Construction of a recombinant orf virus that expresses an Echinococcus granulosus vaccine antigen from a novel genomic insertion site.

ABSTRACT

The potential of recombinant poxviruses as expression vectors has been extensively studied using Vaccinia virus but there has been only limited transfer of this technology to the Parapoxvirus genus. We detail here the construction of a recombinant Orf virus that expresses an antigenic peptide (EG95) of the causative agent of cystic hydatid disease, Echinococcus granulosus. Expression of this foreign antigen was regulated by a synthetic early/late poxvirus transcriptional promoter and levels of expression comparable to that achieved by a similar vaccinia virus recombinant were observed. The expression cassette was inserted into a unique orf virus gene (G1L) thereby confirming the non-essential nature of that gene and identifying a novel genomic insertion site. This recombinant will be a valuable tool with which to assess the potential of recombinant orf viruses to deliver vaccine antigens to sheep.