title: Analysis of murine B-cell epitopes on bluetongue virus 12 nonstructural protein 1.
abstract: The bluetongue virus (BTV) NS1 protein is one of the major proteins synthesized during BTV infection and is responsible for the generation of virus-specific tubules. Although some functional and structural studies on the BTV NS1 protein have been reported, there have been no reports describing the linear B-cell epitopes recognized by humoral immune responses published to date. In this study, 25 BTV12 NS1-reactive monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and polyclonal antisera (polyclonal antibodies, PAbs) were generated and analyzed. We identified 14 linear NS1 epitopes recognized by the PAbs and MAbs using NS1-derived peptides in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Moreover, we predicted 23 linear B-cell epitopes using the ABCpred online server which employs an artificial neural network. Analysis of the predicted and identified epitopes of NS1 demonstrated the feasibility of B-cell epitope prediction. Sequence alignments indicated that the epitopes recognized by MAbs are highly conserved among BTV serotypes, but not among the other members of the genus Orbivirus, such as the African horse sickness virus (AHSV), epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV), and Chuzan disease virus (CV). Importantly, we identified specific MAbs that recognized all BTV serotypes tested as well as MAbs that recognized only BTV12, suggesting that these NS1-specific MAbs could serve as a basis for BTV diagnostic approaches. The generation and identification of NS1 protein epitopes will provide the foundation for further studies about the function and structure of NS1 and novel epitope-based vaccines.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Veterinary Public Health, Ministry of Agriculture, State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 427 Maduan Street, Nangang District, 150001, Harbin, People's Republic of China, wanghaixiu217@163.com.
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: HaiXiu
authors.forename: Sun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: EnCheng
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: QingYuan
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Zhang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: YuFei
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: JunPing
authors.forename: Lv
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shuang
authors.forename: Sun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Sun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.forename: Wu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: DongLai
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D001819:Bluetongue / Q000821:virology*; D001820:Bluetongue virus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D006224:Cricetinae; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; C078966:NS1 protein, bluetongue virus; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins