Abstract:

Conformational epitope prediction of food allergens is one of the important aspects of allergen research.
Currently, there are four major kinds of prediction tools mainly including 1) Epitope prediction based on amino acid
properties of allergens. It was often used combined with other tools; 2) Epitope prediction based on protein primary structure
which is still being improved; 3) Epitope prediction based on using protein tertiary structure .It is easy to use and reliable,
but it can not predict an target epitope; 4) Epitope prediction based on combining phage display technology with various
biological information softwares. It can prediction the target epitope quickly and has a broad prospect. Thus, this method of
epitope prediction is easy, time-saving and economical. It plays a very important role in practical use.

Key words: food allergy, comformational epitope, epitope prediction