Open AccessIdentification of Immunogenic Hot Spots within Plum Pox Potyvirus Capsid Protein for Efficient Antigen Presentation
Author(s) -
Marı́a Rosario Fernández-Fernández,
Jorge L. Martı́nez-Torrecuadrada,
Fernando Roncal,
Elvira Domı́nguez,
Juan Antonio Garcı́a
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.617
H-Index - 292
eISSN - 1070-6321
pISSN - 0022-538X
DOI - 10.1128/jvi.76.24.12646-12653.2002
Subject(s) - capsid , biology , immunogenicity , virology , antigen , microbiology and biotechnology , virus , genetics
PEPSCAN analysis has been used to characterize the immunogenic regions of the capsid protein (CP) in virions of plum pox potyvirus (PPV). In addition to the well-known highly immunogenic N- and C-terminal domains of CP, regions within the core domain of the protein have also shown high immunogenicity. Moreover, the N terminus of CP is not homogeneously immunogenic, alternatively showing regions frequently recognized by antibodies and others that are not recognized at all. These results have helped us to design efficient antigen presentation vectors based on PPV. As predicted by PEPSCAN analysis, a small displacement of the insertion site in a previously constructed vector, PPV-gamma, turned the derived chimeras into efficient immunogens. Vectors expressing foreign peptides at different positions within a highly immunogenic region (amino acids 43 to 52) in the N-terminal domain of CP were the most effective at inducing specific antibody responses against the foreign sequence.