CHENNAI: Researchers at the IIT-Madras (Indian Institute of Technology have developed an online open-source database of coronaviruses' neutralising antibodies.
The institution said in a statement on Monday that the database known as "Ab-CoV" contains comprehensive data about all Covid-related antibodies discovered so far, including the source of each antibody and the viral protein(s) and virus strains they recognise. The discovery of medications to combat novel SARS-CoV-2 variants can also be aided by Ab-CoV.
The Ab-CoV database comprises more than 3,200 data points on half maximum inhibitory concentration, half maximal effective concentration, and binding affinity, as well as 1,780 coronavirus-related antibodies, including 211 nanobodies.
Researchers can use the data compiled in this database, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Bioinformatics, to help with antibody engineering, immune escape analysis for current and upcoming SARS-CoV-2 variants, computational studies on neutralising antibodies, and relating structural characteristics with binding affinity.
In the statement, M. Michael Gromiha, Faculty, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, stated that some of the data in the Ab-CoV database had already been used to comprehend the relationship between structural features and binding affinities of spike protein-antibody complexes as well as antibody repurposing.
Users can easily search and download the processed data from Ab-CoV using a variety of search and display options based on the name of the antibody, the viral protein epitope, the neutralised viral strain, the antibody, and the nanobody. Also, it offers a 3D model representation of the architecture of virus or antibody proteins, Gromiha continued.
Even though there are a lot of experimental and computational data to comprehend the virus online, the appearance of new varieties pushed researchers to obtain fresh and thorough data.
Such initiatives will aid in the development of novel medications and improve response to global disasters that have an impact on human health and economics.
Vani Janakiraman, Faculty, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, said: "AbCoV is an exhaustive repository of antibodies, not just specific to SARS CoV-2 but also to other members of the coronavirus family such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) viruses.
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