Mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis of potential infectious bursal disease virus VP3-interacting proteins in chicken embryo fibroblasts cells.

The structural protein VP3 of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) plays a critical role in viral assembly, replication, immune escape, and anti-apoptosis. Interaction between VP3 and host protein factors can affect stages in the viral replication cycle. In this study, 137 host proteins interacting with VP3 protein were screened through liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based proteomics approach. The functions and relevance of the proteins were obtained through bioinformatics analysis. Most VP3-interacting proteins were linked to binding, catalytic activity, and structural molecular activity, and performed functions in cell parts and cells. Biological functions of VP3-interacting proteins were mainly relevant to "Cytoskeleton", "Translation", and "Signal transduction mechanisms", involving ribosomes, "Tight junction", regulation of actin cytoskeleton, and other pathways. Six potential VP3-interacting proteins in host cells were knocked down, and vimentin, myosin-9, and annexin A2 were found to be related to IBDV replication. This study would help explore regulatory pathways and cellular mechanisms in IBDV-infected cells, and also provided clues for the in-depth study of VP3 biological functions and IBDV replication or pathogenesis.

Identification of a common conserved neutralizing linear B-cell epitope in the VP3 protein of waterfowl parvoviruses.

Waterfowl parvoviruses (WPVs) including goose parvovirus (GPV), novel GPV-related virus (NGPV) and Muscovy duck parvovirus (MDPV) cause significant economic losses and epizootic threat to the waterfowl industries, and little is known about the B-cell epitopes of WPVs. In this study, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) 5B5 against the VP3 protein of NGPV was used to identify the possible epitope in the three kinds of WPVs. The mAb 5B5 had neutralizing activities to the three viruses, and reacted with the conserved linear B-cell epitopes of 438LHNPPP443 in VP3 protein of GPV, NGPV and MDPV. To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first report on identification of the common conserved neutralizing linear B-cell epitope on VP3 protein of three different WPVs, which would facilitate the development of a novel immunodiagnostic assay for rapid detection of WPV infection.

The development of an indirect ELISA for the detection of goose parvovirus antibodies using specific VP3 subunits as the coating antigen.

BACKGROUND: In Poland, the leader in goose production in Europe, goose parovirus infection, or Derzsy's disease (DD), must be reported to the veterinary administration due to the serious economic and epizootic threat to waterfowl production. Prophylactic treatment for DD includes attenuated live or inactivated vaccines. Moreover, the control of DD includes the monitoring of maternal derived antibody (MDA) levels in the offspring and antibody titers in the parent flock after vaccination. The aim of this study was to develop an ELISA for the detection of goose parvovirus (GPV) antibodies. RESULTS: Two recombinant protein fragments derived from VP3 (viral protein 3) GPV, namely VP3ep6 and VP3ep4-6 with a mass of 20.9 and 32.3 kDa, respectively, were produced using an Escherichia coli expression system. These proteins were purified by one-step nickel-affinity chromatography, which yielded protein preparations with a purity above 95%. These recombinant proteins were useful in the detection of serum anti-GPV antibodies, and this was confirmed by Western blotting. However, recombinant VP3ep4-6 protein showed a greater ability to correctly identify sera from infected geese. In the next stage of the project, a pool of 166 goose sera samples, previously examined by a virus neutralization test (VN), was tested. For further studies, one recombinant protein (VP3ep4-6) was selected for optimization of the test conditions. After optimization, the newly developed ELISA was compared to other serological tests, and demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the VP3ep4-6 ELISA method described here can be used for the detection of antibodies to GPV in serum.

Identification of a B-Cell Epitope in the VP3 Protein of Senecavirus A.

Senecavirus A (SVA) is a member of the genus Senecavirus of the family Picornaviridae. SVA-associated vesicular disease (SAVD) outbreaks have been extensively reported since 2014-2015. Characteristic symptoms include vesicular lesions on the snout and feet as well as lameness in adult pigs and even death in piglets. The capsid protein VP3, a structural protein of SVA, is involved in viral replication and genome packaging. Here, we developed and characterized a mouse monoclonal antibody (mAb) 3E9 against VP3. A motif 192GWFSLHKLTK201 was identified as the linear B-cell epitope recognized by mAb 3E9 by using a panel of GFP-tagged epitope polypeptides. Sequence alignments show that 192GWFSLHKLTK201 was highly conserved in all SVA strains. Subsequently, alanine (A)-scanning mutagenesis indicated that W193, F194, L196, and H197 were the critical residues recognized by mAb 3E9. Further investigation with indirect immunofluorescence assay indicated that the VP3 protein was present in the cytoplasm during SVA replication. In addition, the mAb 3E9 specifically immunoprecipitated the VP3 protein from SVA-infected cells. Taken together, our results indicate that mAb 3E9 could be a powerful tool to work on the function of the VP3 protein during virus infection.

Development of an indirect ELISA method based on the VP3 protein of duck hepatitis A virus type 1 (DHAV-1) for dual detection of DHAV-1 and DHAV-3 antibodies.

An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (I-ELISA) based on the recombinant VP3 protein of duck hepatitis A virus type 1 (DHAV-1) was developed and evaluated in this study. The optimal antigen, serum and enzyme-labeled antibody dilutions were 1:160 (0.94µg), 1:160 and 1:2000, respectively. The optimal blocking buffer was 1% gelatin. The cutoff value was determined to be 0.332, and the analytical sensitivity was 1:1280 (OD450-630=0.37). The results of the specificity evaluation showed that no cross-reactivity existed between DHAV-1 antiserum and other common duck-sensitive pathogens, except for duck hepatitis A virus type 3 (DHAV-3), suggesting that this could be a common approach for the simultaneous detection of DHAV-1 and DHAV-3 antibodies. The coefficients of variation (CVs) for all of the tested samples were lower than 10%. The concordance between the I-ELISA based on the VP3 subunit of DHAV-1 and that based on the whole DHAV-1 particle was 96%. These results indicate that the VP3-based I-ELISA method has high sensitivity, specificity, and repeatability and is as effective as the DHAV-1-based I-ELISA method for sero-surveillance. Thus, it may be a convenient and novel method for DHAV antibody detection and epidemiological surveillance of DHAV prevalence.