Abstract:

Epitopes are the material basis of reactions between allergens and antibodies. Bioinformatics can provide a basis
for the prediction of both linear epitopes and conformational epitopes. The prediction of linear epitopes is based on the
physicochemical properties of the allergenic protein. The prediction of conformational epitopes is based on protein structural
information in combination with phage display technology. The epitope prediction based on bioinformatics is mainly applied
on animal-derived food allergens, such as milk, eggs, fish and crustaceans as well as on plant-derived food allergens, such as
peanuts, soybeans, wheat and vegetables.

Key words: bioinformatics, food allergy, epitope prediction