Identification of potential new vaccine candidates in Salmonella typhi using reverse vaccinology and subtractive genomics-based approach

Abstract

Salmonella enterica serovar typhi is the causative agent of typhoid fever in human. The available vaccine lacks the effectiveness and further overuse of the antibiotics throughout the past decades lead to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains. To reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance, it is essential to develop new vaccines. In this study using an extensive bioinformatic analysis based on reverse vaccinology and subtractive genomics-based approach, we searched the genome of S typhi. We found that two outermost membrane proteins LptD and LptE, which are responsible for the final transport of the LPS across the membrane having most of the essential signature for being vaccine target. Both of these proteins are found highly conserved and possess shared surface epitopes among several species of Salmonella pathogens. This indicates that these two proteins could be the potential target for vaccine development, which could be effective for a broad range of Salmonella pathogens.