Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) is a major viral pathogen of salmonid fish and causes serious economic losses to salmonid aquaculture. Previously, we demonstrated that the IPNV capsid protein, VP2, expressed in yeast self-assembles into subviral particles (SVPs) and injection of these IPNV rVP2 SVPs into rainbow trout elicits an immune response. Immunized fish had reduced viral load...

Background: Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and economically important disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals worldwide. In recent years, a series of outbreaks of FMD have occurred in many countries. Recombinant protein synthesis incorporating protective B- and T-cell epitopes are candidates for new safer and more effective (FMD) vaccines that have potential to provide p...

A clone representing a full length cDNA copy of the bluetongue virus (BTV) outer capsid protein VP2 gene (serotype 1, isolated in Australia) was obtained using methods described elsewhere (1). The complete sequence of the gene determined by dideoxy method (2) was deduced to be 2940 base pairs long. It codes for a primary gene product of 962 amino acids with an estimated M.W. 112,087, a comparab...

Viral capsids are envisioned as vehicles to deliver the viral genome to the host cell. They are nonetheless dynamic protective shells, as they participate in numerous processes of the virus cycle such as assembly, genome packaging, binding to receptors, and uncoating among others. In so doing, they undergo large scale conformational changes. Capsid proteins with essential enzymatic activities a...

Rotavirus is a nonenveloped virus with a three-layered capsid. The inner layer, made of VP2, encloses the genomic RNA and two minor proteins, VP1 and VP3, with which it forms the viral core. Core assembly is coupled with RNA viral replication and takes place in definite cellular structures termed viroplasms. Replication and encapsidation mechanisms are still not fully understood, and little inf...

Parvovirus B19 (B19V) is pathogenic for humans and has an extreme tropism for human erythroid progenitors. We report cell type-specific expression of the B19V capsid genes (VP1 and VP2) and greatly increased B19V capsid protein production in nonpermissive cells by codon optimization. Codon usage limitation, rather than promoter type and the 3' untranslated region of the capsid genes, appears to...

infectious bursal disease virus (ibdv) infects young chickens and causes serious lose to the poultry industry, worldwide. previous attempts using purified bacterially expressed ibdv vp2 failed to elicit a protective immune response to the virus. this study was designed to investigate if the initial expressed protein contained neutralizing epitopes but became nonfunctional during purification st...

Virions of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) were completely disintegrated upon dialysis against salt-free buffers. Direct visualization of such preparations by electron microscopy revealed 5.0- to 6.5-nm-thick entangled filaments. By using a specific colloidal gold immunolabeling technique, these structures were shown to contain the viral protein VP3. Isolation by sucrose gradient ce...