Expression of a hantavirus N protein and its efficacy as antigen in immune assays

Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) has been recognized as an important public heath problem. Five hantaviruses associated with HCPS are currently known in Brazil: Juquitiba, Araraquara, Laguna Negra-like, Castelo dos Sonhos, and Anajatuba viruses. The laboratory diagnosis of HCPS is routinely carried out by the detection of anti-hantavirus IgM and/or IgG antibodies. The present study describes the expression of the N protein of a hantavirus detected in the blood sample of an HCPS patient. The entire S segment of the virus was amplified and found to be 1858 nucleotides long, with an open reading frame of 1287 nucleotides that encodes a protein of 429 amino acids. The nucleotide sequence described here showed a high identity with the N protein gene of Araraquara virus. The entire N protein was expressed using the vector pET200D and the Escherichia coli BL21 strain. The expression of the recombinant protein was confirmed by the detection of a 52-kDa protein by Western blot using a pool of human sera obtained from HCPS patients, and by specific IgG detection in five serum samples of HCPS patients tested by ELISA. These results suggest that the recombinant N protein could be used as an antigen for the serological screening of hantavirus infection.FAPES

Quantum regression theorem for non-Markovian Lindblad equations

We find the conditions under which a quantum regression theorem can be assumed valid for non-Markovian master equations consisting in Lindblad superoperators with memory kernels. Our considerations are based on a generalized Born-Markov approximation, which allows us to obtain our results from an underlying Hamiltonian description. We demonstrate that a non-Markovian quantum regression theorem can only be granted in a stationary regime if the dynamics satisfies a quantum detailed balance condition. As an example we study the correlations of a two level system embedded in a complex structured reservoir and driven by an external coherent field.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. Extended version. The GBMA is deduced from projector technique. A new appendix is adde