Immunoinformatic Approaches to Identify Immune Epitopes and Design an Epitope-Based Subunit Vaccine against Emerging Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV)

Tilapia tilapinevirus, known worldwide as tilapia lake virus (TiLV), is a single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the Amnoonviridae family. The virus attacks the fish species’ external and internal organs, such as the eyes, brain, and liver. Syncytial cells develop in the liver cells of infected fish, which are characterized by widespread hepatocellular necrosis and karyolytic nuclei. It is a highly infectious virus that spreads both horizontally and vertically. Despite these devastating complications, there is still no cure or vaccine for the virus. Therefore, a vaccine based on epitopes developed using immunoinformatics methods was developed against TiLV in fish. The putative polymerase basic 1 (PB1) gene was used to identify immunodominant T- and B-cell epitopes. Three probable epitopes were used…