J Gen Virol
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


J Gen Virol 88 (2007), 1184-1195; DOI 10.1099/vir.0.82587-0

This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, C. R.
Right arrow Articles by Murtaugh, M. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, C. R.
Right arrow Articles by Murtaugh, M. P.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, C. R.
Right arrow Articles by Murtaugh, M. P.

Cross-reactive antibody responses to nsp1 and nsp2 of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus

Craig R. Johnson, Wanqin Yu and Michael P. Murtaugh

Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN 55108, USA

Correspondence
Michael P. Murtaugh
murta001{at}umn.edu


   ABSTRACT
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
 
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) non-structural proteins (nsps) play a key role in processing and maturation of the repertoire of structural and nsps of the virion, but little is known about the anti-nsp immune response. Here, it was hypothesized that pronounced antibody responses are generated to PRRSV nsp1 and nsp2, as they are present in infected cells and cytolytic infection releases viral proteins into interstitial spaces. Accordingly, nsp1 and nsp2 were cloned and expressed, and antibody responses in the sera of infected and vaccinated pigs were determined. Pigs mounted significant cross-reactive antibody responses that appeared equivalent to or greater than the response to nucleocapsid (N). Antibody reactivity to nsp1 and N was highly dependent on refolding of denatured proteins, suggesting that the porcine antibody response is directed primarily to conformational epitopes. The proteins reacted with sera from pigs infected with other PRRSV strains, indicating that multiple epitopes are conserved. Antibody responses to nsp1 and nsp2 were much higher than those to nsp4, which is encoded on the same RNA molecule and is equivalent in predicted antigenicity. These findings suggest either that nsp1 and nsp2 are highly immunogenic or that they are expressed at higher levels than nsp4 in PRRSV-infected cells, or both. Strong antibody responses to nsp1 and nsp2 may benefit the host by limiting potentially pathological consequences of viral protease activities encoded in these proteins that are released from dying cells. The identification of strain-specific antibody responses to a highly variable region of nsp2 may also provide the basis for immunoassays that differentiate serological responses of vaccines from field isolates.


   INTRODUCTION
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
 
A new viral disease of pigs, typified by late-term abortions and stillbirths in sows and interstitial pneumonia in nursery pigs, was detected in North America in 1987 (Hill, 1990Down; Keffaber, 1989Down) and in Europe in 1990 (Paton et al., 1991Down), and then characterized as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) caused by Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) (Collins et al., 1992Down; Wensvoort et al., 1991Down). The causative agent is a small, enveloped, positive-stranded RNA virus. It is a member of the family Arteriviridae, which includes Equine arteritis virus (den Boon et al., 1991Down; Meulenberg et al., 1993Down), Lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus of mice (Plagemann & Moennig, 1992Down) and Simian hemorrhagic fever virus (Zeng et al., 1995Down), in the order Nidovirales (Cavanagh, 1997Down). PRRSV predominantly infects macrophages and establishes a persistent infection in resident macrophages of numerous lymphoid tissues (Lawson et al., 1997Down).

A complex immunological interaction exists between PRRSV and pigs that involves both induction and subversion of host defences (Murtaugh et al., 2002Down). Exposure to PRRSV induces an immune response that protects pigs against re-exposure to the same virus. However, pigs exposed to PRRSV also demonstrate prolonged viraemia and persistent infection, may continue to shed virus, can become re-infected and may suffer a repeat episode of the disease (Christopher-Hennings et al., 1997Down; Mavromatis et al., 1999Down; Mengeling et al., 1999Down; Nielsen et al., 1997Down; Rossow, 1998Down; van Woensel et al., 1998Down). We are interested in the development of antigen-specific antiviral immune responses whose characteristics might help to explain the ability of PRRSV to persist in swine.

The current study aimed to determine the humoral immune response to the viral proteins expressed early in infection and to develop tools for elucidation of the immune response to PRRSV. nsp1 is a multifunctional protein containing two papain-like cysteine proteases (PCP{alpha} and PCPbeta) and a zinc-finger motif required for subgenomic mRNA transcription (den Boon et al., 1995Down; Oleksiewicz et al., 2004Down; Tijms & Snijder, 2003Down; Tijms et al., 2001Down). Intracellular concentrations of nsp1 may be higher than for other nsps, due to translation from heteroclite RNAs (Yuan et al., 2000Down, 2004Down). The nsp2 polypeptide contains a cysteine protease active site, although no viral or cellular prototypes are known (Ziebuhr et al., 2000Down). These proteins are vital to the viral life cycle and their presence in cells is likely to be toxic, due to their protease activities. The proteases are encoded in the 5' terminus of the first open reading frame (ORF) of the genomic RNA, whereas downstream ORFs are synthesized after formation of subgenomic nested mRNAs (Meng et al., 1996Down; Yuan et al., 2001bDown; Ziebuhr et al., 2000Down). Hence, nsp1 and nsp2 are available from the earliest time of infection for presentation to the immune system in the context of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I antigen-presentation pathways. As cytolytic infection also releases viral proteins into interstitial spaces, we hypothesized that a pronounced antibody response, equivalent to the immune response to structural proteins, would be generated to nsp1 and nsp2.

Antibody responses to linear epitopes in nsp2 have been reported to appear within 1–4 weeks of infection in European and North American forms of PRRSV (de Lima et al., 2006Down; Oleksiewicz et al., 2001aDown, bDown, 2002Down), but no information has been reported on antibody responses to nsp1, on conformational or cross-reactive antibodies to PRRSV nsps or on relative levels of anti-nsp antibodies. We observed robust and rapid cross-reactive antibody responses induced by nsp1 and nsp2 to vaccine and field isolates. We further observed substantially higher levels of immunoreactivity in recombinant nsp1 and nsp2 that had undergone a refolding reaction, suggesting that conformational epitopes may be important in the porcine immune response. These findings indicate that nsp1 and nsp2 are major cross-reactive PRRSV antigens and suggest that antibody responses to them are important in the anti-PRRSV immune response.


   METHODS
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
 
Treatment groups.
Serum samples were obtained after experimental infection or vaccination of healthy pigs at 4–5 weeks or 4–5 months of age, as described previously (Batista et al., 2004Down; Foss et al., 2002Down; Hyland et al., 2004Down; Johnson et al., 2004Down).

