Anti-Infective Agents   Send Orders for Reprints to reprints@benthamscience.net 294 Anti-Infective Agents, 2020, 18, 294-305 RESEARCH ARTICLE Designing of an Epitope- Based Universal Peptide Vaccine against Highly Conserved Regions in RNA Dependent RNA Polymerase Protein of Hu- man Marburg Virus: A Computational Assay S.M. Neaz Mahmud 1,* , Mahbubur Rahman 1 , Antora Kar 1 , Nasreen Jahan 1 and Arif Khan 2,3,* 1 Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, MawlanaBhashani Science and Technology University, Santosh, Tan- gail-1902, Bangladesh; 2 Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, University of Development Alternative, 4/4B, Block A, Lalmatia, Dhaka-1209, Bangladesh; 3 Bio-Bio-1 Research Foundation, Sangskriti Bikash Kendra Bhaban, 1/E/1, Poribag, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh Abstract: Introduction: Marburg viruses are a group of negative-stranded RNA virus. It was first identi- fied in 1967 during a small outbreak. During that outbreak, the fatality rate increased highly and so many people died by the Marburg virus. Later seven strains of Marburg virus were identified from those infected humans. This virus causes Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in human referred to as Marburg hemorrhagic fever. Marburg virus is endemic only to Africa; however, there have been outbreaks in Europe and the U.S.A. in recent times. Objective: However, the Marburg virus has a high fatality rate, so a preventive measure should be taken to prevent infection. As there is no effective therapeutic agent available against these viruses, effective vac- cine design touching all strains would be a great step for human health. Methods: In our recent study, we used in silico analysis for designing a novel epitope-based vaccine against all strains of Marburg virus. As it consists of several structural proteins and multiple sequence alignment (MSA) of Glycoproteins, RNA-directed RNA polymerases, Nucleoproteins, Vp24 proteins, Vp30, Vp35, and Vp40 proteins showed all strains of Marburg virus were conserved in RNA-directed RNA polymerase pro- teins. Using that protein’s conserved region, T-cell and B-cell epitopes were determined. Results: Among the predicted epitope, only TIGNRAPYI was found to be highly immunogenic with 100% conservancy among all strain of human Marburg virus. The analysis also showed both types I and II major histocompatibility complex molecules interact with this epitope and found to be nonallergenic too. Conclusion: In vivo study of the proposed peptide is suggested for novel universal vaccine production that might be an effective way to prevent human Marburg virus disease. A R T I C L E H I S T O R Y Received: March 28, 2019 Revised: May 30, 2019 Accepted: June 21, 2019 DOI: 10.2174/2211352517666190717143949 Keywords: Marburg virus, marburg hemorrhagic fever, universal peptide vaccine, RNA directed RNA polymerase, epitope. 1. INTRODUCTION Marburg viruses are a member of filoviridae family, Mar- burg virus genus, and Mononegavirales order [1]. Marburg viruses are closely related to Ebola virus (EBOV) that causes serious infection on human and primates. This virus is an enveloped, single-stranded, unsegmented, negative-sense RNA virus which contains a filamentous structure that can appear in a shape like which is a 6 or spiralled like a Snail and can sometimes be branched [2]. The Virions of the *Address correspondence to these authors at the Department of Biotechnol- ogy and Genetic Engineering, University of Development Alternative, 4/4B, Block A, Lalmatia, Dhaka-1209 and Bio-Bio-1 Research Foundation, Sangskriti Bikash Kendra Bhaban, 1/E/1, Poribag, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh; E-mail: arifkhanbge35@gmail.com infected virus are 80nm in diameter and 800nm in length, although the length can vary up to 1400nm [3] and associat- ed with peak infective is 790nm. They contain long non- coding region at their 3 / or 5 / ends which probably contrib- utes to the stability of viral transcript. Marburg virus consists of several structural proteins and a negative-stranded linear RNA genome, about 19 kb in size [4]. In the center, it consists of a helical ribonucleocapsid, which may contain the genomic RNA wrapped around a polymer of nucleoprotein (NP) [5]. The RNA dependent RNA polymerase (L) protein lies in as- sociation with ribonucleoprotein along with the polymerase cofactor (vp35) and a transcription activator (vp30) [6]. The nucleoprotein is embedded with a matrix, formed by the major (vp40) and minor (vp24) matrix proteins [7]. These particles are surrounded by a lipid membrane derived from the host cell membrane. The membrane anchors a glycoprotein (GP1, 2) that projects 7 to 10 nm spikes away from its surface. 2211-3533/20 $65.00+.00 2020 Bentham Science Publishers