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Solubility, particle formation and immune display of trimers of major capsid protein 7 of African horsesickness virus fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein

Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2008.

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Other Authors: Huismans, H. (Henk), 1942-
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Huismans, H. (Henk), 1942-
author_browse Huismans, H. (Henk), 1942-
author_facet Huismans, H. (Henk), 1942-
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2008 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2008.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/25341
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:00.824Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/25341 Solubility, particle formation and immune display of trimers of major capsid protein 7 of African horsesickness virus fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein Huismans, H. (Henk), 1942- eshchar.mizrachi@up.ac.za Mizrachi, Eshchar Chimeric proteins African horsesickness virus (AHSV) Peptide display protein UCTD Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2008. Modified Viral Protein 7 (VP7) of African horsesickness virus (AHSV) is being investigated as a peptide display protein. The protein represents a good candidate for recombinant peptide display due to its tertiary structure, which contains flexible hydrophilic loops on the top domain of the protein where small peptides can potentially be inserted. In addition, wild type (WT) AHSV VP7 tends to form hexagonal crystals of predictable shape and size when expressed in a recombinant expression system. Previous research has resulted in a number of AHSV VP7 genes containing modified cloning sites where DNA representing immunologically relevant peptides can be inserted. When these chimeric proteins are expressed the peptides should be displayed on the surface of the VP7 platform. Several studies have tested the ability to insert peptides of varying lengths into these sites and successfully express the chimeric protein. In these past cases, successful expression of a recombinant chimeric protein was gauged by the observation of particles formed by multimers of VP7 proteins that resemble the one formed by WT-VP7. However, little is known about the ability of these chimeric proteins to act as successful peptide presentations vectors. Specifically, it is not known whether the fusion peptides would retain their correct tertiary structure, or indeed be displayed to the surrounding environment in order to generate a specific immune response. Furthermore, there has been no investigation to track these chimeric proteins’ expression in a heterologous expression system. This dissertation attempts to answer several of these questions through the use of a fluorescent protein, enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP), as a model peptide. The use of eGFP as a model peptide can prove correct tertiary structure of the fusion peptide via function of the protein (fluorescence), as well as act as a means of monitoring expression of chimeric VP7-eGFP proteins. Chapter 1 of this dissertation reviews literature that is relevant to AHSV VP7 and the use of fluorescent proteins as fluorescent markers. In addition, the recombinant expression of proteins is discussed, with a focus on solubility and expression levels of expressed proteins. Next, a brief overview is given with regards to vaccination strategies that can be undertaken, with a focus on subunit vaccines and their viability as successful alternatives to live-attenuated vaccines. Finally, the progress with regards to using modified AHSV VP7 as a peptide presentation vector is discussed. Chapter 2 investigates the chimeric protein VP7-177-eGFP, including its construction via a recombinant DNA cloning strategy, its expression in Insect cells using a recombinant Baculovirus expression system, and the ability of eGFP to act as a model fusion peptide on the top domain of a modified VP7 protein. Several experiments investigate whether the chimeric protein maintains its tertiary structure under a series of purification steps, and investigate the solubility of the chimeric protein throughout the expression cycle. Finally, purified forms of the chimeric protein are examined for their ability to generate an immune response specific to the fusion protein, eGFP.<p Genetics unrestricted 2013-09-06T20:49:51Z 2009-06-17 2013-09-06T20:49:51Z 2009-04-21 2008 2009-06-08 Dissertation Mizrachi, E 2008, Solubility, particle formation and immune display of trimers of major capsid protein 7 of African horsesickness virus fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein, MSc dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25341 > E1406/ag http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25341 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06082009-161825/ © 2008 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Chimeric proteins
African horsesickness virus (AHSV)
Peptide display protein
UCTD
Solubility, particle formation and immune display of trimers of major capsid protein 7 of African horsesickness virus fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein
title Solubility, particle formation and immune display of trimers of major capsid protein 7 of African horsesickness virus fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein
title_full Solubility, particle formation and immune display of trimers of major capsid protein 7 of African horsesickness virus fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein
title_fullStr Solubility, particle formation and immune display of trimers of major capsid protein 7 of African horsesickness virus fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein
title_full_unstemmed Solubility, particle formation and immune display of trimers of major capsid protein 7 of African horsesickness virus fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein
title_short Solubility, particle formation and immune display of trimers of major capsid protein 7 of African horsesickness virus fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein
title_sort solubility particle formation and immune display of trimers of major capsid protein 7 of african horsesickness virus fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein
topic Chimeric proteins
African horsesickness virus (AHSV)
Peptide display protein
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25341
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06082009-161825/