signal sequences and one asparagine was predicted to be glycosylated. Results of prediction of transmembrane helices showed one TMH at position 444-467 and the other one at position 476-490. Twelve cysteines were potentially involved to form six disulfide bridges in the proteins. Four parts were predicted as B cell epitopes in E protein of AHFV. One epitope was conserved between three proteins of study. The only conserved major histocompatibility complex (MHC) binding epitope between three viruses was for DRB0401 allele. As there are not much experimental data available about AHFV, computer-aided study and comparison of E protein of this virus with two closely related flaviviruses can help in better understanding of medical properties of the virus.