Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Microbial Pathogenesis journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/micpath Prediction of conserved sites and domains in glycoproteins B, C and D of herpes viruses Muhammad Asif Rasheed a , Abdur Rahman Ansari b , Awais Ihsan a , Muhammad Tariq Navid c , Shahid ur-Rehman d , Sohail Raza e,* a Department of Biosciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal, 57000, Pakistan b Department of Basic Sciences, Section of Anatomy and Histology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (CVAS) Jhang, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore, Pakistan c Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, 66000, Pakistan d University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Sub-Campus Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan e Department of Microbiology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Bioinformatics Binding Glycoproteins Herpes virus ABSTRACT Glycoprotein B (gB), C (gC) and D (gD) of herpes simplex virus are implicated in virus adsorption and pene- tration. The gB, gC and gD are glycoproteins for different processes of virus binding and attachment to the host cells. Moreover, their expression is necessary and sufficient to induce cell fusion in the absence of other gly- coproteins. Egress of herpes simplex virus (HSV) and other herpes viruses from cells involves extensive mod- ification of cellular membranes and sequential envelopment, de-envelopment and re-envelopment steps. Viral glycoproteins are important in these processes, and frequently two or more glycoproteins can largely suffice in any step. Hence, we target the 3 important glycoproteins (B, C and D) of eight different herpes viruses of different species. These species include human (HSV1 and 2), bovine (BHV1), equine (EHV1 and 4), chicken (ILT1 and MDV2) and pig (PRV1). By applying different bioinformatics tools, we highlighted the conserved sites in these glycoproteins which might be most significant regarding attachment and infection of the viruses. Moreover the conserved domains in these glycoproteins are also highlighted. From this study, we will able to analyze the role of different viral glycoproteins of different species during herpes virus adsorption and pene- tration. Moreover, this study will help to construct the antivirals that target the glycoproteins of different herpes viruses. 1. Introduction Herpes viruses are members of Herpesviridae family. This family consists of DNA viruses and it is a very large family. The viruses related to this family cause many diseases in animals and humans [1]. Herpes simplex viruses cause mucocutaneous lesions in the affected humans. These lesions are also known as cold sores. Moreover, viruses may also cause genital lesions which are known as herpes genitalis. These viruses perform their normal functions using many proteins produced by the viruses itself. Moreover, the envelopes of all herpes viruses contain many integral membrane proteins. For example, in alpha herpes virus, more than ten transmembrane glycoproteins are present. Similarly many glycoproteins including gB, gC and gD, are known to be present as multimers [2–5]. These glycoproteins are very significant for virus and absolutely required for different infections cause by herpes viruses [6,7]. Moreover, different glycoproteins and their combinations are necessary and sufficient to induce cell-cell fusion in a transient trans- fection assay [8]. Furthermore the combination of different glycopro- teins specifically gB, gC and gD is required to construct discrete mor- phological structures of the virus which were observed using immune- electron microscope [9]. The virus may become latent after the primary infection. In latent infection, the virus resides in neurons specifically in sensory and au- tonomic neurons and cause infection after the incubation period [10]. After infection, attachment and entry of the virus in the host cells are main steps. Hence, these steps are the main targets for vaccines de- velopment and treatment of the diseases cause by the herpes viruses. The virus attaches and enters in the host cells using its glycoproteins. Moreover, these biological processes involve 5 of the 12 known surface glycoproteins of the herpes virus [11]. After binding, glycoprotein D (gD) and it's receptors play a key role for virus to enter in the cell. The gD functions with its receptors including herpes virus entry mediator https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micpath.2018.01.020 Received 7 November 2017; Received in revised form 10 January 2018; Accepted 11 January 2018 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: sohail.raza@uvas.edu.pk (S. Raza). Microbial Pathogenesis 116 (2018) 91–99 0882-4010/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T