Bioinformatics Designing and Molecular Modelling of a Universal mRNA Vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Elijah Kolawole Oladipo; Micheal Oluwafemi Adeniyi; Mercy Temiloluwa Ogunlowo; Boluwatife Ayobami Irewolede; Victoria Oluwapelumi Adekanola; Glory Samuel Oluseyi; Janet Abisola Omilola; Anietie Femi Udoh; Seun Elijah Olufemi; Daniel Adewole Adediran; Aanuoluwapo Olonade; Usman Abiodun Idowu; Olatunji M Kolawole; Julius Kola Oloke; Helen Onyeaka

doi:10.3390/vaccines10122107

Bioinformatics Designing and Molecular Modelling of a Universal mRNA Vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Dec 9;10(12):2107. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10122107.

Authors

Elijah Kolawole Oladipo^{1

2}, Micheal Oluwafemi Adeniyi¹, Mercy Temiloluwa Ogunlowo¹, Boluwatife Ayobami Irewolede¹, Victoria Oluwapelumi Adekanola^{1

3}, Glory Samuel Oluseyi^{1

4}, Janet Abisola Omilola^{1

3}, Anietie Femi Udoh⁵, Seun Elijah Olufemi^{1

6}, Daniel Adewole Adediran^{1

6}, Aanuoluwapo Olonade⁶, Usman Abiodun Idowu^{1

7}, Olatunji M Kolawole⁸, Julius Kola Oloke⁹, Helen Onyeaka¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Genomics Unit, Helix Biogen Institute, Ogbomoso 210214, Nigeria.
² Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Immunology and Bioinformatics, Department of Microbiology, Adeleke University, Ede 231104, Nigeria.
³ Department of Pure and Applied Biology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso 210214, Nigeria.
⁴ Department of Human and Clinical Anatomy, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso 210214, Nigeria.
⁵ Department of Biochemistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife 220005, Nigeria.
⁶ Department of Biochemistry, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso 210214, Nigeria.
⁷ Microbiology Unit, Department of Pure and Applied Biology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso 210214, Nigeria.
⁸ Department of Microbiology, University of Ilorin, Ilorin 234031, Nigeria.
⁹ Department of Natural Science, Precious Cornerstone, Ibadan 200132, Nigeria.
¹⁰ School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.

Abstract

At this present stage of COVID-19 re-emergence, designing an effective candidate vaccine for different variants of SARS-CoV-2 is a study worthy of consideration. This research used bioinformatics tools to design an mRNA vaccine that captures all the circulating variants and lineages of the virus in its construct. Sequences of these viruses were retrieved across the six continents and analyzed using different tools to screen for the preferable CD8⁺ T lymphocytes (CTL), CD4⁺ T lymphocytes (HTL), and B-cell epitopes. These epitopes were used to design the vaccine. In addition, several other co-translational residues were added to the construct of an mRNA vaccine whose molecular weight is 285.29686 kDa with an estimated pI of 9.2 and has no cross affinity with the human genome with an estimated over 68% to cover the world population. It is relatively stable, with minimal deformability in its interaction with the human innate immune receptor, which includes TLR 3 and TLR 9. The overall result has proven that the designed candidate vaccine is capable of modulating cell-mediated immune responses by activating the actions of CD4⁺ T cells, natural killer cells, and macrophages, and displayed an increased memory T cell and B cell activities, which may further be validated via in vivo and in vitro techniques.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; bioinformatics; lineages; mRNA vaccine; variants.

Grants and funding

No form of financial assistance was received from any external organization, be it in the public, commercial, or non-profit sectors, during the course of this research.