Expression and production of recombinant proteins from immunodominant E gene regions of bovine viral diarrhoea virus 1 (BVDV-1) Turkish field strains for prophylactic purpose

Abstract

Since the first description of Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV) infection, many studies have been performed, and control and eradication programs were developed worldwide. Several studies have been conducted on the presence/prevalence and molecular characterization of BVD viruses in Turkey. However, there is no effective struggle programs for BVDV infection up to now in Turkey. Current study has been conducted for the identification of the E gene region which encodes several immunogenic proteins of BVDV, tested the immunogenicity of the recombinant proteins for possible vaccine production. We focused on the molecular characterization of the E gene region of field pestivirus isolates (n=40) which were obtained in Turkey between 1997 and 2007. Two recombinant proteins, E-ms and E2, were chosen from the E region and expressed in baculovirus vector system. The acquired proteins (approximately 34 kDa for E-ms belonging to BVDV 1-a and 44 kDa for E2 belonging to BVDV 1-l) triggered a humoral immune response in mice. These proteins could represent a good starting material in preparation of vaccines which are indispensable for control and eradication programs of pestivirus infections in Turkey.