[Study on E protein epitopes and primary identification of main yellow virus].

Objective: To analysis the E protein epitopes of dengue virus type 1-4, Japanese encephalitis virus and yellow fever virus and to distinguish the shared or specific epitopes among them.
Methods: Bioinformatic software DNAStar was used to analyze the hydrophilicity, flexibility, surface probability and antigenicity of dengue virus type 1-4, Japanese encephalitis virus and yellow fever virus E protein amino acid sequences. The influence of secondary structure was also considered. Based on the bio-informatic analysis of E protein epitopes, 6 specific epitopes were amplified and inserted into prokaryotic expression vector pMAL-c2x. The vectors was then transferred into E. coli BL21 (DE3) and Rosetta (DE3). Isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) was used to induce the expression of gene segments and SDS-PAGE were used identify the expression proteins. The antigenicity was tested, using Western blot.
Results: 15 shared epitopes and 47 specific epitopes were forecasted by bioinformatic analysis, and 6 specific epitopes from dengue virus type 1-4, Japanese encephalitis virus and yellow fever virus E protein were expressed in E. coli successfully. Two specific antigenic determinant from dengue virus type 1 and dengue virus type 2 were confirmed using Western blot, while the others epitopes shown no antigenic reaction property.
Conclusion: Two specific antigenic determinant were confirmed, under Western blot.