Expression of segment a of infectious bursal disease virus in pichia pastoris

Recombinant plasmid containing segment A open reading frame 2 (ORF2) gene of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) of a very virulent subtype from local outbreak (strain 3529/92) was constructed. The gene encoding the IBDV structural polyprotein (N-VP2-VP3-VP4-C) was inserted into an expression vector, pPICZ prior to its transformation into Pichia pastoris by electroporation. After the induction of P. pastoris transformant with 0.5% methanol, the production of IBDV polyprotein was observed using Western blot. In P. pastoris, co- or post-translational processing of the large polyprotein occurred, generating a stable C-terminal product (VP3) of correct size, but without any detectable N-terminal product (VP2). The failure to observe the VP2 protein in Western blot analysis was probably due to the conformational epitope problem

Characterization of Nipah Virus from Naturally Infected Pteropus vampyrus Bats, Malaysia

We isolated and characterized Nipah virus (NiV) from Pteropus vampyrus bats, the putative reservoir for the 1998 outbreak in Malaysia, and provide evidence of viral recrudescence. This isolate is monophyletic with previous NiVs in combined analysis, and the nucleocapsid gene phylogeny suggests that similar strains of NiV are co-circulating in sympatric reservoir species