bcipep

bcipep compiles experimentally determined linear B-cell epitopes from viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and fungi to support immunology research and peptide-based vaccine design.

Key Features:

• Curated entries: 3,031 experimentally determined linear B-cell epitopes categorized by immunogenicity into 763 immunodominant, 1,797 immunogenic, and 471 null-immunogenic entries.
• Search and analysis: Keyword search, peptide mapping, and BLAST search functionalities for locating and comparing epitope sequences.
• Cross-references: Hyperlinks to GenBank, PDB, SWISS-PROT, and MHCBN for integration with external sequence and structural resources.
• Benchmark dataset: Repository suitable for developing and evaluating computational B-cell epitope prediction methods.

Scientific Applications:

• Peptide-based vaccine design: Selection and analysis of immunodominant epitopes to inform vaccine antigen choice.
• Disease diagnosis: Identification of epitope markers for pathogen-specific serological assays.
• Allergy research: Investigation of epitope-mediated allergic responses.
• Computational method development: Development and evaluation of B-cell epitope prediction algorithms using curated experimental data.

Methodology:

bcipep compiles experimentally determined linear B-cell epitopes, categorizes them by immunogenicity into immunodominant, immunogenic, and null-immunogenic classes, and provides keyword search, peptide mapping, and BLAST search functionalities with cross-references to GenBank, PDB, SWISS-PROT, and MHCBN.