Development of epitope‐based peptide vaccine against novel coronavirus 2019 (SARS‐COV‐2): Immunoinformatics approach

Recently, a novel coronavirus (SARS‐COV‐2) emerged which is responsible for the recent outbreak in Wuhan, China. Genetically, it is closely related to SARS‐CoV and MERS‐CoV. The situation is getting worse and worse, therefore, there is an urgent need for designing a suitable peptide vaccine component against the SARS‐COV‐2. Here, we characterized spike glycoprotein to obtain immunogenic epitopes. Next, we chose 13 Major Histocompatibility Complex‐(MHC) I and 3 MHC‐II epitopes, having antigenic properties. These epitopes are usually linked to specific linkers to build vaccine components and molecularly dock on toll‐like receptor‐5 to get binding affinity. Therefore, to provide a fast immunogenic profile of these epitopes, we performed immunoinformatics analysis so that the rapid development of the vaccine might bring this disastrous situation to the end earlier. Highlights The potential epitopes of coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) are identified. The docking complex of the construct vaccine and TLR5 is described. Peptide‐based vaccine developed and in silico validation is provided. Common epitopes of coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) against B‐cells and T‐cells are listed.