PCR amplification, cloning of DNA fragments and restriction analysis.
Primers were designed to regions of the PRRSV strain VR2332 sequence (GenBank accession no. U87392 [GenBank] ) by using Primer3 (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA, USA) and obtained from Integrated DNA Technologies. PRRSV cDNA fragments for cloning were obtained by RT-PCR amplification of regions of VR2332 genomic RNA encoding nsp1{alpha} and -1beta and nsp2 (Table 1Down). Briefly, 50 µl PCR mixtures contained 10x buffer II (1x concentration), 1.5 mM MgCl2, 200 µM each of dATP, dCTP, dGTP and dTTP; 0.2 µM each primer pair (Table 1Down), 1.0 U AmpliTaq Gold (Roche Molecular Systems) and 10–100 pg of the appropriate cDNA. Amplification was performed in a GeneAmp PCR system 2400 (Perkin Elmer) with one cycle of 95 °C for 10 min, followed by 35 cycles of 94 °C for 30 s, 55 °C for 30 s and 72 °C for 45 s, then 72 °C for 7 min and a 4 °C hold. Amplified DNA was electrophoresed on an agarose gel. Bands corresponding to the predicted product sizes were gel-extracted (Qiagen) then purified further by using a PCR purification kit (Qiagen). The isolated products were cloned into the pGEM-T vector (Promega), transformed into Escherichia coli DH5{alpha} cells (Invitrogen) and spread on Luria–Bertani (LB) agar plates containing 100 µg ampicillin (Amp) ml–1, 0.5 mM IPTG and 50 µg X-Gal ml–1. White colonies were grown and sequenced by using the standard T7 and SP6 primers (Advanced Genetic Analysis Center, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN). Standard laboratory supplies, bacterial growth media and electrophoresis chemicals were from Sigma.


View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
Table 1. PRRSV recombinant protein and polypeptide expression

 
A modified vector based on pET 24b (Novagen) containing a myc tag 5'-leader sequence and a terminal 3' His tag was engineered for high-efficiency protein expression and isolation. The plasmid, pET 24b myc His, contains a BamHI site immediately 3' to the myc tag and an XhoI site preceding the terminal 6xHis tag. The vector was prepared for insertion by digestion with BamHI and XhoI, followed by dephosphorylation with calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase (Promega). Inserts were prepared either by restriction digestion of the pGEM-T constructs or by PCR amplification followed by BamHI and XhoI digestion. Ligation was performed with 100 ng dephosphorylated vector, 20 ng insert, 1x ligation buffer and 400 U T4 DNA ligase (New England Biolabs) in a total volume of 10 µl for 16 h at 16 °C. Transformed DH5{alpha} colonies were selected on LB agar plates containing kanamycin (kan; 30 µg ml–1). Purified plasmid (referred to as pET 24b myc nspHis) integrity was confirmed by DNA sequencing.

Protein expression.
To test for protein expression, recombinant plasmids were transformed into BL21 (DE3)-RP cells (Stratagene). Transformed cells were spread on kan (30 µg ml–1) and chloramphenicol (35 µg ml–1) LB plates and screened by colony PCR using T7 and T7 terminator primers for the pET 24b plasmid. Ten positive colonies were grown overnight at 30 °C in 2 ml 2xYT medium (BD Diagnostic Systems) with antibiotics. Two hundred microlitres of each of the overnight cultures was used to inoculate ten temperature-equilibrated (30 °C) 10 ml aliquots of 2xYT (kan, 30 µg ml–1). These cultures were grown at 30 °C to an OD600 of 0.4, 200 µl was removed for SDS-PAGE analysis and IPTG was added to a final concentration of 1.0 mM. The induced samples were allowed to grow at 30 °C for 4 h, then 200 µl was removed for SDS-PAGE analysis.

Large-scale protein expression and purification.
Protein was purified by using a modification of the Qiagen Ni–NTA agarose-affinity isolation procedure for native His-tagged proteins. Briefly, 1 l induced bacterial cells was centrifuged at 4000 g for 20 min at 4 °C and supernatant was decanted. The pellet was resuspended in 30 ml 100 mM NaH2PO4, 10 mM Tris/HCl, 8 M urea (pH 8.0), rotated at 200 r.p.m. at room temperature for 30 min and centrifuged for 30 min at 4 °C at 10 000 g to pellet the cellular debris. The supernatant containing recombinant protein was decanted into 6 ml 50 % Ni–NTA slurry and rotated gently at 200 r.p.m. for 1 h at 4 °C. The mixture was then poured into a 1.5x30 cm column and allowed to drain. The column was washed twice with 20 ml of a solution containing 100 mM NaH2PO4, 10 mM Tris/HCl, 8 M urea (pH 6.3). The protein was then eluted with 100 mM NaH2PO4, 10 mM Tris/HCl, 8 M urea (pH 5.9). Purified proteins were concentrated by either a tangential-flow filtration cassette (Pellicon XL Ultracel PLC 5 kD; Millipore) or a YM-3 Amicon Centriprep centrifugal filter device (Millipore), followed by dialysis (Spectra/Por MWCO 8000; Spectrum Laboratories) against 20 mM sodium phosphate (pH 7.5). Protein concentrations were determined by using one or more of the following: Bio-Rad RC DC protein assay kit, A280 measurement and Coomassie blue staining of SDS–acrylamide gels that contained standard amounts of BSA and lysozyme. Purified protein solutions were stored at –80 °C.

Protein refolding.
Refolding of the denatured recombinant proteins was performed essentially as described (Büchner & Kiefhaber, 2004Down; Büchner et al., 1992Down; Clark, 1998Down). Briefly, denatured protein solutions were dialysed (Spectra/Por MWCO 8000; Spectrum Laboratories) into 0.1 M Tris/HCl (pH 8.0), 6 M guanidine hydrochloride and 2 mM EDTA. Protein concentration was adjusted to 3 mg ml–1 and dithiothreitol was added to 300 mM. The resulting 5 ml solution was stirred at room temperature for 2 h, followed by filtration using a 0.45 µm filter (Syringe Filter; Fisher Scientific). The reduced protein solution was diluted 1/100 by rapid addition at 4 °C with moderate stirring into 500 ml refolding buffer [100 mM Tris/HCl (pH 8.0), 0.5 M L-arginine, 8 mM oxidized glutathione, 2 mM EDTA, 10 µM pepstatin A, 10 µM leupeptin, 1 mM PMSF]. The resulting solution was filtered through a 0.22 µm membrane (Steritop; Millipore) to remove particulates and stirred overnight. Purified protein was concentrated by tangential-flow filtration (Pellicon XL Ultracel PLC 5 kD; Millipore) to a volume of 10 ml, followed by dialysis (Spectra/Por MWCO 8000) against 20 mM sodium phosphate (pH 7.5).

Gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting.
Bacterial lysates, purification fractions and purified proteins were analysed by SDS-PAGE. Protein bands were visualized by staining with 0.025 % Coomassie blue. For immunoblotting, gels were electroblotted onto supported nitrocellulose membranes (MSI Separations). Membranes were incubated with anti-myc monoclonal antibody 9E10 for 1 h at room temperature, detected with alkaline phosphatase-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG and visualized with the ECL Western blotting system (Amersham Biosciences).

ELISA determinations.
ELISA plates were coated with individual PRRSV proteins in 100 µl carbonate buffer [15 mM Na2CO3, 35 mM NaHCO3 (pH 9.6)] or buffer alone, left overnight and washed six times with 0.05 % Tween 20 in PBS (PBS-Tween). Two hundred microlitres of PBS-Tween containing 2.5 % non-fat dried milk was added for 1 h at room temperature to block previously unbound sites, and the plates were washed five times. One hundred microlitres of pig serum at various dilutions was added in duplicate for 2 h at room temperature, and plates were washed four times with PBS-Tween. Levels of specific antibody were determined by incubation of wells with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-swine IgG (heavy+light chains) (KPL) diluted 1/5000 for 1 h. Wells were washed five times and colour was developed with 100 µl TMB substrate (KPL). Reactions were stopped after 15 min with 100 µl 1 M phosphoric acid and A450 was read (ThermoMax plate reader; Molecular Devices). End-point titration values (titres) were calculated by using a non-linear least-squares four-parameter fit with background subtraction and a 0.1 absorbance unit cut-off (Kemeny, 1991Down).


   RESULTS
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
 
Recombinant nsp fragment cloning, expression and purification
DNA fragments corresponding to all or portions of nsp1 and nsp2 were cloned into pET24b-mycHis and single, high-expressing clones were picked, grown, purified and sequenced. The results showed that the predicted ORFs for each of the constructs encoded the expected polypeptide.

A variety of E. coli strains and growth conditions were evaluated, and we obtained consistent expression of recombinant nsp1, nsp2 P (cysteine protease fragment), nsp2 HP (cysteine protease hypervariable region), nsp2 HP S1 (small peptide 1) and nsp2 HP S2 (small peptide 2) at concentrations of 20–25 mg l–1 in shake flasks under the described conditions using E. coli strain BL21 (DE3)-RP in rich medium (2xYT), at moderate temperature (30 °C) and short induction times (4 h). Approximately 50 % of the protein was recovered following affinity chromatography and refolding (Table 1Up). The purified and refolded proteins were homogeneous and contained fragment sizes consistent with predicted molecular masses (Fig. 1Down). As shown in Fig. 1(b)Down, the nsp1 preparation consisted of intact 46 kDa polypeptide and two fragments cleaved autoproteolytically into PCP1{alpha} (20 kDa) and PCP1beta (26 kDa). Immobilized metal-affinity chromatography bound the full-length polypeptide and the carboxyl-terminal PCP1beta (Fig. 1bDown, lane 1). After storage in PBS, the preparation was entirely cleaved, so that immunoblotting with anti-myc antibody revealed only the amino-terminal PCP1{alpha} (Fig. 1bDown, lanes 2 and 3).


Figure 1
View larger version (41K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
Fig. 1. PRRSV nsp1 and nsp2 recombinant polypeptides. (a) nsp-coding regions for nsp1 and nsp2. Genomic regions shaded in grey were PCR-amplified from VR2332 viral RNA, cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) RP cells. Individual recombinant proteins were purified by using a carboxyl-terminal 6xHis tag. (b) Intact nsp1 and 26 kDa PCP1beta eluted from the immobilized metal-affinity column (lane 1), fully cleaved nsp1 after storage in PBS (lane 2) and anti-myc immunoblot of cleaved nsp1 showing amino-terminal PCP1{alpha} (lane 3). (c) Coomassie blue-stained gels (a) with accompanying anti-myc Western blots (b) for nsp2 (lane 1), nsp2 P (lane 2), Coomassie blue-stained gel nsp2 HP (lane 3), nsp2 HP S1 lane (4) and nsp2 HP S2 (lane 5).

 
Microtitre-plate wells coated with induced bacterial lysates from clones expressing nsp2 reacted strongly, specifically and in a dilution-dependent fashion with sera from PRRSV-infected pigs (data not shown). However, the protein was not evident on Coomassie blue-stained gels of whole-cell lysates and was observed by Western blot detection only with anti-myc antibody (Fig. 1cUp). Digestion of pET 24b myc nspHis with XhoI and subsequent religation produced a truncated nsp2 P that lacked a hydrophobic region. The resulting 81 kDa polypeptide was expressed at high levels in shake flasks (Table 1Up) and was confirmed by immunoblotting with anti-myc antibody (Fig. 1cUp). nsp2 fragments HP, HP S1 and HP S2 also were cloned, expressed and confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot (Table 1Up; Fig. 1cUp).

Effect of protein refolding on ELISA reactivity
We observed previously that the immunoreactivity of recombinant nucleocapsid (N) appeared to vary depending on the conditions of purification and refolding. Therefore, we evaluated the immunoreactivity of various cloned polypeptides before and after refolding to determine the effects on ELISA detection.

Non-refolded nsp1 was essentially non-reactive to immune serum, whereas refolded nsp1 revealed the presence of a pronounced antibody response with a mean peak titre of >25 000 at 21 days in this experiment (Fig. 2aDown). N also showed a marked enhancement of immunoreactivity to PRRSV-positive pig serum after refolding (Fig. 2aDown). These results were obtained with recombinant proteins that were initially denatured in 8 M urea. To further confirm the role of refolding in immunoreactivity independent of the denaturing conditions, N, nsp1 and nsp2P were denatured in 6 M guanidine hydrochloride and dialysed into PBS directly or after redox refolding, as described in Methods. The proteins were then applied to the microtitre plate in varying amounts and tested for reactivity. As shown in Fig. 2(b)Down, the immunoreactivity of N and nsp1 was nearly completely dependent on refolding, and the reactivity of nsp2P was enhanced by about twofold. Loss of immunoreactivity was also observed when guanidine-denatured protein was dialysed into 8 M urea alone or followed by dialysis into PBS prior to coating on microtitre plates (data not shown).


