• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.93-98
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• 2015

Full-length recombinant VP2 and VP3 proteins of aquabirnavirus isolated from olive flounder were expressed successfully in E. coli expression system. After rats were immunized with these proteins, antisera were used for in vitro and in vivo neutralization test. In in vitro test, VP2 antibody titers were higher than that of VP3. In in vivo assays, fish challenged with aquabirnavirus neutralized with VP2 antibody survived longer than other fish.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.449-456
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• 2003

The VP2 gene of aquatic birnavirus, Korean isolate (GC-1) was cloned and expressed using the baculovirus expression system. The VP2 gene and VP2 partial gene, which contained a neutralizing epitope, were constructed for recombinant transfer vectors, for baculovirus expression. The expressed recombinant proteins were confirmed by indirect immuno fluorescence antibody (IFA), SDS-PAGE and Western blot. The level of expression was checked at regular time using IFA and Western blot. To measure the neutralizing activity of recombinant proteins against GC-1 strain, the antisera against recombinant proteins were produced by using guinea pigs. The result showed that the antisera neutralized the GC-1 strain. However, the neutralizing titer was higher in antisera against the VP2 gene expressed recombinant protein than that of VP2 partial gene recombinant protein.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.19.1-19.7
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• 2021

Feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) causes leukopenia and severe hemorrhagic diarrhea, killing 50% of naturally infected cats. Although intact FPV can serve as an antigen in the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test, an accidental laboratory-mediated infection is concern. A non-infectious diagnostic reagent is required for the HI test. Here, we expressed the viral protein 2 (VP2) gene of the FPV strain currently prevalent in South Korea in a baculovirus expression system; VP2 protein was identified by an indirect immunofluorescence assay, electron microscopy (EM), Western blotting (WB), and a hemagglutination assay (HA). EM showed that the recombinant VP2 protein self-assembled to form virus-like particles. WB revealed that the recombinant VP2 was 65 kDa in size. The HA activity of the recombinant VP2 protein was very high at 1:2¹⁵. A total of 143 cat serum samples were tested using FPV (HI-FPV test) and the recombinant VP2 protein (HI-VP2 test) as HI antigens. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the HI-VP2 test were 99.3%, 88.9%, and 99.3%, respectively, compared to the HI-FPV test. The HI-VP2 and HI-FPV results correlated significantly (r = 0.978). Thus, recombinant VP2 can substitute for intact FPV as the serological diagnostic reagent of the HI test for FPV.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.1181-1185
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• 2010

This study was carried out to evaluate the vaccination effects of recombinant fusion protein rVP19+28 against WSSV in shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. The VP19+28 gene fused with VP19 and VP28 genes was inserted into pET-28a(+) expression vector and cloned in E. coli BL21 (DE3) to produce fused gene product recombinant VP19+VP28 as a single protein. For the vaccination, the shrimps were fed with pellets coated with purified recombinant protein, rVP19+28, for 2 weeks. Then, constant amounts of WSSV at $1{\times}10^2$ diluted stocks were injected to the muscle of the shrimp for the in vivo challenge tests. Non-vaccinated shrimps showed a cumulative mortality of 100% at 11 days post-challenge. The shrimps vaccinated with the inactivated E. coli BL21 as a host cell control showed cumulative mortality of 100% at 17 days post-challenge. The shrimps vaccinated with rVP19, rVP28 and rVP19+28 showed mortalities of 66.7%, 41.7% and 41.7% at 21 days post-challenge, respectively. These results indicated that the rVP28 and rVP19+28 had relatively high vaccination effects against WSSV infection. However, this study suggests that the fusion protein rVP19+28 was more effective for the protection of shrimp against WSSV than rVP28, even though the cumulative mortalities were the same 21 days post-challenge.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.265-273
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• 2009

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is a small single-stranded RNA virus which belongs to the family Picornaviridae, genus Apthovirus. It is a principal cause of FMD which is highly contagious in livestock. In a wild type virus infection, infected animals usually elicit antibodies against structural and non-structural protein of FMDV. A structural protein, VP1, is involved in neutralization of virus particle, and has both B and T cell epitopes. A RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, 3D, is highly conserved among other serotypes and strongly immunogenic, therefore, we selected VP1 and 3D as vaccine targets. VP1 and 3D genes were codon-optimized to enhance protein expression level and cloned into mammalian expression vector. To produce recombinant protein, VP1 and 3D genes were also cloned into pET vector. The VP1 and 3D DNA or proteins were co-immunized into 5 weeks old BALB/C mice. Antigen-specific serum antibody (Ab) responses were detected by Ab ELISA. Cellular immune response against VP1 and 3D was confirmed by ELISpot assay. The results showed that all DNA- and protein-immunized groups induced cellular immune responses, suggesting that both DNA and recombinant protein vaccine administration efficiently induced Ag-specific humoral and cellular immune responses.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.239-255
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• 1997

Expression of the cDNA of the VP1 gene on the genome RNA B segment of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) DRT strain in E. coli and a recombinant baculovirus were carried out. The VP1 gene in the pMal-pol clone (Lee et al. 1995) was cleaved with XbaI and transferred into baculovirus transfer vector, pBacPAK9 and it was named pBacVP1 clone. The VP1 gene in the pBacVP1 clone was double-digested with SacI and PstI and then inserted just behind T5 phage promoter and the $6{\times}His$ region of the pQE-3D expression vector, and it was called pQEVPl. Again, the $6{\times}$His-tagged VP1 DNA fragment in the pQEVP1 was cleaved with EcoRI and transferred into the VP1 site of the pBacVP1, resulting pBacHis-VP1 recombinant. The pBacHis-VP1 DNA was cotransfected with LacZ-Hyphantria cunea nuclear polyhedrosis virus (LacZ-HcNPV) DNA digested with Bsu361 onto S. frugiperda cells to make a recombinant virus. One VP1-gene inserted recombinant virus was selected by plaque assay. The recombinant virus was named VP1-HcNPV-1. The $6{\times}$His-tagged VP1 protein produced by the pQEVP1 was purified with Ni-NTA resin chromatography and analyzed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. The molecular weight of the VP1 protein was 94 kDa. The recombinant virus, VP1-HcNPV-1 did not form polyhedral inclusion bodies and expressed VP1 protein with 95 kDa in the infected S. frugiperda cells, which was detected by Western blot. The titer of the VP1-HcNPV-1 in the first infected cells was $2.0{\times}10^5\;pfu/ml$ at 7 days postinfection.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.170-175
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• 2011

This study was carried out for the molecular level identification of recombinant protein vaccine efficacy, by oral feeding against white spot syndrome virus infection, with the comparison of viral mRNA transcriptional levels in shrimp cells. For the determination of WSSV dilution ratio for the vaccination experiment by oral feeding, in vivo virus titration was carried out using different virus dilutions of virus stock ($1{\times}10^2$, $2{\times}10^2$, and $1{\times}10^3$). Among the dilution ratios, $2{\times}10^2$ diluted WSSV stock was chosen as the optimal condition because this dilution showed 90% mortality at 10 days after virus injection. Recombinant viral proteins, rVP19 and rVP28, produced as protein vaccines were delivered in shrimps by oral feeding. The cumulative mortalities of the shrimps vaccinated with rVP19 and rVP28 at 21 days after the challenge with WSSV were 66.7% and 41.7%, respectively. This indicates that rVP28 showed a better protective effect against WSSV in shrimp than rVP19. Through the comparison of mRNA transcriptional levels of viral genes from collected shrimp organ samples, it was confirmed that viral gene transcriptions of vaccinated shrimps were delayed for 4~10 days compared with those of unvaccinated shrimps. Protection from WSSV infection in shrimp by the vaccination with recombinant viral proteins could be accomplished by the prevention of entry of WSSV due to the shrimp immune system activated by recombinant protein vaccines.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.320-325
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• 2012

Rotavirus and hepatitis A virus (HAV) spread by the fecal-oral route and infections are important in public health, especially in developing countries. Here, two antigenic epitopes of the HAV polyprotein, domain 2 (D2) and domain 3 (D3), were recombined with rotavirus VP7, generating D2/VP7 and D3/VP7, cloned in a baculovirus expression system, and expressed in Spodoptera frugiperda 9 (Sf9) insect cells. All were highly expressed, with peak expression 2 days post-infection. Western blotting and ELISA revealed that two chimeric proteins were antigenic, but only D2/VP7 was immunogenic and elicited neutralizing antibody responses against rotavirus and HAV by neutralization assay, implicating D2/VP7 as a multivalent subunit-vaccine Candidate for preventing both rotavirus and HAV infections.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2014

The resistance against white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection in wild marine crab Gaetice depressus by the immunization of a recombinant glutathione-S-transferase (GST) fused VP28 protein (GST-VP28) was evaluated. The cumulative mortalities of GST-VP28 injected groups were lower than those of the control groups at 10 days of post-challenge, and the time to death of 50% crab ($TD_{50}$) was delayed by the immunization using GST-VP28. The group boosted with GST-VP28 after 2 weeks of primary immunization clearly showed longer $TD_{50}$ than non-boosted group against challenge with WSSV. This result suggests that boosting with the antigen protein elicit stronger immune responses similar to adaptive immune responses of vertebrates. However, the short $TD_{50}$ was observed in the group challenged at 3 weeks post boosting comparing to the group challenged at 1 week post boosting. This suggests that the protective strength of immunization decreased by the time.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.369-377
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• 1998

Rotavirus is a major cause of severe gastroenteritis in young children and animals throughout the world. The VP7 of rotavirus is thought to induce the synthesis of neutralizing antibodies and to be responsible for determining viral serotypes. The cDNA coding for the VP7 capsid protein of human rotavirus, obtained from Korean patients (HRV-Y14), was cloned and its nucleotide sequence was determined. Comparative analysis of the nucleotide sequences between VP7 of Y14 and that of other foreign isolates showed $92.7~95.2\%$ homology to G1 serotypes (RV-4, KU, K8, WA), $74.2\%$ homolgy to G2 serotype HU-5, $76.4\%$ homology to G3 serotype SA-11, and $77.6\%$ homology to G4 serotype A01321. These data suggest that HRV-Y14 can be classified as a G1 serotype. cDNA coding for VP7 of HRV-YI4 was subcloned into the baculovirus vector and the VP7 glycoprotein was expressed in insect cells. The expressed proteins in Sf9 cell extract and tissue culture fluid were separated on SDS-PAGE, and Western blot analysis with monoclonal antibody raised against the synthetic peptide containing 21 amino acids within the VP7 conserved region was performed. The molecular weight of recombinant VP7 was estimated to be 36 kDa which is about the same size as the native VP7. Addition of tunicamycin in the culture media caused a reduction of the molecular weight of the recombinant VP7 indicating that the expressed protein was glycosylated.