Immunoinformatic Analysis of Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase 7 (CDPK7) Showed Potential Targets for Toxoplasma gondii Vaccine

• Main Authors: Ali Taghipour, Sanaz Tavakoli, Mohamad Sabaghan, Masoud Foroutan, Hamidreza Majidiani, Shahrzad Soltani, Milad Badri, Ali Dalir Ghaffari, Sheyda Soltani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2021-01-01
• Series: Journal of Parasitology Research
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/9974509

Apicomplexan parasites, including Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), express different types of calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs), which perform a variety of functions, including attacking and exiting the host cells. In the current bioinformatics study, we have used several web servers to predict the basic features and specifications of the CDPK7 protein. The findings showed that CDPK7 protein has 2133 amino acid residues with an average molecular weight (MW) of 219085.79 D. The aliphatic index with 68.78 and grand average of hydropathicity (GRAVY) with -0.331 score were estimated. The outcomes of current research showed that the CDPK7 protein included 502 alpha-helix, 1311 random coils, and 320 extended strands with GOR4 method. Considering the Ramachandran plot, the favored region contains more than 92% of the amino acid residues. In addition, evaluation of antigenicity and allergenicity showed that CDPK7 protein has immunogenic and nonallergenic nature. The present research provides key data for more animal-model study on the CDPK7 protein to design an efficient vaccine against toxoplasmosis in the future.