Conformational Epitope Prediction of Birch Betv 1 and Hazel Cor A1 Towards B-Cells

Background: White birch and hazel allergens, namely Bet v1 and Cor a1 are known allergens, but their allergen specificity is not yet characterized.

Objective: To map the antigenic determinants responsible for IgE binding utilizing in silico modelling and docking of the peptides against IgE antibody.

Methods: The antigen sequences were cut into peptides are docked against the IgE antibody and those with the highest docking scores are further studied for the bond interactions. The overlapping sequences of the high score peptides are observed in the whole antigen model to predict their position. The residues at bond interactions also been reported for these overlapping peptide sequences.

Results: The validation is done by antigen-antibody docking studies to confirm the predicted epitope. 25% of the world population suffers from allergic rhinitis and 15% of them develop asthma. Conclusion: Negative binding energies of the studied pollen allergens with IgE confirm their allergenicity. Based on the results of overlapping peptides PF 3,4 and PF 16,17 to play a key role in the allergenic response of white birch and Common hazel.