Analysis of Preferred Codon Usage in the ZIKA Virus Genome and Their Implications for Genome Evolution and Vaccine Design.

The Zika virus and its deadly infectious status is a major concern to the world and the scientific community is trying to tackle the problem. The variability in the genomic material of the various isolates from different geographical locations put forward a major hurdle in designing effective therapeutics against the evolving strains. The time and resources utilized for the therapeutic development against this virus and its efficacy against viral infection inhibition are also concerning. Therefore, in the present study we have opted for a computational approach to first identify the significant markers within the genomes of ZV from India, Africa, and South America origin and employ relative synonymous codon usage and host adaptation-based approaches. The homology observed between these strains in their envelope protein suggests this protein can be utilized for vaccine development upon in vitro validations.