Figure 2
View larger version (29K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
Fig. 2. Effect of protein refolding on immunoreactivity. (a) Time course of anti-nsp1 compared with anti-N antibody response in a cohort of 14 pigs that were infected with PRRSV strain MN30100 and bled at the indicated times (Batista et al., 2004Down). Titre values were determined by plating 100 ng antigen, with threefold serial dilutions of serum beginning with 1/200, and 1/5000 horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-swine IgG (heavy+light chains) secondary antibody. Colour development is described in Methods. Data are mean±SEM. (b) Apparent ELISA titres of immune sera reacted with guanidine hydrochloride-denatured proteins without (denatured) or with (refolded) redox refolding. Proteins were applied to wells in the indicated amounts in duplicate. Serum samples from pigs 35 days after infection with PRRSV strain VR2332 were diluted 1/1000. (c) Refolding enhances ELISA cross-reactivity of nsp2 P. Ten pigs each were inoculated with the indicated strain of virus and day 28 serum was tested for anti-nsp2 P ELISA at a 1/2000 dilution. Results are mean±SEM. (d) Refolding enhances only specific immunoreactivity. Two pigs each were inoculated with Ingelvac MLV vaccine or PBS (Foss et al., 2002Down; Hyland et al., 2004Down) and serum samples were collected on the days indicated. Sera were tested for anti-nsp1 and anti-nsp2 P antibodies at a 1/2000 dilution on plates coated with refolded protein at 100 ng per well. Reactivity was observed only in animals exposed to PRRSV.

 
The enhancing effect of refolding on immunoreactivity of the recombinant polypeptides was specific for both nsp1 and nsp2. We evaluated the immunoreactivity of nsp2 in serum samples at the peak of the humoral response by using an amino-terminally truncated nsp2 P fragment, lacking a hydrophobic region, that was expressed more readily in our bacterial system than was full-length nsp2. Refolding increased the immunoreactivity substantially of nsp2 P to sera of pigs infected with PRRSV VR2332, the strain from which the recombinant polypeptides were cloned (Fig. 2cUp). A similar enhancing effect was observed by using sera of pigs infected with a different viral strain, JA142, which shares 84 % amino acid sequence identity in the same nsp2 P polypeptide, demonstrating the presence of conserved B-cell epitopes in nsp2 P (Fig. 2cUp). Sera from pigs not challenged with PRRSV showed no change in ELISA reactivity (Fig. 2dUp) and sera from affected pigs showed no reactivity to irrelevant proteins refolded and coated on ELISA plates in the same manner (data not shown).

The antibody-reactivity data in Fig. 2(b–d)Up were determined by the absorbance values at a single serum dilution. We compared single-point dilution values to end-point titrations, a standard method of estimating antibody concentrations, to verify its use as a surrogate measure of titre, as the single serum-dilution approach simplifies the analysis of large sample sets generated in longitudinal infection studies. Absorbance determinations at a 1/2000 dilution of ten serum samples from the experiment shown in Fig. 2(a)Up were correlated highly with titre across a wide range of values for both nsp1 and N (Pearson r2=0.98). Titres of N ranged from 1/2800 to 1/52 000 and those of nsp1 from 1/1500 to 1/30 000.

Induction and duration of antibody responses to PRRSV nsps
Antibody responses to nsp1 and nsp2 P were evident at 14 days after exposure of 4–6-week-old nursery pigs to PRRSV and reached a peak at 28–35 days after infection. As shown in Fig. 3(a, b)Down, pigs exposed to a wide variety of genetically distinct viral isolates based on ORF 5 sequence (Johnson et al., 2004Down) showed a robust antibody response to nsp1 and nsp2. The induction of the anti-nsp2 P response, in particular, was similar to, but more pronounced than, the response to N, the most prominent viral protein in infected cells (Johnson et al., 2004Down). Peak or near-peak antibody levels were maintained throughout the trial period. The mean responses shown in the figure were characteristic of all animals within a group. The kinetics of antibody response among all animals in a group were consistent, but the individual variation in magnitude was substantial, as shown in Fig. 3(c, d)Down for nsp1 and nsp2 P, respectively.


Figure 3
View larger version (25K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
Fig. 3. Antibody responses to nsp polypeptides in pigs exposed to a range of PRRSV isolates. Two- to three-week-old pigs were obtained from a PRRS-free commercial herd and divided randomly by weight into 10 groups with 10 pigs per group. On day 0, each of the eight PRRSV isolates and the PRRSV pool were inoculated intranasally. Control groups received only culture medium (Johnson et al., 2004Down). Values are mean absorbance of serum samples diluted 1/2000 from ten pigs for nsp1 (a) and nsp2 P (b). Bars in (a) represent 1SEM for the group with the highest mean response. (c, d) Individual variation in antibody responses to nsp1 (c) and nsp2 P (d) for the ten pigs infected with VR2332.

 
The antibody response to nsp1 was similar to the response to nsp2 P, but with a less distinct peak, followed by maintenance at a steady-state level over time (Fig. 3a, bUp). A similar response was observed in an independent experiment in 4-month-old gilts, shown in Fig. 2(a)Up, in which the anti-nsp1 titre was approximately 1/23 000 at 14 days after infection and peaked 30 days after infection at approximately 1/31 000. Antibody levels declined gradually from 30 to 120 days after infection. The early response to nsp1 and nsp2 indicates that the proteins are being displayed on the surface of infected cells for presentation to B cells and are detected following release from dead and dying cells.

Cross-reactivity of anti-nsp antibodies to VR2332 nsp recombinant protein
As PRRSV shows extensive genetic variation that might result from immunological-escape selection, we were interested in the cross-reactivity of antibodies raised in pigs against heterologous viral strains. The data in Fig. 3(a, b)Up show that, within a target polypeptide and irrespective of the infecting PRRSV strain (including attenuated forms of virulent isolates), the response pattern is fundamentally the same. Group differences in magnitude of response are apparent and may be due to differences in viral load in the pig, which was previously shown to affect the antibody response under the same conditions of inoculation dose and route (Johnson et al., 2004Down). Differences may also be due to antigenic variation in the viral proteins such that the ELISA assay, in which VR2332 polypeptides were coated on the plate, did not detect all antibody species produced against cognate polypeptides of other strains. Nevertheless, as major antigenic epitopes appear to be conserved, infection with a wide range of viral isolates elicited antibody responses that could be detected readily.

We produced additional nsp2 fragments, nsp2 HP S1, nsp2 HP S2 and nsp2 HP, encoding regions whose amino acid sequences were highly variable among strains (Fig. 4Down, peptides A, B and C, respectively) and that were predicted to be highly antigenic (Fig. 5Down), to determine whether strain-specific antibodies were produced. The nsp2 HP polypeptide, a large, hypervariable region (Fig. 4Down, peptide C), bound antibodies produced in pigs exposed to various strains, but with the greatest reactivity to pigs given Ingelvac MLV (Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica), the attenuated vaccine derivative of VR2332 (Fig. 6aDown). The difference was quantified by comparing the ELISA absorbance of anti-nsp2 HP test sera to the mean anti-nsp2 HP value from seven Ingelvac MLV-exposed pigs, normalized to anti-nsp2 P antibody, by using the formula (1–ODnsp2 HP/ODnsp2 P)x100 % – mean (1–ODnsp2 HP/ODnsp2 P)x100 % for Ingelvac MLV. Antibodies elicited in pigs by heterologous PRRSV strains reacted substantially less to VR2332 nsp2 HP than did antibodies elicited against Ingelvac MLV, ranging from 45.6±12.0 to 57.1±11.3 % (mean±1SD), depending on the infecting strain (P<<0.001). The relative strain specificity of nsp2 HP for Ingelvac MLV was observed in all 42 pigs tested (Fig. 6bDown). The two smaller hypervariable-region peptides, nsp2 HP S1 and nsp2 HP S2, which are also predicted to be highly antigenic (Fig. 5bDown), showed lower absorbance values overall (Fig. 6aDown) and greater variation among animals (Fig. 6c, dDown).


Figure 4
View larger version (65K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
Fig. 4. Sequence alignment of the nsp2 region of multiple PRRSV strains. Grey boxes highlight nsp2 HP S1 (A), nsp2 HP S2 (B) and nsp2 HP (C).

 

Figure 5
View larger version (47K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
Fig. 5. Jameson–Wolf protein antigenicity profiles for (a) nsp1; (b) nsp2; (c) N; (d) nsp4. x-axis values are amino acid residues for each protein; the y-axis represents the antigenic index (Jameson & Wolf, 1988Down). Positions of nsp2 polypeptide fragments that were produced in the study are shown in (b).

 

Figure 6
View larger version (28K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
Fig. 6. nsp2 polypeptide fragments distinguish strain-specific humoral immunity. (a) Effect of viral strain on ELISA reactivity to VR2332-derived nsp2 P, nsp2 HP, nsp2 HP S1 and nsp2 HP S2. Seven serum samples per group at 28 days of infection with each of the strains indicated (from the study in Fig. 3Up) were tested in duplicate at a 1/2000 dilution. Mean responses are shown. (b–d) Relative percentage difference in background-subtracted absorbance values of individual serum samples in (a) reacted with VR2332 nsp2 P minus the value from reaction with VR2332 nsp2 HP (b), nsp2 HP S1 (c) or nsp2 HP S2 (d). The relative percentage difference was calculated by the formula (1–ODHP fragment/ODnsp2 P)x100 % – mean (1–ODHP fragment/ODnsp2 P)x100 % for MLV.

 

   DISCUSSION
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
 
nsp1 and nsp2 are among the first viral proteins synthesized in cells infected with PRRSV. These proteins are assumed to be essential to the viral life cycle and their presence in cells is likely to be toxic, due to their protease activities. As these proteins are expressed early in the viral life cycle, they are available from the earliest time of infection to the macrophage proteosome machinery for degradation and presentation to the immune system in the context of MHC class I and II. For these reasons, it is reasonable to predict that antibodies directed against nsp1 and nsp2 might appear early in the course of PRRSV infection at a level dependent on their immunogenicity and abundance. Alternatively, the polypeptides encoded by ORF 1a might induce weak antibody responses, due to substantially lower expression levels compared with the major structural proteins encoded by ORFs 5, 6 and 7, (Meulenberg, 2000Down; Snijder & Meulenberg, 1998Down). Here, we observed strong and sustained antibody responses to both nsps that were within the same range or greater than the antibody responses to N, the most abundant structural protein. The levels of anti-nsp1 and anti-nsp2 were maintained at high levels for at least 70 days, in contrast to antibodies to N, which tended to decrease over time (Johnson et al., 2004Down).

The predicted antigenicity of nsp1 and nsp2 is equivalent to or lower than that of N, as shown in Fig. 5Up. Thus, the robust antibody responses suggest that the amount of the polypeptides produced in cells is higher than anticipated. The discovery of abundant heteroclite RNA molecules, so named because they deviate from the common form of arteriviral subgenomic mRNA, encoding nsp1 and the amino-terminal portion of nsp2 raises the possibility that non-structural, protease-containing polypeptides encoded in nsp1 and nsp2 may also be expressed abundantly (Yuan et al., 2000Down, 2004Down). This possibility would account for the robust antibody responses that are equivalent to the response to the highly antigenic and highly expressed N. A third polypeptide containing a protease active site, nsp4, encoded by ORF 1a, is translated in equimolar concentrations with nsp1 and nsp2 from genomic RNA, but is not thought to be encoded by heteroclite RNA (Yuan et al., 2000Down). Whilst its predicted antigenicity is similar to that of nsp1 and nsp2, as shown in Fig. 5Up, the porcine antibody response to nsp4 is very low (Johnson et al., 2004Down). Taken together, these observations are consistent with nsp1 and nsp2 being expressed more highly, possibly from heteroclite RNA, and thus providing a greater antigenic stimulation to the pig immune system.

A protein-refolding treatment appeared to be essential for immunoreactivity in the case of nsp1 and N, indicating that the dominant epitopes recognized by the pig are conformational, not linear. By contrast, Meulenberg et al. (1998)Down defined four B-cell epitopes in N of Lelystad virus, a European PRRSV. Three of the epitopes were linear, based on reactivity of peptides to a panel of murine mAbs. An et al. (2005)Down also identified a linear epitope in N recognized by murine mAbs. By contrast, screening of immune pig serum with peptides or phage libraries revealed one linear epitope in nsp1 and no or two linear epitopes in N (Oleksiewicz et al., 2001bDown; de Lima et al., 2006Down). In summary, the results suggest that, in pigs, the B-cell response to N, as well as to nsp1, is directed primarily to conformational epitopes. For nsp2 P, reactivity was observed in the absence of refolding, but was increased substantially after refolding. Linear epitopes were previously reported in nsp2 (de Lima et al., 2006Down; Oleksiewicz et al., 2001bDown), indicating that the response to nsp2 is directed to both linear and conformational epitopes.

Whilst it is not known whether the refolding treatment restored full biological activity to nsp1, nsp2 P and N, refolding reactions as performed here are used routinely to restore the native properties of bacterially expressed recombinant proteins (Swietnicki, 2006Down; Tsumoto et al., 2004Down). In addition, we observed that N was insoluble without, but soluble with, refolding and that nsp1 appeared to be catalytically active after refolding (Fig. 1Up). Although the Zn2+ ion was not provided, the protein may have acquired Ni2+ from the affinity resin used for purification (Oleksiewicz et al., 2004Down). These observations further support the conclusion that protein-refolding treatment changes the immunoreactive properties of nsp1, nsp2 and N to increase antibody titre in immune pig serum.

Antigenic and genetic studies demonstrate a high level of genetic variation within and among PRRSV isolates that exist in Europe and North America (Allende et al., 2000Down; Kapur et al., 1996Down; Mardassi et al., 1994Down; Meng et al., 1995Down; Meulenberg et al., 1993Down; Murtaugh et al., 1995Down; Nelsen et al., 1999Down; Suarez et al., 1996Down; Wensvoort et al., 1992Down; Yuan et al., 2001aDown). The cross-reactivity of the humoral response to both nsp1 and nsp2 of pigs inoculated with a diverse set of North American PRRSV isolates indicates that many antigenic determinants are conserved, despite extensive genetic diversity. In nsp1 and nsp2, and perhaps other PRRSV proteins, immunological selection does not appear to be the principal driving force for genetic change. Thus, despite extensive evolutionary radiation of the virus, major antigenic determinants have been conserved.

We also identified regions of marked sequence variation within nsp2 that elicited strain-specific antibody responses. The nsp2 HP region is antigenic, but the VR2332-expressed sequence only detected antibodies in swine exposed to VR2332 and its attenuated form, Ingelvac MLV. By normalizing the anti-nsp2 HP response to a larger fragment of nsp2, nsp2 P, it was possible both to identify animals exposed to a PRRSV and to differentiate between a response to vaccine (Ingelvac MLV) and a field virus.

Our findings of high and sustained antibody responses to nsp1 and nsp2, commensurate with the response to N, the most abundant structural protein, suggest that these nsps are expressed at high levels that exceed the levels of other nsps encoded by the same RNA (Meulenberg, 2000Down). The presence of heteroclite RNA in PRRSV-infected cells provides a mechanism for overexpression of nsp1, but only the amino-terminal portion of nsp2 is encoded in a heteroclite RNA (Faaberg et al., 2001Down; Yuan et al., 2000Down, 2001bDown, 2004Down). The robust humoral immune response to these proteins may indicate a need to remove inappropriate protease activities from the environment of lysed cells. nsp1 and nsp2 might also provide important T-cell epitopes for cellular immunity, but this hypothesis has not been explored. Experiments measuring gamma interferon secretion as an index of PRRSV-specific T-cell activation use whole virus, in which nsps are thought to be absent (Xiao et al., 2004Down). In addition, antibody responses to nsp1 and nsp2 may be useful for serological diagnosis of animals exposed to PRRSV infection.


   ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 
We thank Karin Matchett for editorial assistance. Funding was provided by Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica. Serum samples were generously provided by Mike Roof, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, and Scott Dee, University of Minnesota. Partial funding support to C. R. J. was provided by an NIH–NIDA training grant, 1-T32-DA-07239.


   REFERENCES
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
 
Allende, R., Kutish, G. F., Laegreid, W., Lu, Z., Lewis, T. L., Rock, D. L., Friesen, J., Galeota, J. A., Doster, A. R. & Osorio, F. A. (2000). Mutations in the genome of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus responsible for the attenuation phenotype. Arch Virol 145, 1149–1161.[CrossRef][Medline]

An, T. Q., Zhou, Y. J., Qiu, H. J., Tong, G. Z., Wang, Y. F., Liu, J. X. & Yang, J. Y. (2005). Identification of a novel B cell epitope on the nucleocapsid protein of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus by phage display. Virus Genes 31, 81–87.[CrossRef][Medline]

Batista, L., Pijoan, C., Dee, S., Olin, M., Molitor, T., Joo, H. S., Xiao, Z. & Murtaugh, M. (2004). Virological and immunological responses to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in a large population of gilts. Can J Vet Res 68, 267–273.[Medline]

Büchner, J. & Kiefhaber, T. (editors) (2004). Protein Folding Handbook. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH.

Büchner, J., Pastan, I. & Brinkmann, U. (1992). A method for increasing the yield of properly folded recombinant fusion proteins: single-chain immunotoxins from renaturation of bacterial inclusion bodies. Anal Biochem 205, 263–270.[CrossRef][Medline]

Cavanagh, D. (1997). Nidovirales: a new order comprising Coronaviridae and Arteriviridae. Arch Virol 142, 629–633.[Medline]

Christopher-Hennings, J., Nelson, E. A., Nelson, J. K. & Benfield, D. A. (1997). Effects of a modified-live virus vaccine against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome in boars. Am J Vet Res 58, 40–45.[Medline]

Clark, E. D. B. (1998). Refolding of recombinant proteins. Curr Opin Biotechnol 9, 157–163.[CrossRef][Medline]

Collins, J. E., Benfield, D. A., Christianson, W. T., Harris, L., Hennings, J. C., Shaw, D. P., Goyal, S. M., McCullough, S., Morrison, R. B. & other authors (1992). Isolation of swine infertility and respiratory syndrome virus (isolate ATCC VR-2332) in North America and experimental reproduction of the disease in gnotobiotic pigs. J Vet Diagn Invest 4, 117–126.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

de Lima, M., Pattnaik, A. K., Flores, E. F. & Osorio, F. A. (2006). Serologic marker candidates identified among B-cell linear epitopes of Nsp2 and structural proteins of a North American strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Virology 353, 410–421.[CrossRef][Medline]

den Boon, J. A., Snijder, E. J., Chirnside, E. D., de Vries, A. A., Horzinek, M. C. & Spaan, W. J. (1991). Equine arteritis virus is not a togavirus but belongs to the coronaviruslike superfamily. J Virol 65, 2910–2920.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

den Boon, J. A., Faaberg, K. S., Meulenberg, J. J., Wassenaar, A. L., Plagemann, P. G., Gorbalenya, A. E. & Snijder, E. J. (1995). Processing and evolution of the N-terminal region of the arterivirus replicase ORF1a protein: identification of two papainlike cysteine proteases. J Virol 69, 4500–4505.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Faaberg, K. S., Murtaugh, M. P. & Yuan, S. (2001). Predicted RNA folding suggests PRRSV major and heteroclite subgenomic transcripts result from polymerase switching at unpaired nucleotides. Adv Exp Med Biol 494, 37–42.[Medline]

Foss, D. L., Zilliox, M. J., Meier, W., Zuckermann, F. & Murtaugh, M. P. (2002). Adjuvant danger signals increase the immune response to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Viral Immunol 15, 557–566.[CrossRef][Medline]

Hill, H. ((1990).). Overview and history of mystery swine disease (swine infertility and respiratory syndrome). In Proceedings of the Mystery Swine Disease Committee Meeting, 6 October 1990, Denver, CO, USA, pp. 29–30. Madison, WI: Livestock Conservation Institute.

Hyland, K., Foss, D. L., Johnson, C. R. & Murtaugh, M. P. (2004). Oral immunization induces local and distant mucosal immunity in swine. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 102, 329–338.[CrossRef][Medline]

Jameson, B. A. & Wolf, H. (1988). The antigenic index: a novel algorithm for predicting antigenic determinants. Comput Appl Biosci 4, 181–186.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Johnson, W., Roof, M., Vaughn, E., Christopher-Hennings, J., Johnson, C. R. & Murtaugh, M. P. (2004). Pathogenic and humoral immune responses to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) are related to viral load in acute infection. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 102, 233–247.[CrossRef][Medline]

Kapur, V., Elam, M. R., Pawlovich, T. M. & Murtaugh, M. P. (1996). Genetic variation in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus isolates in the midwestern United States. J Gen Virol 77, 1271–1276.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Keffaber, K. K. (1989). Reproductive failure of unknown etiology. Am Assoc Swine Pract Newsl 1, 1–9.

Kemeny, D. M. (1991). A Practical Guide to ELISA, p. 63. Oxford, New York: Pergamon Press.

Lawson, S. R., Rossow, K. D., Collins, J. E., Benfield, D. A. & Rowland, R. R. (1997). Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection of gnotobiotic pigs: sites of virus replication and co-localization with MAC-387 staining at 21 days post-infection. Virus Res 51, 105–113.[CrossRef][Medline]

Mardassi, H., Mounir, S. & Dea, S. (1994). Identification of major differences in the nucleocapsid protein genes of a Québec strain and European strains of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. J Gen Virol 75, 681–685.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Mavromatis, I., Kritas, S. K., Alexopoulos, C., Tsinas, A. & Kyriakis, S. C. (1999). Field evaluation of a live vaccine against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome in fattening pigs. Zentralbl Veterinarmed B 46, 603–612.[Medline]

Meng, X.-J., Paul, P. S., Halbur, P. G. & Lum, M. A. (1995). Phylogenetic analyses of the putative M (ORF 6) and N (ORF 7) genes of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV): implication for the existence of two genotypes of PRRSV in the U.S.A. and Europe. Arch Virol 140, 745–755.[CrossRef][Medline]

Meng, X.-J., Paul, P. S., Morozov, I. & Halbur, P. G. (1996). A nested set of six or seven subgenomic mRNAs is formed in cells infected with different isolates of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. J Gen Virol 77, 1265–1270.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Mengeling, W. L., Lager, K. M. & Vorwald, A. C. (1999). Safety and efficacy of vaccination of pregnant gilts against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome. Am J Vet Res 60, 796–801.[Medline]

Meulenberg, J. J. (2000). PRRSV, the virus. Vet Res 31, 11–21.[CrossRef][Medline]

Meulenberg, J. J., Hulst, M. M., de Meijer, E. J., Moonen, P. L., den Besten, A., de Kluyver, E. P., Wensvoort, G. & Moormann, R. J. (1993). Lelystad virus, the causative agent of porcine epidemic abortion and respiratory syndrome (PEARS), is related to LDV and EAV. Virology 192, 62–72.[CrossRef][Medline]

Meulenberg, J. J., van Nieuwstadt, A. P., van Essen-Zandbergen, A., Bos-de Ruijter, J. N., Langeveld, J. P. & Meloen, R. H. (1998). Localization and fine mapping of antigenic sites on the nucleocapsid protein N of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus with monoclonal antibodies. Virology 252, 106–114.[CrossRef][Medline]

Murtaugh, M. P., Elam, M. R. & Kakach, L. T. (1995). Comparison of the structural protein coding sequences of the VR-2332 and Lelystad virus strains of the PRRS virus. Arch Virol 140, 1451–1460.[CrossRef][Medline]

Murtaugh, M. P., Xiao, Z. & Zuckermann, F. (2002). Immunological responses of swine to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection. Viral Immunol 15, 533–547.[CrossRef][Medline]

Nelsen, C. J., Murtaugh, M. P. & Faaberg, K. S. (1999). Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus comparison: divergent evolution on two continents. J Virol 73, 270–280.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Nielsen, T. L., Nielsen, J., Have, P., Baekbo, P., Hoff-Jorgensen, R. & Botner, A. (1997). Examination of virus shedding in semen from vaccinated and from previously infected boars after experimental challenge with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Vet Microbiol 54, 101–112.[CrossRef][Medline]

Oleksiewicz, M. B., Botner, A. & Normann, P. (2001a). Semen from boars infected with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) contains antibodies against structural as well as nonstructural viral proteins. Vet Microbiol 81, 109–125.[CrossRef][Medline]

Oleksiewicz, M. B., Botner, A., Toft, P., Normann, P. & Storgaard, T. (2001b). Epitope mapping porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus by phage display: the nsp2 fragment of the replicase polyprotein contains a cluster of B-cell epitopes. J Virol 75, 3277–3290.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Oleksiewicz, M. B., Bøtner, A. & Normann, P. (2002). Porcine B-cells recognize epitopes that are conserved between the structural proteins of American- and European-type porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. J Gen Virol 83, 1407–1418.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Oleksiewicz, M. B., Snijder, E. J. & Normann, P. (2004). Phage display of the equine arteritis virus nsp1 ZF domain and examination of its metal interactions. J Virol Methods 119, 159–169.[CrossRef][Medline]

Paton, D. J., Brown, I. H., Edwards, S. & Wensvoort, G. (1991). ‘Blue ear’ disease of pigs. Vet Rec 128, 617[Medline]

Plagemann, P. G. & Moennig, V. (1992). Lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus, equine arteritis virus, and simian hemorrhagic fever virus: a new group of positive-strand RNA viruses. Adv Virus Res 41, 99–192.[Medline]

Rossow, K. D. (1998). Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome. Vet Pathol 35, 1–20.[Medline]

Snijder, E. J. & Meulenberg, J. J. M. (1998). The molecular biology of arteriviruses. J Gen Virol 79, 961–979.[Medline]

Suarez, P., Zardoya, R., Martin, M. J., Prieto, C., Dopazo, J., Solana, A. & Castro, J. M. (1996). Phylogenetic relationships of European strains of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) inferred from DNA sequences of putative ORF-5 and ORF-7 genes. Virus Res 42, 159–165.[CrossRef][Medline]

Swietnicki, W. (2006). Folding aggregated proteins into functionally active forms. Curr Opin Biotechnol 17, 367–372.[CrossRef][Medline]

Tijms, M. A. & Snijder, E. J. (2003). Equine arteritis virus non-structural protein 1, an essential factor for viral subgenomic mRNA synthesis, interacts with the cellular transcription co-factor p100. J Gen Virol 84, 2317–2322.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Tijms, M. A., van Dinten, L. C., Gorbalenya, A. E. & Snijder, E. J. (2001). A zinc finger-containing papain-like protease couples subgenomic mRNA synthesis to genome translation in a positive-stranded RNA virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98, 1889–1894.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Tsumoto, K., Umetsu, M., Kumagai, I., Ejima, D., Philo, J. S. & Arakawa, T. (2004). Role of arginine in protein refolding, solubilization, and purification. Biotechnol Prog 20, 1301–1308.[CrossRef][Medline]

van Woensel, P. A., Liefkens, K. & Demaret, S. (1998). Effect on viremia of an American and a European serotype PRRSV vaccine after challenge with European wild-type strain of the virus. Vet Rec 142, 510–512.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Wensvoort, G., Terpstra, C., Pol, J. M., ter Laak, E. A., Bloemraad, M., de Kluyver, E. P., Kragten, C., van Buiten, L., den Besten, A. & other authors (1991). Mystery swine disease in The Netherlands: the isolation of Lelystad virus. Vet Q 13, 121–130.[Medline]

Wensvoort, G., de Kluyver, E. P., Luijtze, E. A., den Besten, A., Harris, L., Collins, J. E., Christianson, W. T. & Chladek, D. (1992). Antigenic comparison of Lelystad virus and swine infertility and respiratory syndrome (SIRS) virus. J Vet Diagn Invest 4, 134–138.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Xiao, Z., Batista, L., Dee, S., Halbur, P. & Murtaugh, M. P. (2004). The level of virus-specific T-cell and macrophage recruitment in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection in pigs is independent of virus load. J Virol 78, 5923–5933.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Yuan, S., Murtaugh, M. P. & Faaberg, K. S. (2000). Heteroclite subgenomic RNAs are produced in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection. Virology 275, 158–169.[CrossRef][Medline]

Yuan, S., Mickelson, D., Murtaugh, M. P. & Faaberg, K. S. (2001a). Complete genome comparison of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus parental and attenuated strains. Virus Res 79, 189–200.[CrossRef][Medline]

Yuan, S., Murtaugh, M. P. & Faaberg, K. S. (2001b). Packaged heteroclite subgenomic RNAs of PRRSV. Adv Exp Med Biol 494, 527–532.[Medline]

Yuan, S., Murtaugh, M. P., Schumann, F. A., Mickelson, D. & Faaberg, K. S. (2004). Characterization of heteroclite subgenomic RNAs associated with PRRSV infection. Virus Res 105, 75–87.[CrossRef][Medline]

Zeng, L., Godeny, E. K., Methven, S. L. & Brinton, M. A. (1995). Analysis of simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) subgenomic RNAs, junction sequences, and 5' leader. Virology 207, 543–548.[CrossRef][Medline]

Ziebuhr, J., Snijder, E. J. & Gorbalenya, A. E. (2000). Virus-encoded proteinases and proteolytic processing in the Nidovirales. J Gen Virol 81, 853–879.[Free Full Text]

Received 22 September 2006; accepted 10 December 2006.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
J. Gen. Virol.Home page
Z. Chen, X. Zhou, J. K. Lunney, S. Lawson, Z. Sun, E. Brown, J. Christopher-Hennings, D. Knudsen, E. Nelson, and Y. Fang
Immunodominant epitopes in nsp2 of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus are dispensable for replication, but play an important role in modulation of the host immune response
J. Gen. Virol., April 1, 2010; 91(4): 1047 - 1057.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
CVIHome page
E. Brown, S. Lawson, C. Welbon, J. Gnanandarajah, J. Li, M. P. Murtaugh, E. A. Nelson, R. M. Molina, J. J. Zimmerman, R. R. R. Rowland, et al.
Antibody Response to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) Nonstructural Proteins and Implications for Diagnostic Detection and Differentiation of PRRSV Types I and II
Clin. Vaccine Immunol., May 1, 2009; 16(5): 628 - 635.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Gen. Virol.Home page
J. S. Gnanandarajah, C. M. T. Dvorak, C. R. Johnson, and M. P. Murtaugh
Presence of free haptoglobin alpha 1S-subunit in acute porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection
J. Gen. Virol., November 1, 2008; 89(11): 2746 - 2753.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Virol.Home page
P. Mulupuri, J. J. Zimmerman, J. Hermann, C. R. Johnson, J. P. Cano, W. Yu, S. A. Dee, and M. P. Murtaugh
Antigen-Specific B-Cell Responses to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Infection
J. Virol., January 1, 2008; 82(1): 358 - 370.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, C. R.
Right arrow Articles by Murtaugh, M. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, C. R.
Right arrow Articles by Murtaugh, M. P.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, C. R.
Right arrow Articles by Murtaugh, M. P.


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL MICROBIOLOGY J GEN VIROL
J MED MICROBIOL ALL SGM JOURNALS