Molecular characterization of HAO3, the homologue of the Bm86 tick vaccine antigen, from the Iranian isolate of Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum

Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum tick is widely distributed in many parts of Iran and while the commercial vaccines based on the application of midgut-derived recombinant Bm86 antigen are used for its control, limited information about the efficiency of this vaccination in Iran is available. Herein, with the final aim of evaluation of Bm86-based heterologous vaccination, as the primary step the Bm86 homologue of the H. a. anatolicum (Hao3) from an Iranian isolate was characterized and compared with the commercialized Bm86 and other Bm86 homologoue sequences available in GenBank.Our in silico predictions resulted in the identification of seven epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like domains, one hydrophobic transmembrane region, one leader sequence and several glycosylation sites within the structure of both Hao3 and Bm86 proteins, which suggested the pattern of extracellular membrane-bound glycoproteins with the role of regulation in cell growth for both proteins. Moreover, while the nucleotide and amino acid sequences corresponding to Bm86 homologue showed a high level of conservation among the Iranian isolates (Hao3, Hao3-1 and Hao3-2, more than 99%), the Hao3 amino acid sequence had a homology of around 89%, 64% and 65% with that of Indian, Australian and Argentinean isolates, respectively. This indicated a considerable variation between commercial Bm86 antigen and H. a. anatolicum Bm86-like protein of Iranian and Indian isolates. Taking together, these results imply that the efficiency of commercial Bm86-based vaccine against the Iranian H. a. anatolicum may be under the question and indicates the value of the development of Hao3-based recombinant vaccines and further planning for their in vivo evaluation.