Delineation of an epitope recognized by a chikungunya virus anti-capsid monoclonal antibody on the protease domain using an immuno-informatics approach.

The capsid-protein (CP) of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is reported to generate a primary immune response in infected individuals during disease progression. CP-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) developed in our laboratory, exhibited promising potential in diagnosing recent CHIKV infection in IgM capture ELISA. In this study we focused on the molecular and structural characterization of one such representative mAb ClVE4/D9 to delineate the epitope recognized by it using an immuno-informatics approach. The antigen-antibody interacting residues were found to lie within the dimer interface region of the CP, also predicted as a conformational epitope. This implies that the mAb could interfere during the process of nucleocapsid assembly, ultimately preventing budding and egress of the virus particle. The binding specificity of the mAb highlights the possibility of using this anti-CP antibody for therapeutic or prophylactic treatment against CHIKV.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.