Immunoinformatic assessment of Jeryl Lynn mumps strains

• Immunoinformatics is used to predict T and B-cell epitopes from the mumps Jeryl-Lynn vaccine. • Informatics is used to assess epitope differences between the Jeryl Lynn and the circulating strains. • Predicted T-cell epitopes in the circulating strains show amino acid substitutions compared to the Jeryl Lynn strains. • The B-cell epitope region in the circulating strains shows limited divergence from the Jeryl Lynn strains. Despite the high success of vaccination, mumps outbreaks have been described in different parts of the world. Among different aspects, sequence variation in circulating mumps virus strains and its potential relationship with immune recognition, has been proposed as a contributing factor. With the aim of systematically assess sequence variation and predicted B- and T-cell epitope landscapes across circulating mumps virus strains, we implemented a computational workflow for B- and T-cell epitope prediction and comparison using informatics tools. We used the Jeryl Lynn (JL) strain as a reference for comparative analysis. The results of this sequence conservation study agreed with empirical data and other in-silico analyses to a certain extent. In a yearly evaluation, the B-cell epitope region in the circulating mumps virus hemagglutinin neuraminidase (HN) proteins showed limited divergence from the JL HN proteins. Similarly, the JL Fusion (F) protein sequence did not show a high divergency in terms of predicted T and B-cell epitopes. The used workflow facilitated the analysis and comparison of circulating virus populations at an epitope-level, and provides a basis for generating testable hypotheses regarding patterns of immune recognition and their potential variability in the context of mumps virus diversity.