title: Identification of a linear neutralization domain in the protein VP2 of African horse sickness virus.
abstract: Overlapping fragments of the outermost capsid protein VP2 of African horse sickness virus serotype 4 (AHSV-4) have been expressed in Escherichia coli. Horse sera from infected and vaccinated animals, rabbit sera, and mice monoclonal antibodies specific for AHSV were used to screen these fragments for antigenic regions. The screening revealed that the major antigenic domain of the AHSV-4 VP2 is localized in a central region (amino acids 200 to 413) and that both the N-terminal region (aa 1-159) and the half C-terminal region (aa 414-1060) are not immunogenic. All the fragments containing a region between amino acids 253 and 413 (fragment H) were able to elicit consistently high titers of neutralizing antibodies. The ability of several subfragments of this region to evoke neutralizing antibodies indicates the presence of several sites inside this domain. However, neutralizing antibodies in sera of horse infected or vaccinated with attenuated viruses were not absorbed by fragment H, indicating that this domain is not immunodominant in AHSV. This information might be useful in designing a subunit vaccine against AHSV infection.
authors.affiliation: Immunología y Genética Aplicada S.A. (INGENASA), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Martínez-Torrecuadrada
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Casal
mesh_terms: D000356:African Horse Sickness Virus / Q000276:immunology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis; D001483:Base Sequence; D002213:Capsid / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D005814:Genes, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D006736:Horses; D007106:Immune Sera; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D011817:Rabbits; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D000939:Epitopes; D007106:Immune Sera; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C442519:VP2 protein, African horse sickness virus; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins