Phylogenetic characterization and threading based-epitope mapping of leptospiral outer membrane lipoprotein LipL41

Abstract

Leptospiral outer membrane Lipoprotein LipL41 is one of the key virulence factor expressed during leptospiral infection on mammalian host. Phylogenetic analysis of LipL41 from 87 pathogenic species has shown the comprising lineages of LipL41 with largely varying rates of evolution. The species of L. borgpetersenii are clustered together and form a group with highest bootstrap value. Relationships between the species Lai and Copenhageni are resolved by 20 and 8 sequences separately with highest and lowest bootstrap values of 99 and 50, respectively. Molecular model of LipL41 was predicted in Raptor X server to map eight sequential and conformational B cell epitopes of LipL41 in Ellipro server. All these epitopes were found to be conserved among Leptospira and these could be used for the development of vaccine and diagnostic kit to detect Leptospira.