title: Identification of immunogenic hot spots within plum pox potyvirus capsid protein for efficient antigen presentation.
abstract: PEPSCAN analysis has been used to characterize the immunogenic regions of the capsid protein (CP) in virions of plum pox potyvirus (PPV). In addition to the well-known highly immunogenic N- and C-terminal domains of CP, regions within the core domain of the protein have also shown high immunogenicity. Moreover, the N terminus of CP is not homogeneously immunogenic, alternatively showing regions frequently recognized by antibodies and others that are not recognized at all. These results have helped us to design efficient antigen presentation vectors based on PPV. As predicted by PEPSCAN analysis, a small displacement of the insertion site in a previously constructed vector, PPV-gamma, turned the derived chimeras into efficient immunogens. Vectors expressing foreign peptides at different positions within a highly immunogenic region (amino acids 43 to 52) in the N-terminal domain of CP were the most effective at inducing specific antibody responses against the foreign sequence.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (C.S.I.C.), Campus de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: M Rosario
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Fernández-Fernández
authors.forename: Jorge L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Martínez-Torrecuadrada
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Roncal
authors.forename: Elvira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Domínguez
authors.forename: Juan Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: García
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis; D017951:Antigen Presentation; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D002678:Chimera / Q000276:immunology; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D017801:Plum Pox Virus / Q000276:immunology*; D014771:Virion / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral