Elsevier

Virology

Volume 433, Issue 1, 10 November 2012, Pages 45-54
Virology

New insights into the antigenic structure of the glycoprotein Erns of classical swine fever virus by epitope mapping

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2012.06.029Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Abstract

The Erns glycoprotein of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) has been studied in detail concerning biochemical and functional properties, whereas less is known about its antigenic structure.

In order to define epitopes recognized by CSFV-specific antibodies, the binding sites of seven Erns-specific monoclonal antibodies were investigated. Mapping experiments using chimeric Erns proteins, site-directed mutagenesis and an overlapping peptide library identified one antigenic region located between amino acids (aa) 55 to 110 on the Erns protein of CSFV Alfort/187. The domain comprises three linear motifs ⁎64TNYTCCKLQ72, 73RHEWNKHGW81, and 88DPWIQLMNR96, respectively, and two aa at position 102 and 107 that are crucial for the interaction with antibodies. Additionally, the presentation of the epitope in a correct conformation is mandatory for an efficient antibody binding. These findings allow a better understanding of the organization and the structure of the Erns and provide valuable information with regard to the development of Erns-based diagnostic tests.

Keywords

Classical swine fever virus
Erns glycoprotein
Epitope mapping
Peptide array
Chimeric proteins
Monoclonal antibody
Polyclonal antisera

Cited by (0)

1

Both authors contributed equally to this work.

2

Present address: Pevion Biotech AG, Worbentalstr. 32, CH-3063 Ittigen, Switzerland.

3

Deceased November 2010.