Next-generation bioinformatics approaches and resources for coronavirus vaccine discovery and development—a perspective review

Abstract

COVID-19 is a contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To fight this pandemic, which has caused a massive death toll around the globe, researchers are putting efforts into developing an effective vaccine against the pathogen. As genome sequencing projects for several coronavirus strains have been completed, a detailed investigation of the functions of the proteins and their 3D structures has gained increasing attention. These high throughput data are a valuable resource for accelerating the emerging field of immuno-informatics, which is primarily aimed toward the identification of potential antigenic epitopes in viral proteins that can be targeted for the development of a vaccine construct eliciting a high immune response. Bioinformatics platforms and various computational tools and databases are also essential for the identification of promising vaccine targets making the best use of genomic resources, for further experimental validation. The present review focuses on the various stages of the vaccine development process and the vaccines available for COVID-19. Additionally, recent advances in genomic platforms and publicly available bioinformatics resources in coronavirus vaccine discovery together with related immunoinformatics databases and advances in technology are discussed.