title: Expression and stability of foreign epitopes introduced into 3A nonstructural protein of foot-and-mouth disease virus.
abstract: Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is an aphthovirus that belongs to the Picornaviridae family and causes one of the most important animal diseases worldwide. The capacity of other picornaviruses to express foreign antigens has been extensively reported, however, little is known about FMDV. To explore the potential of FMDV as a viral vector, an 11-amino-acid (aa) HSV epitope and an 8 aa FLAG epitope were introduced into the C-terminal different regions of 3A protein of FMDV full-length infectious cDNA clone. Recombinant viruses expressing the HSV or FLAG epitope were successfully rescued after transfection of both modified constructs. Immunofluorescence assay, Western blot and sequence analysis showed that the recombinant viruses stably maintained the foreign epitopes even after 11 serial passages in BHK-21 cells. The 3A-tagged viruses shared similar plaque phenotypes and replication kinetics to those of the parental virus. In addition, mice experimentally infected with the epitope-tagged viruses could induce tag-specific antibodies. Our results demonstrate that FMDV can be used effectively as a viral vector for the delivery of foreign tags.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
authors: Pinghua
authors: P
authors: Li
authors: Xingwen
authors: X
authors: Bai
authors: Yimei
authors: Y
authors: Cao
authors: Chenghao
authors: C
authors: Han
authors: Zengjun
authors: Z
authors: Lu
authors: Pu
authors: P
authors: Sun
authors: Hong
authors: H
authors: Yin
authors: Zaixin
authors: Z
authors: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D006224:Cricetinae; D000939:Epitopes / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D029544:Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D051379:Mice; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D014161:Transduction, Genetic; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins